Free Under the Alpha's Protection (Steamy Werewolf Shifter Menage Romance) by Willow Wilde

his hair. “I'm going to be completely honest, I have no idea,” he finally answered. “Up in the mountains, we sort of expect this weather sometimes...but there wasn't a cloud in the sky a couple of hours ago. Wonder if it has anything to do with the legend...”
     
    “Legend?” Jenn and I asked in unison.
     
    “Oh, it's silly,” Ben told us, shaking his head with a grin. “Just some old story.”
     
    My gaze flew over the otherwise abandoned lobby. His brothers were upstairs, and we were the only other guests around. A cursory look out the window showed that the storm wasn't letting up anytime soon.
     
    “I...think we have the time,” I slyly told him.
     
    “Yeah,” Jenn answered quietly, a tinge of dejection in her voice. “This whole trip just became a big bust. Let's at least get a little fun out of it.”
     
    “Well, alright then,” Ben conceded. “So, as recent as a century ago, these mountains were the lands of a very spiritual Native tribe. The word goes that they've been in these peaks for a thousand years. Very tied to the land. Nobody even knew they were here until this region was settled and scarce on unclaimed land.”
     
    We both nodded as he continued.
     
    “So, I don't know if it was the high altitudes fiddling with their brains, or all the herbal concoctions they were undoubtedly taking, but they got it into their heads that there was a man up in these mountains who could become a bear. This man apparently offered them protection in exchange for women, who he promptly returned...pregnant, every time. The women who pledged themselves to him would conceive normal boys, but around the age of puberty they would gain the power to become bears as well...and so it goes on.”
     
    “But what does this have to do with the storm?” I asked.
     
    “Right, the storm.” He glanced out the window at the harrowing snow for a moment, with a brief flicker of tenderness across his face. “The storm was a punishment. This bear-man was what translates roughly into a “shifter”. This shifter, the legend says, was very powerful. He was the god of the forest, and it bent to him – even the weather. When he came for women and the tribe didn't pay tribute, he would inflict a savage snowstorm on the peaks. It would come completely out of nowhere and thrash itself wildly across the land, a lot like this.” He indicated outside, and our gazes were pulled to the swirling madness just feet from us. “Not only did it trap them where they were, but something about the storm inspired a mating frenzy in the shifters among them. They would find their primal instincts overwhelming them, and the women...well, whether it was some sort of weird bear pheromone or not, they would willingly give into their needs. The bears would mate, and the storm would pass.”
     
    “That's such crap,” I told him. Jenn turned to look at me while Ben tilted his bushy head. “Shifters? Native tribes? I'm guessing this resort is built right where their settlement was?”
     
    “Not this resort, no,” he smiled. “More like this particular building .”
     
    *              *              *              *
     
    One of Ben's brothers wandered into the room with a tray of hot chocolate and some sandwiches. We gratefully sipped at our drinks and chewed on the food while Ben wandered towards the counter for something.
     
    “Did he tell you that damned Native story again? I swear, he should just write some damned books and get that out of his head,” his brother told us. He was just as burly as Ben, although a little shorter, with a thicker beard and a tuft of chest hair bursting from below his V-cut shirt.
     
    “Aren't you cold in that?” Jenn asked him.
     
    He glanced down at the shirt quizzically, then smiled warmly. “Nah, it's plenty warm in here. I've got all the insulation I need right here!” He heartily slapped his chest and let out a roar of laughter.
     
    Jenn and I