by Delta James
Chapter Two
Present day
The jarring notes of her phone interrupted her exhausted slumber.
“Flynn Montgomery. If this isn’t life or death, fuck off and die,” she growled into the phone.
“Jesus, Flynn good to talk to you too,” laughed her brother.
Flynn sighed, “Seriously, Ben. You’d better have a monumentally good reason to be waking me up at this hour. I just got back from New Zealand...” she glanced at her phone to see the time, “Arrgghh, three hours ago.”
“Good. Then you’ve had some sleep. Do you know who Henry Koto is?”
“Of Koto Development?”
Koto Development was one of the largest development firms in the world with services that included architectural, engineering, and construction. Having been founded in the Pacific Northwest by Julian Koto, the old man had achieved regional prominence before retiring and leaving the firm to his three sons. Henry was the oldest and had led the firm to global domination in their field with projects in Japan, Dubai, the UAE, and all across Europe.
“One and the same. He fancies himself something of an artistic photographer. One of the galleries in Pike Place Market is giving him a show...”
“I wonder how much that cost him?” Flynn said with a smile.
“Don’t know; don’t care. His proposed show is wildlife stills of the mammals unique to the Pacific Northwest. He’s already got wolves, otters, and several others. What he wants now are caribou and Kodiaks and he wants Daredevil Adventures to help him get them. He wants to photograph them in their natural environment.”
“Does he know how stupid that is? Especially at this time of year? The caribou are bad enough, but Kodiaks? Bad idea.”
“He knows and doesn’t care. I tried explaining that to him, but he’s willing to pay us a lot of money...and I do mean a lot. Like you could pay off your student loans a lot.”
“Why don’t you take him?” Flynn grumbled.
“Because,” he said in a mocking, upper-crust tone, “he wants the youngest professor ever to achieve tenure at U of W to take him.”
“Henry Koto knows who I am?”
“Yep. He quoted several of your articles. In particular, he liked the one you did on paleobiology regarding Kodiaks being the possible source of the Sasquatch legends. But you can talk to him when we meet with him.”
Flynn sighed. She loved her brother with all of her heart, and his business, Daredevil Adventures, was just starting to take off. He had garnered a reputation for providing exciting, sometimes high-risk, sojourns into remote places to do unconventional things. Ben was an all-around outdoorsman and an ex-SEAL who worked as a guide for anything oceanic. He often tapped Flynn as a guide between her obligations to the university. She had become highly sought after in both roles. Her work in paleobiology and arctic studies allowed her to combine legend, myth, and fact into a fascinating narrative.
“I suppose I could come in tomorrow,” she said reluctantly.
“Ah... yeah... well... he wants to meet with us this morning at ten. He’s sending his car for you at nine.”
“Ben!” she cried in exasperation. “I’m exhausted.”
“Did the Stevensons give you a rough time?”
“No, they were great. They always are. But trekking in the wilderness in New Zealand isn’t exactly a walk down First Avenue and the flight home was twenty-two and a half hours. I look like something the cat dragged in.”
“Use more make-up. Please, Flynn? I’m serious. This is really important to him. Kodiaks are hard to capture on film close up...”
“Because they’re territorial and aggressive. There are a lot of cautionary tales about trying.”
“Thus, why he wants to do it and to hire us. Who better than a renowned expert on Kodiaks with an unparalleled reputation as a back-country guide? Then you add in a bunch of doctorates behind her name and the notoriety of finding the fossilized baculum of a polar bear and selling it for twenty-five thousand dollars to a private collector?”
“I really do hate you,” Flynn grumbled, throwing back the covers and sitting up on the edge of the bed.
“I know, but I’m still your favorite brother...”
“You’re my only brother, butthead.”
“See you in the car. He’s picking me up after you. You have to admit it, a client that sends a limo for you...”
“So, he doesn’t have to be bothered fighting Seattle traffic...”
“Flynn, promise me you’ll play nice.”
“On three hours’ sleep? I’m not promising you anything. See you later.”
She ended the call, stared at the phone for a moment and shook her head. Even if he wasn’t her only brother, she was sure he’d be her favorite. They’d always been close, but when their parents were both killed trying to summit Mount McKinley, also known as Denali, Ben had left college and become a longshoreman in order to convince the authorities that he could be her guardian. He’d given up his dream of becoming a marine biologist. How could she not support him in making his company a success?
Flynn jumped in the bath and closed her eyes, allowing the rainfall showerhead to beat down on her. She could feel her desire awakening. It had been way too long since she’d found any sexual release—at her own hand, not to mention with a man. As usual when she was alone and tired and stressed, the unbidden memory from two years ago came calling. Why was it that it was always him? Always that incident at the bar she had never returned to. Why did that particular memory have such a hold on her? To this day, reliving that encounter had the power to completely enrapture her in the feelings and sensations she had experienced. She could still feel his hand crashing down on her rump repeatedly, still feel his fingers thrusting in and out of her before being replaced by his hard cock as it hammered her pussy.
I don’t have time for that, she thought adjusting the water from hot to cold. Her body retaliated by squelching any and all need for anything other than a warm towel.
Drawing back her dark, mahogany hair, she pulled on leggings, a hand-knit sweater from a trip to Peru the previous year, and cowboy boots. Native American earrings and necklace completed her outfit and grabbing her shearling jacket, she hopped off her houseboat before running up to the top of the locked gate. The liveried driver was waiting.
“Dr. Montgomery?”
“Yes, good morning.”
The poker-faced driver helped her into the car, closing the door behind her. Flynn had to admit she was impressed. It wasn’t the usual SUV turned limo; no, this was a vintage Rolls Royce. Ben should get a kick out of this, she thought as the driver negotiated the Seattle streets from the marina where she kept her floating home moored to Ben’s trendy loft on the waterfront. She smiled. The twenty-five grand she’d received for the sale of the fossilized penile bone had completed the amount Ben had needed for the down payment on his place. He had been worried he might lose it, but her gift ensured he was able to purchase his home.
The Rolls pulled up in front of Ben’s building. He came out in what was generally considered the uniform of entrepreneurs in the Pacific Northwest—designer jeans, designer sweater, leather bomber jacket, and expensive boots of some kind or another.
“Looking good, sister mine,” he said as he slid in next to her. “Isn’t this car gorgeous? I knew Henry Koto had one. I hoped he’d send it for us.”
She shook her head, “Boys and their toys...”
“Expensive toy.”
“When you’re the best, you get all the goodies and trappings that come with success.”
“I know, I’m working on it,” he said with a grin.
Ben was a hard worker. He had been busting his butt since their parents had died. First to make sure she was provided for and had a great education and then to make a success of what had once been their parents’ dream for a family-owned adventure business. Once Flynn had entered college, Ben had joined the Navy and become a SEAL. When he had ended his term of service, he’d gone to work as a m
arine salvage diver, while starting and making Daredevil Adventures the most sought-after adventure company in the world. They had started small, but each year, Ben garnered a bigger share of the market.
They pulled up in front of the Koto Building and Ben jumped out, extending his hand to Flynn, before the driver could get out.
“No sense in you getting wet,” he said holding his upturned hand to the sky to catch the rain in his palm.
He and Flynn headed into the building.
“Mister and Doctor Montgomery? I’m Cheri Atkins, Mr. Koto’s executive assistant. This way, if you please,” a cool, patrician blonde said, turning towards a bank of elevators.
They followed her into the glass elevator and Ben reached for her hand. He was probably the only person in the world who knew how terrified she was of the contraption. She could hang off a cliff, secured only by a piton at fifteen thousand feet as though she was climbing up the steps to her favorite restaurant, but glass elevators scared her to death.
The elevator was mercifully fast, and they reached their destination quickly, the doors opening with a smooth swoosh. Executive Assistant Atkins exited, turning towards what Flynn assumed was Henry Koto’s office without another word or so much as looking back over her shoulder.
Ben whispered, “It’s almost like we are well-trained Poodles and she told us to heel.”
Flynn laughed. “No, wrong hair. You look more like a Portuguese Water Dog and I look like a half-drowned Cocker Spaniel.”
They were ushered into an enormous corner conference room that was all glass on two sides. Despite the dreary Seattle day, it was overly warm. Naturally, the great man wasn’t there. This was all a part of the corporate culture; the lesser mortals were kept waiting for those of more importance. Both she and Ben went to the edge of the room to take advantage of the commanding view.
“Dr. Montgomery, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Henry Koto said in a cultured and surprisingly pleasant voice. There was something off-putting about the Koto brothers—not so much their physical looks, but in the way they moved and looked at you as if sizing up whether or not you were worthy of their notice. Most women did not measure up in their eyes and Flynn realized she was no exception when he ignored her proffered hand. “Ben?” he said extending his hand to her brother. “Good to see you again. My brother absolutely raved about the trip he took with you to the Great Barrier Reef.”
Ben smiled. “That was a great deal of fun. If I ever find the right girl and settle down, I hope I have a friend like Michael to throw me a destination bachelor party. All five of them seemed to enjoy themselves.”
“So much so that we are planning a staff retreat for our executive officers. Cheri is putting together the details. Would you mind terribly if I fobbed you off on her to start planning that? I’m sure your sister can handle any questions I might have.”
Knowing that landing Koto Development as a corporate client would be a huge feather in Daredevil Adventures’ cap, Flynn said, “What an excellent idea. Multi-tasking at its best.”
“You don’t mind?” Ben asked Flynn.
“Not at all,” she replied, spotting the executive assistant waiting just out of direct sight.
The blonde woman opened the conference room door and ushered Ben out.
“I do hope you don’t mind and won’t be uncomfortable meeting with me alone. I promise to be on my best behavior.”
Flynn turned away from the view and leaned back against the window. “I don’t mind at all. If I couldn’t handle a billionaire in a business suit, I’d have no business guiding anyone in the wilderness... much less said billionaire.”
“Touché and my apologies. In this day and age, I fear I have to be sensitive to anything that could be labeled harassment...”
“Let me assure you, Henry, if you harass me, you won’t end up talking to my lawyer. It’ll be the business end of my bowie knife,” Flynn answered in a lighthearted tone of voice, but they both knew she was deadly serious.
If she was going to take this guy up into the wilds of Alaska, best he learned from the get-go who was in charge... and that it wasn’t him. Henry Koto nodded his head in acknowledgement.
“I assume your brother told you about my upcoming show,” said Koto. “The pièce de résistance will be an up-close picture of a Kodiak, without the use of a telephoto lens.”
“I’m afraid the only kind of cameras I know anything about are point and shoot. What difference does it make which one you use?”
“There’s a difference in the quality of the end result and I would really like the exhibit to be more than just a vanity project.”
Flynn was impressed. Henry Koto seemed sincere in his desire to deliver a product worthy of exhibiting in a well-known Seattle art gallery.
“The problem is that this is mating season. Kodiaks on their best days are temperamental, but add in hormones and breeding drive and the situation gets a lot more complicated and dangerous.”
“You see? This is why I want you as my guide. Your in-depth knowledge of the species will be integral to my success.”
“Henry, anyone with an internet connection can tell you when mating season is. It may well be impossible to get a pass into any of the parks.”
“I don’t just want any of the parks, I want to go to Shuyak Island.”
“Shuyak? Why? It’s probably the remotest and because of its size and its Kodiak population the most dangerous.”
“I thought it had a small population of bears.”
Flynn nodded. “It does and they compete for everything as resources are more scarce. You’d need to use extreme caution and avoid any kind of surprise encounter. Kodiaks aren’t warm, cuddly teddy bears. They are the largest and arguably the most fierce.”
“Polar bears...”
“Aren’t sweet cartoon characters either. But pound for pound, I’d rather go up against a polar bear than a Kodiak. That being said, we can probably make it safe enough if we stick to Kodiak Island.”
“No, I have my heart set on Shuyak.”
“I’m afraid this may be a case of you not getting what you want.”
Henry Koto turned away and took two steps before turning back around. “Are you saying you will only agree to be my guide if I agree to go to Kodiak?”
“In essence, yes. But if you aren’t going to listen to my recommendations, then perhaps you should hire a different guide.”
“No, that won’t be necessary. I would prefer to avail myself of your expertise. Would it be possible for us to leave the day after tomorrow?”
Taking a deep breath, Flynn nodded. This was too easy. Men like Henry Koto didn’t easily accept no for an answer. “I assume you and my brother came to terms?”
He nodded in the affirmative.
“Then,” she continued, “we’ll make arrangements to fly us up to Kodiak. I’ll email you a list of what personal items you’ll need to bring. Will it just be you and me?”
“Yes, unless that would make you uncomfortable.”
“I find my bowie knife to be an excellent companion,” she said smiling. “Then we’ll make flight arrangements to get us to the island.”
“Let me. We have very experienced pilots and private planes are so much easier and nicer than commercial jets. I can have my driver pick you up at... say the same time day after tomorrow?”
“That will work, Henry,” she said, extending her hand. This time he took it.
Chapter Three
Alex Kingston plucked the salmon from the icy waters with his powerful jaws. He looked up to see his brother, Joshua, approaching. He tossed the fish at him, hitting Josh unawares.
“Shit, Alex. Knock it off. That water is cold,” scolded his brother.
Catching another for himself, Alex slogged up out of the frigid stream. He dropped it at his brother’s feet and huffed before shoving his nose into Josh’s groin, knocking him to the ground.
“Really, asshole, that’s the way you want to play it?”
Alex watche
d his brother stand and call forth his spirit animal, a large Kodiak brown bear. Only as his twin brother, it wasn’t so much a spiritual calling as a true shifting of his physical being. It always amazed Alex that what internally felt like the smooth flow of water ebbing against the shore, appeared to an onlooker to be the merest glimmer of light. One minute there was a 6’4” man on two legs and the next there was an almost 4’6” tall at the withers Kodiak bear on all fours.
Joshua cuffed his brother’s head. Were it anyone else, Alex would have taken it as a challenge and defended himself. But Josh was his baby brother, albeit younger by only seven minutes, and this was just standard twin play. Alex charged and bowled Josh over, the two wrestling loudly. Both brothers did their best to defeat the other. Massive paws with razor sharp claws swatting each other as large mouths gaped and grabbed, trying to maul the other into submission. Alex was the larger of the two—as a man standing 6’6” and as a bear standing close to 5’; he was also the more muscular of the two.
Alex had put himself through school, majoring in wildlife studies and law enforcement, preparing himself for a life as a backcountry ranger in the Alaskan parks system. Joshua, on the other hand, had followed a different path, marrying his high-school sweetheart who knew his secret, and becoming an English professor whose courses on cryptozoology were standing room only at the University of Alaska. Josh had just returned from a book tour, promoting his first book. He had been unable to shift for months and it had taken its toll on him.
The two wrestled on the rocky shoreline, each trying to best the other but enjoying the tussle more than actually wanting to win. When they tumbled into the mind-numbingly cold water, it shocked them into shifting back. Joshua’s clothes had been torn asunder when he had shifted. That meant that the only clothing to be had was Alex’s. Recognizing that fact, the two grown men once again battled as they scrabbled toward the rock where Alex had left his clothing. Alex was the heavier and more muscular of the two. Knocking Josh backwards, he made a dash for his clothing, scooping it up before Josh could recover.
