Ranger Knox (Shifter Nation: Werebears Of Acadia Book 1)

by Meg Ripley

  This is getting stranger by the moment, Daphne thought, staring watchfully at the two bears. She couldn’t just run away; if she did that, they might take it as a reason to run after her. She had to carefully, slowly, back off. She had to somehow make sure she didn’t resemble either prey or threat. Daphne’s heart beat faster. Oh great, now they’ll smell my fear. That won’t mark me as prey, not at all.

  And yet, neither of the two bears gave a signal that they were about to pursue her. They simply watched her curiously, tilting their head this way and that, murmuring low bear-like questions to each other. Fascinated, almost hypnotized, Daphne felt as though she was frozen in place, watching them watching her. “What do you want me to do?” she asked quietly, knowing that desperation tinged her voice, but unable to think of anything else to do.

  ****

  Dov glanced at Ben; he knew his fellow werebear was receiving the signals of the woman’s pheromones, the same as he was. Standing there, only a few yards away from them, she was absolutely impossible to ignore: her hair was out of its accustomed tight, neat bun, scattered about her shoulders, a frame for her oval face; instead of her usual strictly professional skirt-suit, she was wearing a tight tee shirt, her breasts straining at the fabric, and a pair of soft, clinging pants that hung down to her ankles. Dov could smell the mixture of fear and underlying fertility in Daphne’s scent—but the fear was beginning to recede, as moments passed without he and Ben attacking. She had no idea, of course, that the two bears were people she had met.

  Dov sank down onto all fours, lowering his head until he was looking up at her, as unintimidating as possible. Behind him, Ben let out a warning, worried trill. What are you doing? Dov felt the combination of concern as well as irritation in Ben’s mental voice—he knew that Ben was beginning to respond to the alluring scent of Daphne’s almost-arousal and sweet-warm fertile pheromones.

  She isn’t afraid, Dov thought in Ben’s direction. She’s curious. Dov approached Daphne, keeping his head lowered, showing all the hesitation and wariness that a regular human would expect of a slightly tame bear. He chuffed happily as she stepped forward to meet him in the middle of the clearing, extending a hand. He sniffed at her skin, breathing deep of her pheromones; he would now know her anywhere in the world—if he needed to, he could track her anywhere she went. He butted her hand with his forehead, leaning into Daphne’s touch as she began to tentatively pet him. Dov glanced back at Ben, who was watching, wary.

  Dov let out a low, pleased growl as Daphne began to pet him with greater certainty. She’ll pet you too, you know, he thought in Ben’s direction. Ben answered with a grumble behind him—just loud enough to make Daphne start slightly, pulling back until Dov made a reassuring trilling sound. Ben came slowly forward, and Dov growled his amusement as Daphne began to pet his friend with just as much certainty and ease as she was petting him. “Yeah, you guys aren’t monsters, are you?” her voice was pitched low and sweet, the sound caressing Dov’s ear as she scratched along his jaw. “You’re just a couple of sweeties, aren’t you?” Daphne relaxed more and more by the moment, the brittle, burned gunpowder smell of her fear receding completely, and the sweet, spicy warmth of her natural scent rolling through Dov’s nose and brain like a persistent fog. She wasn’t aroused by the sight of the two bears—that would have been slightly off-putting, even in his current state—but Dov could tell that Daphne would be easy to arouse. He could also tell that she had no idea what her proximity, what her attentions were doing to the two male bears.

  We should go. Ben’s thought came into Dov’s head. Dov could feel his friend’s growing desire, matching his own. The unspoken undercurrent of the thought was that they should go before their mating drives brought them to the edge of fighting with each other. Bears were territorial—even werebears had a tendency to sometimes fight when it came to competition for a mate.

  She would let us share her, Dov countered. If she knew what we were really like. She feels open. She smells horny. He watched his friend sniff at Daphne’s hand, felt Ben’s silent agreement of the assessment.

  Dov made a decision. He groaned, taking a step back from Daphne and settling into a comfortable position on his hind legs. Daphne stared, the fear-scent rising just a little bit once more as Ben trilled a nonverbal question. Dov exhaled slowly, bringing the change back onto himself. In a matter of moments, he felt the crackling, tingling force of the change running along his bones, through his nerves. Dov groaned again as his bones began to shift and change within his body, as his fur began to recede. It would likely startle Daphne, what she was about to see—but he had to count on his perception of her openness, on her general calm. Dov shuddered as the change worked through him, rearranging everything in his body, transforming him from a bear into a human.

  ****

  Daphne stared at the figure in front of her, so utterly shocked that it did not even occur to her at first to scream. The bear—the gentle, curious bear that had approached her—was unquestionably turning into a human being. The second bear shifted under her hand, making a reassuring noise, but Daphne’s heart was beating faster in her chest. In a matter of moments, where a bear had stood there was a naked man. Not just any naked man—one of her new coworkers. Almost irrelevantly, Daphne tried to remember the man’s name.

  As she was trying to understand what had just happened in front of her, the second bear disappeared as well. She glanced in his direction as her hand fell away from the bushy, fuzzy head, only to watch the same foggy mist surround the bear. Daphne took an instinctive step backwards, staring wildly at the two figures in front of her. “Wh-what…what the hell is going on here?” she asked, more startled than truly afraid. Where two bears had stood, there were now two naked men, watching her with faint traces of wariness, waiting to see how she would react. “You—you’re people?” Daphne frowned. “But you were just—you’re bears. You were bears. What—what are you?”

  One of the two men—her mind supplied the name Ben, one of the loggers who worked for the same company that Daphne did—stepped forward. An inadvertent glance informed Daphne that Ben was starting to become aroused, his cock half-hard in the silvery-white moonlight. “We’re bears…and humans.” Ben’s voice was quiet, careful. “You now know a secret that could get us killed, if you ever told anyone.” Daphne’s eyes widened; she could definitely appreciate that fact. She could only imagine how the members of the small, parochial town of Green Tree would react to knowing that there were people who could turn into bears in their midst, working at their sides.

  “Are you two—are you the only ones?” The other man—Dov—shook his head.

  “We belong to a clan,” Dov said, moving towards her slowly. “You could meet them, now that you know about us.” Daphne nodded absently, looking from Ben to Dov. She thought that she should feel uncomfortable by the fact that both men were fully naked; but they were no more self-conscious about it as humans than they had been as bears. She tried not to look at the burgeoning erections that the two men were sporting—that would be rude. But somehow, despite her best intentions, Daphne found herself glancing over their muscular bodies nonetheless, trying to figure out how their bodies had shifted from bear into human.

  “What’s it like to be a bear?” Daphne asked. Dov chuckled.

  “We have very acute senses of smell,” Dov told her, moving still closer. “We can tell a lot of things about you just from your scent.”

  “My scent?” Daphne frowned, taking a step back. Ugh, is he saying I stink?

  “You smell good,” Ben murmured, and Daphne realized that the two men were slowly, cautiously surrounding her. They reached out their hands and touched her gently, lightly, almost a caress. “You smell…like honey and spices. Warm, sweet. Female.”

  “I’m glad I don’t smell—masculine or something,” Daphne said, feeling heat rising into her cheeks as she blushed. “What are you doing?”

  “I told you,” Dov said lowly, his voice taking on a growling note. “We can tell a lo
t of things about you. When was the last time you got laid?” Daphne shook away the slight haze of shock and growing desire that fogged her mind.

  “What—we work together! That’s…that’s an inappropriate question.” She felt more embarrassed than afraid, even as Ben and Dov caught her up in their hands once more. They explored the curves of her body by touch curiously, caressing her. Daphne almost regretted that she hadn’t bothered to put a bra on underneath her tee shirt; in the chill of the night air, under the impetus of Dov’s hands brushing against her breasts, she felt her nipples beginning to harden.

  “Dov’s right,” Ben said, his hands drifting down to her full hips. “We can tell you’re fertile…and that you wouldn’t mind having a little company right now.” He leaned in, and Daphne barely had time to react before his lips brushed against hers. Two pairs of hands wandered all over her body as Ben slowly deepened the kiss; Daphne found herself responding almost involuntarily, her body heating up and tingling as she felt the two men exploring her body, as she felt the slightly rough texture of Ben’s tongue against hers—it was strange but somehow delightful all at the same time, and as Daphne became more and more turned on by the moment, she couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel on other parts of her body.

  Her clothes fell away slowly and yet all at once—as distracted as Daphne was by first Ben and then Dov, each man kissing her when the other man pulled back, she was barely aware of the feeling of her shirt sliding up along her ribs, of it tugging over her head. She didn’t quite notice the feeling of someone pulling at the drawstring on her pants, and would not have known who it was even if she had noticed it. She realized as the cool night air brushed against her bare skin that she was fully naked, that Ben’s and Dov’s hands were hot against her, nothing in between her body and theirs. She moaned, shivering and writhing as a hand—she wasn’t sure whose—slid between her thighs, cupping her already-wet pussy to rub her slowly. “Mm, she’s already nice and wet,” Ben murmured to Dov. Daphne turned her head one way and then the other, trying to fight through the haze of desire that wrapped around her, the heat that intensified moment by moment. She saw Dov leaning in, and realized that it was his hands cupping her breasts, bringing them up to his mouth.

  She gasped as she felt his hot lips wrap around her right nipple, his rough-edged tongue lapping against the firm little nub, sending a tingling rush of pleasure through her body. Daphne thought it was Ben’s fingers sliding against her labia, pressing between her slick folds to stroke her slowly up and down. Daphne let out a cry as Ben’s teeth nipped sharply at her throat, one of his fingers sliding inside of her as he worked her clit with his thumb. She twisted and writhed mindlessly, reaching out blindly to touch and caress both men without knowing which of her hands was touching whom. She felt the hot, hard brush of one man’s cock, and wrapped her fingers around it, stroking up and down slowly.

  Somehow, she was sinking onto the ground, hands pulling and guiding her, mouths trailing everywhere all over her body. Daphne gasped as she felt the hot, muscular bodies pressing against her, back and front, the two pairs of hands teasing her everywhere, mouths kissing and licking and nipping at her sensitive skin. “Fuck,” she cried out, panting, almost overwhelmed at the pleasure that crackled and tingled through her nervous system. She opened her eyes and tried to look around, struggling to focus as her hands wandered over hard bodies. Dov was behind her, Daphne thought; Ben in front of her, both men holding her exactly where they wanted her. Ben trailed kisses down from her lips to her throat to her chest, his green eyes flicking up to her face in the darkness as he gave her a gentle push backwards against Dov’s strong body. Dov obligingly spread Daphne’s legs wide as Ben made his way down past her ribs, tickling her abdomen; Daphne could feel the heat and hardness of Dov’s erection pressing against her back, and wondered just how they were going to manage.

  Daphne shivered as she felt Ben’s lips brush against her inner thighs, his teeth barely grazing her skin in a playful nip as Dov cupped her breasts in his hands, holding her body against his from behind. Dov rolled and twisted her nipples slowly, sending jolts of pleasure through her body, and Daphne moaned out, pressing against the hardness she could feel digging into her back, just above the curve of her buttocks. Ben lifted her slightly, holding her hips where he wanted them, and Daphne gasped as he buried his face against her soaking wet pussy, nuzzling for just a moment before he began to worship her with lips and teeth and tongue.

  Behind her, Dov was murmuring in her ear, his hands never stopping in their teasing caresses. “I can smell how wet you are,” he told her, his voice low and growling in her ear. “You’re so turned on, Daphne, so hot…I can feel how much you want this.” Daphne mumbled something—not quite a denial, not quite an assent, shivering as Ben’s rough tongue brushed against her clit, barely touching her pleasure center before moving back to the well of her pussy to lap at her fluids. She whimpered and moaned, twisting and arching between the two men as they both touched and teased her. Almost unbidden, the thought came to her—she wondered what it would be like to have both men take her at the same time, one in front and one behind, and Daphne blushed at the way the image made her even hotter, her fluids flowing freely onto Ben’s tongue as he sucked her folds into his mouth.

  Dov kissed and nibbled along the back of her neck, the tender spots along the column of her throat, turning Daphne’s head until he could claim her lips once more. His hands danced all over her, tickling and caressing, as the pleasure built up more and more intensely in her body. It seemed like only a matter of moments before Ben brought his tongue up to her pleasure center, focusing on her clit almost exclusively, holding her hips firmly in place as he sucked and licked the bead of nerves. Wave after wave of pleasure washed through her, and Daphne moved like an animal herself, arching and pitching between the two men, head thrown back as her orgasm wracked her. Neither man even paused in their attentions, Ben devouring her as Dov rubbed himself against the curve of her ass, hips rocking against her while his fingers and hands teased her breasts.

  As the last of the spasms of pleasure began to subside, Daphne sagged against Dov, panting and gasping for breath. Ben pulled back gradually, giving her slick folds a lingering, savoring lick, and once more two pairs of hands trailed over her body, soothing Daphne as tremors of aftershocks worked through every nerve. “Holy shit,” she said, as her breathing began to slow gradually, her heart rate going back to normal within a few moments. “Okay, yeah, I’ll admit I needed that.” Behind her, Dov chuckled, his hands beginning to move over her body with more than soothing intent.

  “You need more,” Ben murmured, slithering up along her body. He kissed her eagerly on the lips, and Daphne felt herself pushed back, on top of Dov’s body, with Ben pressing against every inch of her front. She shivered at the feeling of both men’s erections pressing into her, excited and apprehensive all at the same time.

  “Do I?” Daphne asked, twisting her head so that she could look at each man in turn. “How—how are we going to?” Despite her apprehension, Daphne could feel herself becoming aroused again, as both men’s hands trailed all over her body, teasing and caressing her.

  “Like this,” Dov said, his hands moving down to her wide hips. At almost the same moment, as if they had choreographed it, Ben rose, pulling Daphne’s upper body gently forward, lifting her up even as Dov pulled her hips backward. Her knees folded underneath her, sliding along the ground with a rustle of the grass. In moments, she was straddling Dov’s lap backwards, her weight balanced on her knees, Ben holding her up by her hands. She could feel Dov’s hips against her, feel his erection barely brushing against her soaking wet labia as he positioned himself. In front of her, Ben’s hard cock was only inches away from her face.

  “Okay,” Daphne said, her hips moving seemingly of their own volition as she realized what the two men had in mind. She steadied herself, wrapping one arm around Ben’s hips, and looked up at his face, smiling slightly. “I think I get the picture.” />
  She moaned as she felt the tip of Dov’s hard cock brushing against her inner labia as he rubbed himself against her, stroking her clit briefly before thrusting his hips. He filled her up swiftly, a slight smacking sound reaching Daphne’s ears as his body collided with hers. For a moment, she couldn’t focus on anything but the thick, hot feeling of his cock rubbing along her inner walls as he began to move inside of her, rocking his hips, pushing deeper and deeper inside of her body. A small, almost whimpering sound from Ben brought her back, and Daphne reached up, wrapping her fingers around the base of his cock and looking up into his rapt face as she brought her mouth to the tip of his erection. She flicked her tongue out experimentally, tasting the thick precum that had begun to form, and took Ben between her lips slowly but steadily, sucking and licking as her body moved to meet Dov’s thrusts.

  Within a moment, she was lost between the two men once more, her hips pushing back on instinct to take Dov’s cock deeper and deeper inside of her even as she worshipped Ben’s erection with her lips and tongue. She moaned against Ben’s flesh as pleasure built up inside of her, more and more intense, crackling away through her nerve endings; Ben’s precum flowed more freely, coating her tongue with salty-sharp flavor, and Daphne shivered as she moved between the two eager men, taking as much of them as she could. She cried out, the sound muffled by Ben’s cock between her lips, as she felt Dov’s fingers find her clit; he began stroking it in counterpoint to his thrusts, nipping sharply at her shoulder, her back.