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

by Meg Ripley

  Surging forward with his usual aplomb, a furious Lachan butted his scaled head full and hard against his brother’s chest, letting loose with a mighty roar that betrayed his innermost rage.

  Grasping at his brother with sharp clawed hands, Gabriel bore his razor-sharp teeth as he released an amplified growl, his tail swinging back and forth in a furious motion as he slashed mercilessly at Lachan’s face.

  Springing into action, Dracor morphed swiftly to his nature made form and flew with unbridled flourish into the air above him, letting loose with a mighty roar as he confronted his sons mid-air.

  Parting his lips wide, Dracor spewed a stream of fire just above the heads of his fighting family members, stilling their movements as they both turned to face him with wide eyes and an expression that bespoke their fear.

  “Gabriel and Lachan!” Dracor bellowed. “You disgrace yourselves, and the people of our realm, with this brash and childish behavior. And while I deeply regret that you both have been assigned the same Earthling life mate, this is not the right and proper way to settle the matter.” He paused here, adding in a regal bellow, “So, to put it more simply, you will have to find a civil and diplomatic way to resolve this conflict!”

  The brothers froze motionless in response to their father’s words, hanging their heads in shame as they folded their clawed hands before them and said, “Yes, Father.”

  Once again, Lachan and Gabriel stood facing one another in their father’s throne room, staring through the panes of the soothsaying orb.

  “Well then, my brother, it seems that we face a most peculiar sort of quandary,” Gabriel observed, stroking his sculpted chin in a show of deep contemplation. “The Soothsayer has chosen one woman for the both of us, and after each romancing this exquisite lady, we each have fallen in love with her—as, I suppose, was intended from the start.”

  Lachan nodded.

  “And, from what we can gather, she is quite fond of us as well,” he paused here, adding through pursed lips, “Of course I had hoped that the act of making mad passionate love to her would give me the edge—but this woman seems to favor romance just as much as she does unbridled sexuality.”

  Gabriel chuckled.

  “Well, since the Soothsayer is offering us nothing in the way of answers or explanation,” he reasoned, narrowing his eyes condemningly in the direction of the blinking orb, “we may just have to pay another visit to our Sarah—and ask her to make a final decision.”

  ****

  It was official. Sarah Coleman had been on shift at The Coffee Castle for a few hours too long.

  Sure, it was normal and customary for her to be weary at the end of an exhausting day; even so, said fatigue did not generally inspire the curious image of dragons in flight.

  Yet sure enough, a casual glance out the front window of The Coffee Castle produced the image she’d seen many nights in her dreams: the vision of two towering dragons with wide spanning wings, long stately tails, sleekly scaled forms, and eyes that seemed to gleam forthright in her direction.

  “They’re so beautiful, just like in my dreams,” she breathed, “only they just don’t belong in this world.”

  Excusing herself for her nightly dinner break, Sarah took leave of The Coffee Castle and headed for the wide open field that bordered the establishment—and sure enough, the dragons that she’d spotted through a broad bay window followed in her wake.

  Criminy. Sarah had had enough.

  “Okay, you dragons,” she admonished the giant, bewinged green creatures who now stood before her in a fragrant golden field. “It’s all fine and good for you to show up in my dreams, but when I’m trying to put in an honest day’s work and two oversized lizards with wings show up to distract me, well, this is simply where I draw the line.”

  The dragons before her looked at one another, cocking their heads in what seemed to be a show of keen curiosity.

  Then they both began to laugh. Hard.

  “We are sorry to startle you, my dear,” said the dragon on the left, whose voice sounded eerily familiar to Sarah’s ears. “Perhaps you would prefer to see us in a different form?”

  Without awaiting an answer, the duo dissolved in a sparkling flash of pure emerald light, emerging seconds later as they assumed their promised different forms.

  Forms that, she couldn’t help but notice, seemed familiar to her eyes.

  Not to mention fully and markedly naked to these same eyes.

  “Gabriel and Lachan?” she asked, squinting confused as she beheld the tall, statuesque forms of her dashing young lovers.

  “Our queen!” the brothers announced in unison, striking a low courtly bow before their lady.

  “It is indeed us, the men who adore you,” Gabriel continued, adding in a low, serious tone, “only, in our thus far joyous communications, we have neglected to tell you the truth.”

  “Yay,” Lachan agreed, shuffling his freshly morphed feet beneath him. “The truth is, my lady, that we are princes of the dragon realm. And we’ve been haunting your dreams, almost every night.”

  “Yet we have a good reason for doing so!” Gabriel interjected quickly, holding his hands up before him in what seemed a defensive stance.

  Sarah shook her head.

  “Can’t wait to hear it,” she said vaguely, at this point questioning her very sanity.

  Gabriel chuckled.

  “Well, as it turns out, Love, Lachan and I are brothers—dragon princes who have come to you from the farthest reaches of the Planet Vertania,” he explained. “When our father, the good King Dracor, bid us to find our mate, we sought the consult of a mystical orb to show us her identity.”

  “And the lovely lady revealed to both of us, dear Sarah,” Lachan continued, “was the same lovely lady now standing here before us. So, with that in mind, my darling, we leave it to you to choose between us.” He paused here, adding with a saucy grin, “But before you do, Sarah, do allow us to make our cases one more time.”

  “Together,” they said as one, opening their arms to her.

  Moving forward as if in a trance, Sarah soon lost herself in four encircling arms as desire overcame her, her face erupting in a dreamy smile as both of her lovers coated her cheeks and neck in a tender rain of sweet baby kisses, also holding her warm and close between their two sculpted bodies.

  She gasped audibly seconds later, as Gabriel most literally swept her off her feet, staring deeply into her eyes as he carried her to a whisper soft patch of grass surrounded by a circle of ruby red roses.

  “I aim to prove to you, my lady, that I can be every bit as naughty as he can,” he released on a whisper, pulling her closer to him. “And that I can please you even better.”

  Lachan had heard enough.

  “Oh, I know a challenge when I hear one,” he snorted, descending to the ground beside them in a single smooth flourish as he wrapped his arms around Sarah’s shoulders.

  Together, the brothers stripped their lady bare as she writhed desirous between them, and as an attentive Lachan massaged her work-worn shoulders and whipped the long strands of his midnight black hair softly across her back, Gabriel fondled her breasts and rounded stomach as he kissed her smiling lips.

  Sarah lost herself to the feeling as both men caressed her, their hands canvassing her body as she pressed herself tightly into a cocoon of pure, hard muscle.

  The contrasting softness of their lips on her face and neck lulled her into a pleasurable trance; one that Gabriel enhanced as he swept her into two encompassing arms and plied her with the sweetest of kisses.

  Their hips pressed tightly against one another, this intimate contact creating a divine friction between them as she entangled her hands in his silky golden hair.

  The couple’s bodies slithered together as he rubbed and massaged her buxom breasts, his long hard shaft rising to tease her tender feminine cleft.

  Not to be forgotten, an impassioned Lachan rubbed his entire body against hers as his magical fingertips kneaded her back and squeezed
her buxom rear.

  Even as she continued to kiss and caress her golden-haired lover, she reached back to run her free hand down the length of Lachan’s magnificent torso, then lowering her fingertips to coddle and caress his long, reverberating rod.

  Rearing his head back with an aroused roar well worthy of a dragon prince, Lachan writhed and gyrated hard against her back as Gabriel saw to her front; seeming intent to distract her as he reached his hand downward to part her feminine folds, rubbing and kneading her sensitive nub as she sighed with delight.

  Opening herself to him with a lusty sigh, she welcomed her golden-haired lover as he surged fully and finally into her, his long, wet tongue advancing forth into her mouth to match the rhythm of his deep and divine penetration.

  Still she continued to rub and stroke Lachan’s shaft, relishing his attentions as he nipped and licked the back of her neck and his hands stroked her long soft hair.

  She took in her breath moments later, as an impassioned Gabriel moved and shifted within her, until the tip of his cock stroked a soft fleshy spot just inside her entry.

  “I promised you the ultimate pleasure,” he whispered against her lips, adding as he clutched her body to his, “and I intend to deliver.”

  With these words, he tossed his hair forward to cover and tickle her sensitive breasts, at the same time thrusting forth his shaft to ignite her equally sensitive G-spot.

  Sarah squealed outright against Gabriel’s lips as ecstasy overcame her, radiating free through her entire body as she herself delivered a mighty stroke that sent her dark-haired lover over the edge.

  Soon the trio’s ecstatic cries filled the air above them, intermingling with the sound of singing gulls overhead as Sarah stretched languidly in the grasses beneath her.

  Turning her gently in his arms, Lachan picked a dew-glistened ruby red rose from the ground beneath them and rubbed its petals over her breasts and down her rounded tummy, all the while kissing her lips at a leisurely, languid pace.

  Not to be forgotten, Gabriel kissed his way down her neck as he stroked her shoulders and back, whispering in her ear as he praised her strength, her kindness, and her beauty.

  Her face erupted in a giddy grin as Lachan lowered his rose between her legs, coaxing open her feminine folds before tossing aside the flower and replacing it with his talented fingertips.

  His free hand cupped her flushed cheek as his kiss intensified, their tongues entangling even as she reached her free hand backward to caress Gabriel’s firm muscled chest and tickle his solid abs.

  She moaned against Lachan’s full luscious lips as he rubbed and coaxed her enflamed nub; his sensual movements coating her being with a rain of intense erotic sparks.

  Whipping her shoulders with his long blond hair and rubbing his hard-planed body against her back, Gabriel lowered his head to her neck and nibbled its sensitive nape, intensifying her pleasure as she clenched her soft thighs around Lachan’s nurturing—if devilish—hand.

  Then, in an instant, her being exploded in another incredible climax; her heart pounding and her pulse reverberating as both of her lovers held her body fast and tight between them.

  Finally, the trio collapsed together in the soft luxury of emerald grasses slathered in beams of newly born moonlight; a stunning spectacle that reminded the brothers of home.

  “Have you made your choice, my darling?” Gabriel whispered in her ear. “If so, then we would like to take you home with us…to meet your future father in law and tell him which of his sons you intend to marry.”

  ****

  Moments later, Sarah found herself riding astride a dragon, soaring upward to the heights of a star strewn sky as she flew majestically in a race with the moon.

  She took in her breath as she and her companions careened through the borders of an emerald realm; one in which the gold of a radiant full moon held court in a sky that glowed the greatest green.

  Bracing her arms tightly around the stalwart neck of Gabriel—or was it Lachan? Blast it; in their dragon form they looked nearly identical—Sarah cast her gaze downward to behold a beautiful vision: a gem green structure of statuesque domes, towers and turrets, with expansive balconies and porches, emblazoned with a beautiful flag—one bearing the image of what appeared to be a dragon king.

  “Welcome home,” the brothers told her, spreading their wings as they arched their bodies downward in a graceful final descent.

  Soon, a dazed Sarah found herself jostled through an arched entryway and into a dressing room that adjoined the palace’s throne room, a small but grandiose chamber adorned with green brocade walls and a floral print dressing screen.

  Awaiting her in this room was a beautiful couture gown that seemed like something out of a dream: a lush gown of leaf-green satin adorned with decorative ruffles around the neckline and down the front panel. The sleeves of the dress boasted bright satin bows, and aside from a striking lace-up bodice, it also came with an exquisite emerald choker.

  Piling her hair atop her head and slipping into a waiting pair of soft teal slippers, Sarah left the sanctity of her temporary refuge and made her way into the throne room; a room whose walls glowed with a layer of lovely emerald tapestries and artworks overseen by a high stately ceiling.

  Forming the head of this impressive room was a cushioned golden throne, the sitting place of a bearded grey-haired man who looked down upon her with a broad smile.

  “Ah, Miss Sarah, finally we meet. I am Dracor, king of Vertania,” greeted the king, adding as he beckoned her forward, “Please come join us.”

  Taking her place between the two princes who stood tall and proud before the throne, both adorned now in long bejeweled tunics and sleek black leather pantaloons, she greeted Dracor with a cheerful grin as she said, “Well, hey there. Mighty nice place you have here!”

  Dracor pitched his head back, letting loose with a sharp guffaw that resounded loud from the surface of the palace walls.

  “I can see why you adore her,” he told his sons, adding as he turned his attention to Sarah, “Before we settle down to a meal in the comfort of our royal dining hall, Miss, I find that I have only one question to ask you. Which of my sons, Sarah Coleman, would you have as your wedded prince?”

  Biting her lip hard, Sarah looked from Gabriel to Lachan, finally turning her eyes to the king as she replied, “I must tell you, your majesty, that both of your sons represent the finest examples of true and flawless manhood. Both are handsome, noble, wise and respectful. I have come to know and love both of these princes, and so I must answer in all honesty: both of them.”

  Dracor started.

  “Did you say both of them?” he asked her, adding as he turned to his sons, “Would this arrangement be acceptable to the two of you?”

  The princes looked at one another, then nodded.

  “She is our queen,” Gabriel agreed, leaning forward to kiss the cheek of his beaming bride to be.

  “Our one and true intended,” Lachan declared, kissing her other cheek with equal affection. “And we do love her so.”

  The king smiled.

  “If it works for you, my dear sons, then it works for me,” he declared, adding as he raised his arm to dramatic effect, “And so it shall be!”

  THE END

  Bearer Of Secrets

  I woke up from a terrible dream only to realize that it was real -- my friend Dean, this impossibly hot shifter cowboy, is the only man I know who can understand what I'm going through. He's the only person I know who will help me escape this nightmare. I need him now more than I would have ever imagined.

  Marisol

  Being the daughter of a bullfighter and a former rodeo queen, I’ve seen thousands of cowboys come and go, but I’ve never laid eyes on any man as expertly skilled—or as sexy—as Dean Longstrider.

  Little did I know that over the summer, I’d discover an unexpected and dangerous side of myself—and Dean is the only person I know that I can turn to for help.

  Dean

  Being
in this business sure comes with its perks. I have more offers from ladies than I know what to do with, but thing is, none of that matters to me—I have my eye on one woman and one woman alone: Marisol. She’s a great girl, and God, when I think about what I could do with those curves...it’s enough to drive a man—or werebear—buck wild.

  When Marisol told me she was in trouble this summer, I swore to do whatever it would take to keep her safe, to protect what’s mine, even if it costs me the championship—or more...

  “And now, the ride you’ve all been waiting for. The final ride of the night, and folks, this is for all of the proverbial marbles, and I ain’t kidding. Now this young man, Dean Longstrider, he’s got a lot on this ride. He had the highest score on Thursday night. He had the highest score on Saturday night, and folks, if he gets a score of 92 or better, he’ll win this purse, and this purse is nothing to sneeze at. No sir, it’s not. This purse has been generously doubled by our good sponsors at Franklin’s Chevrolet and it’s up to twenty thousand semolians, and you don’t need me to tell you, that’s a lot of semolians.”

  It was a lot of semolians, especially for an amateur night in Cody, Wyoming.

  Marisol whipped her apron off as the event announcer, Rocky, rattled on, filling the time between the bull riders. “I’ll be right back, Mama! Dean’s about to ride.”

  “Did you clean the range?”

  “Yes, Mama, everything is cleaned and the money box is counted up. I’ll be right back!”

  Marisol flew from her mother’s food truck and under the packed bleachers to the tall fence around the arena. The chute gates were on the opposite side and her heart jumped to her throat as she waited for the sound of the buzzer that would mark the beginning of Dean’s ride. He was going to win the purse. Everybody knew it. Nobody could ride a bull like Dean Longstrider. Not even his uncle Rory, and Rory was a legend on the pro circuit.