9. Cody

cody

. . .

“Come here, cocoa bean.”

Somehow, I knew it was my turn to take over the role Ash had played before.

I pulled Noelle’s back to my chest, licking the shell of her ear and palming her large breasts. “Do you want me to tell you what he’s thinking?”

Noelle nodded and whimpered, the sound going straight to my dick. My bear growled inside me, ready to take her again. But not yet. It was Ash’s turn, and I had a job to do.

“He’s thinking about how smoking-hot you look with your breasts in my hands. He likes the contrast of our skin colors. His human is begging him to take hold of his dick, watch us, feel us while he strokes himself off. But his bear… His bear will settle for nothing less than your pussy. That’s all he can think about. But he’s going to lie there quietly until you go to him, cocoa bean. He made you a promise, and he’s going to keep it.”

I felt her decision, maybe even before she did, and I withdrew my hands to let her go to him. She climbed onto Ash tentatively, unsure of herself, unsure of what to do.

She’d never been on top this way before. Flashes of that hoser only taking her doggy style or reverse cowgirl, hands nowhere near her clit, flickered through my head, making my jaw clench.

“Ash’s dying to put himself inside you.” I got on my knees, rubbing her back to reassure her as she wrestled with the notion of being in a bed with two men at once. “Is that okay?”

Both her human and her bear nodded shyly.

Ash didn’t hesitate, and I bit back a groan as I felt them both revel in the sensation of him notching at her entrance and sliding inside her with one deliberate, upward stroke. Filling her at a different angle than I had.

Noelle gasped at the sudden invasion from below, her back arching as another wave of estrus surged through her, forcing her to slide even further down his cock. The cry that escaped her lips was raw, pure pleasure, echoing through the bond like a live current.

It was like being inside the world’s most immersive VR porn—feeling everything as if it were your own and watching it unfold in vivid, intimate detail. Every sensation came through the bond crystal clear and in high definition. If bears ever figured out how to bottle this feeling, we’d make a fortune.

“He wants to touch your breasts. Is it okay if he does that?” I asked, panting as I switched back into my translator role.

She nodded wordlessly, and to Ash’s surprise, grabbed his hands, putting them exactly where she wanted them. She guided him as she adjusted and readjusted on top of him, chasing a better version of the spark she’d found when she humped me.

“That’s right, cocoa bean.” My hand wrapped around my cock as I stroked myself, unable to help it. “That’s your dick. Ride it until you find what you’re looking for. You’re torturing Ash from this angle, making it so hard for him not to bust while rubbing your pretty titties and watching you work that pussy up and down his dick.”

Her mind swirled with doubt—she didn’t think she was graceful, but I could feel the truth. Her lower body control was incredible as she undulated her hips with smooth, rhythmic thrusts that sent both of them spiraling toward the edge.

“Aw, cocoa bean, you’re riding him so good,” I murmured. “Ash’s losing his mind.”

Ash gritted his teeth, and his thoughts came over the bond whether he meant them to or not.

"He's not sure how much longer he can last," I told Noelle. "He wants to help you get there. Can he touch you there?”

“Please,” Noelle gasped, letting one of Ash's hands slip from her heavy breast.

Ash brought his thumb to her clit, testing varying pressures until he hit the one that made her cry out. I felt her reaction, sharp and intoxicating, as if it were my own.

But then she flinched with a flash of guilt, thinking her preferences made her dirty somehow. That she was a hypocrite for wanting a rough touch after her ex…

“No, that makes you perfect,” I choked out, unable to stay quiet.

Ash rubbed harder, his thumb working her clit with rough circles as her pleasure built. The waves coming through the bond made me imagine Mak taking her, too—biting her, claiming her, fucking her hard until Christmas. A bone-deep urge to beg her to stay with us, to accept Mak's bite, laced through me.

"Don’t ask her again," Ash’s voice growled in my head, pulling me back before I could give voice to the instinct. " It has to be her decision to stay."

Noelle cried out, her back arching as an orgasm rocked through her, body trembling with the force of it.

Ash lost his control. He flipped her onto her back and thrust into her, hips moving sloppily, desperate to chase his own release.

And instead of begging her to stay, I took her hand in mine, kissed her knuckles, and murmured against her skin, “He’s out of his mind, cocoa bean. Ayaska culture doesn’t believe in heaven, but he’s starting to get the concept because that’s how it feels inside you.”

Her bond bite flared with pleasure as she came again, trembling and clinging to Ash’s neck. He followed her over the edge with a roar, his body shuddering as he spilled into her.

For a moment, the room went still. Noelle’s mind. Ash’s desire. Even the urge to tell her how very much we already loved her quieted for a few fleeting seconds.

Maybe she already knew.

There were no more arguments. Ash rolled off her, and I scooped her into my arms. Without a word, we left Mak’s room and returned her to the nest.

The estrus still simmered a few layers beneath her consciousness, but her human side was exhausted.

It had been a hell of a day.

I set her down in her nest and let her sleep while Ash and I tiptoed around her, taking showers and preparing a meal that would easily reheat—just in case her estrus let her eat when she woke again.

It didn’t.

Late in the evening, she gasped awake, her needy pussy already clenching at air.

“Ssh,” I murmured, sliding in behind her. My hands gently pulled her closer as I notched my dick at the back entrance of her pussy and pushed inside before she even had to ask.

She let out the cutest little squeak when I filled her to the hilt with a single stroke. Then she leaned back, turning her head, seeking my lips in the dark.

I was more than happy to give them to her, my mouth capturing hers as my hand found her clit. No, I’d never touched a girl like this before. But that was the nice thing about maul bonds. What Ash knew, I knew. Bite osmosis.

So I touched her exactly how she liked, rubbing hard and slow until she cried out into my mouth and came all over my dick. The feel of her spasming around me, the heat of her release, made me lose control, and I followed her with a groan that echoed through the den.

“I wish you could read my mind, cocoa bean,” I rasped against her ear, my voice thick with emotion. “Then you’d know I’m telling the truth when I say… you were worth the wait.”

After she fell back to sleep, I let Ash take over, curling up with her in the nest in case another wave of estrus hit before morning.

Once they were settled, I shifted into bear form, my massive body taking up the other side of the nest to guard its entrance.

Ash once told me an Ayaska legend about the Night Howlers—wolves mutated by the serpent god who’d created both wolf and bear shifters. According to the tale, male wolves couldn’t shift once their mates were pregnant and, therefore, were forced to remain human until three months after their pups were born. However, the serpent god had trusted bears more, assigning us the role of kingdom protectors, while wolves were relegated to errands, easily commanded.

It was a story I never thought much about before. But tonight, as I lay there in bear form, it echoed in my mind.

Protect. Guard. Watch.

That was my role, my responsibility. My bear grumbled inside me, heavy with pride and conviction. She was safe in our nest, between me and Ash. Nothing would get past us.

But Ash's Ayaska ancestors would have been ashamed of me. Because I failed.

I woke with a sharp grunt, the scent of her faint but fading. My heart dropped into my paws as I scrambled to all fours, the weight of dread crashing into me like a landslide.

Noelle’s place in her nest was empty beside Ash.

My bear roared inside me, anguish clawing at my chest as I sniffed the air, desperate for a stronger trace of her scent. No one had come in to disturb the den I'd made, but I'd failed to keep our mate from slipping out. And back to the life she'd been headed to before she crashed into ours.

“Ash, wake now!” I growled into his head, my bear voice thick and guttural with panic. “Our mate is gone. She ran from us!”