Too Much to Bear (BBW Shifter Ménage) (5 page)

“You’re more beautiful than I imagined,” he said, his eyes
wide as if he were looking at a goddess. Her cheeks flushed and she kissed him
quickly, unsure of how to take the compliment.

Dustin didn’t say such kind things to her. In fact, he
hardly said anything at all. The extent of his compliments were, “you’ve got
big tits,” which was more of a fact than a commendation.

She felt Will’s hands trail southward to her shorts. He
shifted his weight once he had them unbuttoned, so that he could access her
pelvis and pull down the damned denim off her legs, leaving her in nothing but
her black cotton panties and pink bra. She suddenly wished that she had worn something
sexier. But it hadn’t occurred to her that after her hike she would be ravished
by an extremely sexy angel of a man, much less the author of one of the hottest
books in the known universe.

But it didn’t seem like Will minded. He just trailed his
gaze up and down her body, appraising every inch of it with a look of wonder.
Then she felt it. The strong pull between them, the searing force that told her
a part of her belonged inside of him.

“What’s going on?” she whispered, a tremble in her voice.
She had to know, had to ask. There was just no way, she decided, that he
couldn’t be feeling what she was feeling.

“”You belong to me,” he said, bringing his face down to her
neck as his hands cupped over her breasts. “You belong to
us
.”

Madison shivered, unsure of what he meant or who he was
referring to, but completely turned on by the conviction in his words. She
wanted to belong to him. She wanted to be his forever.

She tugged at the bottom of his shirt, desperate to see the
hard masterpiece she knew was hiding beneath the green cotton blend. He pulled
it over his head for her, revealing a chiseled wonderland of flesh, of deep
groves and hard peaks so glorious that she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
It was better than she could have ever imagined.

She gasped, running her hands over his stone of a body. He
looked back down at her with the same degree of lust, pulling his hands behind
her back and unhooking her bra. He pulled it down off her shoulders, freeing
her large breasts, the pink nipples hard as diamonds under his lascivious gaze.

He groaned just looking at her and immediately brought his
mouth down to her right nipple, kneading the left one between his thick
fingers. She curved her spine, thrusting her hips upwards into the bulge
beneath his denim, the hot fire of his body awakening a hungry demon within
her.

“Please,” she gasped, “please take me.”

He pulled his mouth off her nipple for a moment, only to
respond. “I can’t. Not yet.” She whinnied in disappointment.

“But...why not?” she whined, thrusting her hips up into him
again. He groaned. She knew he wanted it, and she wanted him more than she had
ever wanted someone before. It was uncharacteristic of her to be so forward,
but there was a driving force within her that told her she needed him, that she
couldn’t be without him. She needed him to pummel through her, to drive her
blood and heartbeat…

But instead of responding to her, Will sank his serenade of
kisses down the length of her body, capturing every curve with his fiery lips.
She was enslaved to each moment, to each press of his tongue against her flesh.

Then he reached just above the elastic band of her
underwear, his mouth hanging just below her navel and his fingers pressed flat
across her hips, in that strip of skin just above her desire. She cried out in
desperation, clawing her fingers into the back of his shoulders in a wordless
plea. He complied, pealing away the fabric that kept them apart, his hands
running down the length of her voluptuous thighs.

Then he met her mound with his mouth, teasing it at first
with just his hot breath, before finally moving his tongue in circles around
the nub, sending her into a dizzying frenzy. She called out despite herself,
the building of a pleasurable ache numbing her thoughts and blistering through
her skin.

She was no longer a separate being, and no longer knew the
words to even think such things. She was a part of him, her longing, her soul,
fused to his in a way she couldn’t understand, couldn’t even contemplate. But
as his fingers found her opening, his mouth still clamped onto her clitoris and
deriving her the ultimate pleasure, she couldn’t try to make sense of anything.
She just knew that she could feel him within her body and that she was inside
of him, feeling the power of his lust.

Madison’s eyes rolled back into her head as she came, a
tidal wave of explosive energy surging through her body, so intense that she
convulsed as the extreme burst of perfection overtook her. She was falling
through the mattress, through any understanding of time. Will held onto her,
his body flush with hers, so that all she could know in those moments was him.

“I’ve waited for you for so long,” he whispered into her
ear, stroking her soft blonde hair with his fingers. She couldn’t say the
words, couldn’t bring herself to utter a single syllable. But inside her soul
she responded, “I know.”

And something told her that he knew.

Madison sat in front of the television, the ruby red afghan
wrapped over her shoulders. She wasn’t actually watching it though, just
letting the stream of sounds and images happen before her, her mind reeling
over what had just happened in Will’s bedroom.

No man ever had gone down on her before. It just never occurred
to her as something that was possible. Her friend Chelsea had mentioned it
once, but the way they discussed it was more of an anomaly, an exception rather
than a rule.

The guys who wanted to do that, she had decided, were weird.
They had a fetish or something.

But now as she sat in complete awe of what had passed
between them, and she knew she was wrong. Will was a grown man, and before she
had only ever been with boys.

“Hungry?” Will called to her from the kitchen. He was so
calm, so casual as he walked around shirtless, a half-smile spread lazily
across his face.

She was amazed by him, by every movement of his body, by the
feeling that sprung between them like a hot spring. She turned around to look
over the couch, spotting his lean body as it hung against the doorframe, his
ocean blue eyes appraising her.

“Yeah actually...whatever you’re cooking smells wonderful,”
she said, a warm, savory aroma filling her nostrils.

“It’s just a pot roast and some potatoes. Nothing to write
home about,” he said humbly. “Though if I really wanted to impress you I’d make
a raspberry pie, but I didn’t think to pick any this morning. We have a bush in
the backyard.”

“I can go get some for you,” Madison offered, eager for an
excuse to get off the couch and move around.

“It’s late. I’m not going to make you search around some
silly berries.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I want to be useful. Just point
me towards a basket,” she said, getting up from the couch and walking around it
to stand before him.

“Well, okay,” he shook his head. “If you insist.” He leaned
down to place a kiss on her forehead, causing her stomach to do flips. Then a sneaky
smile crossed his lips and he trailed his fingers along the front of the
bathrobe he had lent her, moving the fabric with his fingers to reveal more of
her right breast.
 

“There’s a basket by the backdoor. Don’t stay out too late,
okay?”
       

Madison nodded and grinned up at him, tightening the the tie
of the bathrobe around her waist. Even the little kiss on her cheek had put her
in such a state that she could hardly breathe, let alone talk.

She found her way to the backyard, stepping off the wooden
steps of the porch into the dimly lit backyard. Madison spotted the bushes straightaway
and began picking them with her free hand, the basket in her other. She
realized quickly that she had been foolish to offer, since picking berries in
the evening actually proved to be slightly difficult. She mostly relied on
their firmness, testing them between her forefinger and thumb.

When she decided that she had collected enough berries, she
turned back to go into the house. She was just about to step onto the first
step of the back porch when she heard it: a rustling in the bushes that sounded
much louder than any small critter could cause.

Maybe it’s a deer
,
she thought, even though she was paralyzed with fear.

Then she heard that wicked growl, the same one from earlier.

She turned and opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came
out. The mountain lion stared her down, blood streaming down its side.

From the other side of the yard a dark brown blur shot
across it, pummeling the creature down again.

“Will!” Madison managed as she ran up to the door, throwing it
open and calling out in a panicked frenzy. But before she could his name a second
time he came rushing out, his eyes smaller and darker, fangs protruding from
his mouth and tufts of sandy hair bursting from his neck and down his chest.

Madison yelped in horror, stepping backwards so that she
almost fell down the stairs. But Will caught her quickly, much faster than any
person could actually react.

“Don’t worry. Just trust me,” he said as he moved her to the
side. He rushed down the stairs and pulled down his jeans to reveal his legs, misshapen
and completely covered in a thick, sandy fur.

“Holy shit,” Madison whispered in horror. He was turning
into a bear. A big, blonde grizzly bear. And he threw himself  at another
panther that had shown up behind the first, one that she hadn’t even seen
earlier. There was a horrific clash of fangs and claws, and Madison held her
hands over her eyes, peaking through her fingers in horror.

One of the panthers had Will’s neck in its mouth and she
cried out, but the other bear quickly pummeled that panther to the side,
pinning it down to the ground and roaring in its face. It rapidly shrank, the
tufts of hair pulling into its body, its entire shape shifting, until it was
nothing more than the naked body of a scrawny man.

“Jake,” she gasped, watching the thin man pant, his eyes
closed as his bloody body lay defeated between the big brown paws of the bear.

Then the other panther shrank, similarly beaten up and
defeated, until a much bigger man was left in the buff. It was Paul, a deep red
gash across his chest.

“Fine,” Paul coughed. “We’ll leave her.”

The bear above him roared, shrinking down into a man, poised
over Paul as his fur retracted into his tan skin.

“Get out of Titusville while you’re at it,” Caleb snarled,
his bare muscular behind completely exposed to Madison. While under normal
circumstances she would be in total awe of what a fine specimen of man he was,
the whole naked shifter covered in blood aspect was proving to be more than she
could bear.

She turned on her heel and ran back into the house, closing
the door behind her and pressing her back against the adjacent wall. She took
in a few steady breaths, trying to make sense of the scene outside.

The door opened and she felt a hand fall lightly on her
shoulder. She flinched instinctively, but calmed down when she saw Will in his
human body, his lower half clothed but a nasty scratch across his abdomen. She
brought her fingers to it, running them over the gash lightly.

“Are you okay?” she asked, suddenly frightened for him.

“Am I okay?” Will laughed and shook his head. “You’re
incredible. You probably just experienced the scariest thing in your life and
you’re asking me if
I’m
okay?” Will
pecked her lips quickly and stared down at her with a reassuring smile. “I’m
fine. We heal fast, all of us.”

“So...” Madison hesitated. She had been very horrified by
the state of Paul, and she was afraid to even ask if he was okay. He looked
like he needed to get to a hospital, and fast.

“Paul and Jake will be fine. Caleb too, promise. What you
saw there wasn’t usual for us.”

“But...what are you?” Madison asked. She was white as a
sheet. Will took her by the hand and led her to the couch, urging her to sit
down next to him.

“We’re shifters. All of us. Caleb and I were born
werebears
. His grandfather was one and both of my parents
are as well. Of course they wanted me raised up here with my aunt because where
they live just outside of Seattle, and there were a lot of shifter wars back
then. I know it may be hard for you to believe, but it’s relatively calm here.”

Madison’s eyes grew big as she stared at him in disbelief.
“You mean it gets crazier than what I just saw?”
“Don’t get me wrong, that very easily could have gotten out of control. But
Paul and Jake are new shifters, changed by the damned
werepanther
that killed Caleb’s father. They’re in a kind of rebellious stage where they
want to fight and claim a mate. Unfortunately, they set their eyes on you.”

Madison blinked, trying to comprehend what he was saying.
“What do you mean a
mate
? You mean
both of them?”

Will pulled the afghan from off the couch and over Madison,
wrapping a warm arm around her shoulder. “You’re shivering,” he murmured,
kissing the side of her head lightly. “The thing with shifters is that they
have strong primal instincts. Destroying things and killing other animals is
one.”

Madison sucked in her teeth, her heart skipping a beat.

“Don’t worry. Caleb and I have been shifters long enough
that we both know how to control it. Another is that we’re territorial and
protective, as you just saw.”

“But...what about the whole mate thing?”

“That’s another one of the instincts I was talking about.
The one that Jake and Paul clearly can’t control to save there lives,” he
chuckled, but the look in his eyes was dark. Clearly he wasn’t going to let
anyone lay a hand, or a paw, on Madison. She shivered at the thought.

“They want have you as their mate, that’s why they broke
into your house. When you bond with a mate, she or he becomes a part of your
pack. You know when she’s in danger and she knows when you are. You feel their
presence, feel the bond more intensely than any other. It’s really like marriage
in a lot of ways because once you commit to it, it can only be broken by
death.”

Madison gulped. The thought of being bond to Paul or Jake
forever was completely horrifying. “So...were they going to fight each other
for me? That sounds insane.”

“No, they were fighting
us
for you. You see
Maddie
, Caleb and I already chose
you all of those years ago. We both felt a strong desire to imprint you, but at
the time we were both to young.”

“Imprint?” she half-whispered, trying to understand
everything he was saying without losing her mind.

“It’s when you officially consummate your bond with your
mate. But of course, we couldn’t do that at such a young age. We just both knew
that someday you’d come back, and that we’d have to convince you to be with us.
That’s why I could only go so far with you earlier...I would have lost control
and imprinted on you without Caleb.”

“Both of you?” she gawked. “But how does that...
work
?”

“We can show you,” he said in a low, husky voice that
immediately made her wet between her thighs.

Before Madison could think of how to respond, the back door
opened again and Caleb burst in, a towel pulled around his waist. His thick
black hair was a mess, tossed over his amber eyes and a gash through his left
eyebrow.

“Guess it’s time that we settle this then,” he said gruffly,
moving towards the couch in several large, uncouth steps. The energy he carried
around him was barbaric, abrupt and wild in the way Madison had only previously
seen in the subtext of his words and actions.

But clearly he was done with whatever pretensions of
civilization he was used to carrying around, and he lifted Madison over his
shoulder without another word, one thick arm bandaged around her lower back as
her head dangled over his. She shrieked, unnerved and strangely turned on by
the savage interaction.

“Put her down, Caleb,” Will warned, his voice deadly. “I
just started to calm her down and now you’re scaring her again.”

“I don’t have time for this,” Caleb retorted in a short,
snappy tone. “She wants us, she feels the fucking bond. It’s time for us to
take what’s ours...”

“Caleb!” Will roared, but it was too late. Madison could
feel him shifting beneath her, the gruff hair bursting through his back, the
towel falling to the ground as his lower half expanded into something entirely
inhuman. Her fear caught in her throat as she realized she was at mercy of a
beast. She clung to his fur out of desperation, wrapping her arms as far as she
could around his body, thick like an ancient tree. She opened her eyes for a
split second to see that Will was shifting too, and to her horror his khaki fur
ripped through his denim as his face merged into that of a ferocious grizzly.

Within seconds Caleb was off, Will at his heel. The dark
bear beneath her broke through the back door, the wood splintering over her
body as she quickly shielded her face into his coarse fur. Will roared behind
them, a guttural animal sound that rocked through Madison’s body, thrilling and
enticing her. She could hardly think straight, let alone anything at all as the
bear beneath her tore through the wilderness, dodging trees, rocks and shrubs
at an extraordinary pace.

All Madison could hope to do was feel—feel the wind as
it whipped past her face, the rough fur beneath her palms, the sinewy body that
moved beneath her, powerful and erotic with its lack of grace...

Just riding on his back she could feel an erotic charge
between her legs, and she could see clearly in her mind’s eye just how Caleb
looked the moment before he transformed. He was both robust and powerless in
his desire, the sovereignty in his hazel eyes lost in a barbaric need as they
darkened, a shadow of lust lining his irises.

But before she could lose her mind, charged with the dynamic
ardor of his storming body, he stopped abruptly, nearly tossing her from his
back with his curt movement.

Shivering, Madison lifted her head to see that she was
enveloped in darkness, a faint light falling from a source behind them, which
illuminated little more than some gray rocks. Caleb’s body began to shift
beneath her once again, and she tumbled from him onto the ground, realizing
that without his heat beneath her she was unbearably cold.

Will popped up behind them, still snarling in his bear form.
She could only make out the shadow of his figure as he transformed back into a
man, the dark outline shrinking against the light from a small opening.

“A cave,” she murmured, marveling as she suddenly realized
where she was.

“
Our
cave,” Caleb
grunting, moving around in the dark and fiddling with something just behind
her. Then a small light illuminated, revealing the expanse of the cave as Caleb
continued to ignite a series of gas lamps set against the curved wall. It
wasn’t especially big, but it was about the size of two master bedrooms in
width and the ceiling was at least ten feet tall. Will quickly approached her,
the soft orange glow of the lamps illuminating the deep groves of his body,
giving the hard lines of his chest an ethereal softness that weakened her
knees.