by Edith DuBois
Joseph rose up on his back legs, letting a bone-trembling roar fill the air. He wanted the stupid-ones to feel his anger in their deep bones. He swiped his claw as they drove past, aiming for the circle of air-filled-rubber as Brother Caleb did the same on the other side. Instead, his strong claws met the side of the she-looking-driving-machine. It squealed in pain at his destruction, and the terror-filled screams of its inhabitants filled his ears and filled his bear-heart with joy. But they got by, and they sped away on the hard-path-of-men.
Then Brother Jeremiah reached out to him with an image of tawny-headed-Elena in his bear-mind. He knew Brother Caleb saw the same. She looked exhausted and wrecked, but she was alive. He and Brother Caleb began running toward the home-of-orphaned-animals where the brothers Greenwood lived. That was where their tawny-headed-Elena waited for them, and with her was where their bear-hearts belonged.
Epilogue
“Elena, come on,” Joseph called from the bedroom through the bathroom door. “We live in a family of bears. Food doesn’t last long around us.”
“Coming!” Turning to the side and looking at herself one last time, she couldn’t believe that a little creature was growing in her stomach. She ran her palm over her stomach’s smooth surface and looked at the little white stick in her hand that said she was having a baby. It was the fifth one that had told her this. So much happiness filled her that her hands trembled as she tucked a few stray strands of hair behind an ear.
She’d taken the first test the night before. After it came back positive, she immediately went to her computer and emailed her cousin, Nick Michaels. He’d sent her an email a week or so before to inform her that her Savage Valley portfolio was being sent through to a writer who would visit the town in about a month to write a companion article about the animal killings. The mama and her baby would leave some small legacy behind, at least, and the thought brought Elena great comfort.
However, she’d written her cousin that she currently could not take on any more projects, and it suddenly became official. She was staying in Savage Valley.
She’d agreed to write a weekly column for the Savage Herald focusing on a different part of the town and surrounding wilderness, and she would also be opening a portrait studio. She had ideas about outdoor portraits in the forest and in the mountains. There had even been talk of revamping the Savage Valley website with all new photos.
A few minutes later, the three of them drove to the east side of town, out to Treaty Lane, and then took a right, driving past the Savage Valley Veterinarian Center and the hospital. Elena took in the thickening forest and the feel of Caleb’s hand in one of hers and Joseph’s in the other. She was squeezed in beside Caleb on the passenger side of the cruiser. His free hand snuck to the bare flesh of her thighs as she had opted for a pair of cut-off blue jean shorts.
“Caleb…” she moaned when his hand snuck farther and farther up her leg. When his fingertips brushed the already tingling flesh of her pussy, she clenched her legs together, not to keep him out but to trap him, like a spider would her unsuspecting prey.
“Looks like our little darlin’ wants to play,” Joseph said, noticing her action and the way she moved her pelvis against Caleb’s roving hand.
“How far are we from the Ashleys’?”
“About five minutes. Why?”
“Is that a dirt road I see up there?”
Joseph raised his eyebrows. “Yes, ma’am, it is.”
Caleb grasped her cunt and ground the heel of his palm into her clit, the roughness of her denim shorts agitating her nerve endings with pleasure. “Did you want us to pull over?” he asked as he moved his lips across the skin of her neck.
“Indeed, I would.”
Suddenly she was thrown off-balance as Joseph whipped the car off Treaty Lane and onto the small dirt road she’d pointed out.
“Oh, goody.” She reached into her purse, pulling out the lube she had brought along just in case. “Look what I have,” she said, dangling the lube in front of them and waving it back and forth suggestively. Without warning, Caleb grabbed her hips and positioned her on her stomach over his lap so that her face was in Joseph’s lap.
“Dear me, what have we here?” She smiled down at Joseph’s bulge and couldn’t keep herself from grabbing at his zipper.
“Oh, God, Elena,” he groaned from above her.
“Just make sure you don’t run into a tree.”
Soon, she had his erection free, and she trailed a line of hot kisses from his thick base to the tip. As she moved her lips to cover the tip and massage her tongue around its dome shape, Caleb began unbuttoning her tiny shorts. He pulled them over her ass and down to her knees until she could feel air against her flesh.
“I love this ass.” He placed his hand beneath one of her cheeks and then lifted, supporting its weight and sending a wave of anticipation deep into her gut. His thumb slipped in between her cheeks, moving along the crease and tickling against her puckered hole. She clenched in response, her ass needing more than a fleeting caress.
“Don’t worry,” Caleb whispered. “We’ll have you nice and full before too long.”
Elena moaned against Joseph’s cock and let it slide all the way to the back of her throat. She alternated between a gentle and then a hard suck and then a gentle and then a hard. Her hand snuck up to capture his balls. She massaged and she rolled, using her thumb to wriggle against that particularly sensitive spot near the back. When she did so, Joseph arched off his seat, pushing his dick even farther inside her mouth. Elena rolled her tongue against his vein-ridged length and sucked hard and fast, wanting the taste of his hot seed to slide down her throat.
For a moment she lost her concentration as Caleb pushed three fingers deep into her pussy. Without waiting, without hesitating, he curved his fingers slightly inward and began using them to fuck her cunt. She panted hard against Joseph’s cock but then resumed sucking, the mounting pressure of pleasure in her pussy urging her to manifest the same sensations upon Joseph.
After a few more moments, Joseph slammed on the brakes, forcing Elena to grip his thighs to keep her mouth attached to his cock. He was almost there. She knew it. She could feel his balls tightening in the palm of her hand. His fingers wrapped in her loose locks and held on tightly as he pumped into her throat. With one final arch, his manly liquid spurted into her mouth, and she drank it, and she enjoyed it.
When she rose off his cock, Caleb already had the car door open, and he hauled her out. She stumbled with him to the back of the car. She had no idea where they were, only that there were a lot of trees and a creek nearby.
She didn’t have much time to take stock of her surroundings because she was too busy pulling her little shorts all the way off. Always planning ahead, she hadn’t worn panties.
“Mmm,” Caleb hummed, his eyes appreciative. “I love the sight of this bare pussy glistening in the sunlight. It’s truly magnificent.” With those words he grabbed her by the hips and shoved her ass against the trunk of the car. His mouth covered hers in a hot kiss, his tongue flicking and jabbing against hers almost angrily.
She could tell he was feeling feisty, so she gave his bottom lip a little nip. As expected, Caleb growled. Then he pulled away so that he could turn her around. Shoving her pelvis against the trunk, he placed a hand between her shoulder blades and forced her torso to lie flat across the car.
She could hear him unzipping and pulling his cock free, but she was too impatient. She needed something, some stimulation, so she moved her fingers to her clit, stroking and rubbing and prodding, sending pangs of heated pleasure blasting through her pussy.
“Damn, Elena,” Caleb said, grabbing both of her wrists and placing them on the car, trapping them below his hands and not letting them free. “I’ll take care of you.” He dragged his hands along her arms and then down her back. She felt his cock at the entrance to her pussy for only a moment, but then he shoved himself deep inside of her. His hands moved to her hips, and he held her tight as he push
ed into her cunt so many times. He was aggressive. He was brusque. He left her no leeway. He took all.
And she wanted more.
She could feel their mingled sweat. She could feel the hard muscles of his stomach and his thighs against her body. His thrusts were so powerful that her feet came off the ground. He reached his hand around and stroked her clit, rubbing hard against it as his cock drove into her.
Her fevered sex noises rang through the still forest air, and Caleb covered her mouth with his hand. “We’re not that far from the party,” he said, his voiced strained with his own mounting pressure.
She bit him, and he snatched his hand away.
“I don’t give a fuck,” she said. “Everyone should know that I’m yours.” Caleb growled behind her and thrust harder into her, his strong fingers biting against her flesh, making Elena cry out in wild abandon. Her orgasm came tearing through her nerves. Her arms and her legs trembled with the power of it, but Caleb held her up, pumping into her until he too orgasmed, his seed shooting deep into her womb.
Elena melted against the vehicle, resting her cheek against its hard surface and closing her eyes to let her mind swim freely in bodily pleasure.
“Good thing we gave the ol’ cruiser a rub down.” Joseph’s voice came from beside her, teasing.
Elena cracked open an eyelid, shooting Joseph a half-raised brow. As Caleb pulled away, her knees buckled.
“Whoa.” Caleb caught her underarms, laughing. “Steady, love.” He scooped her all the way up in his arms then and smiled down at her. She put a hand to his angular face and gazed into his black eyes. She loved him so. She loved Joseph. It consumed her. It filled her up. It was her.
Joseph walked ahead of them to the front of the car. Laid out in front of it was a woven blanket. A few feet away from the blanket, a creek gurgled swiftly by, reflecting the sun like tiny shards of dancing diamonds.
Caleb handed her over to Joseph, and she squirmed. “I’m a grown woman. I can stand up, you two.”
“Hush, little darlin’,” Joseph said, placing a warm but silencing kiss against her pliant lips. “We know you can, but we want to hold you. We want to support you and protect you and keep you as close as possible. Let us.”
She ran her index finger down the straight bridge of his nose and looked deep into his black eyes. “Okay.” He smiled and kissed her again but with a little more aggression. Then he knelt down, still holding her, and laid her on the blanket. Its rough woven pattern scratched gently against the bare skin of her ass.
Caleb finished undressing and joined them on the blanket, stretching out next to her while Joseph continued to kneel beside her. Joseph ran a hand reverently across her stomach. “Plus, now that your belly holds our child, we’ve got to take extra care of you.”
Elena’s eyes widened. “How did you—”
Joseph chuckled. “We know your body, Elena.”
Caleb reached across her chest and cupped one of her full, extra-sensitive breasts, rolling his thumb languorously across its nipple. “It’s heavier,” he said. “And your nipples are a hint darker. And if I’m not mistaken…” He bent his face to her other breast to nibble on its hardened peak, and Elena couldn’t suppress her wince. “Just a little more sensitive than usual.”
“And I’ve seen you,” Joseph said, “in small moments when you think neither of us is looking, with your hand on your belly and the sweetest smile on your face.”
Elena felt hot tears stinging her eyes, and she grimaced, staring up at the treetops, fighting them back. “I love you both,” she said, finally looking back at them, into their beautiful black eyes, her voice wobbly. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Caleb grabbed her and pulled until she straddled his chest. He splayed his hands across her still-flat belly.
“Oh, my beautiful Elena,” he said. “Let us show you how much we love you.” He grabbed her hips and pushed up until she was forced to rest her palms on the ground. Then he pushed his tongue between the lips of her pussy, rolling it from bottom to top. He swirled his tongue all along her seam, flicking and dipping into her depths as he passed by.
She felt Joseph’s hands kneading her ass, pushing his fingertips hard into the soft flesh of her globes. Then his thumbs ventured further, moving into her crevice. He massaged along the rim of her asshole, causing her to buck against Caleb’s face as the pleasure rippled up her spine.
For a moment his hands left her, but Caleb sucked hungrily on her clit, effectively distracting her from the sudden loss. “Oh, Caleb…it’s so…it feels so…” Words failed her as wave after wave of pleasure grew inside her, building up into a maelstrom of disjointed thoughts and feelings and sensations.
She felt something cold and moist dripping down between the cheeks of her ass. Then Joseph’s warm hands began spreading the lube, rubbing it in, making sure to get her hole nice and slick. She heard him squirt out some more lube to rub along the length of his cock, and then she felt his tip against her back hole.
He grasped her cheeks and spread them wide. Then he began easing himself into her ass ever so slowly.
On her pussy and her clit Caleb continued his maddening play. Joseph pushed and pushed, moving himself ever further inside her ass. Then he was all the way in. A small shudder raced through Elena when he began moving. He pulled out, and he pushed back in.
Elena swayed her hips between them, craving Caleb’s roving tongue, needing Joseph’s thrusting cock. Her fingers made claws, and she held on to the grass. She needed an anchor to something, fearing she would float away from the earth, completely untethered, expanding into hundreds of wayward pieces, a thousand broken particles, millions of tiny atoms.
“It’s…this is…oh my…” She clenched her eyes tight, but when Caleb plunged two thick fingers into her cunt and began finger-fucking her as well, she couldn’t take anymore. Her back arched, and she howled out her passion, feeling absolutely wild, letting herself abandon all vestiges of rational thought. A moment or so later, while Elena was still flying high on her orgasm, Joseph groaned loudly behind her, and then she felt his hot cum gushing inside her.
Caleb held her steady, and she reveled in the love of her two men.
When Joseph pulled out of her and they all three crumpled into a heap, only then did she realize how hot she was. The drought was still ravaging Savage Valley, and her body was covered in sweat.
Her ears pricked at the sound of gurgling water from the creek, and without saying anything, she clambered up and began making her way nimbly to the water across the uneven, needle-laden ground.
“Caleb,” Joseph groaned. “Why does her ass have to jiggle so temptingly when she walks like that?”
Elena felt her face flame up, but she kept going, only wanting the coolness of the water on her hot skin. She didn’t wait, didn’t test the water. She stepped down into its welcoming coolness. After a moment, she turned back to her two sexy men. They were still stretched out on the blanket, just watching, so she put her hands on her hips and glared at them.
“Come on, you two. You can’t show up to the barbecue without cleaning up a little.”
“Joseph,” Caleb groaned, matching his brother’s tone from a moment before. “Why does her pussy have to glisten so temptingly in the sunlight?”
Joseph groaned dramatically, and Caleb followed suit. They groaned and rolled onto their backs, throwing their hands against their foreheads in mock woe. Elena rolled her eyes, realizing she needed to be a little more assertive if she wanted some food anytime soon. With quick, practiced motions, she twisted her hair up into a pile on her head and fastened it with an elastic hair tie she had on her wrist. Then she kneeled, closing her eyes for a moment in bliss as the gently rushing water fondled her still-hot cunt.
“Oh, fellas,” she called, cupping her hands and letting the water gather in her palms. They looked over at her suggestive tone. She stood up, tipped her head back, and poured the water over her chest, making it run over and between her breasts. When she looked at her men a
gain, they were both frozen, mesmerized.
“Does anyone want to come rinse my back?”
* * * *
About half an hour later, they finally arrived at the Ashleys’ place. Elena stared in open-mouthed awe. None of the other houses in Savage Valley could compare. Its dark wooden panels were offset with an unevenly stacked gray stone chimney on one end and a great wall of glass all along one side. The house fit snugly in with the land. It looked like it had grown from the earth just as the trees around it had. Its flat top gave it a modern look, while the earthy hues and the embrace of the forest around it lent an almost mythological quality to the structure. Elena had never seen anything like it.
As she gaped at the house, pointing out aspects that delighted her in particular, they made their way over to the food and to the people gathered around the food. Luckily they hadn’t missed out, and there was plenty left to plunder. They stacked their plates high with slow-cooked brisket, sweet creamed corn, barbecued green beans wrapped in bacon, honey cornbread, potato salad, and baked beans.
“You must be Elena?” A tall man with chestnut brown hair and black eyes like her Kinman men broke off from the picnicking guests along the shore of the creek.
“Hello.” Elena balanced her plate on one hand and extended the other towards him. “You must be one of the Ashleys.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thomas Ashley. Welcome to our home.” His grip was warm and firm, like his smile.
“Your home…it’s amazing, the loveliest I’ve ever seen.”
“Thank you. We’re very proud of it. Actually, our grandfather had it commissioned in 1953—”
“Hold it,” Joseph cut in. “Elena, please, don’t get him started. Thomas’ll talk your ear off about that house. Let’s go find a spot and dig into this grub.”
“Maybe I want to know more about that house.” She stuck her tongue out at Joseph.
“Anyway,” Thomas said, laughing, but then his eyes turned somber. “I know what happened to you out at Brown Trout Lake, and on behalf of myself and my brothers, I want to let you know that we are all very happy that you are all right.” He lowered his voice and leaned slightly in. “Every bear-shifter will be on the lookout for those nasty cowards. Don’t you worry. If they show a hide or a hair in our town, they will become bear breakfast faster than you can say honey-fried pheasant.”