Homecoming (16 page)

Cal was kissing them both randomly and a bit frantically. She grabbed his hair, pulling it hard, and he froze with an expression of ecstasy on his face.

“He appreciates being manhandled,” Daniel said, his voice breathy and low from exertion.

“Move.” She pushed Daniel aside with her legs, letting him crash down next to her with a sigh of relief. Dragging Cal by his hair, she pulled him next to her. “You need something?” She reached down with her other hand, coating it with the mix of her own juices and Daniel's spent semen from between her legs, then wrapped her slick hand around Cal's cock. She tugged hard at his hair at the same time, holding him in place, and his whole body convulsed.

Behind her, Daniel spooned up and rested his hand over her mound with a gentle press. She groaned a little and rolled her hips as she jacked Cal off, pulling his hair tight to keep him still. With both hands busy, she was grateful that Daniel was there to touch her. His fingers dipped into the folds, slipping and sliding in a slow counterpoint to her hand on Cal's dick.

“You like this?” She asked, wanting to know for sure that trapping him down, with the psychic power of her nature as much as her body, was okay. Cal nodded happily, gasping, his hands clutching at the sheets to either side of himself. His face was still scrunched up and his eyes closed, his mouth falling open as he took short, body–shaking gasps of breath. He turned his head to mouth at her shoulder, whimpering, his hips moving in short, jerky thrusts.

Sula gathered up her energies, everything that was spread out around them and wrapped Cal up in it, surrounding him with her wild nature. She still felt a little shy about exposing that much power so intimately between them, but Cal whimpered louder and started thrusting harder into her hand. She kept twisting his hair with her other hand until he was whining like a dog.

“Sula, you're so beautiful,” Daniel whispered in her ear, nipping and licking at the shell of skin as his fingers found her clit again and circled it, moving faster and faster as Cal started to come undone.

She felt the connection appear between them, a complex weaving of energy from where their wild beasts joined together. The wolves, worshipful and submissive, took refuge in Sula's massive power and she felt their love fill her empty, lonely places. She had relied on her own strength for so long, fearing every form of vulnerability, that she did not know until that moment that what it felt like to let herself be loved.

The three of them moved together, tumbling through pain and sadness and desire and love until Cal cried out, coming with a short, hard thrust, his cum spurting out long and wide as he arched up into her hold. She let go of his hair and kissed him as hard as she could, pressing down on him with everything she had. Her second orgasm was a surprise, blinding and far more than she could contain. She knew instinctively that the way she poured it out between them was something only a bear like her could do.

Sula did not particularly remember the time immediately past that, when they were all dazed and gasping and sweat–slick. Eventually she got up to relieve and clean herself in the bathroom, wondering if the men would still be in her bed when she returned. They had not moved and simply grumbled at her sleepily as she crawled in next to them. Cal nosed his way into the middle, and Sula figured it made sense that he would feel safest there. It was an odd thought, to worry about who belonged where and why—she was far more used to normal men sneaking out of hotel rooms in the middle of the night, leaving her to her den.

She laid her arm over them both, rolling that word around in her head:
den
. Home. Family.

It was easy for her to decide what she was going to do the following day.

~*~

Cal woke up warm, sated and drowsy. The sun was not over the mountains yet, but the day was well into morning. He squirmed a little and felt himself trapped between two hot, heavy bodies. Daniel was on one side, lying on his back with Cal nestled up against him, wrapped around him in their default position. But behind Cal was the soft skin of Sula, her arm slung over him, holding him down and her hand resting on Daniel's stomach. She had Cal's right leg trapped between hers, and her nose was resting close enough to the back of his head for her breath to slightly ruffle his hair. He grinned, taking in a deep sniff of the three of them together.

The sour–sweet smell of bear was strong, but did not pluck at his nerves as it had when they first met Sula. Instead it was tinged with sex and sweat and sleep, the odors of a pack piled up together for the night. Cal reveled in it.

“Grow anymore smug with yourself and you'll explode,” Daniel said softly.

Sula shifted behind Cal but she did not feel awake. He kept grinning. “I'm wallowing. I'm allowed.”

Daniel huffed. “Yes, I suppose so.”

“Ugh, if you guys are morning people I'm calling this off right now,” Sula complained, kicking at Cal's leg.

He flipped over to face her. “No, that's just Daniel. I like to wake up just enough to make love and then go back to sleep.”

“Oh,” Sula said, opening her eyes in surprise. “Okay.”

Grinning, Cal rolled on top of her, and she parted her legs easily and wrapped her arms around him. Her scent surrounded him and grounded him in the basic elements of her nature: strength, love, and a vast, heartbreaking sense of loneliness. He did not know how to fight the last feeling, instead sinking easily into her, kissing her greedily as her body sheathed him. She gasped, tightening her legs around his waist.

“Oh, oh, yeah,” Cal whispered, thrusting hard. He felt Daniel's soothing touch on his back.

“Cal.” Sula spoke slowly, his name almost a question. He looked at her and was washed away by the look of pleasure in her eyes. Cal bowed up and snapped his hips, hammering into her until he felt their orgasms twining up between them, her supernatural power charging him up and holding him captive. He could not stop then, much less get up and leave, not for anything, and he laid out his subservience to her. He heard Daniel gasp and could feel him getting himself off watching them, and Cal knew that if Daniel had not wanted Sula to share Cal with him, he would have stopped them. But he didn't, instead feeding off of the submissive energy Cal was putting out by servicing Sula. Cal wanted to hold off until she came but with everything going on between them, he wasn't sure he could.

Sula cried out softly, arching up and clasping Cal so closely to her that he could barely move, but that was what he needed. He came with his own muffled growl, nipping at Sula's arm. He felt more than heard Daniel climax, and then they were all piled up together again.

“Good morning,” Sula laughed.

“It is,” Daniel agreed, rolling onto his side and kissing Sula while Cal just tried to snuggle closer to both of them.

They stayed like that for a few minutes while they all regrouped. Finally Sula shoved Cal off and he landed on Daniel. “Oof. Hey!”

“I need a shower, guys, seriously. I smell like a den.”

“A sexy bear den!” Cal complained, grabbing at her, but she pushed off with a smile.

“I'll be back.” She tossed on her robe and walked out.

Cal flopped onto his back. “Wow.”

“Eloquent as ever,” Daniel laughed.

“We have a bear. Our bear! Or, we're her wolves. How does that work?”

“Theoretically, it doesn't.” Daniel sighed.

“Don't start, don't harsh my buzz.”

“I don't mean to. But we're registered now. And I wonder…she's said she doesn't plan on staying.” Daniel pulled the sheets up over them, and settled down next to Cal. They both stared at the ceiling for a few minutes.

“That's what she said before. Maybe she's rethought it. She said that Lisbeth had talked to her about it.”

“Perhaps.”

“Ugh, I hate it when I'm the optimistic one.” Cal picked up a pillow and put it over his face. Daniel snorted but let him hide.

Sula walked back in, still smelling raw and sexy but not as sharp, and little like juniper soap. “What's this?” She sat on the bed and picked up the pillow.

Daniel opened his mouth but Cal spit it out. “Are you registering? Are you staying? We want you to stay.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

Sula just stared at him.

“I was going to be a bit more diplomatic about the question, but yes, that is what is on our minds this morning,” Daniel said, his tone hinting at apology. Cal didn't care, he was used to Daniel apologizing for him.

Sula pulled the pillow into her lap. “I've never registered before, you know that.”

Cal shrugged.

“This might put us all in the spotlight. After my mother, the Registry has a flag for bears, I've heard.” She rubbed her face.

Cal rolled onto his side and slipped a hand under robe to rest on her thigh, skin to skin, so that their shifter natures could connect. “We're not scared of that. Tony's ready for it, he's talked to Lisbeth about it a lot if I know him. You trust us or not?”

“You're not the problem.” She shook her wrist where Bracelet glinted.

“And? What's it telling you?” Daniel sat up and put a hand on Cal's hip, grounding him and hold him firmly in place.

“Nothing,” Sula said with surprise, looking at it. “I think it is more concerned I'll try to do something to hurt it, now that I've learned how to push back at its powers. It's retreated.” Her voice was tinged with awe.

“Sula.” Daniel spoke softly, getting her attention. She looked over at him. “Register. Stay with us. You don't have to live with us if you don't want to—”

Cal whined, and Daniel slapped his hip.

“
If
you don't want to. But we want you to. We want you here. I think that's pretty obvious, and I think you want to be with us.”

“I've never wanted to be anywhere before, not for a long time.”

“Since your mother's death?” Daniel asked, gently rubbing her arm.

“Long before that. I remember how happy she was that time when she registered, with the guy she was in love with. I think his name was Leo? Anyway he was a nice guy. Got me Christmas presents. Flat out didn't care that mother was a bear, didn't seemed bothered by it at all. I'm pretty sure he was Russian, first generation or something, I mean old country blood. They don't seem as frightened of us. Well. That's what mama said.”

Her voice took on a soft, lilting note that Cal had never heard before, something vaguely Southern that matched her bronze skin and complicated, brown eyes.

“We moved in with Leo. It was perfect, it really was. I think the wolfpack was threatening them, Mom and Leo, the whole time but they never told me. I was just…just happy, for once. Going to school and having a real home, with a yard, and—” she stopped, her voice choking. Cal sat up and wrapped himself around her, because he knew how it felt to loose that, even if she had only had it for a while. She clasped his arm to her chest, breathing deeply.

“Sula, you're not going to lose everything because you register. Your mother and Leo, maybe they could have done something else, moved or I don't know, but it's not your mother's
fault
that the pack killed Leo. They were wrong. They were scared of her and they were desperate, and they did a terrible thing because of it. But that doesn't make it her fault, and if you register, that doesn't mean it's all going to happen again,” Daniel said, scooting up to hold both Sula and Cal in his strong, strong arms.

Sula shuddered and finally broke, crying and curling forward but Cal was damned if he was going to let her get away. He tugged at her until she was collapsed in Daniel's arms and then spread himself over both of them, pushing them all back onto the bed. Sula's hands covered her face and he decided that was fair, he hated people seeing him cry too, so he just rested his head on her sternum. Daniel was saying soothing things, the way he could and not sound dumb, and they all stayed exactly where they were until Sula pulled in some normal breaths and rolled off of them. Cal made another grab for her but Daniel held him back.

“Sula?”

She tightened the robe around herself and paced at the foot of the bed. Cal vibrated with worry, knowing that whatever came next would make or break them. She could still leave, and nothing a rangy beta wolf like him could do would stop her. Daniel kept squeezing his wrist to keep him still.

Finally she stopped pacing and looked around, as if seeing the room for the first time. “I could try.”

Cal swung up and pulled her into his arms, smelling her scent and falling backwards so that Daniel could catch them. They all rolled on to the bed, Sula either laughing or crying, and Cal wasn't going to question it either way. She was beautiful.

“Can we stay in bed all day?” Cal asked, bumping his hips.

“No,” Daniel and Sula answered together. Cal whined again and then gloried in being smothered by them as they held him down.

~*~

Lisbeth was in the kitchen, making coffee, when Sula clambered down the stairs that morning.

“What brought you down the mountain?”

Lisbeth grinned at her, just short of laughing.

“Oh, shut up. They're just damned persistent.”

“Mmmm hmmm.” Lisbeth sniffed the air ostentatiously.

“Stop it, you perv!”

Lisbeth snickered and handed her a full cup of coffee. Sula could tell that there was more going on from the cagey way Lisbeth sat down at the table across from her, so waved her hand in a 'carry on' motion. “You're here for a reason, when you're supposed to be honey–mooning with your new Alpha.”

Lisbeth sighed. “Are you registering?”

“I'm not even done with my coffee yet.” Sula glared at her mug.

“I don't mean right now! I just mean…soon?” Lisbeth tried to look innocent.

Sula put her mug down. “What's going on?”

“Honestly, nothing. It would make the guys happy and I'd be thrilled to know you're staying.” Lisbeth tapped her own mug with her finger tips, looking out the kitchen window.

“But?”

“I've just got a squirrelly feeling about registering. It's done, and nothing drastic has happened. Tony's not happy about my sealed record but that's my right. Still, eventually, we're going to hear from my family. Directly or indirectly, they will try to contact me.”