Nailed (Black Mountain Bears Book 3) (8 page)

Chapter Nine

A
n ursa’s drive to mate had often irritated Aidan. Ever since Autumn had left him, he hadn’t felt it as strongly with anyone as he had with her. He’d serviced other ursa females on occasion since, though rarely. Over the past two centuries, he’d had most of his sexual interactions with human women. He enjoyed their accessibility—he couldn’t get them pregnant, after all, since there had to be a magical bond for that to happen. There were human family lines allied to the ursa who he could breed with, but he was careful not to cross paths with them.

Yet he’d never felt as strong a connection to any of the women as he had to Autumn, and he despaired that loss daily.

As Jade lay in his arms, giving him both the best and worst ultimatum he could have heard, he knew without a doubt that he’d found a connection even stronger. And it killed him that he wouldn’t be the one to sire a cub by her.

“Okay,” Aidan said, and laughed when she let out a little whoop and rolled him over, straddling his hips.

“When they get back, I’ll tell them,” she said. “Meanwhile, could you maybe feed me?”

“I’d love nothing more,” he said, extracting himself from her and getting up to scrounge for food in his makeshift kitchen in the better-lit corner of the cave.

After that, he lost himself in her. He occupied his time with making love to her and feeding her. The hours they spent together occasionally summoned memories of his time with Autumn during their pilgrimage Outside, but somehow, his time with Jade was so different.

There was no excitement of the taboo nature of the affair, for one thing. He simply lived to please her and nothing more. Perhaps his mother had actually given him a gift by taking away his fertility. Either way, he found himself shedding his self-hatred and finding a reason to live for the first time in a very long time. And he didn’t even mind the idea of sharing her with a pair of other males. The issue of their own bond might be a concern, but he would deal with that when the time came.

He only had a few days of her to himself, and he intended to treasure every second before the pair returned.

The third day, he woke to find Jade gone and sat up, wondering if he’d simply dreamed her presence all along. He distinctly remembered falling asleep not long after her insistence to go down on him, “so I can surprise the guys when they get back.” He’d relented, happily being the practice object for her lovely mouth. She’d made him come and fallen down beside him, smugly wiping her lips. Her deep kiss, salty with the flavor of his own spunk, was the last thing Aidan remembered.

Yeah, that could’ve been a dream, except when he had those kinds of dreams he usually woke up either hard and aching or already spent and a sticky mess. His cock was flaccid, clearly well-sated and sound asleep—which was a rarity in the early morning—and he was dry and clean.

Laughter reached his ears, echoing around the cave, and he sat up straighter. Bright sunlight streamed in from the steps in the back that led up to the small glade above the falls. The sound carried down along with the golden sunbeams sparkling with tiny bits of floating pollen.

He pulled himself out of bed, and walked barefoot and naked to the illuminated the exit, and the opening where he heard Jade’s laughter coming from.

The path was easy enough to climb after he’d done a bit of masonry the week before, setting flat stones into the dense clay of the mountain, creating a small staircase leading up.

When he poked his head out, he could just see her, standing naked in the middle of the small glade in a patch of wildflowers. A swarm of butterflies surrounded her and she held her arms out, laughing as they landed, attracted by the magic of her estrous like bees might collect around a particularly succulent flower.

She was so beautiful and happy, dancing naked in the morning light, playing with the fluttering colorful insects that surrounded her. And she was his, or he would be hers soon enough, anyway.

Autumn’s words came back to him. “
You’ll find someone, and she won’t be a Sundance, either. She’ll be better than me.
”

He didn’t know yet if she was better than Autumn, but she was better
for him
.

“Hey!” she called, drawing him out of his romantic reverie. “This is
amazing
. Did you know they would do this?”

“Definitely,” he said, climbing all the way up and striding toward her. “It’s one of our perks as ursa. Just be glad you aren’t a dragon. Most lower creatures avoid them like the plague.”

“Poor things,” Jade said. “They can’t even have a cat?”

Aidan pursed his lips, thinking. “I’ve never heard of it happening, but cats are just as persnickety and self-righteous, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they found dragons tolerable.”

“Why aren’t they landing on you?” she asked.

“Because you’re the one with all the magic,” he said. “It’s ambrosia to them.”

Jade’s lips quirked, suppressing a laugh which finally burst forth. “Oh, God, don’t talk to me about ambrosia, please. My cousin once ate a worm and told the boys it tasted like that . . . like
ambrosia
. Ugh. The very thought makes me want to puke.”

“You haven’t spent much time in your true form, have you? Worms really do taste pretty good to us.”

Jade made more puking sounds and laughed louder, causing the butterflies to flit away. Seeing his chance to touch her without putting the butterfly population in peril, Aidan gripped her elbow and pulled her to him.

She went, giggling, and stared up into his eyes with a delighted smile.

“Jade, I love you,” he said.

Her mirthful expression became instantly serious. Gaia, he loved every little quirk of her moods, and he’d seen most of them over the last few days. She’d shared her loneliness over missing her brother, and the bittersweet happiness knowing he’d found love, even if he was too far away for her to speak to. She’d shared her ambivalence about her mother and the resentment Jade harbored over her attempts to orchestrate her mating with the two males she’d hiked up here with. Her tenderness toward the two males themselves was clear, however, and when he pressed her, she’d shared details of the tense and sensual evening they’d had together.

In all of it, he’d seen a beautiful heart that matched the physical beauty he’d first desired.

“I love you, too,” she said, smiling and saying it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I would love you no matter what you were missing, Aidan. I know you define your worth based on this part of you . . . ” She stepped toward him and cupped his cock and balls in her hand, stroking gently, her hand leaving him warm and tingly and rock hard. “But your worth isn’t between your legs. It’s a little bit higher.”

Strangely, both parts of him ached when she said that. He wanted her like mad just then, and when he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her, then laid her down on the mossy earth beside the misty crest of the falls, she laughed again, the lilt of it tingling in his ears and sending a pleasant jolt to his groin.

“Are you sure about that?” he asked, smiling down at her as she spread her legs for him and he slid into her. His entire body shivered from the pleasure of that first stroke. “I seem to remember you saying something about how my cock could rule the world last night.”

“Your cock rules
my
world,” she said. “Your heart is altar I worship at, though.”

He sank deep, trying to calm the ache inside him that he knew he’d never be able to subdue, nor did he want to. Being with her, inside her, was the only way he could tame the need he had, the need she’d awakened in him.

She clutched at his head, pulling him down into a deep kiss while her hips rose up to meet his.

Somewhere in the back of his consciousness he heard frantic voices, but they were soon drowned out by Jade’s lusty orgasmic cries, followed by his own.

A shadow fell over them, then another, and Jade’s face grew stricken.

“No!” she cried, just before a pair of huge hands gripped him around the neck and threw him to the ground.

Chapter Ten

“O
rrick, stop!” Jade yelled. Both males stood, staring down at Aidan’s limp form.

“Who is he?” Orrick yelled back. “Did you mate him while we were gone?”

Beneath his rage, Jade could sense the hurt. “No, but I plan to.”

Sten stared at her, stricken. “Why?” he asked softly.

Before she could answer, Aidan came to and lashed out. One fist struck Sten across the cheek, another hit Orrick in his stomach, doubling him over. Aidan’s untamed blond hair flew wild, his intense gray eyes looking between them in challenge. They both retaliated swiftly, and Jade had no idea what to do. She wanted them to just stop—this wasn’t how she’d planned the reunion at all.

Without even a thought, her power flooded her limbs and she found herself in her true form, and very angry. She let out a deafening roar and charged at the trio of tussling males. She batted at Sten, knocking him easily away, and then swiped at Orrick, but he was busy throttling Aidan and didn’t budge.

A second later, Aidan had the upper hand and became her new target.
Stop fucking trying to kill each other!

She was being too kind to them. Letting out her claws, she bellowed again in warning. When they didn’t stop, she rose up on her hind legs and swiped. Her claws rent the skin of Aidan’s back in shallow grooves from shoulder to hip.

Aidan cried out and fell away.

Orrick lay gasping and staring up at her in terror. Had she become something for them to fear? They could shift and fight back, yet they didn’t.

Letting out a low growl, Jade prowled around him, sniffing at him, then at Sten, who sat gripping his head nearby. She gave his cheek a lick and a nuzzle, closing her eyes at the familiar flavor of him.

It was now or never, though. They would understand the second she did it, what she intended.

She raised her claw and swiped it over Sten’s shoulder twice in quick succession, shredding his cotton t-shirt in the process.

“Fuck!” he yelled, then stared at her, blinking. She moved to Orrick and did the same to his chest, destroying his shirt and letting out a snarl that she hoped conveyed her irritation and her ownership as she went to find Aidan.

He lay bleeding near the water, his back glistening with the mist from the waterfall and rivulets of blood from the wounds she’d given him.

“You don’t fuck around, do you?” he asked, smiling through a grimace. “Finish it fast, please. I’ve gotta fuck you with this thing, and it’s going to take a whole lot of juice to seal it, so we need to move, assuming you still want this.”

Jade clenched her teeth at the raw wounds she’d given him. His entire back, for Christ’s sake. Couldn’t she have restrained herself a little bit?

“I can handle it, baby,” Aidan said. “Just get it over with.”

She swept her claws across the first set of marks and swiftly shifted, bending to haul him up.

“You guys, help me!” she yelled at the other two. They both shook off their stunned looks and rose to assist.

“This is Aidan Sundance,” Orrick said with awe when he came to Aidan’s side and lent his own strength to help.

“The one and only,” Aidan said. “Though no longer a Sundance, thanks to my overeager cock. Just call me Aidan, please.”

“You’re a bit of an ursa legend, you know,” Sten said, taking over Emma’s support of Aidan. “The only male who’s gone two centuries without finding a mate or a male partner. Some of us think you have some magical secret to self-satisfaction.”

Aidan laughed out loud and then groaned. Jade, too frantic to get involved in their conversation, headed down before them and straightened up the bed to lay him on it, then went back to get fresh water.

As she walked back up the steps she heard Aidan say, “There’s no magic to masturbating desperately when you can’t find someone to do it with. I never had a male partner because I was the son of a clan leader who frowned on it. As a Sundance, I was supposed to be enough on my own for any female in the Sanctuary. But I’m game . . . You guys looking for a third?”

Jade snorted, but was suddenly terrified it would all fall apart if she didn’t do things exactly right. She filled her small pot with water and went back down, finding the three of them laughing and happy. And covered in blood.

“Jesus, you guys are bleeding to death! I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

She dipped her rag in the water and went to Sten first, gently dabbing at the clawed skin of his back.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her down into his lap where he sat cross-legged on the floor. “Jade, we’re ursa males. We are immune to shredding, even if it’s a female doing it.”

“Especially if it’s a female,” Orrick said from his spot at the end of Aidan’s bed. “And you did it impulsively, while completely shifted. You don’t have to follow through with sealing them. We heal fast, so if you want . . . ”

She glanced at Aidan, who had turned slightly onto his side to watch her. She couldn’t read his expression, but knew he had to be wondering what she would do. She’d begun the marking process with these two, and wanted it, but had no idea how to proceed.

“I’m not taking it back,” she said. “I’m just not sure what to do next.”

Sten gripped her hand in his. “You need us to tell you what to do, don’t you? Not the other way around.”

“Please,” she said, meeting his eyes. “It’ll be worth it if you don’t let me down now.”

He grinned at her. “Oh, I know it will. Help me get this off,” he said, tugging at the hem of his t-shirt.

Jade pulled the ripped piece of cotton over his head, and when his face came into view again, he bent his head and latched onto one of her nipples.

“Fuck,” she whispered, threading her fingers through his hair.

“You clawed the fuck out of Aidan Sundance,” Orrick said. “That’s not cool.”

Jade tried to focus on Orrick’s accusation, but Sten had moved to her other breast and had a hand moving up her inner thigh.

She tossed her rag at Orrick and shoved the pot of water to him. “Clean him up for me. You were the one who started beating him up first. I was trying to stop all three of you from killing each other.”

“And you secretly needed to put a bigger mark on him than the rest of us, I get it,” Orrick said, but his smile betrayed his lack of animosity.

Jade wished her body didn’t ache so much for Sten’s touch. She wanted to tend to Aidan herself, but her core was back to its steady, painful throbbing and she needed his touch desperately.

“Fuck, Jade, did we leave you this way?” Sten asked, catching on at some point.

“Like what?” she asked.

“In the middle of estrous. I mean, you were hot enough before, but now, you’re on fire.”

“No,” she said breathlessly. “But I’m going to seal those marks of yours, so don’t be shy with me, all right?”

“Then let’s get this done right,” Sten said and lifted her in his arms.

He carried her to the bed and knelt for a second until Aidan moved over onto his side.

“You first,” Sten said to Aidan.

Aidan pressed his lips to Jade’s neck and shook his head. “She’s already pretty full of me. We were making love when you two showed up, remember? No, it’s all you. I get to watch this time.”

Jade turned to gaze into his eyes, studying them to determine whether there was any hesitance or hurt, but all she saw was the same happiness she’d seen when they were making love earlier.

Orrick lay down behind her and she turned to face him, surprised by the apprehension apparent on his face. She reached up to brush her hands over the deeper stubble on his cheeks. At this point, she could probably safely call it a beard, and she liked it on him.

“You can have me now, without worry.”

“I know,” he said. “But I’m still terrified I’ll do something wrong. Especially since you seem insistent on
not
telling us what to do.”

“I trust you,” she said. “And I didn’t tell you guys a damn thing last week and you managed to blow my mind. Trust your instincts.”

“My instinct right now is to fuck you,” he said. “If that’s okay with you.”

Jade’s body lit up with his confession, her already aching core responding with an undeniable pulse.

“That’s more than okay,” she whispered.

“Good,” Orrick said and lifted her thigh. The head of his cock found her clit and she gasped when he rubbed it gently before sliding between her folds and shifting his hips just enough to plunge between them.

“Oh fuck, you feel good,” he whispered in her ear. Jade had trouble containing her pleasure and reached back to grip at the only thing she could find.

Aidan bent his head, his hands slipping around her from the other side. “I’ve got you, baby,” he said and she sighed. “What do you think about letting us all in?” he murmured.

She didn’t know what he meant at first, but seeing Sten standing bereft of attention while Orrick got to fuck her made her nod. She wanted them both inside her.

“Yes,” she said.

Orrick moved, shifting his body and raising her leg higher. She couldn’t have held it up on her own for much longer, but they did the work for her. Sten moved in, straddling her leg and Orrick’s and pressing his cock at her entrance with Orrick’s when he pulled out of her.

The pair of them slid in together with a grunt, and Jade sighed in relief at how much the aching void of her estrous was satisfied.

Aidan’s fingers teased her nipples and his steady, comforting voice filled her ears. Hearing his low tones urging her to enjoy every second made it all even more incredible.

One hand slid down her upraised leg, his fingers exploring her parted flesh. The addition of his teasing touches made her groan in pleasure and she turned her head to him, grateful when he bent to kiss her. With his tongue in her mouth, Aidan moved his fingers, slipping them backward until he stroked between her spread ass cheeks. The sensation was new and amazing. When he pulled back to look at her, Jade moaned softly, too overwhelmed by sensation to articulate how much she loved everything they were doing.

“I’m going to fuck this pretty ass of yours,” he said after teasing for a few more minutes. He shifted down her body, his hand gripping her upraised leg and his lips resting briefly on her knee. A second later his hot, warm tongue teased between her ass cheeks, sending a fresh bolt of pleasure through her.

Her hand immediately flew back to his head, gripping it as she cried out.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting you ready, baby. If you don’t want me to, just tell me. You’re so wet from being fucked right now, it would be a shame to waste it.”

She turned her face forward again and met Orrick’s passionate gaze. He smiled down at her. “You could have us all at once,” he said softly. “I’d love to see you fall apart from three of us.”

She looked at Sten, who barely had room to move between the other two men, but didn’t seem shy about using them for leverage. He also didn’t seem to want to stop what he was doing anytime soon, and she didn’t want him to. Her pulse raced and she was pretty sure the angle of Sten’s cock was what was hitting all her perfect spots.

The feel of Aidan’s tongue teasing at her backside again made her cry out.

“Yes! Fuck me, please. Oh, God, I need you inside me too, Aidan. Please!”

Aidan let out a low chuckle as he moved back up her body and pressed his cock between her spread cheeks. As he pushed into her, he whispered, “Consider this retribution for my back. I own your ass, and you own mine after this. Fair trade?”

White pain blossomed in spite of the smooth entry he had. Jade forced herself to relax, and the act of opening herself up to them made everything even more intense than it had been moments earlier. Sten and Orrick sank deeper, Aidan’s cock fucked her harder, and her entire world became nothing more than intense sensation.

The pain subsided, quickly subsumed by pleasure, and Jade found herself pushing back against Aidan, wanting him even deeper, even as the pair of other men filled her to bursting.

The fucking seemed to last an eternity, until it didn’t. She let herself drown in the rapture until abruptly, her world became a sharp pinpoint of pleasure and she lost track of her very identity. Three harsh, deep cries carried through the cave over her own and three cocks pulsed inside her. Jade’s own cry called out at a higher pitch above the others, her body paralyzed with the most mind-blowing orgasm she’d ever had.

With a sigh and a grunt, they slipped out of her. She didn’t move after they lowered her leg, simply lying there thrumming with the buzz of pleasure left behind. This was her power, though, she realized. She’d given them some of it now, and she felt the tingle of what still remained. She held her hand up to her eyes and saw a pale green glow emanate from it.

“You can heal with that,” Aidan said, watching her. “Just don’t do it to me yet. You need to seal my mark first.”

Swallowing, Jade nodded and did something she considered weird beyond belief, but also strangely erotic and intimate. She cupped her hand between her legs and gathered the lingering fluids there. Aidan rolled onto his side, facing away from her. Jade grimaced at the angry red grid she’d left on him with her claws, then delicately spread the fluid in her hand over the wounds. They glowed a bright green when the liquid touched them, then knit together.

Turning to Orrick, she did the same to his chest, then kissed him and murmured, “I would have chosen you, too, both of you.”

Sten bared his back to her and she did the same for him.

They fell asleep in a tangle of limbs, her body sandwiched between Orrick and Aidan in his small bed, and Sten lying at the other end, his legs entwined with Orrick’s for most of the night.

Aidan pulled her close to him in the darkness and whispered, “Thank you.” She only sighed and kissed him.

In the morning, another wave of her estrous gripped her, but even before she could cry out her need, a head was buried between her legs and she was orgasming so hard and so loud she feared she’d lose her voice.

When she came to her senses again she looked down to see Aidan smugly smiling up at her. The other two were absent.