When he began taking off his plain, sky-blue cotton kimono, reason returned to Emi.
“W–what are you doing?”
“Saving Sora like you said.” His kimono was peeled away, revealing hard planes of delicious sun-kissed flesh, slightly marred with scars.
Something in Emi tightened when he began pulling off his trousers. The moisture gathered between her legs only became wetter. At this rate, her undergarments would be soaked, and didn’t the men say they could smell… her arousal?
As if reading her thoughts, Dai smiled at her, but there was a little sadness in his handsome smile. There was a visible scar that ran beneath his left eyelid, across his cheekbone and to the side of his lip. Emi’s entire body itched. For some unexplainable reason, she wanted to lean forward and press her lips to that scar.
Reason defied why she wanted to do such a thing, or why she was always becoming horny during the most inappropriate moments. She shuddered. Did the malevolent nine-tailed fox do something to her?
“I hope you’ll still come with us after you see this.”
“See what?” Emi was nearly afraid to ask.
Dai let out an ear-shattering growl of challenge, making the three wolves hesitate. One of them had pounced itself on Sora, rendering the slender man flat on his back, but Sora viciously fought back and cleverly used his bow as a shield.
At the sight of his lover cornered, Dai bellowed. His tanned skin seemed to ripple, like there was a fold in reality. Emi rubbed at her eyes, but the same phenomenon with the wolves was happening.
He’s a shape-changer, too, she thought with a shiver. Dai isn’t like any of the ragged and puny beasts, though.
Black fur covered his frame. Rearing on his hind legs with his claws outstretched, he looked like some sort of guardian deity. One swipe of the black bear’s paw easily knocked aside one lunging wolf. The beast let out a whine as it struck a tree. The one attempting to tear at Sora with its jaws turned its attention to Dai, but a half-shifted paw shoved it backward.
Oh Gods, Sora is a black bear shifter, too?
The thought should’ve terrified her and sent her running from where she came, but Emi’s limbs were paralyzed. Not in fear, she realized, but with pleasure. The two bear shifters were something to watch. They embodied raw savage power, and had no trace of fear in them.
A growl near her caught Emi’s attention. A choking sound came out of her when a muddy brown face with feral amber eyes was only inches from her face.
A bear howled with rage. She wasn’t sure if it was Dai or Sora. Emi scrambled backward, but the wolf was on her in minutes. She fumbled for anything on her that could help her. The only belonging she had scavenged after waking from her enchanted sleep was a pouch containing a hairbrush and a few pearl-tipped hairpins.
She wrestled into her kimono, felt the hard handle of the brush in the velvet pouch, and did the first thing she could think of. Emi whacked the side of the beast’s head with all the strength she possessed.
“Get off me, cur!”
To her surprise, the beast let out an annoyed sound and it closed its dangerous jaws. Encouraged, Emi whacked the beast again. Enraged, its claws extended.
“That wasn’t the best idea,” Emi whispered.
She winced, preparing herself for an awful death, but the beast let out a pitiful cry when sharp ebony claws shoved it easily aside like a doll being tossed. Emi stared up at Dai, her fear turning to relief. He didn’t leave her side again. Another black bear, a smaller but no less dangerous one she assumed was Sora, finished the rest of the wolves.
An uneasy silence fell.
Emi sat up. She felt a little dazed, and was still holding her hairbrush. Dai was watching her intently. The human expression on the fearsome creature looked decidedly out of place. She reached out with her hand. Dai lowered himself and began nuzzling her face with his soft, rich fur. He let out a growl when Emi hit him with her hairbrush.
“Idiotic… bear!” Emi yelled, tugging at one of Dai’s small, triangular ears. The bear let out a surprised sound. “You two have some explaining to do, mister!”
“That looks painful,” Sora’s very human voice commented.
Emi turned, glaring up at him.
“Fuck, Dai. You were right. This woman is really the right one for us. She’s taking all this really well,” Sora pointed out.
He paused when Emi got to her feet and whacked him with her brush.
The next time she used her brush, he caught her hand. Her pulse nearly leaped out of her skin at the contact of his warm hand. The realization just hit her. He was also naked, although bits of cloth still hung on him. Emi’s eyes trailed down his well-defined body and lingered on his long, semi-erect cock.
She let out a sound when he pulled her to him. Sora held her hand. The last thing she expected were his lips pressing themselves on the back of her wrist.
“Have you changed your mind, Emi?” he asked.
Emi swallowed, and looked back to the dead wolves and the road behind her. Any perfectly normal and sane individual would’ve run away the moment an opportunity for escape presented itself. Why hadn’t she, and why had fierce pleasure filled her at the sight of the two men tearing their enemies apart?
“I don’t understand what’s happening to me,” Emi finally said.
That seemed to be a relief to Sora and to Dai, who was back in human form. She rigidly stood when Dai padded behind her, and then relaxed when he pressed himself against her back. His large frame was warm and wonderful.
“Emi, there’s only one explanation why we took you, and why you’re reacting like this,” Sora said, and hesitated, as if he was gauging his next words.
Emi felt Dai nod to him behind her. Dai’s large hands gripped her shoulders, as if steadying her for whatever ill news Sora was about to unload on her.
“When a black bear finds its rightful mate, both the bear and its mate wouldn’t able to resist each other. They instantly know they’re meant to be together.”
Emi stared at the naked bear shifter in front of her in shock. She could barely feel her lips moving. Given the circumstances, she should be forgiven. After waking up from an enchanted sleep cast by a nine-tailed fox, the last thing she wanted was to tangle herself in the affairs of the supernatural.
Besides, what in hell’s name was Sora saying? That it was some kind of shape-changing magic making her react and feel like this?
“And you believe I’m your mate?”
“We don’t just believe. We know. Your scent drew us here, Emi.”
“We?” Emi had to ask, feeling Dai’s large hands protectively and possessively skimming her sides.
“You’re our mate, Emi. From now on, you belong to Dai and me.”
* * * *
Dai knew Emiko wasn’t like any of the human women the warriors of the Black Bear Clan bought to the village to mate with. Letting her steal the reins from his hands and goad him to help Sora, a man she barely knew, told him there was steel buried beneath her beautiful but almost fragile features.
A human woman had never chastised Dai with a hairbrush, either, and it strangely wasn’t insulting coming from Emi. She had fought despite her vulnerability. Emi didn’t cave into fear or run away like most human women, and that pleased Dai immensely.
Chapter Three
Night had fallen by the time Dai and Sora crossed the rocky patch of mountain and their village came into their line of sight. Dai’s arm around Emi tightened, as she leaned forward to peek at the sight. Their village wasn’t spectacular by any means, especially to a noblewoman, which Dai suspected Emi was, judging by her clothes and appearance.
Still, the rows of simple houses nestled in the curve of a valley and lighted by a hundred torches was still worth a look or two.
“This is where you two live?” Emi asked, not bothering to mask the curiosity in her voice. At Sora’s nod, she continued. “I never knew a place like this existed.”
Sora snorted. “Of course you wouldn’t. We
take pains to keep the location of our clan dwellings a secret.”
His fellow hunter and lover led the way. They’d present Emi to their kin in the morning. Even if the human woman was tougher than most, she must’ve been exhausted from the day’s events.
It was Sora who had spotted the dazed noblewoman emerging from a patch of woods inhabited by a malevolent nine-tailed fox. Most people, shifters included, steered clear from that area.
Emi looked out of place in the wild countryside, and when they saw her fearlessly drive away her escort, a red fox undoubtedly belonging to the nine-tailed spirit dwelling in the enchanted woods she’d just left, they’d decided to claim her for themselves.
In the present, Dai dismounted from his horse and was about to help Emi down, but the mortal woman batted his hand.
“I can get down from a horse by myself, thank you,” she said stiffly.
She yelped when Dai easily lifted her by her waist and placed her squarely on the ground.
“Get this to your head, woman,” Dai firmly told her. He pulled her to him, so the line of her slender back touched his hard chest. “You better get used to our touch if you’re going to be our mate.”
The woman lifted her chin and looked sideways at him. Gods of Yamato, that proud look always made his cock stir from his trousers. She didn’t draw or push him away when he knew she could feel his erection pressed against the curve of her ass.
“I have a name, you know, and I’ve never agreed to be your mate.”
“Then why did you agree to come here with us?” Sora asked.
A mischievous smile appeared on Sora’s lips. What Dai would give to have those lips around his cock, while he claimed Emi’s mouth and softened her up before bringing her to bed.
“Well. You two seemed like the better alternative than being alone on the road… where I might be eaten by wolves.”
“The wolf kin wouldn’t go anywhere near Black Bear Clan territory,” Dai assured her.
He didn’t bother telling her the wolves attacked them because they scented her, too. While the wolf kin outnumbered their clan, their warriors also constantly sought female mates to bear their pups. Unlike their clan, though, the wolf kin treated mortal women like disposable breeding partners.
“You say wolf kin and black bears like it’s a completely natural thing. Do you mean to say Bandit Mountain is occupied by shape-changers?”
“Aye. Not all, but most,” Sora agreed. “Some of the hawk kin also reside here, as well as a few mountain lions, but this valley has belonged to the Black Bear Clan for centuries.”
“Stop asking annoying questions, woman. You can ask whatever questions you want tomorrow morning. Your sweet smell is driving me mad. We’re going to claim you now before the other bears get a hold of your scent.”
Dai began to sniff and nuzzle at her pale slender neck. Emi stilled, but she didn’t resist or push him away. Dai meant what he said. While bears treated their mortal mates better than wolves did, an unclaimed female was still a tempting invitation to other bear shifters.
If Dai and Sora didn’t take Emi now, they’d risk her being taken away by others, and Dai didn’t think he’d allow that. The mortal woman had already sunk her hooks in him for some unexplainable reason.
“No,” Emi said weakly, but she didn’t push away the hands he wrapped around her small waist.
“No? You seem to be enjoying Dai’s attentions, though, Emi.”
Sora approached them. Dai’s hands slid beneath the belt of her kimono. She sighed when he unbelted the strip of silk cloth.
“Aren’t you enjoying our attention, Emi?” Sora asked.
“I…” Emi trailed off when Dai grinded himself against her.
“Tell me, Sora. Are her breasts as fine as I’ve imagined them?” Dai asked his lover, recognizing the heavy look of desire on his features.
“That and more. They’re beautiful and milk white.” Sora neared Emi until they were inches apart. “Don’t you want to feel Dai’s hands on these lovely treasures of yours, while you feel my hands pleasuring your dripping pussy?”
“Yes,” she murmured. “Touch me, please. Both of you.”
Dai didn’t wait a second longer. His hands drifted past her fine silk kimono. When they finally touched silky, soft, and smooth flesh, Emi sighed contently against him. Dai could feel the brush of Sora’s skin just in front of Emi, and his talented fingers slipping beneath her undergarments.
Dai found one of her breasts, and he pinched one hardening bud just as Sora slipped his hand to her wet cunt. Emi cried out against his arms in surprise.
“Tell us one last time, Emi. Do you want this? Do you want us?” Sora asked again. “Because your body is telling me yes. Do you see how wet you are for us?”
Dai could hardly contain his groan. He could smell Emi’s arousal flooding her cunt and soaking her undergarments. She wanted both of them. Dai knew that now. He wasn’t certain before. Neither he nor Sora took unwilling women, but he was certain now.
Sora withdrew his fingers, and they came out wet. “Have a taste, lover.”
He held them out to Dai, who licked every last bit of Emi’s sweet cream.
“Yes,” Emi whispered.
“Yes what, you sweet proud thing? Tell us clearly what you want and we’ll make sure you’ll have it,” Dai murmured against her ear.
She shuddered against him, only making his cock harder.
“Yes, I want you both. More badly than I’ve ever wanted any other man.”
Dai’s heartbeat and breaths quickened. Her words called to him and his bear more strongly than ever. The black bear that shared half his soul surged against him, wanting to feel the press of Emi, their mate, against it.
The bear had known, just as Sora’s own bear had known, that Emi was their mate the moment they saw her emerge from the fox’s forest. She was the perfect fit to their two bears.
“That’s all we wanted to hear.” Sora slipped his hand into her undergarments again. “I want to feel you come against my fingers, Emi. I want to feel the muscles of your cunt contracting around them.”
Dai bit his lip to muffle his groan at that image. Sure enough, Sora worked her with his talented fingers. Dai’s cock had been on the receiving end of those fingers, so he wasn’t surprised Emi would come soon.
“Describe to me what you’re doing, Sora,” Dai commanded.
He began to kiss the side of Emi’s neck. She smelled so tempting he had to administer little licks and sucks just so he could taste her.
“I’m just running circles around her swollen little nub, Dai.” Sora wore a familiar grin.
“You don’t have to be so graphic,” Emi said in staggered breaths. A moan then came out of her.
“I’m now fingering her pussy, Dai. By the Gods of Yamato, her cunt lips are so wet. She’s really begging to be fucked.”
“Please…” Emi murmured, panting.
“Are you feeling generous, Sora?” Dai asked his lover.
“Not yet, lover. My fingers are still enjoying the sensation of her soft, pink, and wet folds against it. I can imagine it already, Dai. She must really taste so sweet.”
Dai groaned at that, and he could imagine Sora parting Emi’s legs and putting his clever tongue to work. It would’ve been splendid to watch Emi’s expression buckle and be overcome with pleasure.
“Maybe she wants to feel your fingers inside her, Sora.” Dai pressed his nose against the nape of Emi’s neck again to inhale her wonder. “Do you want to Sora to finger fuck you, Emi?”
“Yes. Oh, yes. Please, Sora,” Emi begged.
Dai sniffed his way to the side of her neck so he could see what Sora was doing. The slender man pumped one, two, and three fingers inside Emi’s wet cunt. The woman let out a sigh against him as Sora began to thrust them into her with rapid motions.
“Come for us, sweet. Come for Dai and me,” Sora told her.
She shuddered violently, collapsing helplessly in pleasure in Dai’s arms.
; “I’ve never… That was…,” Emi whispered as Sora leaned toward her to taste her lips.
“That’s just a taste, sweet. What’s to come is much better,” Sora said after the kiss.
“You’ll not just give us pleasure, Emi. It’s our job to give you pleasure, too. You’re about to find out what’s it like to belong to two bears and two real men who know how to give their woman a good time,” Dai told her plainly.
Dai easily swung her light frame so she was in his arms. She let out a surprised sound, but her ebony eyes were clear and direct when they looked at him. The hunger in them probably reflected the same hunger coiling inside him and Sora. Her arms were warm as she placed them firmly around his neck.
“Tell us what you want, Emi. And maybe we’ll give it to you.”
She looked hesitant for a moment, and then resolve smoothed her features. A lazy smile appeared on her soft, scrumptious lips. “I want you both to claim me.”
“Your wish is our command, my lady,” Sora said with a flourish.
For the first time that day, Emi laughed. Her surprised laughter sounded like a little piece of heaven to Dai.
Chapter Four
“These are your sleeping quarters?” Emi asked.
Standing by the shoji sliding doors at the room’s entrance, Sora watched Dai place Emi on the futon, which took up most of the room. Dai wasn’t a small man by any means, and the warrior hogged a lot of space when he slept.
He wasn’t sure if it was disdain he heard in Emi’s voice. While they suspected she was a noblewoman, Sora wasn’t sure if she came from a minor or major noble house. Station didn’t matter in Bear Valley, though, and after her unexplained ordeal from the nine-tailed fox’s lair, she surprisingly seemed capable of adapting to her new surroundings.
“Too small for you, princess?” Sora couldn’t help but ask.
Mating Two Bears [Yamato 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 2