Arctic Roots - 16. Papas and Cubs

“What do you mean, his Cub?” the man asked Axel. “He is an ancient Bear Spirit, but he has no children.”

“None that he’s told you about, apparently,” Axel said. “Have you seen the Bear shift from human to bear form before?”

“Yes, many times,” the man replied. “Why is that important?”

“Because it will explain why we’re removing our clothing now,” Axel said with a nod to Adam.

They both quickly shed their clothing and before the murmurs of shock from the onlookers could grow very loud, both shifted to their bear forms and stood side-by-side looking back at the village residents.

The men all dropped their guns to the ground and bowed their heads.

“Forgive us Bear Spirits! We did not know that there were so many of you in the world!” the man who had spoken to them earlier now said. “My name is Douglas, and I am the leader of this village. Please come with me to my home where we may talk.”

The bears shifted back to their human forms and turned to pick up their discarded clothing, but they were immediately surrounded by the women of the village who covered them with fur robes and put soft boots made from seal skins on their feet. Others gathered up the clothing that they had been wearing into a bundle and explained that they would have their things washed and dried.

They followed Douglas to a house that was a little larger than some of the others and he welcomed them inside.

Once they were seated by the fire in Douglas’s cozy living room, his wife brought the bears large mugs of herbal tea.

“I thank you for coming to our village,” Douglas said, “And I again apologize for greeting you with weapons. We are not accustomed to white men driving overland this time of year unless they are illegal poachers trespassing within our territory.”

“There is no need to apologize,” Axel replied, “If you were not cautious of strangers, then you would not be doing your job protecting your village.”

“You mentioned that you are the Bear’s cubs?” Douglas asked, “I did not realize that the Bear Spirits could have cubs in that manner.”

“We don’t have cubs in the traditional manner,” Axel explained. “I am your Bear protector Matthias’s Cub, and Adam here is my Cub and Mate.”

“Cub and Mate?” Douglas asked, clearly confused.

“Let me explain,” Axel said. “All Bear Spirits begin our lives as human men, but we have something special in our genetic code, passed down through our father and grandfathers that is kindred to the other Bear Spirits. A Bear Spirit can detect a man who is kindred by scent, and when we do, we mate with them to turn them from a human into a new Bear Spirit. When we do that, we say that the new Bear is the older Bear’s ‘Cub’. Sometimes, a Cub will only stay with their Papa Bear for a hundred years or so before moving on to live on their own, as I did with Matthias. Other times, when a Bear finds his Cub, they also find their soulmate and they remain Mates for life, like I have found with Adam.”

“How long has it been since you’ve seen your… Papa Bear?” Douglas asked, wide eyed and curious.

“It has been hundreds of years. Matthias took me as his Cub when I was lost and there were no other white men in Alaska. After the first white settlers from Russia arrived, I left him to rejoin the humans.”

“And you said that your name is Alexei?” Douglas asked next. “I’m sorry to say that the Bear has never mentioned you to us.”

“I’m not surprised,” Axel said, “We didn’t exactly leave on the best of terms. I thought that he was my Mate, but it seemed that the old Bear wasn’t capable of that kind of love for me. Anyway, Alexei was my name when the Bear knew me, but I go by Axel these days.”

“Well Axel,” Douglas said, “After you showed us that you were both Bear Spirits as well, I gave one of my men the signal to alert the Bear that his presence is needed. We don’t know where he lives, but there is a spot about thirty miles to the south of us where he as built a large inuksuk… a towering column of stones that serves as a landmark. Whenever he is needed, we are to send a lone man to his inuksuk, who climbs to the flat area at the top of the column and builds a fire. Within a day, he appears, walking into the village in the form of a great grizzly bear before shifting into the shape of a human man. We make sure to keep a supply of firewood at the inuksuk for emergencies, so my man should be building the signal fire soon and the Bear will arrive in his own time tomorrow.”

Axel thanked Douglas and was about to excuse themselves to go back to their truck and set up a camp when his wife returned, carrying two large bowls of stew.

“It isn’t necessary for you to feed us,” Axel replied, “We brought food with us for the journey.”

“Please,” Douglas said, “Allow us to show you hospitality while you are within our borders. Honoring visiting Bear Spirits also honors our ancestors and brings good fortune upon our village. There were a mere 30 of us left in this settlement before the Bear visited us the first time. We showed him the hospitality that tradition described, and he offered us his wisdom and protection. Within a year, Iñupiat families who had been scattered across the land began returning home to us. Our population rebounded over time to the thriving community that you see today. The rivers provide abundant salmon and grayling, and the land provides ptarmigan, ducks and geese. If you can allow us to show the same hospitality to the Cub and Grand-Cub of the Bear, then fortune will certainly shine upon our community.”

“As you wish,” Axel replied, taking the bowl of stew and bowing his head respectfully to his host’s wife.

Adam took his bowl with a word of thanks, and they began to eat. It was a delicious stew of wild fowl, root vegetables, and herbs in a thick savory broth.

“This is so good,” Adam commented to their host’s wife, who smiled nervously and went back into her kitchen. “Do you know what the herbs in this stew are? They have such an unusual flavor.”

“I imagine that part of the unusual flavor comes from the roots used in the stew,” Douglas said, “It is an ancient recipe, and uses roseroot, which grows in the wild in these regions.”

“Roseroot,” Axel said, in between mouthfuls of the stew, “That sounds familiar for some reason, does it go by any other names?”

“Yes,” Douglas replied, “It is also called golden root, Arctic root, king’s crown and orpin rose.”

“Orpin rose?” Axel said, scraping the last dollop out of his bowl and then licking the spoon, “I know that one. But isn’t that used as a sedative?”

“Indeed,” Douglas replied, taking the now-empty bowls from Axel and Adam, “The roseroot and the bearsbane in the stew should make you quite comfortable while we wait for the Bear to join us.”

“Bearsbane!” Adam exclaimed, “Isn’t the combination of orpin rose and bearsbane the same potion that the shaman in Minnesota used to…”

“Yes, Cub,” Axel interrupted, stopping Adam before he gave Douglas any more information, “It should be quite effective to incapacitate us for the next several hours.”

“I do apologize, and I mean no disrespect,” Douglas said. “The old Bear has repeatedly told us over the years what to do if we ever encountered any more of his kind.”

Axel tried to stand, but his legs were no longer responding to his brain.

“We did not ever expect to see another Bear Spirit in our lifetime, let alone two, but we have always kept a supply of roseroot and bearsbane on hand as he instructed. It seems that the only creatures he distrusts more than white men are other Bear Spirits. He wishes for you to be sedated and… calm when he arrives to meet you. Please do not hold this against me or my village. The Bear has always led us along the right path before, so this must be the right thing to do now. I will watch over you vigilantly while you sleep.”

Axel looked over at Adam, but his cub was already unconscious, slumped over in his chair.

“Fucking Old Man,” Axel grumbled as he felt his own consciousness slipping away, “What have you done to me this time?”

****

“What did you find in their truck?” Axel heard a deep voice saying, breaking through his deep sleep.

“Only what you would expect,” Douglas replied. “Food, maps, camping equipment. They seem to have a satellite dish attached to the roof along with a solar panel array. For what purpose, I don’t know. They have a few laptop computers and tablets as well.”

“Weapons?” the deep voice rumbled.

“No sir. None that we could find in the truck, and none on them. As I said, they removed their clothes and shifted into bears shortly after arriving, so there was no way they could have been hiding weapons on their persons.”

“What kind of bears are they?” the deep voice asked.

“Brown bears, but bigger than your normal grizzly. I believe they are Kodiak.”

“Kodiak?” the deep voice exclaimed. “Shit. I’d better take a look at them.”

A door opened close to Axel’s head and the room was suddenly flooded with light.

Axel squinted against the sudden bright light and when they focused, he saw Douglas standing next to the Old Man himself.

“Ah, Gods fuck me,” Matthias grumbled, “This one is like a bad penny.”

“Oh, right, sir,” Douglas said, “He told us to tell you that he was… your Cub.”

“That would have been good to know ten fucking minutes ago, Douglas you imbecile!” Matthias replied with a barely contained fury, “Leave us now.”

Axel shifted himself so that he was a little more upright and looked around. They were still in Douglas’s living room; Adam was still asleep but looked like he was beginning to stir as well.

“Hello Old Man,” Axel said with a scratchy voice, “It’s good to see that you’re still as loving and nurturing as ever.”

“And you’re still an idealistic smart-ass,” Matthias replied, “So it seems that even after all these years, nothing much has changed, has it? How was your life with the humans?”

“A few notable moments of happiness surrounded by decades of misery,” Axel said. “How has the hermit life been treating you?”

“My life suits me just fine,” Matthias said. “I can be alone, or I can interact with the natives here on my own terms. How the fuck did you find me, anyway?

“All I had to do is tell people that I was looking for my long, lost Papa Bear,” Axel said. “Once I made it to Coldfoot, your friend Fergie told me how to track you down.”

“Fergie should have known better,” Matthias said. “I don’t have any sentimental memories of our years together. As far as I’m concerned, you stopped being my Cub the minute you left my home to go live with the Russians.”

“Look, you hateful old bear,” Axel said, getting a little more of his mobility back as the herbs wore off, “I didn’t even want to come and find you. I’m doing it for others.”

“Who even knows that I exist and why would they care?” Matthias said with a snort.

“The first is sitting right over there, still knocked out,” Axel replied. “If you think I was a sentimental, idealistic fool as a cub, you haven’t seen anything yet, and the last thing I need in my life is for your bitterness to infect even one ounce of the love and joy and enthusiasm he has for his life as a werebear. It took me a long time to learn to like myself after they way you treated me, and even longer before I was able to learn that the relationship between a Papa and his Cub should be based on mutual love and respect instead of resentment and bitter responsibility.”

“Who told you that?” Matthias asked harshly, “Did you run into Santa Claus on your way here to find me?”

“I now live in a community of werebears. We all live and work together. We enjoy each other’s company, and we strengthen our bonds of friendship with good old fashioned bear orgies every chance we get. But the most notable thing about that community is the love and caring relationships between the Papas and their Cubs. It seemed strange and sappy to me until the day that I found my own Cub. That twin of me sitting over there. After he came into my life, I was glad that you rejected me all those years ago. That bear is my Cub, my love, and my Mate. He loves me so much in return that he insisted he wanted to meet his ‘Grand-Papa’, and no matter what horrible truths I told about you to discourage him, his enthusiasm was persistent.

“So, wake him up and say hello to your Grand-Cub. But I warn you Old Man, if you hurt him the way you hurt me, I will not be as merciful with you as I have been in the past.”

“Um, the Grand-Cub is already awake,” Adam said from his seat across the room. “I love you, Papa, and I know that you only want what’s best for me, but I’m not so fragile that I can’t take a little abuse from Grand-Papa here.”

“See?” Matthias said to Axel, “I already like him better than you.”

“But watch your mouth, Grand-Papa,” Adam continued, “That’s the man I love there, and if you hurt him again now the way you hurt him in the past, I’ll cut your balls off, fry them up with some butter and garlic and feed them to you for your last meal. Got it?”

Matthias glared in anger at Adam for a few seconds that stretched endlessly before bursting out laughing. A big, hearty belly laugh that rumbled throughout the whole house.

Axel had never, ever, heard the Old Man laugh in all the years he spent with him, and now was thoroughly confused.

“Finally,” Matthias said, wiping the tears out of his eyes, and picking the still partially drugged Adam up into a big hug, “A bear who can dish it out as good as he can take it. I like this one Alexei. You’ve done a fine job with him.”

“You mean after all this time,” Axel said in disbelief, “All you ever wanted was someone to argue with and put you in your place every now and then? Well, fuck me sideways.”

“You always tried too hard to please me, Alexei,” Matthias said, “The harder you tried, the more I loathed you. My Mate… my Mate Titus and I fought endlessly. That Bearcub had a mouth on him! The more he mouthed-off to me the angrier I got, and the angrier I got, the more it turned me on until finally each day we would explode in the most passionate, angry, lusty sex you can imagine.

“Then, came the war of the monster. The abomination. The dababbi. An army of werebears fought against it. I shouted to Titus in the heat of the conflict that he was leading his men into the monster’s trap, and it was going to get them all killed. He grinned at me across the field of battle, knowing he was about to die, and told me to go fuck myself. Then, he and the men he was leading let out a fierce battle cry and charged at the creature. They never had a chance. It ripped them all to pieces before my very eyes. After the dababbi creature was subdued, I personally ripped its head from its shoulders with my bare claws. I buried Titus and changed into my bear and wandered out into the Arctic, intending to never look at another bear, have another Cub, or love another Mate.

“All was well for seven hundred years, until the fucking Russians had to intrude into the land of my exile, and I encountered you. The first time I met you, Alexei, the first thing you said to me was ‘Fuck you’ in Russian. I smelled your neck and detected the kindred scent. For the briefest of moments, I thought that I may have found a bear as bold and brazen as my Titus, so I took you with me. With each insult, I tried to get you to fight back. With each abusive behavior, I tried to make you angry enough to yell and tell me to go fuck myself again, but you were intent on trying to be good and obedient, to please and pacify me. It was such a disappointment.

“When you had your first change, and I saw how big you were, I smacked you right in your giant Kodiak balls, and rough-fucked you when you were rolling around on the ground in pain, thinking that would finally be the moment that you would rise up and smack me around to show me who was the new boss, but you just laid there and took it. You turned all your anger and aggression inward and beat yourself up from the inside out instead of directing it at me where it belonged. I had high hopes that one day you would lose control, knock me onto my back and fuck me with a fierce anger until all your aggression was finally sated, but that day never came. Finally, when you spoke to me of the Russian settlement and of loving me like a Mate, I could stand it no longer. You needed to leave so that you could find that dominant, assertive bear within yourself. The one that I had briefly glimpsed a hundred years earlier in that native camp who boldly told me to fuck myself. I’m sure that you’ve led a hard, miserable life since then, but I think during that time you’ve finally grown the pair of balls the giant werebear body I gave you deserved.”

“You’ve been waiting for me to get sick of your shit and put you in your place?” Axel asked, standing up, looming over the ancient bear and dropping his fur robes exposing his tattoo-covered body, “Well today is your lucky day, Old Man.”

“Oh please,” Matthias replied, “You’re still as much a milk-sucking baby today as you were three hundred years ago. I’m surprised you were even able to get it up long enough to breed your Cub there.”

“You must really want it bad, Old Man,” Axel said with a sly grin. “Cub! Grab Grand-Papa’s arms and don’t let this bitch go. We’re about to show him how big my balls have gotten over the last couple centuries.”

Adam grinned as well and grabbed Matthias by his arms from behind as Axel stripped him of his clothing.

Matthias’s cock was standing straight up and leaking pre-cum from the hooded head. Axel grabbed it and leaned forward till he was inches from the old bear’s face.

“Time to pay the piper, Old Man,” Axel growled, still grinning. “If I get too rough with you… too fucking bad. Cub, put him on his hands and knees and hold him there so he can’t move.”

“Ooh, big tough guy,” Matthias said egging Axel on, “Have to get your Cub to do all the dirty work. Are you sure you’re bear enough to finally give your Old Man the fucking he needs, or are you going to need your Cub to pinch-hit for you too?”

“Here’s your answer,” Axel said, spitting on his cock and penetrating Matthias roughly, slapping him on the ass in between each of his aggressive thrusts. “Thanks… (slap) for the giant… (slap) cock… (slap) Papa.”

“Oh, Cub?” Matthias said, looking up at Adam, “I think there may be a butterfly beating its weak feathery wings around on my bare bottom, would you be a real bear and smack it for me?”

“I have a better idea, Cub,” Axel said, huffing and puffing as he pummeled the old bear’s ass, “Why don’t you fill his mouth with something that will keep him occupied and shut him up for a while?”

Adam grinned at the bears’ kinky roleplay and was glad that they’d finally found some common ground. He dropped his fur robes and shoved his big cock into his Grand-Papa’s eager mouth.

The two seven-foot Kodiak werebears fucked the old grizzly from both ends until he moaned around the Cub’s cock in his mouth and began shooting his load all over the floor beneath him. Axel let out a roar and grabbed the back of his Cub’s head and pulled him in for a deep kiss as he emptied his balls into the Old Man’s ass. Adam was so turned on by the whole scene that he couldn’t help but to unleash a torrent of his own sperm down the Old Man’s throat.

All three bears collapsed into a sweaty, sticky pile in the middle of Douglas’s living room, trying to catch their breath.

“That,” Matthias said, “Was three hundred years overdue. I’m glad you’re not a complete pussy anymore, Alexei.”

“And I’m glad you’re not a crusty old curmudgeon anymore, Matthias.” Axel replied.

“Today I learned that I have the world’s two biggest assholes for a Papa and a Grand-Papa,” Adam said, getting angry looks from the two bears, “And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m the proudest Cub on Earth!”