Love, Be-Were! Ch. 03

Able to open her eyes again, she watched Raevin move closer to her. His strong fingers cupped her face as he traced her jaw line, before he slid his hand behind her head. His hand fisted in her hair as he angled her mouth toward his stiff manhood, and her mouth watered when she saw it. Long and proud, his thick rod bobbed in front of her face, begging for attention.

She raised one hand to brace against the corded muscles of his thigh as she timed the thrusts from below. Riocha looked up at Raevin through her long lashes, and felt predatory as her thick lips latched around the head of his staff. She closed her eyes in delight as his hips thrust forward, impaling her mouth on his turgid length.

Rapture coursed through her as she was completely filled; she began to hum around his cock as she swallowed in reflex, the tight muscles of her throat massaging his length. Raevin groaned and gripped the back of her head as he began fucking her face with long, fast strokes. Silver claws broke through the tips of her fingers as she clung to his thigh, and the slight pain seemed to only add to his pleasure...his cock thickened and pulsed between her lips, and he bucked more forcefully against her as his climax neared.

As she continued to hum, the vibrations carried throughout her entire body, and the two brothers rutting away at her other holes moaned in unison. Within moments, she was swallowing down a full load of delicious, creamy cum while cocks throbbed with release in her pussy and ass. Without missing a drop, and without pause or hesitation, she rode all three cocks until she felt the tremors of another orgasm wash over her, and the triplets moaned as her various body parts convulsed around them all.

She never slowed in her movements, never offered them the opportunity to recover. For hours, the only rest offered to the three men were the moments of respite while changing positions. They bent her body to their every whim, and the only resistance she offered was when the pace slackened, or the force with which they fucked her began to wane.

She lost count of the orgasms that wracked her body with pleasure. She lost track of the times one of her men released a load of cum into her, before finding another way to love her even harder. For hours, the Alpha Doe challenged the males in her burrow, and for hours, her Betas answered her call. Gradually, as the night progressed, their pace finally began to abate; all four of them eventually drifted into an exhausted—but well-sated, and well deserved—slumber.

In the wee hours of the morning, long before the manor or the clearing surrounding it would be kissed by the dawn's early light, Riocha dozed fitfully. She whimpered in her sleep, jerking as her muscles tightened. Her movements woke the triplets, and they snuggled close in an attempt to comfort her, concern clearly etched on their faces.

One by one, they began to stroke her skin softly as they tried to ease her from whatever nightmare plagued her mind. They quickly moved away from her when she bolted upright, her eyes glowing with a fierce light as silver claws erupted from her fingers and toes. She came fully awake and sucked in a few ragged breaths; she calmed her inner rabbit and forced the shift to her animal form to stop immediately. The claws retracted as she slipped out of bed, padding toward the door on silent feet.

The brothers shared a quick look of confusion, before following her out the door. Silent as shadows, they followed their Alpha, determined to protect her, even if only from herself. Riocha led them through the winding passage that led deeper into the mountain. Eventually, they came to the exit that would allow them to enter the forest heading toward the Colony compound.

The red-head stopped her forward progress as her bare feet hit the grassy carpeted floor of the ancient wood. Tilting her head sideways, her rabbit-enhanced senses strained to penetrate the night. She felt the Beta males fan out behind her; they'd shifted to their hybrid forms during their trip, and she could tell that their senses were now sharpened well enough to feel what had drawn her from the nest.

In the distance, they heard five distinct thumps; the tremors carried to the Inn, and they all knew what the significance of that sign was. Even this far away, they could feel their Alpha's call to arms.

She held out her hands; a soft expression crossed her face as the triplets melted back into their human forms and joined hands in a circle with her without breaking the silence. She locked gazes with each of them in turn before closing her eyes and beginning to hum. Their voices joined her in steady support of the Alpha Buck's march, lending their harmony across the breeze in a plea for his safe return. Though they didn't know the details, they had to protect the Inn; the four of them would be unable to answer his summons in any other way.

Riocha closed her eyes, and tested the familial Alpha bond she shared with her brother. His rage was muted now, although his sense of duty and purpose shone like a bright beacon inside her mind. She'd sensed the nightmare that had dragged him from his slumber, as surely as the emotional connection they shared had done to her. She'd felt the pain, the horror, the overwhelming need to act.

"Rhochlan?"

Instantly, her mind was flooded with a fierce surge of protectiveness as her brother opened his mind to her. She could feel the energy thrumming through him, the power radiating from his center as his focus turned to her for a brief instant. She sent as much love and support to him as she could with a single thought, once she knew he was listening.

"Bring him home."

**********

Her eyes swept over the mountain of a man crouched down before her. Nyrra had no idea how he could shrink his massive form that low to the ground, though the sheer force of his presence was in no way diminished. His golden eyes burned into her with such intensity she fancied she could actually feel the heat in his stare; long black hair swept over his shoulders, the severity of its shade graduating to silver, and finally white at the tips.

She sighed as her gaze traveled over the long tapers of his fingers, and over the tight musculature of his body. To say the man was handsome would have been, in her mind, blasphemy. She thought to herself, instead, that he was the embodiment of untamed beauty; a true force of nature. The aura of power he exuded made her hands tremble, her knees quake, and her heart do a silly and uncontrolled dance when he was near. He was...magnificent.

It was such a shame that he was also a raving lunatic.

Her head throbbed as she tried to wrap her mind around the ludicrous tale he had just finished. Human and animal hybrids, he'd said. Really, did she look that gullible? Did she look that stupid? He had called himself a Were-rabbit; he'd said he was half man and half rabbit. She'd busted out laughing on the spot as the image of him sprouting ears and a big fluffy tail came unbidden to her mind. She had shaken her head in outright denial, and scratched him off of her list of potential romantic interests.

Yet, there was something in the way he watched her face—something in the way his stare never wavered—that convinced her of his sincerity. Whether or not what he was saying was true (after all, how could it be?) he believed it whole heartedly; of that she was certain. The concept was so foreign, so difficult for her rational brain to accept.

Why, then, did she yearn so badly to believe him?

What was it about those eyes that made it impossible for her to look away, and instead of continuing to laugh at him for being crazy, want to embrace everything he said?

She shook her head again in disbelief. When she did so, however, she caught a glance at Rye from the corner of her eye. The little waif was rocking back and forth on the bed now, his unseeing gaze wide as he trembled. His tiny features were wracked with despair as he kept his hands spread wide in front of him, the disgust and fear on his face tangible as he looked at something only his little eyes could see.

She tried speaking to him once more, reaching out to touch him with a gentle hand. He visibly jerked, as if in pain; she felt the man beside her move then, and saw him lay his fingertips against the youth's brow. The result was instantaneous. The boy calmed, for just a moment; his features smoothed, his trembling ceased, and he leaned his head against the grown man's hand. As soon as the man removed it, the boy went right back into his miserable, catatonic state.

Her heart ached for the child. She couldn't reach him, and the giant before her clearly could. Internally, she raged against the unfairness of that fact; she'd been a part of the boy's life for two years, and was helpless to guide him from the terrors of his own mind. Now this stranger, this Rhochlan fellow, was in the picture for less than a full day and Rye was already reacting to him on an instinctual level.

She was so torn; did she follow her mind, and call security to remove the crazy man from the boy's room...or did she follow her heart, and believe whatever was necessary to believe in order to help the child? Her attention flew back to Rye as he started making a high pitched keening noise. He sounded so much like a wounded animal in a trap that she felt her conviction begin to waver. How could she deny him?

Nyrra's head jerked back around as she felt Rhochlan take her hand in his. His piercing yellow gaze searched her expression as indecision flashed across his face. She noticed his jaw clench in determination and his eyes narrow as he appeared to reach a conclusion. He looked to the boy, and then looked back at her before his deep voice rumbled quietly from his chest.

"So be it."

Her eyebrows furrowed as his eyes began to glow. That's the only way she could describe it, locked as she was in their intense depths. He seemed to grow larger and the air around her grew thick as the emotion in the room began to escalate. She tried to shrink away from him, but he held her fingers fast with his own laced between them.

"I apologize for what I'm about to do, but you're not leaving me a choice. Rye is out of time. I tried the easy approach, but you're unable to believe me. Now, we have to do it the hard way."

He gathered both of her hands in his as he shuffled closer to her. The strength of his hands wouldn't allow her to pull away, despite how she struggled. She could read regret in his eyes, and sorrow; she didn't know what he was about to do, only that he really didn't want to have to do it. For the first time since entering the room, she was fearful for her own safety.

He whispered something that she couldn't make out, and suddenly, she couldn't see his face anymore. Nyrra couldn't move, she couldn't speak, she couldn't see anything she recognized around her. Where sterilized walls had once been, she could see only trees and grass and earth. Out of the darkness, she saw a tall figure stalk toward her, and as the man drew closer, she sucked in her breath as she realized it was Rhochlan. She could hear his voice as he began to speak, though his lips never moved.

"You asked me why I showed up, after hours, in the room of a small child. I answered you, and while I feel confident that you would have believed me in time, time itself is the one thing we don't have."

She watched in awe as he began to remove his clothes. Sleek, powerful muscles rippled beneath his bronze skin as he continued to move closer to her. She felt her breath catch as his physical perfection was slowly revealed, but her pulse began to race as fur began to sprout from his shoulders and spread across his chest and arms. Unable to make a sound, she swallowed the scream that would have otherwise erupted from her chest as his beast made its presence known.

The monstrous hybrid held its ground, and didn't advance any closer to her as she fought to get her response under control. It looked deadly, yet wasn't offering to do her any harm. She felt her pulse begin to slow, and realized that she didn't feel threatened; the beast had long silver claws that could tear her limb from limb, and yet she found herself unafraid. She jerked in surprise when she could still hear Rhochlan's voice.

"I'd hoped that your introduction to our culture could be approached in a different way. Rye's inner rabbit has forced my hand, and made that impossible. In order for you to understand, I have to share with you what I've seen. Brace yourself...I will show you what Rye is reliving."

...Fear pulsed through his veins, hurried footsteps matching the speed of his heartbeat as they ran. He was so tired; his little legs aching as he was drug along by the hand clamped to his own. He ran until he just couldn't run anymore. A woman's soft hands cupped his face, her large pale blue eyes brimming with tears as she looked behind them. She was so small, so petite, and so very exhausted...but still, she scooped him up in her arms and pressed forward...

Nyrra's senses were assaulted with terror. She registered every emotion the boy had as the images flashed through her mind: fear, anger, sorrow, despair, guilt...and love. Freed to move at last, tears streamed down her face as she reached out to the empty air to touch his mother's back as that scene re-enacted itself in her head. She stared at her own hands as he had, saw them covered with his mother's precious life blood as he did.

Horrified, she felt the crushing weight of his father's grief as he roared his rage to the sky. She experienced every moment of Rye's despair, his guilt, and the way he blamed himself for his mother's fate. The remembered scene faded from her view, and she looked at her hands; the image of red drops hitting the forest floor now burned deeply in her own memories, and her breath became ragged as her emotions overflowed.

She closed her eyes, losing herself for a moment in his sorrow and self-recrimination; her body was wracked by sobs, and she didn't pull away from the strong arms that wrapped around her. She leaned into the offered comfort instead, and buried her face against the naked chest pressed against her. She cried until her tears ceased to fall, hard enough that her throat felt raw afterwards. Rhochlan hummed a soft melody against her hair, and she felt herself begin to calm.

When she opened her eyes again, she was back in Rye's room. She was standing, and still cradled by the man in front of her. Turning her face towards him, she noticed that the chest she was pressed against was no longer naked. He was fully clothed, and Nyrra realized that what she'd witnessed was all in her own mind. She felt fingertips under her chin, and allowed her face to be tilted up to bear his scrutiny.

"Do you believe, now? Search your heart; search your soul. The true answer to this question is more important than you know."

She looked at the boy, huddled in the corner staring at his hands. She shuddered as she realized what he was seeing, and tears welled in her eyes again. She quickly looked back at Rhochlan, and prayed he didn't doubt her when she gave him a quick nod.

"What can be done?"

She watched the same focus and determination as before cross his beautiful features.

"I need your help, Nyrra. I can feel his rabbit and can sense the location of the cage in his mind; the kitten's rage and fear is what is driving these memories to resurface. I'm fairly certain they've been buried, and his rabbit is forcing him to remember who and what he is. I have no emotional ties to the boy; he doesn't know me, and I can't find him. He is lost; his mind is cracking under the strain of reliving these memories over and over again."

His words triggered an immediate reaction from her. She felt her protective instincts surge forth, driving her fear and helplessness ruthlessly down. She straightened her back, lifted her head high, and met his gaze with her own. She refused to flinch away from the intensity that radiated from him as she murmured a response.

"What must I do?"

His eyes never left her face, and she thought she caught a brief flicker of pride in their depths, though she could have easily been mistaken.

"Love him, Nyrra. We will enter his mind, and you must be willing to overcome your own fear, your own horror, your own instinctive need to flee from what you witness. You must pour every ounce of love you hold for Rye into your every thought. Follow your heart, and it will lead us to him. We'll help him fight his demons, push through these memories, and set his rabbit free."

"And if we fail?"

She swallowed hard as his stare turned hard and unyielding. The timbre of his voice made her shiver when he answered.

"If we aren't successful...the boy will die."

To Be Continued....