Chapter 29 Candrin
CANDRIN
Gone fishing
We were mated but the real world outside the door—well, technically outside the gate—awaited. Charles was still Charles and while my finances had improved dramatically since the reading of the will, his hoodwinking my father and taking over everything Father had worked for still irked me.
But for now, I was ready to frolic with my mates. Frolic was a funny word that reminded me of puppies or lambs on a spring day but I was going into the woods behind the house with my mates while they shifted.
It was late afternoon and I’d just come home from work. My mates had fought over who should pick me up but after I thanked them, I informed them I was perfectly capable of getting myself to and from the office.
Three mates—three shifter mates—took a lot of getting used to and I needed the alone time between home and work to consider my situation.
Yes, I was deliriously happy and I was eager to have two cocks in my hole later this evening, but I’d been given a lot of personal space when growing up.
That was partly because after my omega dad died, Father was busy and hardly ever home, though Saul and Molly helped to fill in the gaps.
“Ready?” Tanner appeared on the porch in his pilot’s uniform having just arrived from the airport. Now he was mated, he’d asked to be scheduled for short-haul flights so he’d be home most nights rather than flying around the globe and being gone for ten days.
“Please tell me you’re not going to shift in your uniform and ruin it.” I got on tiptoes and kissed him. He put a hand on my ass and squeezed while returning the kiss.
“Back in a minute.” He raced up the stairs three at a time as his brothers thundered down, dressed in tees and shorts and it was obvious they weren’t wearing underwear.
Huston licked his lips. “I can see you looking.” I shimmied up to him and rubbed my crotch on his. “Mmmm. We could forget the shift and go straight to bed,” he said into my ear.
“Later.” I twirled away into Oberon’s arms.
“No point wearing briefs when we’re just going to remove our clothes.”
Tanner clattered down the stairs and jerked his head toward the back door. Huston opened it for me and we charged into the garden. I glanced at the shed with the motorbike as we raced past but my thoughts were on my mates and their beasts.
Once we were in the woods, hidden from prying human eyes, the three brothers stripped off and gave their beasts their fur. One by one sharp teeth, claws and snouts appeared as their human features vanished.
Tanner’s bear loped in front of me, Huston was at my shoulder while Oberon was at the rear. Damn, the motorbike would have come in handy right now. I didn’t want the three bears to alter their routine because of me. They wanted to hunt and they should be concentrating on that.
Tanner’s bear stopped to nibble berries, though it wasn’t so much nibbling as yanking them off the branches while Huston’s beast raced into the stream that wound its way through the woods.
Oberon’s bear joined his brother and they stood in the water patiently waiting until Oberon’s beast caught a fish.
Maybe Huston’s bear wasn’t good at fishing because his brother ate his catch and then caught another fish.
Tanner’s beast waded into the water and perhaps he was Huston’s lucky charm because Huston caught a fish just after Tanner did and when they’d eaten their fill, they joined me beside the stream. Oberon’s bear rolled in the leaves and I giggled because he seemed to be having such fun.
But Tanner’s beast retrieved two inflatable balls they must have left there the last time they shifted.
He took one into the water and Huston’s beast grabbed the second one.
They didn’t play together but nudged them with their snouts, treading through the water when the ball got away from them.
Huston’s bear got impatient and bit his ball, his sharp teeth tearing the plastic and it deflated.
He looked so sad, I went to the water’s edge and patted him as he waded out.
All three bears went berry picking as I lay with my hands under my head. I put my cap over my face and allowed my eyes to close. Oberon had explained earlier they could eat berries for hours so it might be a while before they were done.
When someone nudged me, I shaded my eyes and glanced around. My mates had taken their skin and were lounging beside me. They’d put their shorts on. That was a shame because I would have enjoyed peeking at their dicks.
“We brought you something,” Huston said.
The ruined ball was at my feet and I picked it up. “Gee thanks.”
“Not that, silly.” Oberon pointed to a pile of berries. “For you.”
I sat cross-legged nibbling the sweet berries, juice dripping down my arm. “You know how to pick ‘em. These are the best.”
“We’re experts or our bears are,” Tanner told me with a smile.
We sat in silence while I finished eating. I didn’t feel the need to talk. I was with the three people I loved the most in the world. But as I wandered to the stream to wash my hands, a noise disturbed the peace and birds flapped away from the nearby trees.
“What’s that?” I asked.
My mates’ expressions clouded.
“Just across the stream on the boundary of our land, there’s been a change in ownership and instead of leaving the forest as it is, the new owners are tearing it down to build condos.” Tanner gritted his teeth and slammed his fist into the ground.
“It’s late in the day to be knocking down trees ready for construction.” The sun would be setting soon.
“They’re working overtime because they’ve made promises and they’re behind schedule,” Huston said.
It wasn’t just the noise and dust. Oberon explained with humans encroaching closer to their section of woods it would become more difficult for them to shift.
“Imagine all the people living in the condos, all those eyes.” Huston shook his head. “We might have to sell the house if our privacy is eroded and move further out of town.”
“Even if we live an hour outside the city limits, we wouldn’t be able to buy a place big enough for the four of us and—” Oberon’s voice trailed away.
The word “and” hung in the air. My mind went to other bear shifters joining us, especially when none of my mates would catch my eye. But as I plucked a grass stem and chewed it, my mind processing what Oberon was referring to, Tanner cleared his throat and I glanced at him.
“That might not happen for ages, or at all.”
Oh shit. Why did it take me so long to catch on to Oberon’s meaning? He was talking about kids. Our kids. My mates and mine. Now it was my turn to study the ground and a trail of ants carrying a bit of berry I’d discarded.
Thinking about a large house and plenty of land had my mind going to my childhood home. Once again, I seethed inwardly at Charles living there under false pretenses. It would be the perfect place to raise a family. And while my mates could shift there, they really needed a huge expanse of woodland.
If I’d been my father, I would have purchased the company building the condos adjacent to my mates’ land and put a stop to any construction. Sadly, I didn’t have the money or power.
“We’ll have to do what most other shifters do,” Tanner noted. “Shift in the woods and forest by a highway, or in a national or state park outside of town and hope we don’t encounter any humans.
He got up and pulled on his shirt. A lovely evening at been spoiled. I stood and we wandered back home. I was lost in my own thoughts, wondering how we could solve the problem. I was so used to my father swooping in and throwing money at things and that wasn’t going to happen ever.
“Penny for your thoughts, Candrin.” Oberon slung an arm around my shoulder as if we’d been together for years.
It was interesting that before mating, my bear shifter mates and I had wondered how this relationship would work.
Would there be jealous arguments because one brother had spent too much time with me?
But the mating process seemed to put those issues to rest. Yes, we argued about whose turn it was to empty the garbage and when someone dropped their towel on the bathroom floor, but not about intimacy.
That was pretty amazing and we should have been enjoying a honeymoon of sorts. But the development of that land had put a damper on our lives. If only there was a way to stop the construction.