Battered Not Broken Page 10

  * * *

  After a few days, Ethel, whom she affectionately called “Mom” and her three husbands, “Dad”, “Pop”, and “Father”, left the four of them to return home. But not before giving Gillian instructions on how to care for Max’s shoulder and giving the three brothers strict instructions on how gentle and honest they needed to be with Gillian. Gentle, Gillian could understand, but honest? What was that all about?

  The moment Ethel and her husbands pulled out of the driveway, Gillian assumed they’d get back to the gentle touches and sexual exploration they’d started the week before. But they didn’t. Instead, the brothers kept their distance. Confused, she assumed their reserved behavior resulted from their mother’s warning. Brushing off their behavior, she had gone to bed, alone, but resolved to bring the four of them together again. The lovemaking they’d shared had been too monumental not to repeat.

  The following morning, after waking alone in the guest bedroom, Gillian found out the meaning behind Ethel’s instructions on honesty. Padding into the kitchen, Max plopped a heaping pile of French toast in front of her. Inhaling the sweet, cinnamon fragrance, she picked up her fork, prepared to dig in.

  “Where are Ronan and Conner?” She shoved a forkful of the heated, egg-soaked bread into her mouth. It needed more syrup. Drizzling the sugary syrup on the slices, she topped it off with confectioner’s sugar. Perfect.

  “They’re, um, out.” Max turned from her and went to work cleaning the kitchen. Interesting, since she hadn’t seen him cook or clean in the week and a half she’d known him. Make messes and not clean them up, sure. But never cook and clean up after himself. Something was going on.

  Snagging a piece of bacon from a nearby plate, she crunched the crispy meat, chewing as she debated her next move. What were they up to? Not wanting to ruin their plans, she figured she’d play along, for now.

  But she could still make him sweat, right? “When will they be back? Did they go to town?”

  Max froze at the stove, dropping one of the pans back onto a burner. Wiping his hands on his pants, he answered Gillian. “Um, no. They…they just went out for a walk.”

  “A walk, huh? Wow. It’s awfully cold for a walk,” she deadpanned. Taking another bite of bacon, she washed it down with some orange juice, giving him a moment to formulate a response.

  “Yeah, you know, a walk. They wanted to take a look around the property. With some coffee and a jacket, it’s not too cold.” He mumbled something else below his breath. She thought she heard the word “bear”, but couldn’t be sure.

  Poking the man a little, she replied. “A walk? Maybe we should join them. I can be dressed in no time and…”

  Max cut her off. “Perfect. Go get dressed and I’ll get the coffee.” It seemed as if a great weight had lifted from his shoulders at her suggestion.

  Confused, she figured she’d continue to play along. What harm could it do? Finishing the remnants of her breakfast, she bounded from the chair, pressed a quick “thank you” kiss to Max’s cheek and left him to get dressed.

  Minutes later, thermos in hand, they stepped onto the porch. A gust of wind enveloped them, burrowing through her layers with ease. Shivering, she changed her mind. Let the men wander the snow and cold, she’d stay warm in the house until they returned, thankyouverymuch.

  Opening her mouth to inform Max of her decision, she snapped it shut with a click of her teeth and mumbled through lips fear kept trapped together. “Bbbbear…”

  Oh, God! Not just one…two! Two bears trundled from the forest and toward them. One slow, lumbering step at a time. Panicked, she dashed to the back door, anxious for the relative safety the cabin could provide. Max blocked her path, gripping her shoulders.

  “Bears, Max! Bears!” Idiot! Didn’t he see them, how could he not? They had to weigh nearly a ton each and they drew closer with each passing second. They’d be upon them at any moment. She didn’t live through Kyle’s attack to end up being some wild animal’s dinner. Beating on Max’s chest, she pleaded. “Move! Max, the bears are coming. Move Max, please.”

  Tears burned her eyes, the knowledge of her inevitable death striking home. Max wiped her tears, whispering soothing words as his strong hands bodily turned her around. He’d gone crazy. This had to be some ancient Indian ritual sacrifice of some kind. They had lulled her into loving them and now the bear God needed a not-so-virginal sacrifice.

  Squeezing her eyes shut tight, she listened as the animals moved closer. The sound of their giant paws depressing into the snow with every step echoed in her ears. The click of their nails scratching against the wood planks of the porch sent her heart into overdrive. Closer, so much closer and Max wouldn’t let her go, let her run.

  Gillian needed to run. Run fast, and run far, and maybe they wouldn’t catch her, eat her. The gentle breathing of the animals sounded so close, but she wouldn’t open her eyes, wouldn’t. Terror held her firmly in its grasp, refusing to let go. Her heart pounded in her chest, threatening to burst; her breathing came in short, shallow gasps.

  “Gillian, open your eyes,” Max murmured in her ear.

  She whimpered and pressed back against him. Maybe if she pushed hard enough, she could go straight through him and get into the house—anything to get away from the humongous beasts in front of her.

  The scent of hickory smoke and earth teased her nostrils, pulling memories from her mind, but she pushed them back. Now was not the time to remember her men, the men who had sacrificed her to bears. Bears!

  A heated, wet tongue flicked the tips of her fingers on her right hand and she jerked to the left. When the action repeated on her left hand, she jerked to the right. The beasts were toying with her, playing games with their food before they devoured it. A tear leaked from beneath her lashes only to have it lapped away by one of the bears, starting a rushing torrent of tears. God, it had tasted her—probably to see if she was worth eating.

  “Gilly, love, open your eyes,” Max pleaded. His voice was a soothing, yet harsh whisper.

  “No.” She pushed the word past her tightened lips.

  A cold, wet nose brushed the palm of her hand, moving it until her palm rested on the bear’s muzzle. At least, she assumed it was his muzzle. Again, the other bear seemed to mirror the action until her hand rested on both of them.

  “Just a little, Gilly. They won’t hurt you. They just want to show you,” Max begged again. Slitting her eyes, she met the gaze of one bear and then the other, their large black eyes staring at her so intently. Any second now they’d each be dining on hand tartar. “See. They won’t hurt you, Gilly. Never you.”

  Max brushed his lips over her ear, pressing a kiss just below her earlobe. Damn the man for knowing about one of her “spots”.

  When the black bears rose to their feet and backed away from them, she did the same, pressing against Max. She begged him without words to move away, but he didn’t listen. Instead, he held her fast, forcing her to remain still.

  What happened next caused her heart to stop as she gasped for breath. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t natural. And yet, it took place before her eyes. If she hadn’t watched it from beginning to end, she wouldn’t have believed it herself.

  A gray swirling mist wafted from beneath the bear’s feet, twirling and twining around their limbs until the bears stood covered in the fog. Seconds ticked by as they were engulfed completely by the unnatural phenomenon until the great mist dissipated, receding back into the ground from whence it came, leaving… Leaving two men in the bears’ place? Ronan and Conner knelt before her, shaking from the cold, but they were her men.

  Max stepped aside, bringing her with him and allowing the naked Ronan and Conner to pass by them. They rushed through the door and Gillian, after wrenching free of Max’s grasp, followed hot on their heels.

  “What…” she yelled, grabbing their attention as they yanked on sweat pants. “Was that?”

  Max slid his arms around her waist from behind, but she quickly sidestepped his embrace. Hell, no.
She wouldn’t give him that power again. “We thought it would be best to show you the truth about us, rather than try and tell you. We didn’t think you’d be so scared.”

  Bringing a hand to her mouth, she kept her words bottled for a moment, afraid her fear would get the better of her and she’d say something she didn’t truly mean. After a few moments, Gillian spoke. “After I nearly tore a hole through Conner to get home after seeing a bear near the river, what made you think this would be a better scenario?”

  Conner had the grace to blush before answering. “Mom said the same thing.”

  “Well, your mother was right. Who would have thought that a woman who is married to three men as well as having raised three might know what she was talking about!” Gillian’s voice rose as she spoke until she screamed the last word.

  “We thought…” Ronan started, but his words died as Gillian slid down the wall, her legs unable to support her. The shock of seeing two bears and thinking she was about to be eaten by them had drained her of all energy. “God, Gilly!”

  Gillian batted at the hands thrust toward her. She didn’t want to be snuggled and hugged by them, she was too mad and she told them so. “Just because I can’t stand and I need your help getting up doesn’t mean you’re forgiven. How dare you,” she punched Ronan in the chest, “scare me like that? You ass. All of you are asses. I don’t care if some great big fog comes up and changes you into bears, deep down, the fog didn’t get it right and you’re jackasses.”

  She allowed Ronan to gather her in his arms and didn’t put up a fuss when he laid her gently on the bed in the spare bedroom.

  When the three men moved to leave, she stopped them. “Oh no. You’re staying and I’m getting answers. Now.”

  They froze in their tracks, each of them turning slowly to face her, a look of sheer terror painted on their faces. Good. Now they knew what it was like to be scared out of their minds.

  Settling around her on the bed, they each proffered answers to her questions, sharing snippets of their tribe’s history as well as the history of their family. They explained that their tribe consisted of all the Indians deemed “possessed” by the ancient tribes. Coming together, the men and women who held an animal within founded their own tribe, the Anikotas, which remained closely connected, even today. Now, scattered across the country, the people of the Anikota kept in touch through annual gatherings, but their tight bond held through their animal counterparts always remained. Their tribe didn’t consist of only bears, but of every creature known to man. And each tribe member, whether man or woman, had a drive to find their mate unlike any other person they knew.

  Their family, the Bearclaws, consisted of, well, bears. Typically, a Bearclaw wife gave birth to twins or triplets, and those siblings sought their one true mate to complete them—sometimes searching for years before finding their mate. The ability to transform from human to animal rested solely of those born into the Anikota tribe. But an Anikota mate, once the ritual of mating had been completed, could share the thoughts of their counterpart.

  “And I’m your mate?” Gillian asked as they finished answering her other questions. She needed to know if her feelings were returned.

  “Yes,” they answered in unison, their voices blending and mixing into one.

  “Are you ours?” Ronan, her deep, quiet, Ronan, asked the question, barely a whisper.

  Gillian answered, just as softly, “Yes.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ronan tensed as her admission washed through him. He could see his brothers had the same reaction. He knew what they felt as their bears woke from their slumber within and the spirits of man and beast warred for domination. Ronan had been trained by their fathers to guide the rite of claiming, to ensure the four of them survived and enjoyed the mating to come. A pre-determined sequence of events had to take place first. They would have to see to their mates needs before satisfying their own within her body.

  As if on cue, Conner relinquished his position at her feet and the three of them shifted and changed places. The eldest at their mate’s feet, the second eldest, Conner, to his right and the youngest, Max, to his left.

  Ronan whispered the ancient words, so similar to those that allowed his change, yet different. He asked the Maker to bless their mating, to grant Gillian’s womb to bear fruit and to grant their seed the power to join them. As the chant finished, his gaze met his sweet Gillian’s.

  “We’re mating now, aren’t we?” Curiosity and a hit of anticipation colored her voice.

  “We are.” He nodded. “Do you accept us, Gillian? Accept the three Bearclaw brothers as your mates in this life and all that follow?”

  “Yes.” She squirmed beneath his gaze, her knees pressed together as if trying to ease an ache. He’d ease it for her, they all would.

  Grasping her ankles, Ronan removed one boot and then the next. Her socks quickly followed, as did her jeans and panties. As he worked on shedding the clothes on her lower half, Max and Conner worked on the upper half of her body. Soon, she lay naked before them.

  “What about you?” Her bare foot slid against his cotton-covered thigh.

  Ronan blushed, heat infused his cheeks before he rose from the bed and stripped, as did his brothers. They hadn’t really planned mating right this moment with Gillian and it showed, but she didn’t seem to mind. She lay passive; fingers trailing across her breasts, sliding lower to her delicate curls. Grasping her wrist, he stopped her from going further.

  She poked out her lower lip. “Hey.”

  “Hey, yourself, Gilly.” Crawling back between Gillian’s raised knees, he waited for his brothers to join him, and noticed Max had remembered to grab the lube. Thank God. Ronan’s thoughts so centered on tasting Gillian’s sweet cream, he’d forgotten about his other duties to her.

  Taking her hand in his, he slid it higher to rest on her breast. “Here or on them, but below the waist is mine for a while, Gilly.”

  Whimpering, she nodded and tweaked her nipple, gaze bouncing between Max and Conner. As much as he wanted to taste the sweet berries of her breasts, his job was to see all aspects of the mating went smoothly, including breaching the possibly virgin territory of Gilly’s ass.

  Ronan lowered his face to her golden hair-dusted mound and inhaled her scent—the sweet vanilla mint musk that’d drawn his attention the first day she ventured into their home. His cock ached and pulsed with the need to claim and mate with their Gillian.

  Extending his tongue, he delved between her sodden folds, lapping at the tender skin and flesh beneath his mouth. Her taste exploded on his tongue, his beast scratching at the ethereal veil held in place by the Maker. Her musk intoxicated him as she writhed beneath his mouth. He lapped at her clit, sucking the bit of flesh and demanding her orgasm.

  Bathing his fingers in her cream, he thrust two fingers into her heated passage. The snug fit strangling his digits with their strength as her muscles clamped down on the invasion. She screamed, her voice echoing against the wood plank walls of their home. His gaze traveled her body and he watched as she stroked his brothers, their heads thrown back as she pleasured them. Soon, soon they’d all feel the rapture of coming together as one.

  Closing his eyes again, he focused on his task. Ensuring their mate was prepared for their joining had fallen to him and he would not fail. Adding droplets of lube to his fingers, he nudged her knees wider until his brothers helped him, grabbing a leg behind each knee and holding her open to him. Cunt and ass exposed to his questing hands, two fingers teased her puckered hole.

  Gillian’s back entrance clenched beneath his gentle probing, as if begging him to enter her quickly. His cock ached and pulsed in time with the tightening of her pussy and ass while his beast pressed against the veil. His fathers had warned him of this time when his control would be tested by the Maker. To fail would mean the death of those he loved most.

  Sliding his fingers past the first ring of muscle, Gillian’s muscles tensed, her legs nearly clamping around his head. Gro
wling low enough for only his brothers to hear, he felt her legs widen in response. Good, they needed to focus on the ritual and not their own pleasure for now. Stretching Gillian’s back entrance, he pushed his fingers further, her dark hole spreading and stretching to accommodate his invasion.

  He pumped in and out of her pussy and ass in time with the suction he applied to her clit. They couldn’t proceed without her orgasm, without offering her climax as a gift to the Maker. Curling the fingers in her pussy, he fluttered the tips along what he hoped were the bundle of nerves that would bring her orgasm to the surface. Gillian’s hips rose from the bed, rocking and pressing harder to his face. Inhaling the scent of her increased musk, he darted his tongue to her core, lapping at the newest rush of cream bathing his fingers.

  Gillian’s screams and moans grew as his fingers and mouth worked her until finally her body tensed, freezing in mid-air, her cunt and ass tightening to the point of pain around his fingers as she released a guttural moan.

  Her come bathed his fingers and his beast took a running leap at the veil. Squeezing his eyes shut, he fought the urge to change without the Maker’s help and resisted the pull of the wild. Winning this first battle, he opened his eyes to see his brothers watching him warily.

  Releasing Gillian’s clit, he slid his fingers free of her body and rose to his knees, smiling to Conner and Max. They had passed the first phase of the mating. The heat of their woman had not pushed Ronan too far and now they were ready.

  “Now, let us begin the mating.” Ronan lifted a boneless Gillian into his arms, allowing his brothers to lie in their places.