by Sable Sylvan
“I’m game,” said Ashley. “But you’re going to have to stop with this bad boy act, Jet.”
Jet looked to Onyx and gave him a smirk before turning back to Ashley. “I am?”
“You are,” said Ashley.
“Then make me,” said Jet, giving her a smile that made her want to slap him and tear his clothes off at the same time. “Onyx. I trust you can handle making her another plate and getting her…situated, while I get another shirt?”
“Is that even a question?” asked Onyx.
Jet headed to the wardrobe section, past the dancers who were coming out of the showers and the shifters having their makeup applied by expert makeup artists. Onyx loaded Ashley up a plate of all the best food on the table, and with a pair of coffees in hand, they headed back to the couch area. By now, the couches were filled, so Onyx signaled to one of the stagehands, and the stagehand rolled over a large black lacquer chair with red silk cushions, complete with gold details on both the lacquer and in the silk fabric. Onyx sat on the trunk while Ashley ate up.
“So what brings you to Bear Buns tonight?” asked Onyx.
“These two,” said Ashley, pointing to Miranda and Linda.
“Yeah, we all work together,” said Linda. “Bear Buns seemed like the perfect way to waste a Friday night.”
“Waste?” asked Onyx. “Trust me…it’s not a waste.”
“It seems like a good way to kill a few hours,” said Miranda.
“How much do you two know about Bear Buns?” asked Onyx.
“Well, most of the dancers are bear shifters, and The Twelve Dancing Bears…they’re looking for a menage,” said Linda. “Two bears sharing one special gal.”
“Exactly,” said Onyx looking at Linda and Miranda. “There’s nothing more serious in the world than finding your fated mate…so while for you, it might just be a fun time, for the dancers here, it’s about finding true love. Nothing’s more important than that.” As Onyx finished his explanation, his eyes landed on Ashley, and she felt something inside of her beat faster.
“Wouldn’t you agree?” asked Onyx. “There’s nothing more important than finding true love?”
“Absolutely,” said Ashley softly.
Jet came back up to Onyx. He had on a fresh shirt, his hair slightly wet, but it was barely noticeable because of the naturally dark shade of his hair. He looked to Ashley, then to the chair she was in, and he had that devilish smirk again, that smirk that Ashley now realized made her both want to slap him and smooch him at the same time. Jet leaned down and whispered into Onyx’s ear.
“Alright, we’ve got to go, but don’t move,” said Onyx. “Really. Don’t get up from that chair.”
“Trust me,” said Jet, putting a hand on Ashley’s shoulder, sending sparks from his body into hers, as he moved her special chair with his other hand so that she’d be facing the stage and watching them work their magic. “You’re in for a real show tonight…babe.”
Chapter Two
Before Ashley could react to Jet frikkin’ Chang touching her, the guys were on stage, with Jet entering from stage right, where the backstage lounge was, and Onyx coming from stage left. The stage lights were a gorgeous shade of red, the spotlights gold, making Onyx and Jet look like golden gods.
“Let’s hear you make some noise for The Twelve Dancing Bears, ladies,” said the DJ, with his smooth, silky voice. “And give it up for Jet and Onyx. Folks…you know love’s been in the air tonight, so these two? They’re headlining because they’ve been part of the troupe longer than any other pair, but as you know, after years of not finding any matches, four of the pairs have found their fated mates this year. That’s right…our very own grizzlies, our polars, even our black bears and our spicy cinnamon bears have all found fated mates to complete their menages. And what’s the secret? Well… they all found the curves they deserve, the curves that make men swerve, from gals with sass and nerve, right here in this club, right here…in Bear Buns. So let’s see if fate’s in the house tonight…”
All the ladies cheered loudly, and the DJ took that as his cue to start playing Onyx and Jet’s music. It was a hot electronic dance music track, and Onyx and Jet were slowly revealing their hot bodies to the crowd. They were showing abs one minute, firm hips the next, covering themselves back up when the audience wasn’t looking. If one was focusing on Onyx lifting his shirt, they might miss Jet lowering his pants, and if they were focused on Jet running his hands over his abs, they might just miss Onyx getting down on his knees.
Ashley felt the lacquered throne she was in starting to move. Before she could get up, a stagehand put a hand on her shoulder and leaned in to whisper, “Get ready, you’re almost up, just stay still.” Ashley turned. A tall tiger shifter, his arms covered in what looked like tattoo sleeves but which were his mate marks, was in all black, wearing a headset and a black snapback cap backward over his fiery orange-red hair. _He was pushing the bamboo throne, so Ashley had no choice but to hold onto the arms of the ornate chair.
“Now, welcome to the stage…Jet and Onyx’s assistant for the night!” said the DJ. “Ladies, there’ll be many opportunities for you to get on stage tonight, but our opening act is getting some help from a very important person this evening.”
“‘Help’?” whispered Ashley. “What does the DJ mean, ‘help’?”
“Don’t worry about that yet,” said the tiger. “Just enjoy the show.”
“Alright,” said Ashley, and she turned back to watch the action. At first, she was nervous, because she was on stage in front of all those people, but then she remembered she wasn’t what they were watching. No, they were too busy watching Jet and Onyx strut their stuff. These guys didn’t just have hot bodies…they knew how to dance too. What they were doing was martial arts inspired, but Ashley didn’t care about the dance style as much as she cared about watching Onyx and Jet strip down. They took their shirts off and the crowd roared, but, before they could turn to face her, Jet and Onyx started to leave the stage.
That was it? The show was over so quickly?
This was Bear Buns. There was no frikkin’ way things were over.
Things were just starting to heat up.
As the pandas walked to the side of the stage, the lighting switched. The light on stage turned a dark gold, while the spotlights turned a bright red. Onyx and Jet rushed at each other as a traditional Chinese music soundtrack that sounded like it belonged in a kung-fu movie. Onyx and Jet did a chest bump in the center of the stage, but it didn’t seem like a friendly one. Once they were back on the ground, Jet pushed Onyx, and Onyx pushed back…hard.
Ashley thought this was supposed to be a strip club, not a fight club, but there was no doubt about it. Onyx and Jet were at each other’s necks. One would kick, the other would dodge while preparing a punch. There was so much passion behind each motion, Ashley was sure that what she was watching had to be the real thing. But then, she realized, if this were a real fight, then wouldn’t security be involved? Wouldn’t they have ushered the two pandas off the stage and put on the next act? Plus, nobody in the audience seemed to be dismayed.
Ashley leaned forward to watch the action. Onyx and Jet hadn’t made actual physical contact with each other since the pushing. No, they had successfully and gracefully dodged one another’s moves. This had to be scripted, rehearsed, choreographed, just another part of their act.
Ashley had never understood the appeal of watching a fight. She was anti-violence, or at least, so she thought. What could possibly be appealing about a bunch of dudes swinging their fists? Well, she had never seen anything like what Onyx and Jet were doing, and what they were doing was more like a dance than a tavern brawl. Their muscles rippled underneath their shirts, their thighs bulging against their dark pants, and their eyes held an exotic fire that tempted her, begged her to try to tame it. The beads of sweat that glistened on their faces brought out the golden undertones of their skin, and the sweat also made their shirts stick to their bodies, showing off every last one
of their rippling abs, visible even in the relatively low light.
Before Ashley could get completely lost in the show, she saw something from the corner of her eye. It was the tiger stagehand again, but this time, he was rolling out a giant brass gong. On the gong was a big furry mallet.
“Hit this when you’re ready for part two of the show to start,” said the stage hand. “And put these on.” The stagehand passed her a pair of sound insulating earmuffs.
“What if I’m ready now?” asked Ashley.
The stagehand put his hand to his head. “Girl, what did I just say? If you wanna hit it now…hit it.” The stagehand pulled up his earmuffs.
Ashley picked the mallet up and was about to hit the gong but then, she hesitated. Was she ready for part one of their act to end? Well…the sooner it ended, the sooner she’d get to see them shirtless, right? Ashley stood up, put on the earmuffs, and banged the gong, and passed the mallet back to the stagehand, along with the earmuffs, before sitting back down in the chair.
At the sound of the gong, Jet and Onyx exchanged knowing glances. They did a fist bump followed by a chest bump before going to the side of the stage. The lights dimmed, and then came back up. Jet and Onyx were bathed in a low red light which brightened as the two ran into each other on the stage. Neither seemed like they were going to slow down and finally, they made an impact.
But as they made an impact, something extraordinary happened.
They started to shift.
Ashley had only seen shifters shift in front of her a few times, and she had never really watched them change, averting her eyes when it was obvious that they were about to enter their animal form. It was considered rude to watch someone shift, the same way it’d be considered rude to watch someone get changed, but of course, at Bear Buns, both those rules went out the window.
Ashley, like many of the women in the audience, had never seen a panda bear shifter shift, but it was something else. Both the men had started their shift in mid-air, and at first, it was hard to tell the two of them apart. There was dark fur, light fur, and cute fluffy ears, but where did Onyx end and Jet begin? Where did Onyx’s skin become Jet’s fur? Where did Jet’s paws become Onyx’s claws?
The lights brightened, going from red to yellow to off-white, and before she could start to tell the pandas apart, something happened.
All of a sudden, a bamboo cage had been lowered around her. She hadn’t noticed it because she was so engrossed in watching the pandas shift, but the bamboo cage had been lowered down onto her slowly and carefully before she even hit the gong, as this was part of the show. The cage was made of real bamboo, and it smelled freshly cut, like grass. The bamboo was still a bright grassy green, which is how she could tell this was genuine fresh bamboo, as older cut bamboo was a beige, like pine wood or dead grass. The cage fit over the fancy lacquered throne, with a margin of over two yards on each side (front and back, side to side, and the top), and the bamboo had been lashed together rather loosely, so light and fresh air came through the bamboo canes.
Ashley’s claustrophobia wasn’t triggered, but her curiosity was. What the heck sort of a purpose could this cage serve for the show?
She heard a crack and turned to see what was going on. Was the bamboo cage falling apart? She covered her head instinctively and then she heard what sounded like a bark and turned. She saw a furry face, white, with a dark nose, two black furry ears, and black kohl-like marks around the eyes. It was the face of a panda, with black and white fur, and deep gray eyes, and in the panda’s mouth? Bamboo, the bamboo from the cage.
She recognized those eyes. There was no doubt about it: the huge bear in front of her was Jet Chang.
Another bark came from behind her. She couldn’t understand what it was, but she had a feeling the bark was friendlier than the bark cool-headed Jet had given her. She turned. There was a large panda bear, with a pale furry face, dark ears, nose, and eye marks, but the coloration was different. Just as Onyx had redder, browner hair and eyes than Jet in his human form, his panda was also warmer colored than Jet. The pale fur was a shade of milky light brown that reminded Ashley of hot chocolate. The darker fur was a shade of medium brown, the shade of milk chocolate. She had no idea that pandas could come in that color.
The pandas munched away at the bamboo, and the DJ turned his mic back on.
“Alright, ladies, if you’ve been here before, you know exactly what’s going on, but if you’re a first timer, well, what’s going on is Onyx and Jet are racing,” said the DJ. “What kind of race is it? It’s an eating contest. Which of these pandas do you think is gonna be able to eat a hole in the cage big enough for our lovely lady to crawl out of first? Do you think that our black and white panda, Jet, is gonna win, or will it be the choco-licious Onyx? Make some noise if you think tonight’s winner is gonna be…Jet!”
The crowd roared.
“Now ladies, make some noise if you think tonight’s winner is gonna be…Onyx!”
The crowd roared again.
“Ladies, I honestly can’t tell which of our pandas has more of your support, but I will tell you this…Onyx has never, ever lost the eating contest.” The DJ turned off the mic, and Ashley looked at both the pandas.
Jet and Onyx had both been hard at work eating the bamboo rods. Ashley could now tell that the rods were all suspended in a way that ensured that the cage couldn’t collapse onto her. Each cane of bamboo was lashed to the rafters via strong ropes that only looked invisible because they were black and blended in with the backdrop and shadows. It looked like while Jet was carefully making a hole, Onyx had managed to eat more bamboo, so the escape hole he was making was already larger than Jet’s.
In a few seconds, Onyx motioned for Ashley to come over. He was ready for Ashley to crawl out of his hole.
Ashley walked over to Onyx’s exit hole and started to try to climb out…but got stuck! Her curves would not fit through the hole.
Onyx’s panda roared at him. He had gotten too cocky, which made sense given he was born in the year of the rooster. How could Onyx not account for Ashley’s curves, curves he’d rather have in his mouth instead of the bamboo (which was saying a lot given how much Onyx loved bamboo)?
“Folks, we’re seeing some shizz we ain’t never seen before,” said the DJ. “This is Bear Buns history in the making, y’all. Onyx, my brother, that’s some basic shizz. Let’s see what Onyx does to free his special lady…!”
Ashley tried to pull herself back into the center of the cage, but she was stuck, her arms and shoulders out of the bamboo, but everything past and including her bust stuck in the cage. Onyx gave Ashley a look to make sure she stayed calm and motioned to his fur with his head. Ashley put her hand on Onyx’s fur, and Onyx nodded. Ashley ran her fingers through Onyx’s fur. Onyx got back to munching at the bamboo, being careful not to get any of Ashley’s clothing in his mouth while he got to work freeing her from the hole. After all, on stage, Jet and Onyx were the strippers, and they would be ripping her clothing off with more than just their mouths back in the cocktail room.
Something nudged Ashley. She turned. It was Jet! He didn’t bother to try to calm her. He moved, so he was underneath her, on all fours, and carefully munched away at the bamboo.
“Ladies, this night’s getting weirder and weirder,” said the DJ. “Jet’s one cold panda, so this is definitely out of character.”
Jet got up and turned his head, roaring toward the DJ. The crowd laughed. Jet went back to munching away at the bamboo.
Soon, with the efforts of both bears, Ashley was free to pull herself back into the cage. Of course, now she was back in the cage, so was she going to have to wait for Onyx and Jet to expand that hole for her?
She heard a bark. As she’d pulled herself back into the cage, Jet had walked back around the cage towards his hole. He was able to walk through the hole into the cage, showing Ashley that the hole must be big enough for her to get through. Ashley hadn’t even noticed that Jet had been eating a hole for her while O
nyx had tried and failed to free her from the hole he’d made. The hole Jet had made was big enough for Jet, so it was definitely big enough for her.
Ashley crawled out of the hole, and as she did so, she heard the crowd cheer. They had to be cheering for Jet winning, right?
Nope. The crowd could care less about the contest! What they cared about was seeing hot, sexy men baring it all, or rather, bear-ing it all, and they had gotten their wish. Before Ashley could get up off of her knees, she was scooped up off of the floor.
She turned her head to see who had lifted her up. She thought it must’ve been that tiger stage hand, but nope. It was Jet. He was back in his human form, and he had Ashley pressed tight to his chest as the bamboo cage was lifted up and then, he lowered her back onto the chair, where Onyx was still in his panda form.
Ashley stayed in the chair, but before she had a chance to say anything to Jet or Onyx, they were walking back towards the crowd. Onyx shifted out of his panda form, his fur receding and his form changing until he was back in his sexy human state, and that’s when Ashley realized something.
These pandas were now abso-frikkin’-lutely naked.
They’d shifted into their panda form without changing out of their clothes, which had burst into shreds as they shifted, the scraps still in the center of the stage. They hadn’t changed back into clothes after shifting back into human form, so of course, they had to be naked. From behind, Ashley couldn’t see their mate marks, which were exposed to the audience, but instead, she saw something else.
Something thick, something juicy, something muscular.
She saw their bare buns.
And between the thighs, past the buns?
Something you can’t see at most strip clubs. She could only make out the outline because the bears were lit from the front, but she could tell the twigs and berries were more than satisfactory.
Like clockwork out came the tiger stagehand. This time, he had a huge prop. It was a large red envelope with gold details.