He had packed a few things in a picnic basket before we left. How he could still be hungry, I don't know. We walked down the path toward the lake until I nudged him up the hill.
He winced and followed me uphill. We reached a small clearing overlooking the lake. A large boulder sat incongruously in the middle, the grass finally beginning to grow back around it.
"Hello, Gene," Brian said, gently touching the etched surface.
A flicker of pain crossed his face.
"It wasn't your fault," I said.
"I know," he said softly. "It's just that...just that now I really know what it feels like to die. Don't know how Grandpapa deals with it."
I sat down against the stone, patting the ground between my legs. He grinned and dropped the basket. He tried to go right for my dick, but I grabbed his shoulders and flipped him around.
He grunted as he fell to the ground, then moaned as I began kneading his traps.
"So Jim finally convinced you it's okay to be here?" I asked.
"Yeah," he purred, dropping his chin to his chest.
"Good. You've been so tense the last few weeks."
"Yeah, well.... I just didn't want to interfere with their bonding," he said hesitantly.
I bent and kissed the nape of his neck.
"Brian, if Rick had been alive when we met, he would have been with us the first few weeks until we were established. True, he would probably have left for a while, but he would have been back when it was nearly time for your first change. Of course, normally that would have been a couple of months more than what you went through."
"Oh," he replied. "I guess I didn't think of that."
"You don't fool me," I laughed with a sudden realization. "You were hoping to be here. You want to see what a 'normal' change is like."
I could feel his flesh warm beneath my hands.
"Well, I guess I am a little curious," he said meekly.
"Liar," I said, slapping his shoulder. "You're a lot curious. Guess that's just the cat in you."
"Does...does that bother you?" he asked, turning to look at me.
"Of course not," I replied, pulling him back for a kiss. "That's part of what makes you you. From the way Grandpapa talked, there must be a lot of people with at least a trace of were blood in them."
He sat in silence for a moment, relaxing under my ministrations.
"Actually, that's something I wanted to talk to you about," he said at last.
"Oh?"
"At my visitation, when Mary and her family walked in, one of my...guests...recognized their...scent."
"Really?" I said in surprise, then really thought about it. "If he had were blood, think that might be why you were able to catch Joe's spirit?"
"Possibly," he said. "But then why wasn't I able to capture my family?"
I pondered a moment before answering him.
"Maybe because with Joe, you were there when it happened. After all, Grandpapa only keeps the werebear spirits, not those that just have bear blood."
"Well, he didn't have bear blood," he said.
"Oh?" I said. "Well, I guess that makes sense. You still don't really house bear spirits. Permanently, that is. What kind?"
"Wolf," he answered.
"Really?" I said.
I really don't know much about the other kinds of weres. Until just a few months ago, I had thought we were the only ones of our kind, but now knew better.
"Does that bother you?" I asked finally.
"No. You?"
"Not at all," I said softly, wrapping my arms around him. I could feel Joe returning my embrace and smiled. "Like I've said before, I wish I could have met both of you before...he passed. I could have changed you both."
"That's not the way it goes," he chuckled, tears in his eyes.
"Says who?" I replied, tweaking his nipples. "Never said we always do what we're supposed to do. For over two hundred years, Rick usually had two cubs. And thanks to you, Keith has two papas. And I'm not the only one in our 'immediate family' who could have had twins."
"Twins?" he said, twisting around to look at me incredulously. "How does that work?"
"Well, Jim's first cub had twins. Far as I know, they're all still together. Sal had a tree fall on him. Tony found Gabe trying to lift it off. Sal and Gabe had been...more than friends. So Tony saved Sal and gave Gabe the choice. And the rest, as they say, is history."
"And you would have done that?" he asked.
"Of course," I replied and he laid back against me.
"There...there's one other thing I found out that day," he began.
"Oh?" I replied, enjoying the feel of his sun warmed flesh against mine.
"I hadn't really thought about how similar your...our last name is to Joe's. But Audrey said she's studied their family tree. Their name was changed about one hundred and fifty some years ago. It used to be Galliano."
I tensed, trying to make sense of what he was saying.
"If you can believe those online genealogy sites, she traced their tree back to a family living in this country around the time of the Revolutionary War."
He twisted around to look me in the eyes. He reached out to touch my cheek.
"That family had a young boy named Paul who mysteriously disappeared."
I felt myself tearing up.
"I...I...," I stammered. "When I saw Mary, a few months ago, she reminded me of someone, but I couldn't remember who. She reminds me of my mom."
"You told me you didn't know if your family survived, but apparently they did."
He shifted around so he could wrap his arms around me.
"You always had a family," he said soothingly. "Rick, Jim and all the others. And now me. And Joe."
I could feel a second set of arms around me.
"So, should I start calling you Uncle Paul, now?" Joe asked.
"I don't care what you call me," I laughed through my tears. "Just means a lot to know my family survived."
We sat in silence, just being together for a long time.
"So does that mean, I have wolf blood?" I asked suddenly.
"I believe so," Brian replied. "But, there's nothing wrong with that. Actually, it might explain a lot about the way you are."
"Like what?" I asked.
"Well, you seem to be more...packish...than a normal bear," he replied.
"Suppose that's right," I chuckled. "Though this all seems a little too pat."
"That's what I was saying," he said, kissing my forehead. "But, look at all the connections we have with Danny."
"Well, there has to be a lot of people that had met Rick. He had been around for a long, long time. There has got to be plenty of people who touch on our lives without ever knowing it."
Then a thought occurred to me. Not necessarily a soothing one, though.
"Wonder if Danny has were blood," I pondered out loud.
"He does," Brian replied.
I glanced at him speculatively.
"I couldn't sense Keith until after I'd met him," he began. "Physical contact strengthens the connection. So when I touched Danny to get his...scent, I...was able to tell more than I thought I would."
"Oh?"
"He has bear blood," he said assuredly.
"Hmm," I considered the implications. "You don't think you're...attracting people with were blood?"
"God, I hope not," he said immediately, indicating he had considered the same idea. "I think he was doing what he said he was. Revisiting a place he was happy."
He smiled at me.
"I can understand that," he said. "This place has always been special to me. You made it even more special."
"Think we can do anything to improve that?" I leered.
"Thought you'd never ask," he chuckled and whispered in my ear.
I burst out laughing.
"You are such a perverted cub, you know that?"
"I thought that was one of the things you like about me," he grinned, pulling things out of his basket.
"This looks like a perfect place for a picnic," I said out loud.
I was wearing an old pair of red, cutoff sweatpants and a tattered t-shirt. They had fit me several months ago, but now they were skin tight. Around my neck I had tied a red bandana that had seen better days.
I flicked a blanket across the grass and set my basket on it.
"And what are you doing in these woods?" came a deep growl from the woods.
"Oh," I said innocently. "I am bringing my papa his favorite lunch. I am supposed to meet him right here."
"I must say, Little Red Bandana, you do look good enough to eat," the rumble came from another part of the woods, as if something was circling me in the shadows.
"You guessed what his favorite lunch is," I laughed. "You must be my papa."
"Of course I am," said the huge form that loomed out of the shadows.
"Oh, Papa Bear," I said. "What big claws you have."
The enormous bear lunged at me, knocking me to the ground.
"The better to strip you with," he snarled.
His claws slipped beneath my shirt, grazing my flesh. My hiss turned to groans as he lifted me off the ground before my shirt ripped through. I fell back to the ground, then grunted as he flipped me over. I felt his warm breath against my back as I was pulled up, his teeth sunk into the waistband of my sweats. The blood rushed to my dick as the thin fabric shrieked its last.
I laid there panting as he loomed over me, snuffling into my hair.
"Oh, Papa Bear. What a long tongue you have," I gasped.
"The better to taste you with," he chuckled, licking behind my ear.
His slender, dexterous tongue traced my spine, making me shiver. He nipped at my furry ass cheeks before burying his muzzle into my crack. If you've never had a bear give you a rim job, you definitely should. That long, flexible muscle pushing through your sphincter...let's just say there's only one thing better.
"Oh, Papa Bear," I panted as he pulled his maw from my crack. "What a big dick you have."
He lowered himself over me, letting his seeping bear dick nestle between my mounds. His coarse fur catching at my own silky hair, tickling my back. His breath, rank with my ass, caressed my nose.
"Are you sure about this?" he whispered.
"God, yes," I groaned, squeezing his shaft with my cheeks.
"You asked for it," he said softly, then raised his voice. "The better to fuck you with."
He nudged my legs apart and reared back, his flattened cock head prodding my ass until it found its target. With a savage thrust, he punched into me.
I cried out, clawing at the ground. Only once before had the bear fucked me, but then, he had entered me as a man, his phallus swelling as he shifted. This time, his bear cock ripped into my rectum, threatening to split me in half. My body screamed at me to change but I fought the urge. I wanted it. I needed it.
"Are you okay?" he rumbled.
"Yeah," I gasped, twitching on the telephone pole shoved up my ass.
I shifted beneath his great mass, then let out a long sigh as his shaft moved over my prostate.
"Oh, yeah," I moaned. "Though how we got to Goldilocks from Little Red Riding Hood, I don't know."
"Goldilocks?" he growled.
"Yeah," I purred, pushing back, driving him deeper inside me. "Your dick is just right."