Gabrielle Demonico (2 page)

Suddenl
y, the instant of climax descended upon her. She wanted to scream and call out their names but she dared not wake her aunt so instead she thrashed and buried her head into the pillow. The rapture grappled her to the point of near breakdown as she shook and moaned into the goose down. Her tongue turned to stone in her mouth as the action of her fingers against her aching mound finally started to slow.

The peak of her climax began to recede from her unrequited shores of lust. Slowly, she lifted her head off t
he pillow, attempted to catch her breath and wondered how much more of this she would be able to withstand. The release, as welcome as it might have been, wasn't enough any longer and deep down she knew it…

***

There was only one problem with having a real wheel drive car when you live in the Cascades.

Snow.

And, unfortunately for Allie, the small amount that was forecast to fall that late spring day had mushroomed into a full blown blizzard. By the time she'd reached the pass to the brothers' home, her car barely made any progress.

There was no question she'd be late but at this point it was the last thing on her mind. Nevertheless, she carefully downshifted and prepared to navigate the steep, snowy grade that lead down to the valley floor and the Reeves' h
omestead. The first several hundred feet were manageable but at a particularly sharp bend in the road, she suddenly felt all traction from the road disappear.

It was the last thing she remembered…

When she next woke, it was in a strange place. Her head pounded and felt like an over-inflated basketball. She tried to lift it up and take in more of her surroundings but she found the slightest movement to be excruciating.

The material under her didn't feel anything like the car seats in her clunker. Instead, sh
e felt soft depth beneath her. Painful as it was she managed to crane her neck up enough to see that she was in an enormous bed. As she rubbed her eyes, she could tell that the room itself was equally large. Even though the window treatments were drawn shut, it appeared to be dark out.

She was concerned, even afraid, but there was precious little she could do about it. Instead, within a few minutes, exhaustion overwhelmed her and she again slipped into unconsciousness. When her eyes opened once more, th
e room seemed a bit brighter. She thought that perhaps it was light out but whether it was morning or afternoon, she couldn't be sure. She scanned the area nearby - the nightstand, dressers, and the like but didn't see any trace of her belongings.

Her head
felt a bit better but her neck was terribly sore. She pulled back the covers, looked down and noticed that she was peppered with scrapes, bruises and bumps. Even so, it was obvious that they had been cleaned and someone had even taken the time to dress her in an oversized pair of pajamas.

She slowly sat up and swung her legs off the bed. On the far side of the room was a door. She knew that there was only one way to find out where she was and the answer was beyond it. Walking towards it however proved to b
e terribly difficult. As she crossed the room, she groped everything in her path just to steady herself.

Finally, she reached the large pine door and slowly turned the knob. Although she was pretty confident that whoever had helped her probably wasn't dang
erous, she thought it best to be as quiet as possible. The door made the tiniest whisper of a groan as it opened just wide enough for her to peek out.

From everything she could tell, she was in a very large home, exquisitely decorated in a masculine, yet r
ugged style. But, as her field of vision moved closer in, she froze in place. Her breath choked in her throat and she could feel her entire body turn to granite.

For not fifteen feet ahead of her slept two
enormous
bears.

Allie could never remember being s
o terrified in her entire life. Overwhelmed with panic, her hand which grasped the doorknob began to tremble. Desperate, she held her breath and closed the door as cautiously as she could in the hope that the giant animals would not hear her.

But, no soone
r had she done that then she heard a great commotion from the other room.

Fuck! Oh my God! Now what?

In a frenzy, she tried to clear her head long enough to find a place,
any place
, to hide. She tiptoed speedily across the room towards what appeared to be a large closet when all of sudden, she heard voices. They were men's voices and Allie could swear that she'd heard them before.

Your mind is playing tricks on you, hide!

But they became clearer and audible. Finally she heard one say to the other, "Victor, I told you that we should have taken her into town. We could've beaten the storm. She's been in there for almost twenty four hours now."

Victor?

Then the second voice responded, "You may be right but there's precious little we can do about it now Nicholas. What's done is done. I think she's awake in there. Come on."

Nicholas?

Allie's heart still thumped wildly in her chest. She must have imagined the whole bear thing. Clearly, she was at the home of the Reeves brothers. Somehow,
someway
, she'd wound up there and now she could hear their footsteps nearing the door.

The sound stopped abruptly and was followed by gentle, but firm, knock at the door. "Allie? Are you awake? Do you mind if we come in?" Victor said.

Do I mind?

Even in her woozy state, Allie still couldn't believe her luck. Of all places to wind up in a snowstorm! She cleared her tinder dry throat and replied, "Y…
Yes, I'm fine. I'm awake, please come in."

The doorknob turned and a second later, the two
muscled millionaires emerged through it. Whether she was shocked, or simply delirious, Allie could feel herself go immediately weak at the sight of them. They rushed over to her and grabbed onto her - one of them on each of her upper arms. Their touch sent waves of heat coursing through Allie's veins and delivering it to that most precious of her tender, virgin places.

Nicholas spoke and said, "Goodness, we were worried about you. Let's get you back to the bed so that you can rest a bit."

Even under the guidance of their powerful grasp, Allie's legs still wobbled beneath her. Sensing her instability, the brothers lifted her as if she were a feather and carried her quickly back to the comfort of the billowy down mattress.

Once they were sure that she was res
ting comfortably, they told Allie everything that had happened. When she hadn't arrived on time, they'd set out looking for her and found tire tracks leading off the roadside. She'd lost control of her car and careened it into an embankment where they found her unconscious.

She'd been asleep for nearly eighteen of twenty four hours since. It was the first time she'd ever seen them like this, side-by-side, dressed casually and without the pretense of corporate power hanging over the discussion. They seemed l
ess intimidating but only fractionally so.

Some of it was coming back to her, not all, but
some
. Even so, she couldn't shake the image of the bears. They looked so real -
they had to have been real
.

The two brothers stood towering above her as she sat on t
he edge of the bed. Finally, she mustered up the courage to ask and said, "First of all, thank you both. I cannot begin to express my gratitude to you for saving me."

The brothers nodded.

Allie continued, "I know this is going to sound
completely crazy
and maybe it's me. Perhaps I just banged my head so hard that my mind is playing tricks on me. But, before the two of you came in here, I had peeked out into the living room and I could have
sworn
that…"

Allie suddenly doubted her mind. She had the men of her
dreams all alone to herself and the first impression she wanted to give them was that she was a nut?

Victor tilted his head towards her and asked, "Sworn that
what
Allie?"

She gulped a hard lump of nerves which had lodged itself in her throat and then sai
d, "Well, I could have sworn that I saw two bears sleeping right outside the door."

What Allie expected next was
not
what happened. In fact, it was the furthest thing from it.

The brothers simply turned and looked at one another. Their faces were sullen, i
nexpressive and distant. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence Victor finally said to his brother, "There is no more time to waste brother. Wouldn't you agree?"

Nicholas nodded slowly and said, "I would."

Stinging needles of anticipation stabbed at Allie as their voices fell silent. What meaning was hidden in their cryptic dialogue? She was eternally grateful to them for saving her but suddenly she was overcome with an uneasy feeling. She'd always trusted her instincts and now they were on high alert.

Even so, Allie could not help but be overwhelmed by them. After all, for so long she'd dreamt of the time she could be alone with them and now that moment was finally here. Amidst of a fog of confusion and concern, her most primal desires still managed t
o bubble warmly to the surface.

A few more uncomfortable moments slipped by when finally, Victor knelt down and wrapped his immense hands around hers. She could sense a primal emotion in his touch. There was depth beyond the purely physical and it was conf
irmed as she gazed into his deep aqua pools.

He said, "What we are going to propose to you will sound strange indeed. But, just agree to hear me out. The decision about whether to accept it or not will be entirely yours to make." He then looked back over h
is shoulder towards Nicholas and said, "If I forget to mention something, or you have anything you'd like to add brother, please do not hesitate to interrupt."

Nicholas nodded in agreement.

As Victor hovered in the close personal space between them, she once again caught his unmistakable scent. The familiar crispness of fresh citrus was again present only this time; there was a much stronger, more pungent odor as well.

She found it to be stra
ngely erotic and the more she inhaled of the fragrant musk, the greater her desire to be closer to its source. She found herself drawn, from the inside out towards him, desperate to savor the fantasy that was now only inches away.

Finally Victor turned bac
k towards her and said, "Allie, I am going to be perfectly blunt. My brother and I are not all we appear to be. In fact, you have already uncovered the truth I am about to speak to you. It takes a woman of special creation to understand it. We believe it takes a woman like you, Allie."

She looked at him and then cast her gaze up towards Nicholas. With a quizzical tone in her voice she said, "I don't understand, what do you mean a woman like me?"

Victor inhaled deeply and let out a long, slow breath that sounded vaguely like a growl. His eyes followed his exhalation downward. He held there for a moment, looked back up at her and said, "We are bear shifters Allie. Have you ever heard of shifters before?"

Suddenly, Allie was paralyzed with fear.
It was true.
She hadn't imagined it. Out of instinct, her bloodstream coursed with adrenaline and her heart rate exploded. She sat there, unable to utter a single syllable.

Victor's animal instincts keenly picked up on her state and he said reassuringly, "You have
nothing
to fear Allie. You are safe with us. After all, if we wanted to harm you, it would have been quite easy to do so while you were sleeping. Now, I'll ask you again. Do you know what shifters are?"

Allie swallowed hard and choked out, "No. Well, sort of I g
uess. I mean, is it like a werewolf?"

The brothers laughed loudly in unison. And then Victor replied, "Well, it is
sort of
like that. The thing to understand is we are neither man nor animal but
both
. For generations, shifters have lived in peace in this region. They are all around you here but you just don't realize it."

The whole conversation seemed like something out of a bizarre dream. On top of everything else she'd been through in the past day, this was just sensory overload. All she could do was nod
as he spoke.

"Do you know what a soul mate is Allie?" he asked.

"Yes." She replied.

He leaned in just a little closer and said, "Do you think that
everyone
has a soul mate Allie?"

Allie shrugged and said quietly, "I don't know." As deeply as believed in th
e romantic idea of it all, it didn't seem real, at least not to her. In fact, the whole notion seemed terribly cruel at times and was something she generally tried not to think about.

Victor squeezed her hands knowingly and said, "I understand. We shifters
too have one that we are meant to bond with for all our lives - our
true mate
. But, just like people, most shifters never find their true mate and instead settle for simply breeding with another shifter. However, pair bonding with a true mate unlocks the full genetic potential of the shifter child. It keeps the gene pool strong and resilient for generations to come."