Breakwater: Rick (BBW Bad Boy Space Bear Shifter Romance) (Star Bears Book 2) (181 page)

My tongue darted out and snatched the glob of cum. I let it linger on my tongue, savoring the primal taste. I could sense his virility, his willingness to mate. It was like a key fitting into a lock in my mind. He was a ready wolf, and I was a willing bitch in heat.

“Oh,” Sven said between licks. “You’ve excited her, Helmut. Her flavor has changed.”

Helmut
 
said nothing, but I could sense a grin appearing on my lips.
 

I reached behind me and grabbed Sven, stroking him so hard his balls shook. I opened my mouth and took Helmut in, sucking him. Honoring him. Eager to please him.
 

“That feels so good, Clarissa,” Helmut said, slowly stroking his shaft while the head was in my mouth.

I could sense my prey, close and getting slower. That knowledge made me more excited. My hand grabbed a full head of Sven’s hair and I gyrated my hips, grinding my slit against his mouth. Despite his eager tongue, my juices overflowed, spilling down his chin.

From somewhere inside me, I cried out in lust. The noise that reached my ears was unfamiliar.
 

“My Grace growls. She is done with these games,” Helmut said, his hand stroking my cheek softly. “You deserve a proper mounting from both of us. Bent forward and fucked until you can’t move.” He pulled his cock out of my mouth and replaced it with his tongue, kissing me deeply.

I wrapped my hand around his head. “Yes, please fuck me. I need you inside me!”

“Later,” he said, looking at me. “We’ve arrived.”

Below us, I could hear the regular thrum-thrum of the tracks get slower. We were pulling into Trondheim.

Sven gave me one last long lick and a soft kiss on my flower. Then he crawled up next to me and whispered in my ear, “My appetite for you is unending. Once we get to the village, I’m going to tear your clothes off of you.”

My wolf mind was confused. My prey had escaped. So close, I’d felt it’s hairs in my teeth. But my orgasm had darted into a hole, out of my reach. I felt a surge of rage inside me, an emotion I wasn’t used to. “This is bullshit! You can’t just leave me hanging like that!” I stood up and pushed Helmut in the chest.

Normally, this would have been like pushing against a brick wall. But my arms flexed with new strength, my hips carrying the power from my legs forward. His eyes shot open with surprise as he toppled backwards off the bed, his legs up in the air.

I heard laughter from behind me and spun around. “How dare you!” I bent low, ready to attack Sven. I didn’t know what was coming over me.

“Peace! Peace!” he said, his hands open to the side. His laughter stopped. “Forgive me, my Grace. I meant no offense.”

“We’ve not known our first day of the Change since we were babes,” Helmut said, standing up. “It’s much different for you, and we will be more mindful of that.”

I stood between the two men, my chest heaving. My rage was fading, replaced by embarrassment over my actions. “I’m…I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Sven said. “Helmut’s fared worse.”

“Not by much,” I said, rubbing the tender bruise forming on my ass.
 

Clarissa looked over at me, her anger subsiding and replaced with a look of sympathy. She opened her mouth but closed it without saying anything.

It would be like this. Her Change would be a thing of difficulty even in the best of situations. And this was far from the best of situations. Our Pack wasn’t expecting us to bring home a human-born Grace. They were expecting a Shifter of some noble lineage, a union to establish political ties.

That’s how it’s always been done. Packs intermingle, they intermarry. This ensures good breeding stock and alliances against outside threats. But lately it seems like there were more threats from within.

These thoughts ran through my head as we all got dressed and packed our things. Sven and I hadn’t even unpacked, so we were ready in moments, meeting Clarissa out on the train platform.

“Something is amiss,” Sven said, looking over at me.

I sniffed the air, searching for the familiar scents of our Pack. Nothing. No one was here to greet us. The entire Pack should have been here, to receive us. “Where is everyone?”

“What’s wrong?” Clarissa said, looking from Sven to me with concern.

“Our Pack should have been here to welcome us,” Sven said. His eyes scanned the area, his hackles up. “To welcome their new Grace.”

“Their absence is concerning,” I said.

“It’s not concerning, it’s alarming,” Sven rebutted.

“Well, there’s no point in worrying until we have a reason to worry,” Clarissa said. “Are we going to stand here with our panties in a knot or are we going to go find out what happened?”

I looked over at Sven, his eyebrows raised. We shared a grin.

“The truck is this way,” I said, walking off towards the train station’s long term parking lot.

We drove for over an hour, through meandering roads and dirt paths. The woods all around were deep, old wood forests. Massive
 
evergreen trees reached up to the sky, their wide bases making them look unnaturally large. Where there weren’t trees, there were meadows. Beautiful groves, streams and clear rivers. Helmut’s truck rumbled along, taking turns with a bit more speed than necessary.

“Hey, slow down a little bit,” I said, bracing myself in the back seat as we made a tight corner without slowing down.

Helmut grunted, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. The truck slowed a little bit. His long brown hair was pulled back behind his ears. He was focused on the road ahead of us, his hands moving to dodge any fallen tree or other debris. We launched over wooden bridges and smashed through overhanging branches.

The boys had been grown quieter and more fixated the closer we got to their village. They were on edge, which made me on edge. I couldn’t help it: it was like some survival sense that linked us. Our emotions were all mixed together, our scents like broadcasts of our feelings.
 

Sven kept running his hand through is short blonde hair. He scanned the trees that rushed by, ready for danger. His broad shoulders reminded me of his power, his gift of protective aggression. I didn’t envy anyone who got in his way. “There,” he said. He pointed ahead of us, where the trees gave way and a group of wood cabins stood.

The buildings were all wood log cabins, but with a modern style. They had A-frame roofs, large bay windows and big porches. They were painted a variety of cool autumn colors, everything from dark green to light brown. A dozen of the buildings were visible from the village entrance as we pulled up.

More pressing, however, were the large group of people assembled in the village center. I didn’t need to see their eyes to know that they were all Shifters: I could sense it. A hundred men, women and children all gathered together, looking at our truck.

“Well, at least we know where everyone is,” Helmut said.

This didn’t seem to improve his mood.

“What’s going on?” I said.

“Good question. Let’s go find out,” Sven said, opening his door and stepping out.

We followed. As soon as I stepped out I was assaulted by the pungent smell of unease. It was a complicated smell coming from these Shifters. Not panic and not quite personal fear. It was more like a dread, like some storm was over the horizon and headed their way.

Their body language matched their moods. I saw hunched shoulders. I saw people standing, not quite facing their leaders. Little things that normal humans overlooked in polite society: these things took on incredible meaning in Shifter Packs.

Helmut stepped forward to embrace a man. I saw a family resemblance: a cousin perhaps.

“It’s good to see you,” the man said. He was a bit older, but still handsome. His black hair was touched by thin streaks of gray.

“And you, Uncle. It was a long few months away from home,” Helmut said, his eyes scanning the others around them. “We expected you at the train station.”

“Aye, we would have been there. But there’s trouble,” he said. His golden eyes landed on me, “Is this your Grace?”

“This is our Grace,” Sven said, emphasizing the word loudly.

Helmut’s Uncle nodded, then sighed.

“What’s the trouble?” Helmut said.

“It’s Klaus and Kraven,” his Uncle said. “They’ve challenged you.”

I saw a single vein throb in Helmut’s neck. “Openly?” he asked.

“Yes, openly!” A man’s voice shouted from the other side of the group.

The group of Shifters parted, and two men stood at the other end. They were both tall and blonde. Brothers. The older one had been the one who spoke. He held one eye nearly shut as he spoke. “We heard about your failure to find a…” His words died when he saw me.

The younger brother looked nervously to his older sibling. “You said they failed!” he said quietly.

“Shut up, you moron!” a high pitched voice said. Behind them, an old woman stood. Her white hair still grasped at a ghost of blondness. Her eyes found mine, burning with hatred.
 

My hair went on end, my hackles rising. This woman meant me mortal harm. No words were exchanged, but her look spoke murder as surely as any words could. “Who is that?”

“My name is Helga, you shmetleren whore,” she said casually.

I didn’t know what that word meant, but the context was clear enough. I lurched forward, my body reacting to the threat. A huge hand landed on my chest. I looked over to see Sven.

He shook his head gravely.

“Is this your wish, Klaus? You challenge us for leadership of the Pack?” Helmut said, addressing the older brother.

“We’re sick of your failures. Some desperate trick has brought you to bring back a shmetleren. We thought you’d have the sense to come back empty handed. Failed but pure of spirit,” Klaus said, looking over at me with disdain. “Instead you bring her. Fearing shame, you bring her weakness to our Pack.”

“You can speak of weakness, but those are just words,” Sven said. He tore off his shirt, his black tribal tattoos moving over his body as he rolled his neck and shoulders. “I tire of words.”

The younger brother, Kraven, bared his teeth and stepped towards Sven. I could tell he had a violent demeanor, an ease to his movement. He stopped short at a growl from Klaus.

“The challenge has been made,” Helmut said calmly. “We accept your challenge. Sven will defend the honor of the Pack. We will meet you in the grove under the moon tonight.” Through gritted teeth he added, “Go in peace.”

“You are a meddling tramp!” Helga yelled at me.

“Enough!” Helmut’s uncle said. “You’ve got your wish, Helga. May the ancestors have mercy on you.”

“You’ll be the one begging for mercy before this is done, Ezekel,” she said, turning to stomp away. Her sons followed her.

“This was not the welcoming party we’d hoped for,” Helmut said.

I shrugged, trying to play it off. In truth I was riding the knife edge between fight and flight. I didn’t understand the Shifter society, but I could understand the stakes easily enough. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins and I was ready for anything.

“You did well,” Sven said, picking up his shirt. “Helga’s been cursed by jealousy her whole life. She thought this was her chance. She thought we’d show up without a Grace.”

“She didn’t count on you,” Helmut said to me. “Yes, you did well.”