Clawed (Black Mountain Bears Book 1) (4 page)

“Hey, now, just hold on a second,” she said, scrambling around and crawling a few feet away.

When she turned to face them again, Brown-Eyes regarded her with amusement, and Green-Eyes looked concerned. He seemed to be the spokesman of the two.

“You’re confused. I understand. It’s always a little disorienting, passing through the portal, even if you’re prepared for the seasonal shift. It’ll pass once you’ve let yourself acclimate, but it’ll be easier if you let us help.”

“Help? You mean by molesting me and refusing to find my clothes? Do I at least get an introduction before you guys start getting
that
familiar?” She waved her hand in the general direction of Green-Eyes’ crotch.

He glanced at his now fully erect cock and gave her a crooked smile and a little shrug.

“I’m August. He’s Julian,” he said, gesturing between himself and the other man. He looked down at his cock. “This is Gus, Jr. He likes you.”

Emma choked out a laugh and covered her face with her hands. “Clothes? At least put that away.” She waved a hand blindly in August’s direction.

“Unfortunately, all of your belongings are on the other side of the portal. Unless another traveler who’s accustomed to the shift finds them and carries them through, you’re out of luck on that count.”

“Or . . . you just show me the way back out,” Emma said, narrowing her eyes.

The two men exchanged a glance. August stared down at the large, smooth rock surface he was kneeling on. Julian directed a sharp gaze at her. “You can’t go back, Princess. Not without disrupting the entire balance of this place.”

“Bullshit. I need to know the way out.” Covering her breasts as much as she could with crossed arms, she stood and stalked across the sun-warmed stone toward the edge of the trees where she could see the start of a path into the woods. Once in the shade, she pinched herself savagely on the arm, just to make sure. Pain shot into her flesh and she winced.

Not dreaming, then. She took a deep breath, ignoring the sounds of footsteps jogging behind her.

“Is it this way? Why does none of this look familiar to me? I’ve been all over this mountain my entire life. I know every path.”

“You haven’t been to this part since before you could walk,” August said. “Your mother wished for you to live among humans until you came of age, to learn the Guardian Ritual and use your power to protect our home. But now that you’re here, you need to claim your birthright. We were instructed not to let you leave until you do.”

Ritual? Her power? Jesus, Emma had suspected there was something mystical going on with the old mountain trail and the sentinels, but had no idea it would lead her someplace where she’d be trapped. She
had
to get out, to find her cousins and make sure they were all right. But something else he’d said made her stop short and turn around.

“Wait a second. Did you say
my mother
?”

Chapter Four

A
ugust shifted closer, stopping just a few inches inside the boundary of her comfort zone. Man, he was a big guy, too. Emma had to crane her neck to look him in the eye. She tried to give him her most imperious stare, in spite of how intimidating he was, even stark naked.

Intimidatingly irresistible.

Julian moved closer but paused behind August, watching her.

She summoned the will to speak in spite of August’s closeness. “I want the truth.
Now
. Who is my mother?
Where
has she been all my life? Is my father here, too? And my uncle and cousins, where are they?”

August placed a hand on her arm, but she brushed him away. She didn’t like how light-headed she got just from their proximity. She backed up, putting a little more space between herself and the two men. Finally, she felt like she could breathe again, but with one deep breath, she was awash in their musky, male aroma.

Sex—they smell just like sex. Which I haven’t had in way too long.

As if to compound that realization, her lower abdomen clenched and warm wetness coated the tops of her thighs. She took another shaky step away from them.

August dropped his hand with a sigh.

“Emma, we’ll answer all your questions soon enough. Until then, you need to be prepared to release your excess magic. The journey through the portal triggered your estrous. It comes in waves, but each time it swells, it will fill you with too much power to contain if you don’t have a male to ground you. We don’t have time to take you to your mother before your first cycle is in full swing. I know you’re frightened, but you need to trust us. We’re like you. We can help.”

Blazing heat washed up Emma’s torso from between her legs. She clenched her hands into fists, struggling to combat the sudden urge to lie down right on the forest floor and beg them to fuck her.

“Like me, how?” she asked, her voice shaky.

“We are ursa,” Julian said, taking a tentative step toward her and reaching out a hand, palm up. “We’ve been expecting you. You’re the daughter of our queen. She sent us to meet you when you came through. To guide you through the awakening of your true nature.”

“Come with us,” August said. “We can help if you let us.”

Snippets of her research kept flitting through Emma’s mind. Speculation about this race, what they would be like. Nothing had prepared her for the sheer animal craving she’d have the first time she met one. Rational, analytical thought was becoming increasingly difficult in their presence. She found it difficult to even breathe.

“What . . . what are you doing to me? Is it some kind of magical spell you have me under? It is, isn’t it? Magic’s how I got here. Of course, all the stories my dad told are coming true. Seasons are reversed. Females are in charge, aren’t they?” She nodded briskly, the old details falling into place. “Yes, it’s true, isn’t it? That means you have to do what I tell you to do. So, I want you to take me to my mother.”

Except the words didn’t quite come out the way she’d intended. While she was sure she was thinking, “Take me to my mother,” what she actually heard come out of her mouth was
“I want you to make me a mother.
”

“That’s not what I meant. Oh, God, why is it so fucking
hot
?” Emma’s skin blazed, her womb clenching, burning like it was filled with embers about to catch flame.

“Emma . . . ” both men said, taking another step toward her.

“No!” she yelled. She turned and ran blindly down the path, with no idea where to go, only that this need that consumed her left her too powerless. Giving into it would be far worse.

After a few minutes, the rough din of a waterfall caught her attention and she followed the sound, the path toward it as clear to her as if there were signposts.

Yes, water would be good. Cold mountain water would cool her off.

The trees thinned and the path opened up onto a rocky overhang beside a mountain waterfall. As she closed in, the roar of the falls drowned out the calls of the men behind her, and cool spray hit her skin, giving her some relief, but not enough. Without stopping, she launched herself off the rock, diving heedlessly into the deep pool at the bottom of the falls.

The icy chill was a shock and she came to the surface, sputtering and gasping, but feeling a little more clear-headed.

At least until her pursuers came out of the woods and stood looking down at her from the stone she’d just dove off of. The muscles of her vaginal walls cramped, aching acutely enough to make her groan.

“Make it stop, please!” she called out to them. “I don’t know what you’re doing to me, but I feel like I’m being burned alive from the inside out.”

“It’s your true nature awakening, Emma. We can’t stop it. This is what you really are.” August’s voice was firm and clear enough to carry over the rush of the waterfall, and so deep it made her womb quiver with longing.

Julian squatted down, then sat, dangling his feet into the water and leaning forward. He had to yell to make himself heard. “We’re fully equipped to help you through it, though. You just need to accept what’s happening and tell us what your body really needs. Don’t deny the truth, Emma.” His eyes flashed with thinly veiled desire that caused a fresh ache to grip Emma’s pelvis.

“I . . . don’t want to give in. I’m stronger than that. I . . . Christ, I don’t even
know
you two.”

Before Emma could process his movement, August dove into the water, swam toward her, and shot to the surface right in front of her. She yelped in alarm at his sudden closeness again.

“You wouldn’t be giving in,” he said softly, his words a deep whisper that incited even deeper longing in her. “You’d simply be listening to your body, giving it what it needs to get through this. Give me your hands.” He held his out to her, beckoning. His expression was just as gentle and open as the first time she’d laid eyes on him, still filled with concern, too.

Tentatively, Emma took his hands, and was immediately comforted by the cool, wet sureness of his grip. He tugged her to him and she discovered he wasn’t treading water, but stood on a solid ledge of smooth stone several feet under the water. She found purchase and looked up into his eyes.

“What am I supposed to do?” she asked. “I’m so fucking out of my element here. Nothing is what I expected.”

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and bending to nuzzle against her ear.

“Follow your instincts, Princess. You are
exactly
in your element with us. All you need to do is ask. We are at your disposal.”

The closeness of his body had her head spinning again, making it difficult to form coherent thoughts. All she wanted was more of him—
all of him
—buried deep inside her. She took a deep breath, full of the scent of him and the clear mountain air. Sliding wet arms around his neck, she let the breath out in a sigh. She still avoided looking directly at him. Instead, she pressed her cheek to his chest and watched Julian on the rock, gazing back at them both with interest.

How in the world could she bring herself to ask? Even though August stayed silent, the gentle caresses of his fingers up and down her back beneath the water seemed somehow expectant. His hot arousal awakening between them made it apparent that she wasn’t the only one with needs just now. Emma was sure if she didn’t do something about it, the entire pool they stood in would boil and evaporate.

Julian slid into the water and swam across to them. He held her gaze until he reached her, paused just long enough to place a warm kiss on her shoulder, and whispered in her ear.

“Just ask, Princess,” he said, then swam on to the slab of dark, sunlit stone that covered the shore on the other side, worn smooth from eons of water rushing over it.

Emma clutched tightly to August’s shoulders and forced herself to look into his eyes. Within those green depths, she saw nothing but an honest, open, caring man, ready to fulfill her every desire.

“Do you really want me, August, or is it just some magical spell? Please tell me the truth, because I don’t think I can take it if this isn’t real.”

August’s eyelids lowered and he smiled slightly. He splayed his fingers wide across her back and slid his hands lower until they drifted over her bare ass cheeks.

“Doesn’t this feel real?” he asked, squeezing her ass and pulling her into him hard enough for his erection to dig painfully into her belly. “There’s magic here, sure, but what’s happening to us both right now is purely physiological.”

“Tell me what’s happening to us.”

He pulled back, loosening his grip on her backside, but not moving his hands away. “Well, the birds and bees have something to do with it, I’ve heard . . . ”

Emma scowled at him. “I’m a scientist! You can use big words. Trust me, I won’t get lost.”

“It’s a little more than science. You’re an ursa princess. Your nature’s been dormant while you lived in the human world, but now that you’ve come home, you’re in estrous. That’s what is happening to you. To simplify it, you need to be serviced by a male, brought to orgasm, to calm the urge until you can be with your chosen mate.”

He paused and met her gaze as though waiting for her to ask a question. When she didn’t, he spoke again. “As for me . . . well, you’re an ursa princess in estrous. Your pheromones are strong enough to attract any nearby males. Luckily, Julian and I were the only ones in range of you when you came through the portal. Your mother was prepared for your arrival and sent us to meet you. But we’re not immune, by any means.”

“So you just want me because of chemistry?”

“I want you because you’re beautiful, and very fertile right now, and the need to have you is driving me a little mad.”

Emma’s face heated, and not from arousal for a change. “I don’t think anyone’s ever said I was beautiful who wasn’t related to me,” she said. Clinging tighter to him, she became aware of how taut his entire body was, like he was at the limit of endurance and soon might snap. She met his eyes and asked, “Why are you holding back?”

August let out a little snort.

At the same time, Julian’s amused laughter carried across the water, ringing loud over the sound of the waterfall behind them.

“You have to
ask
!” Julian yelled. “You’re in charge here, Princess!”

“What if I don’t know what to ask for?” she yelled back, the ache between her thighs telling her in no uncertain terms what she
should
ask for. She just couldn’t bring herself to say it.

I need to get fucked . . . or is this like some kind of erotic Jeopardy? Do I have to phrase it in the form of a question?

She furrowed her brow and chewed on her lower lip.

August came to her rescue. “Tell you what, let me ask you a question and if it’s something you want, you can try asking for it. Baby steps.” He raised his eyebrows in inquiry.

Baby steps. She could do that. She nodded.

“All right. Come out of the water, first. It’ll be easier that way.”

August took her hand and pulled her along behind him. The surface beneath her feet turned out to be one huge, worn stone that gradually inclined up to the dry expanse Julian was laying on, watching them. He was propped on one elbow, with his knee bent. When he stretched out his leg and leaned back on both elbows, Emma gasped at the jutting erection that extended up between his thighs, casting a shadow as defined as if it were a sundial. If it really was Midsummer here, it was nearly Noon.

August sat a couple feet away from Julian and tugged Emma’s hand, urging her down beside him. The stone was warm and smooth under her, but it took her a moment to get comfortable. Finally she resorted to her earlier position with her knees bent and hugged to her chest.

“Emma, relax,” August said. “Asking for what you need can be tricky, but we’re not going to make you do anything you don’t want to. How are you feeling?”

Supremely horny
.

“Wet,” she said. “Fuck, I mean . . . You know, because we were just in the water. Maybe we should go back?”

“I like this view, though,” Julian said.

Emma glanced over her shoulder at him. He eyed her naked torso and the wet tendrils of hair that extended halfway down her back. Chilly rivulets of water tickled their way from the ends. One seemed intent on flowing right down the center of her butt crack. She gathered up her hair and wrung it out, leaving it draped over the front of her shoulder and wishing it were long enough to cover her breasts.

Julian sat up, his shoulder brushing hers, skin warm, dry, and silky against hers. He dropped another kiss on her shoulder, the warmth of it seeping into her. She tried to tell herself it was just a cultural divide kind of thing. Men here were that affectionate. She didn’t feel the least bit threatened by his gestures, at least. They held no expectations.

“What do you want to ask for first?” August asked.

She took a shaky breath and opened her mouth, but the words caught in her throat.

“Shh,” August said. “Let’s start small. Do you want me to touch you again?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

God, yes, I want your hands all over me. Both of you.

“Ask me to touch you, Emma. Tell me where. Say it like this: ‘August, will you touch my cheek?’”

“August,” she began and her mouth suddenly went dry. She cleared her throat and tried again. “August, will you t-touch my . . . foot?”

Julian let out a loud laugh and fell back on the rock, clutching his ribs.

August only smiled and nodded, moving around to her feet. He gripped one in his hand and tugged, urging her to straighten her leg. She relented, leaning back on her elbows and letting him pull her foot into his lap and begin rubbing it. His thumbs dug in hard to her heel.

To her surprise, Julian stood up and moved down, too, taking her other foot in his large hands and massaging his thumbs into her sore heel. His thumb grazed over her instep and she nearly jerked back at how much it tickled, but held her breath. He eyed her, eyebrows raised in challenge.

“Do your best,” Emma breathed.