The Bears Shared Bride: A Paranormal Menage Romance Read Online Free Page A

down the aisle.
    Smoothing out the front of her dress, Lavinia watched as the crystals caught the candlelight. The cave was stunning this evening. It was made out of a golden brown colored stone and entirely lit with beeswax tapers. They sat in small alcoves along the walls and from crystal chandeliers from the ceiling. The interior of the room wasn’t the same as a human chapel, it was an empty space that could be filled in a myriad of ways to serve the needs of the Tribe.
    Tonight, it was filled with rows of Werebears masked for privacy but present to bear witness to the marriage vows. The Werebears were picked at random from a lottery system and, like the rest of the clan, would be invited to the celebration after the wedding was complete.
    Suddenly, the string quartet that had been playing softly in the background stopped. Lavinia froze, sure that their silence indicated that the missing groom had run for the hills. But just as the panic started to well up inside her, they began again with the opening notes to Pachelbel’s Canon in D. The sweet familiar notes were naturally amplified by the acoustics of the cave and they rang in Lavinia’s ears like the sound of an alarm, as if it wasn’t until this very moment that she was going to get married. Taking a deep breath, she said a prayer to the gods, and as the music climaxed, she stepped forward into the cave proper.
    The room was aglow and as she walked the long aisle trailed by her chapel length train,  Lavinia was in awe of the ceremonial display.  Flowers filled the space in heavy bunches of rich blooms; each flower a version of white that ranged from the purest of snow to the antiqued ivory of old lace. The effect was rich and sweet at the same time. She walked through her Tribesmen and fought the desire to try and identify people. All she could see was the color of their eyes beneath the black masquerade masques and capes they each wore and try as she might, it wasn’t enough to find a friendly face in the crowd. With nothing left to distract her attention, Lavinia finally looked toward her future.
    The men awaiting her in front of the final masked and cloaked officiant were as different as night and day. Both men were tall, exceedingly tall. The first was as golden as the candlelight in the room; his hair was blonde, which shimmered in the light. He wore a red jacket that reminded her of a prince from the fairy tales she had loved as a girl. He was Prince Charming incarnate with an easy smile and kind eyes that seemed to draw her forward down the aisle.
    The second man was as dark as the first was light. His olive skin was tanned even darker by the sun, the effect was deepened by the dark suit he wore. A modern cut that skimmed his bulk. Not that Prince Charming was a slim man by any means, but the darker one was positively muscular. It looked like he could turn and punch a hole through the wall behind him and the expression on his face looked just as hard. But his eyes, too, were kind if not as open as Prince Charming. She felt like the second one was a Pirate Prince, instead. So she had Charming and her Pirate, and Lavinia felt bad pegging the Pirate for being the latecomer to the proceedings but Charming looked far too proper to be late for anything, ever.
    As she moved closer to the men, she watched as their eyes moved up and down her body. Their warm glances igniting a fire in her blood. Suddenly, the corseted dress felt too tight to hold her and Lavinia felt her bust swell with warmth and longing. In the same instant, she felt the effects of desire as she watched as the men’s eyes also widened in approval and longing. Lavinia felt a weight lift off her shoulders. At least her looks were pleasing to the men. That was one hurdle that would have been hard to jump had they found her unsatisfactory.
    When Lavinia finally reached the men and the music stopped, they took their places on either side of her a hairs-breadth away from touching her shoulders. She