Bitten (Black Mountain Bears Book 2) (7 page)

Fingers threaded into his hair and forcefully pulled his head up, away from Gunnar. Autumn smiled and bit her lip.

“Kiss me again and I’ll come,” she said.

He smiled, said, “Hell yes,” and delved in, relishing the passion of her kiss. The second their tongues met, she released a slow moan into his mouth. Gunnar grunted behind her and Jasper glanced to the other man. He stared, enthralled by Gunnar’s tensed body, his head tilted back in ecstasy, so beautiful.

Christ, he’d never wanted two people so much.

“I love you,” he blurted. “Fuck, I love you so much it hurts.” The ache made him press his hand against his chest. He sat back on his heels, still in contact with them both. His cock still throbbed with need, but his heart hurt. His whole body ached with longing.

Autumn’s contact had been the worst of it, being so close to her while she’d come undone. She reached out to him and gripped the hand he held over his heart, using it to pull herself toward him. Jasper opened his arms and took her, greedily accepting her mouth when she leaned in to kiss him.

Her breasts, full and pendulous, pressed against his chest, her hips and belly so sensuous and soft he couldn’t resist touching her now.

“I love how you feel,” he said, sliding his hands around to cup her ass and squeeze, tugging her tighter against his cock.

She wrapped her arms around him again and Jasper closed his eyes, reveling in the press of her curves to his harder flesh. He clutched at her, holding her tight, aware of every inch of contact. Rising up on her knees, she tilted her hips and reached between them, seating the head of his cock right at her entrance.

“You don’t know the half of it,” she whispered as she sank down onto him.

She was right. He’d never experienced anything so incredible before. Not even Gunnar’s mouth had felt this amazing.

In the next few moments, he vowed that would do anything and everything she ever asked for the rest of his life, if only he could stay right there forever.

Chapter Ten

A
utumn lay tangled and breathless between the two males, more sated than she’d ever been in her life. The ache still burned dimly in her core, the surest signal that she hadn’t succeeded in conceiving yet. She didn’t mind so much, though. This time, they would do it right—take their time and enjoy each other—the rest could happen when it happened.

Jasper had surprised her. After she’d come again, he’d laid her down and fucked her —no, he’d
made love
to her so thoroughly and for so long, she worried that Gunnar might get angry. But the white-haired male only lay contentedly beside them, caressing both their bodies in turn and watching. Jasper seemed to relish kissing them each, his mouth working at Gunnar’s even as his cock continued filling Autumn up with deliciously slow strokes. She couldn’t wait to see them fully together once the mating was complete. They would be magnificent, the way they exuded such unadulterated hunger for each other.

But just as they gazed into each other’s eyes as though they’d happily let the world burn around them, they would turn the same intensity onto her. The same purity and reverence hit her twofold in those moments, and it wasn’t the ache of her estrous that overflowed inside her, but something far sweeter that she hoped she was strong enough to contain. Because Autumn never wanted to waste a single drop of the love Jasper and Gunnar gave her.

Now she lay in heaven, lethargic from the series of orgasms she’d had from Jasper’s cock, accompanied by Gunnar’s fingers and tongue. They breathed steadily on either side of her, both their hands caressing idly while their sweat-dampened skin cooled.

She let out a contented sigh. Moving from this spot was the last thing she wanted to do—disrupting their afterglow—but if she was truly going to do this right, she had no choice.

“All right. On your bellies, both of you. Let’s get this done so we can get back to bliss.”

They both groused and huffed incoherently at the suggestion of moving, so she sat up and patted her hands on each man’s hip.

Jasper’s dark eyes sparkled and he sat up, kissed her deeply enough to steal her breath, then lay back down, his glorious, pale ass aimed at the ceiling. He’d definitely grown up in the human world, if the presence of his tan lines was any indication. Most males in the Sanctuary had rich, golden tans, but no lines to speak of. Gunnar seemed to be the exception, due to his lack of any pigmentation whatsoever.

Red streaks of blood and the rough marks from her claws marred Jasper’s otherwise perfectly round ass cheek. Gaia, she would love seeing him with her mark on that glorious mound of muscle for the rest of their lives together.

Her heart raced as she dipped her hand between her legs to gather the mix of their fluids from the well inside her. The magic tingled on her palm as she pressed it against the mark. She held her hand against his cuts without moving, knowing it must hurt him to be touched there, as raw as his flesh was. He breathed deeply, his head turned and eyes steadily watching. Beneath her palm, the blood mixed with their fertile juices, the alchemy of their union seeping into him, cementing the mating into something that almost transcended life, at least in her eyes.

Jasper’s flesh knit together beneath her touch, and when she pulled her hand away, what was left was a rough grid of upraised, pink flesh that faintly glowed. Autumn smiled and bent to press her lips against it, then moved up to lay a gentle kiss on his lips.

“Your turn,” she said, turning to Gunnar.

Her favorite Windchaser turned to lay on the bed and she repeated the sealing process on his wound, giving his unwounded cheek a light smack when she was done.

“I love you,” he rumbled, rising to his knees before her, gripping her head in both hands and kissing her. When he pulled back he held on, continuing to gaze into her eyes. Autumn’s breath caught at the look of unabashed adoration he gave her. She’d seen hints of it off and on when she would spend time with him at his mother’s lodge when he was younger. Now, she couldn’t tear her eyes away, even if she wanted to.

Gunnar took a shaky breath and continued, never shifting his gaze from hers.

“I hope you understand exactly how much I love you, Autumn Sundance. For my entire life—ever since I was old enough to love—I have loved you. Every time you would come to stay at the Windchaser Lodge—to wait out your estrous there—I wished I could be the male to service you, but I was never old enough. I hated the males who had that privilege. Now I know that I didn’t need to hate them, because you were always meant to be mine.” He glanced at Jasper and smiled a little. “
Ours,
” he amended. “Because this goes both ways, I think. Let us mark you, too, to prove it.”

Tears pricked at Autumn’s eyes and she found it difficult to speak.

“What you’re suggesting is . . . ” She swallowed thickly, glancing at Jasper who sat up, watching them both. What Gunnar had suggested wasn’t unheard of, but rarely happened. The males didn’t need the mark the way the females did. The connection provided her with an irrevocable magical tether to them. It would send her excess power to them when she was breeding, as well as the baby’s new magic, too overwhelming for her to contain on her own.

“We don’t have our own energy to share. Our purpose is to absorb your excess. It’s easy for us to hold as much as you can give us until it’s reabsorbed by Gaia, but if we can make use of it, it would make us all stronger. Especially now that we’ve agreed to live outside the Sanctuary until the peril has passed and our enemy is dealt with.”

Jasper scooted closer and rested a warm hand on her naked hip. His touch sent a pleasant shiver through her.

“Would it be against some rule?” he asked, looking as hungrily at her as Gunnar did.

“No. It just isn’t necessary. And if it is done, it isn’t shared publicly, anyway.”

“It wasn’t necessary before,” Gunnar said. “If we mark you, the connection goes both ways. Our potential is unlocked.”

Autumn held her breath, her mind spinning with his suggestion. Would this be an even more reckless proposition than what she’d done with Aidan so long ago?

“Let me think about it, please,” she said. “It’s a pretty big decision. Marking you two was necessary, if we were going to stay together out here. Letting you mark me . . . ” She shook her head and placed a hand on Jasper’s scruffy cheek.

He stared up at her, brow creased.

“Tell me what it would do,” he said, his voice grave.

“Male ursa don’t inherently possess magic. You simply carry the seeds for it to grow. That potential is what you give to us—the females—in the form of your sweet spunk. We are the furrows that let the magic grow, the rain and sun to feed it. And you are the harvesters of our bounty when it grows too great for us and our unborn child to contain.”

“So . . . I’m like a silo? That’s nice and phallic,” he said, grinning. His smile cracked the solemnity of Gunnar’s suggestion wide open and Autumn collapsed onto the bed, laughing uncontrollably.

Gunnar fell down beside her, a rough laugh spilling from him. “That’s a pretty apt comparison,” he said.

Autumn caught her breath and looked back and forth between them.

“Except you would be more than that, if I marked you. You would be able to not only store all that power, but
use
it, too. And without practice, that could be pretty dangerous.”

“So, we practice,” Jasper said softly, raising up on one elbow and looking down at her. “If this enemy is so terrifying that the Sanctuary is being locked down a full two decades before the conflict, we should have plenty of time, right? Besides, I am a little in love with the idea of leaving my own mark on you. Do I get to use my claws?” He raked his fingernails lightly down her torso, the tickling sensation making her giggle and push him away.

“No . . . for the male’s mark to work, it’s different. Less complicated, though. All you have to do is bite me. Your saliva mixed with my blood provides the bond. But I haven’t decided yet. Please, let me think about it first. It isn’t something that should be done lightly.” She pressed her arm over her face, the decision warring inside her. Gaia, did she want exactly what Gunnar suggested, but it would complicate their relationship so much if they did it. Things were already complicated enough.

The bed shifted beside her and she uncovered her eyes to see Jasper sitting up, frowning. He climbed off the bed and glanced around as though looking for something.

“What is it?” Autumn asked. She sat up, resting a hand on Gunnar’s chest, a flutter of anxiety in her gut. Had she hurt his feelings?

Jasper chuckled. “I guess I showed up naked, didn’t I?” he said, smiling at her and flushing adorably. “I was just thinking it’s silly to hang out here until you decide, so I was looking for my jeans, but I left them shredded back at the lodge when I first shifted.”

He flushed a little brighter, though he didn’t seem the least bit shy about being naked. A cute crease furrowed his brow as he glanced toward the door, then the windows. It was the same look she’d seen in her fathers’ eyes when they were gauging the daylight, deciding whether they had time for another run to the next human town where their brethren lived, to pass on news from the Sanctuary. Jasper was made to be a guardian or a runner, no doubt.

He turned back decisively. “There’s no firewood left and no food. My house is a couple-hour hike down the mountain. We need to wind up there anyway, so why not go now? We have light for a few hours, and if we shift, the cold won’t bother us . . . ” He ended with a questioning look as though asking,
Will it?

“That sounds perfect,” Autumn said. “Lead the way!”

Jasper walked to the door, but hesitated before opening it. “It’s fucking cold out there. My testicles are already cringing. But here goes nothing.”

He threw the latch and immediately shifted, as though afraid of the cold. Autumn laughed and sidled up beside him. She reached between his furry legs and cupped his testicles, then bent to whisper in his ear.

“They’re protected, honey,” she said, giving him a squeeze and enjoying the soft growl he emitted. His cool snout nuzzled at her naked chest, a long tongue sweeping out to slide over her breast.

She shoved his head away, laughing. “No bear tongue! There’s a time and place for that, I promise. We don’t mix shapes, though. It’s bad magic to do that. Get moving, smartass. We’ll follow.”

Jasper growled in an oddly inflected way that seemed to be part complaint and part acquiescence. He loped toward the trees and paused to turn back.

“Let’s move,” Gunnar said behind her. “This is the rest of our lives, after all.”

Without another word, she shifted, and ran to catch up with Jasper, Gunnar keeping pace beside her.

* * *

Running between her mates, Autumn had never felt so alive.

Jasper led, directing them down a meandering path through the winter trees with subtle shifts of his gait. He seemed just as in his element at top speed as she and Gunnar.

She thought about recommending him as a runner to the Windchaser commander when they got back, but then realized they weren’t
going
back. At least, Jasper couldn’t. If she got pregnant out here, she couldn’t, either. That would leave Gunnar to make the recommendation. He was the only one who would be allowed through the portal after the lockdown, as a true Windchaser runner.

If they granted Jasper Windchaser runner status, he’d be able to come and go. And as soon as she gave birth—assuming she conceived—she would, too. They weren’t as isolated as it seemed, really. It would just take some time.

Her gait faltered when she remembered that it was Aidan who’d made all this possible. He’d given himself up so she could stay with these two males, let them love her.

She’d finally found them, and her heart soared, yet still reached out to Aidan, who had given up his own heart’s desire for hers. She couldn’t remember the vision she’d had for him, but she hoped it had been a good one. When they reached their goal, she’d spare another thought for him, but for now she needed to keep up with her mates, who seemed intent on having a race, using trees as their obstacles.

They’d reached a grove of old oaks, the stolid trunks standing as sentinels between them and their goals. The heavy branches had blocked out the sun beneath so nothing grew but spindly pines and dogwoods.

Gunnar roared as Jasper charged forward, rounding the trees with expert sureness. Autumn wanted to sit back and watch, but decided some energy output would be good for her and charged forward, too, letting out her own roar of challenge.

The sound made the males falter just enough for her to overtake them. After rounding several trees, she saw the target of Jasper’s charge. The huge cabin rested in a solitary valley below them, a trail of smoke rising from one of its three chimneys.

Autumn plowed forward, giddy from the chase and ecstatic about seeing Jasper’s home up close.

She made it halfway down the hill before she felt paws on her backside and she was suddenly bowled over into a snowbank beside a shed, meters from the house. Her back crashed into the side of the shed, snow flying around them. Jasper’s black-furred face hovered over hers.

He’d done this. Tripped her. She growled at him and he growled back. He pressed his furry snout against her neck and opened his mouth. The pressure of his teeth startled her.

She shifted back to human form out of panic, but he didn’t let go.

“Jasper, the magic has you. Don’t let it keep you. Please.”

His teeth sank into her shoulder, hot pain engulfing her.

In that second she realized he hadn’t been out of control, he’d known precisely what to do. The chase had been part of it and she’d led them inadvertently to their goal.

Gunnar’s white-furred shape brushed against her naked flesh, teasing. His nose sniffed at Jasper’s marks and licked them.

Autumn shivered. The pain was endurable, and she wanted more.

Gunnar’s snout pressed against her ear, his breath puffing out. It tickled a little, but she couldn’t help but read his desire into it. His question. His claws dug into her back where he anchored himself against her, so gentle, not breaking skin unless he meant to.