Melissa took her seat next to Renee and made sure her headset was hooked up correctly. The sensitivity was set so that she could merely whisper and still be heard by Renee, the DJ, the de facto head of the costuming squad, and all the other department leads at the strip club.

The crowd took their seats. The house was packed. Even the VIP section was full. There were a few bachelorette parties in the audience and even one party with a smiling woman wearing a sash across her chest that read ‘Just Divorced.’

The house lights flickered. Everyone simmered down. The theater lights came on, casting a blue and white set of lights on the stage. The male DJ, a grizzly bear shifter who already had a mate, walked out onto the stage.

“Are you ladies ready to have a good time tonight?” asked the DJ.

The crowd roared with applause.

“Good, good,” said the DJ. “That’s what I like to here. Now, at Bear Buns Denver, we do things a little differently than most strip clubs. If you can’t handle the heat, well, you know where the exits are.”

The audience laughed.

“Tonight, we’ve got a very special show planned for you,” said the DJ. “Without further ado, it’s time for you to meet our headliners. They’re exotic, there’s no doubt about that. They’re not grizzlies, not polars, not anything you’ve ever seen before. Trust me. We don’t dye them, but these bears are to die for. Meet…our glacier bears, Neil and Hudson!”

Neil and Hudson walked out onto the stage, wearing their icy hotpants.

“Ladies, can I hear you all make some noise for our wonderful DJ, Jacksper?” asked Neil.

The ladies all applauded.

“Now…I know y’all are expecting a show. But tonight, you’re not getting one from us,” said Hudson.

“But trust us, we have a good reason for bailing on all you lovely ladies tonight,” said Neil. “You see…Fate has another path laid out for us.”

“You know we’re pretty chilly bears. It takes a special woman to melt our icy exteriors,” said Hudson. “That’s why we’re pleased to announce that this week…we found our fated mate.”

Melissa was stunned that Hudson was admitting to the crowd that they had no frikkin’ chance of getting with him or with Neil. Melissa half-expected the crowd to boo and half-expected them to riot. Even though she’d gone to the previous show, she was still expecting the crowd to get angry. After all, two pairs of bears, finding their mates so soon? It made Bear Buns seem like it was rigged like it was all a joke, like no woman had a real shot at getting to the strippers.

Instead, the crowd roared with applause. Some women stood and hooted and hollered to the bears.

“Who’s the lucky lady?” shouted one woman from the VIP area.

“Well, she’s our fated mate,” said Neil with a wink, and the crowd laughed. “Now, ladies, I know you were looking forward to seeing us dance tonight, but it’s time for us to pass the mantle of headliner on to a set of bears that are still single, a set of bears that are as hot as the sun…”

“Ladies, give it up for Bear Buns Denver’s own beasts from the East, the bears who don’t need no underwears…the sun bears!” said the DJ from his booth.

Neil and Hudson came off stage and before Melissa could ask what the heck they were doing, Neil took her headset off and passed it to Renee. Neil picked Melissa up and carried her in his arms, down the stairs of the backstage area, to the corridors leading to the cocktail rooms.

“Wh-what’s going on?” asked Melissa. “What are you doing? And what did you just do on stage?”

“What we had to do,” said Neil. “You’re our mate, Melissa. You’re the only thing that matters to us.”

“We’re sorry we ever made you feel like you weren’t our number one priority,” said Hudson. “We intend on changing that, right now.”

“But what about the show?” asked Melissa.

“I could care less about the show,” said Hudson. “If the other dancers can’t get their poop in a group, that’s not your problem, or ours.”

“Why does everyone here keep frikkin’ using that phrase?” asked Melissa.

“You know Renee can handle one tiny show,” said Neil. “You trained her well.”

“This isn’t a tiny show,” squeaked Melissa. “It’s Friday frikkin’ night!”

“Babe, this show’s tiny, just like you,” said Neil. “You’re in the shifter world now. We do things bigger and better.”

“Bigger is better, isn’t it?” asked Hudson, pushing open the door to the glacier bears’ cocktail room.

“Fuck me, you crazy bastards did it,” said Melissa. “Is that what I think it is?”

“A real bed,” said Neil. “Think it’ll last longer than the ice did?”

“I don’t see it lasting until the end of the weekend,” answered Hudson.

Neil put Melissa down on the rustic wooden bed. Melissa put her hand down and felt a real down mattress and laughed.

“What’s so funny?” asked Neil.

“I thought this was a prank, and that underneath the sheets, there was still a giant block of ice,” said Melissa.

“Trust us, by the time we finish with you, you’re going to wish the ice was there to keep you cool,” said Hudson.

Hudson took Melissa’s pants and pulled them down, pulling her underwear down, too, all the way down to her knees. He pushed her legs up and pressed his mouth against her slit while Neil removed Melissa’s shoes, socks, pants, and panties from her legs.

“Whoa,” said Melissa, as Hudson spread her legs wide so he could see her every petal. “Are those new moves?”

“We’ve got a lot of moves to show you,” said Neil, stripping off his shirt. “You’re in the real VIP section now, babe. Anything goes here. Anything.”

“Even this?” asked Melissa, putting her hand into Neil’s shorts and snaking out his cock.

“Especially that,” said Neil with a gasp. “Fuck, babe, tonight’s supposed to be about us showing you how much we appreciate you.”

“I can’t let my two star performers walk around the club horny and thinking about their fated mate, now, can I?” asked Melissa.

Hudson laughed.

“What’s so funny?” asked Melissa.

“Babe, if you think that getting us off now will stop us from thinking about fucking you and caressing your luscious curves all night, you’ve got a lot to learn about shifters,” said Hudson.

Hudson got on the bed next to Melissa and put a knee between her thick thighs. Melissa moved to give Hudson’s firm legs egress. His leg pressed against her slit and Melissa instinctively rode on the thick muscles strapped around his thigh. She found a ridge that felt particularly good between her legs and pressed down onto it. Hudson ran a hand through Melissa’s hair and pulled Melissa’s face close to his. Hudson kissed her while holding her head with one hand and using his hand to press against her slit.

“Fuck,” moaned Melissa as Hudson entered her with one finger and pressed against her clit with the other. “Hudson, you know how to treat a girl right.”

“Babe, you have no clue,” said Hudson, pushing Melissa on to her back and riding her using only his leg. He felt Melissa push back against him and his cock thickened even more.

“Fuck me,” begged Melissa.

“You can’t handle two shifters taking you at the same time, twice in two days, during your first week in a ménage,” said Hudson. “Look at me and tell me it doesn’t still ache.”

“It does,” admitted Melissa, sitting up to meet Hudson, to run her hands over his chest. “But, Hudson, I need a release.” Melissa reached down and wrapped her hand around Hudson’s thick cock. A bubble of precum had already formed on the tip. She wrapped her finger over the wet dot and then brought the finger to her mouth.

Hudson’s cock twitched. There was nothing he wanted more than to enter Melissa, to take her again, and then again, and then again. But he knew that although the spirit was willing, the body wasn’t ready for that yet. Melissa was a BBW with cushions made for pushin’, but that didn’t mean she didn’t need a tender, gentle touch when her body was still raw and aching from the ménage’s last session of lovemaking.

“There are other ways to get you where you need to be,” said Hudson. “Just lay back and let me kiss you better, babe.”

Hudson pushed Melissa back down onto the bed. He pressed his lips against her lips and then, brushed his lips to her cheeks. He made a small trail of butterfly kisses down her neck to the space between her ample breasts. He pushed her tits together around his face and kissed their sides as he pulled out of her cleavage. Then, he moved his hands down Melissa’s sides and hiked up her hips.

For a second, Melissa thought Hudson has changed his mind. She bucked her hips up to meet his, his cock brushing against her slit. Hudson gently tipped her back down on to the bed. She bucked up again, and this time, he pushed her down harder.

“Now what did I say about just laying back and enjoying all this?” asked Hudson.

Hudson wrapped his mouth around one of her nipples. He grazed the nipple with his teeth and then sucked it into his mouth. He let go of it as soon as he heard Melissa’s moan reach its apex. Then, he moved his lips to her other nipple. This time, he took it into his mouth and swirled the tip of his tongue around it before running the broad side of his tongue over her pebbled nub. One of Hudson’s hands was beneath her hips, the other, between her thighs. The hands were massaging every knot out of her muscles.

Melissa moved to try and get Hudson to wedge his hand between her slit, but Hudson gently pushed her back down. That was the only disadvantage of having sex with shifters—they were stronger than humans, so if they didn’t want Melissa to rush things, they were going to get their way, and leave her quivering and wanting more.

Before Melissa could beg for more, Hudson moved down to kiss around Melissa’s thick waist, paying attention to her curves, appreciating her every fold the way he’d appreciate each layer of a cake. He kissed around her puckered navel, moving down to the triangle betwixt her legs. Hudson let out a stream of hot air over Melissa’s mons and found his way to her slit.

“Good things happen to those who wait,” said Hudson.

“You mean you, or her?” asked Neil, who had been watching the scene and stroking himself.

“Both,” said Hudson, breathing over Melissa’s pussy. Melissa could feel the practically invisible hot fog that left Hudson’s mouth and moved over her pussy like a cloud of pleasure. She shivered as she felt Hudson enter her with a solitary finger and moaned as he entered a second digit.

Hudson pulled out his fingers. They were pressed together, like two halves of a tea biscuit. He pulled them apart. There was a web of juice woven between them.

Neil took Hudson’s hands and licked Melissa’s juices off of them.

“Ripe,” said Neil. “Ready.”

“You two get a snack, and I get nothing?” asked Melissa.

“I’ve got a snack for you,” said Neil, walking to the side of the bed and holding his cock out for Melissa.

Melissa reached for it greedily. Then, she realized that there was one member of the ménage who she’d left out. There was one cock missing from the ménage equation.

“What about you, Hudson?” asked Melissa.

“Babe, don’t worry about me,” said Hudson. “I’ve got the best seat in the house, and I know how to take care of myself. Just let me work my magic on you.”

Melissa took Neil’s cock and rubbed it. She looked up at Neil and ran her free hand over his body. Melissa had seen naked and shirtless shifters before. It came with living in a town like Denver, where people lived active lifestyles. Just as it was considered rude to stare at a BBW in a bikini, it was usually considered rude to stare at a shifter who was naked, shirtless, or in some other state of undress. Of course, nothing was usual at Bear Buns, one of the few places in the world where shifters actively flaunted their marks. She looked up at Neil’s mark. The heart-shaped mark looked as if it belonged on Neil’s chest, just as it belonged on Hudson’s. It was almost hard for Melissa to imagine them with their old mate marks, the ones that symbolized glaciers floating in the sea. The currents of Fate’s sea had brought Melissa to her glaciers, to her glacier bears, and even though the ride had been rough, she wouldn’t have gone back in time and changed course for all the tea in China.

“Fuck,” moaned Neil as Melissa took the head of his bulbous cock into her mouth. Melissa was not in a prime blowjob position, but she knew what she was doing. Melissa brushed her fingers over Neil’s balls with one hand, using her other hand to make screw-like motions up and down on his cock.

Neil’s bear roared and warned him not to bust a nut before his mate had an orgasm. Even though Neil and Hudson had already claimed their mate, they still had to keep her happy. Neil told his bear he could handle the situation.

Hudson’s bear roared as well. Hudson’s bear told him to keep concentrating on pleasuring Melissa. As Hudson had eaten Melissa out, his cock had grown harder, and Hudson couldn’t help but touch himself while eating out his fated mate. Hudson was good at oral sex. He was good at masturbating. He wasn’t particularly good at doing them both at the same time. Hudson admitted his bear had a point and slowed his strokes down, still attempting to bring himself closer to climax, albeit at a slower rate.

Melissa felt Hudson hike her legs up around his shoulders and knew she was in for one Hell of a ride. Hudson pressed his face down into her, hard. His nose was pressed against her clit, rubbing at her slot as he ran his tongue over every petal that could be found in Melissa’s garden.

When Hudson pressed three fingers into Melissa, that’s when she realized all bets were off. He found her G spot with ease, easier than if he’d used his cock. He rubbed back and forth on the spot with his middle finger as his other two fingers move back and forth over the space just below the spot.

“Come for me, babe,” begged Hudson. “Make my night. Let me make yours.”

Hudson moved his face back down, so his tongue was pressed down against Melissa’s clit. Hudson hummed a song on it, a song from his dancing playlist, and hummed it hard. The vibrations traveled through his mouth onto Melissa’s pussy and straight into her clit. That was enough to send Neil and Hudson’s fated mate over the edge.

Melissa came over Hudson’s mouth. Neil pulled away from Melissa and shot his load to the side, while Hudson creamed in his hands.

“Why didn’t you cum on my face?” asked Melissa.

“You’ve still got a show to do,” said Neil. “Don’t want you having to explain to people why you’ve got a sticky face full of cum, when they’re already going to suspect we fucked, given you’re glowing.”

“It doesn’t take a genius to put one and two together and notice that the curvy stage manager and the two headliners happened to disappear around the same time,” joked Hudson.

Melissa took a second to catch her breath before asking her next question.

“The marks…they didn’t change or glow,” said Melissa, running her hand over Hudson and Neil’s chests.

“They won’t change again,” said Neil. “Sometimes, the mark keeps glowing, usually if the ménage group hasn’t accepted the path Fate’s set out for them. Usually, the mark doesn’t do anything like change or glow again after the claiming of a fated mate.”

“There are exceptions to the rule, but they are exceptions,” stressed Hudson. “Don’t worry. You’re still our mate, Melissa. That’ll never change, not ever.”

Melissa got changed into her clothes and watched as Hudson and Neil put on their hot pants again.

“You two make that look good,” said Melissa.

“Enjoy the view while you can,” said Hudson.

“What do you mean?” asked Melissa.

“Do you want us to quit stripping?” asked Neil. “We’ve gotten the impression that’s what you want, Melissa.”

“I mean—” started Melissa.

“It’s a yes or no question, babe,” said Hudson. “We’ll leave this club and never come back if that’s what you want.”

“What if I changed my mind?” asked Melissa. “What if…I want to see this club do well, and I want all three of us to be part of that?”

“What made you change your mind?” asked Hudson.

“This club brought the three of us together,” said Melissa. “It’s brought one other ménage together. How many other ménages could it bring together?”

“Four, because there are four more sets of dancers left,” said Neil.

“You’re thinking small,” said Melissa. “Think big. You two are going to have to retire at some point, to let another ménage take your place in the revue. After that, you can help train the dancers. You two have serious moves. I’ve seen them. You could even teach classes to the public. There are so many things you can do with your experience.”

“Sounds like there are just two things we can do with it,” joked Neil.

“Are you sure you want this?” asked Hudson. “You really want to see us go out there and shake our bare buns?”

“I do,” said Melissa.

“Then you’re getting a front row seat to the action, babe,” said Hudson, picking Melissa up and carrying her in his arms.