by Riley Storm
“Thank you. We work hard to keep it looking so pristine.”
She fell silent as the car made its way up the driveway toward what she assumed was a house waiting somewhere ahead. The size of the property led her to believe it would be big, but she wasn’t ready for what awaited her after nearly a mile of winding road.
“Hol-y shit.”
It wasn’t a house. Even the word mansion didn’t do justice to the size of the building that spread out ahead of her. Palace, she decided. It was a palace indeed; that was the only word that seemed even remotely applicable to this vast structure.
Four stories tall, it should have looked boxy, but the peaked roof sections, curving exterior and sections that were only one or two stories broke up any sense of squareness, giving it a grand stature she was sure the inside lived up to. Stained glass was visible in most of the larger windows, and any corner in the roof was broken up with a stone gargoyle of various shapes and sizes, designed to pull the eye to it, instead of the change in architecture.
She’d never seen anything like it; it was completely, and totally, unique.
“You live in there?” Her words were dulled, her senses overwhelmed by the sprawling house.
“Yes. Welcome to Ursidae Manor.”
“Right. Of course, it has a name. Um. Just who do you live with? An army?”
Kirell laughed with genuine humor. “I’m sure some see it that way.”
The road forked, the left-hand side making a big looping circle under an awning the size of an Olympic swimming pool, which she assumed was the main entryway. Kirell took the car to the right, down a ramp that curved to the side and then opened up into an underground garage, spreading out as far as she could see in either direction.
Cars of all types were parked there. Exotic sports cars, including several Aston Martins, a Koenigsegg or three, a Lotus, and Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Jaguars and Mercedes—all beyond counting. There were also more run of the mill cars and tons of huge SUVs, along with big pickup trucks.
“Good lord. This is a car guy’s garage. These are all yours?”
“I wish. No, these belong to various members of my family. Some of them are mine, the ones over here.” The car rolled to a halt, and she noticed that the lines on the ground were painted orange there. Looking around, she saw that the color on the ground sectioned off the cars.
“Still. You can invite me over anytime,” she said, staring down the gorgeous lines of a Jaguar C-X75. “I won’t bother you, I’ll just hang out down here.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He parked the car and gestured for her to follow him out.
“I can’t believe you own all of this, Kirell. I…that’s more money than I can conceive of.”
He coughed politely. “I don’t.”
“You don’t what?”
“Own it. Not exactly. It belongs to the family.”
She nodded. “Right. The family.” A thought occurred to her. “Wait. So, are you telling me that you still live at home with your parents?”
Kirell didn’t answer. Glancing up at him showed he was looking straight ahead, blinking rapidly. “It’s not like that,” he said at last.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. There is a lot you don’t know.”
“Well, we’re here now. I know you’ve got more money than anyone I’ve ever heard of, and that you live in a gorgeous house. With your parents. Can you start telling me more of these secrets?”
He smiled tightly. “Yes, but first let’s get you changed. You look amazing in that dress, but comfier clothes are probably for the best. You’re going to want to be as relaxed as possible.”
Looking down at the dress and smiling, Natalia let herself feel good. Clearly, her choice of outfit was having the effect upon Kirell that she’d been going for when she chose it. He looked pretty sharp himself, she was forced to admit, walking by his side as he showed her to an elevator.
An elevator. Only rich people have elevators in their houses!
Then his words sank in.
“Uh, Kirell? I don’t have any other clothes with me. And if you think I’m just going to get naked in front of you, you’re wrong. It’s going to take more than a kiss before that happens.” She’d meant to sound like she was joking, but her voice came out harsh instead.
The doors to the elevator opened and he stepped out, looking around before moving aside so she could follow. It was empty, save the various paintings and art objects on tables. It was wide, easily triple the width of a standard household hallway. It felt more and more like a palace with every bit she saw.
“That’s not what I meant,” Kirell said, continually glancing around before showing her to a blank wall panel. “Do you mind sweatpants and a sweatshirt? We, uh, have a lot of those lying around.”
She frowned as he pressed on a piece of the panel and it popped open to reveal a much narrower passageway. He motioned for her to go in, staying close behind as he looked up and down the hall before pulling the panel shut behind them.
“Sweats are fine, but Kirell, why does it feel like we’re sneaking around? This feels like a secret passage.”
“It is a secret passage. I love them. It’s so much fun.”
Right. She shook her head, staying silent as she followed his directions. A palace with a car garage out of her fantasies, secret passages and bigger than some convention centers.
I always joked about being a trophy wife to some rich man, but this is way more than I ever even dreamed about.
Eventually, he pushed open another part of the wall, revealing a room beyond.
“Bringing me into your room already?” she joked. “Don’t you think you’re getting a little presumptive?”
“Am I?” he murmured into her ear, causing her to jump and bite her lip all in one motion.
Kirell didn’t wait around for an answer. He strode to a monstrous wardrobe and took a pair of ugly brown sweatpants from the top, flinging them at her. She caught them and a moment later, did the same with a matching hooded sweatshirt.
“Wow. You guys sure know about style, don’t you?”
He smiled. “It’s cheaper if you order in bulk. I have a lot of siblings.”
“Alright…” She looked around the room. It was large, with a big bed in the middle of one wall, the wardrobe and a desk against another. Several sitting couches and chairs occupied one corner, next to what she assumed was the door to the hallway outside. The last had a big walk-in bathroom. “Can I have some privacy?”
Kirell nodded and slipped out the big door.
Her eyes continued to roam the room. “Sure are a lot of bears around here.” The bedposts were all carved into the heads of a bear. On the ceiling was a large mural depicting several bears in a forest. Elsewhere in the room were figurines and another painting.
Finally, she gave up and started stripping out of her dress, folding it carefully over the back of a chair before pulling on the sweatpants.
“Are you re—”
She yelped, slamming her hands over her chest as Kirell came back in the room. After a moment she calmed, realizing she was both facing away from him and wearing a bra. It was still a little vulnerable, but she composed herself and pulled the sweatshirt on, even as the door clicked closed behind her.
“It’s safe now,” she called.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, apologizing even as he was coming through the door. “I figured you’d had long enough to change…”
“My fault,” she said, waving it off. “I was snooping, trying to figure out why there’s so much bear stuff here.”
“Yes. That. Well, that’s kind of complicated.”
She lifted both eyebrows, expecting him to say more, but he stayed silent. “I see. Well then Kirell Ursa, I—wait a minute!” she exclaimed, snapping her fingers.
He looked around at her outburst.
“Ursa. That’s the constellation of the bear, isn’t it?”
“It is. Come on outside, I’ll point it out to you,” he said, gesturing to
the door.
“What? Why? It’s just stars?”
Kirell sighed, looking a little exasperated. “Come on. Let me show you.”
She couldn’t figure out why he was acting so strangely. From the moment they’d stepped into his house, Kirell had come across like another person entirely. It was starting to grate on her nerves, and she was thinking of asking that he take her home, because it was making her uncomfortable. Whatever this Top Secret stuff was that he wanted to share with her, Natalia was no longer sure it was worth the effort.
The earnest look on his face, combined with the clear nervousness he was doing his best to cover up, gave her pause. There was no sense of maliciousness or other bad feeling from him. Just…discomfort. It was that lack of bad vibes—something she’d always been adept at picking up—that swayed her decision.
What the hell, I’ve come this far. May as well see it through. A Green Card and ten grand isn’t something to just throw away.
Back out they went, through the hidden passages and down an elevator, before emerging at what she assumed was the rear of the palatial house. The grounds spread out before them, gentle rolling hills of green interspersed with clusters of trees, before disappearing into a forest perhaps half a mile or more distant.
More importantly, right in front of them—a hundred feet or so away—was a massive patio area, replete with barbecue area, swimming pool, hot tub, what looked like a sauna, and even better, a lit fire.
“This is wonderful.” Her attention was eventually pulled upward, to the clear sky above. The night might have had a bit of a chill to it, but there wasn’t a cloud in sight, giving her a breathtaking view of the stars. “It’s been so long since I left the city and just looked up. It’s so beautiful.”
Relaxing into one of the loungers, she enjoyed the warmth of the fire, letting it ward off the cool touch of the fall night.
“There.”
Kirell had his hand raised, finger pointing to the night sky at a distant object. Following his gaze, she looked up at the stars.
“Do you see the Big Dipper?”
Nodding, she located the pot-shaped constellation. It was one of the few she knew. Stargazing was an enjoyable activity, but Natalia had never bothered to learn many of the names or locations of them.
“The handle is the tail of the Great Bear constellation, or Ursa Major.”
One by one, Kirell guided her vision to the various stars that made up Ursa Major: Alkaid; Mizar; Alcor; Alioth; Megrez… and a dozen others whose names she quickly forgot. The shape began to resolve itself from the rest of the sky, however, until she could easily spot it after looking away.
“You certainly have a thing for bears in your family, don’t you?” she remarked, sitting up, wondering if they were ever going to get to the point of why he was out there.
“There’s a reason for that, and I’m going to show it to you.” Kirell stood up. “Whatever happens, promise you won’t freak out? I need you to—”
His head snapped around as something moved in the darkness, shuffling forward.
“Natalia, it’s okay. It’s not what you—”
The rest of his words were drowned out by her scream as a giant beast of a grizzly bear came ambling into the firelight.
13
Her fear flung her backward, the chair tipping back up and over, spilling her to the ground in a puddle of limbs and baggy sweats. Desperately, she worked to untangle herself before the bear could maul both of them to death.
“Natalia, it’s okay!” Kirell shouted just as she got to her feet and tried to take off for the perceived safety of the sauna.
“It is NOT okay!” she hollered back, feet slipping out from under her as she tried to move them too quickly. “That’s a bear! You’re just so obsessed, you probably think you’ve seen your god!”
Her frantic escape took her another three or four steps before giant arms wrapped themselves around her torso. Screaming at the perceived bear attack, she flailed violently, trying desperately to hit anything and everything to get the bear to drop her before it ripped her open and ate her entrails as a snack. The visions of such an act were flashing through her brain.
“CALM DOWN!” Kirell bellowed in her ear.
“Fuck you! I’ve seen The Revenant, I know what happens to Leo! I’m not letting it happen to me!” She kicked and squirmed, slipping out of his grasp through the simple experience of sliding out of the sweatshirt.
“Stop.” Kirell readjusted his hands to keep holding her.
Natalia hissed as he inadvertently clamped down over one of her breasts, holding tight.
They’re so small, he probably doesn’t even know.
“We’re safe,” Kirell repeated, not letting go, only squeezing harder as she tried to run.
“Uh, dude. Those are bears. You know, lions and tigers and bears. Oh, my! They don’t say oh my for the lions or tigers, but for the bears. Bears are carnivores. They eat meat. I am meat, and I don’t particularly need to get eaten tonight.”
“Well that’s a shame,” he growled into her ear, sexual overtones clearly evident.
“Really? Seriously? You’re going to make a sexual joke now, while there’s a two thousand-pound killing machine right behind us? Why are you so intent on dying? We should be somewhere else, Kirell. Somewhere far away. We need to run, man.”
By now, Kirell was laughing. It wasn’t a high-pitched hysterical noise either, but one of genuine amusement.
“We are perfectly safe. This is what I was going to show you.”
She started to calm, at least outwardly. Internally, adrenaline was still very much pumping, trying to get her to take up the flight option of fight or flight. But Kirell didn’t seem the least bit bothered.
“If this is your way of telling me you keep pet bears, I’m going to be severely pissed at you.”
Pulling his hand off her breast—and almost immediately missing the warmth of his rough, calloused hand—she tugged both her bra and sweatshirt back into position before turning around slowly. What an evening this was turning out to be!
The bear was still there. It locked eyes and growled at her almost immediately.
“What the fuck!” she yelped, backing away, but somehow, Kirell was right behind her and she ended up slamming into his rock-hard chest. Arms clamped over her shoulders and held her tight once more. “Why aren’t you scared?”
“Because,” Kirell said with a chuckle, “I didn’t call Kellas a pet.”
Natalia looked up over her shoulder at her...protector? “Kellas? You gave your pet bear a human-sounding name?”
“I am not a pet!”
Her head came around so quickly, the snapping sounds were audible to everyone nearby. Natalia didn’t notice. She was too shocked by what she was seeing.
Where the bear had been a moment earlier, a human was standing. Well, mostly a human, but the more she watched, the more it resembled one and the less it looked like a bear. It was also a very big and buff human, like Kirell, who happened to be completely naked, from head to…
Slapping her hand over her eyes, she tore her gaze away from the stranger’s dick.
“Put some clothes on, Kellas! Have some fucking decency, you prick.”
The other man chuckled, and she heard him moving, and then a door to something squeaked open.
“Kellas…but you called the bear Kellas.” She was shaking her head, trying to figure it all out.
“You can look now,” Kirell said, his voice still tinged with what she thought was real anger.
She did. Kellas was still there, but he at least had sweatpants on now, though he was still shirtless. Did Kirell look like that with his shirt off, she wondered?
Get your mind out of the gutter and back on what you just saw! That man was a bear. Now he’s a man.
“So, you guys are magicians? Is that what you were wanting to show me?” Her brain latched onto the most rational explanation. “Where did the bear actually go? Was it mirrors?”
Kella
s shook his head. “No stage magic, no real magic, and certainly no mirrors. What you saw, was me.”
“Was you,” she repeated. “But where is the bear?”
Kirell pointed past her. “He is the bear.”
“Ha ha. Seriously, where is it? How do you keep it so controlled? Is it a robot? Seriously, there was a murderous carnivore here thirty seconds ago. Why is nobody else concerned about this?”
Kellas sighed and looked over her shoulder at Kirell. “Do you want me to show her?”
“No,” Kirell said, mirth still coloring his voice. “I’ll handle it from here. Thank you, though.”
Kellas just shrugged and walked out of the firelight, heading back toward the house.
Once they were alone, she pulled out of his grip, experiencing only the slightest twinge of regret. “What the hell is happening here? What are you going to show me?” She was wary now, her guard up, ready for any other tricks.
Kirell didn’t try to get close to her. Instead, he backed away, giving them some space. Then, as she watched in amazement, he peeled off his suit jacket and began undoing the buttons of the shirt beneath.
“Uh, listen. I know you made a sex joke a minute ago, but unless you missed my response, I was not on board. This is not overly seductive, despite your, um…” she just waved her hand to indicate his body.
“I’m not trying to seduce you.” As he said it, his shirt came off as well, revealing a chest and upper body that, if anything, was more impressive than Kellas’s.
“Then why is it you’re working on taking your pants off?”
Kirell’s foot got caught and he hopped slightly before pulling the stubborn pant leg around his heel and freeing it. Natalia watched the entire thing, struggling not to laugh.
“Okay, I believe you now.”
He glared at her before standing up, now clad only in his boxers. Then he stretched, muscles flexing as he did. Natalia couldn’t help it; she bit her lip, eyefucking the shit out of his toned abs and shredded arms.
Kirell noticed of course, flashing her a wink, but then—to her surprise—he sobered completely.
“Listen,” she said tentatively. “Now is not the time for naked fun.”