Theirs to Bear: Icy Cap Den #3 (Alaskan Den Men)

by Jennifer Hilt

  The fresh snow had called the cub. For me the pull was strong, but Leo had no idea how to balance it.

  Liv appeared seconds later. He mussed hair and her bare feet made me want to march her back to bed. Her eyes, though, were wide with terror. She eyed Gary, then me. “Where’s my son?”

  “He’s gone,” Gary said miserably, sweeping his arm out to the backyard.

  The three of us trooped outside. Icy Cap was back to winter. No birds, no breezes—instead, bitterly cold temperatures and snow. And worst of all, no sign of Leo. The snow fell so fast his tracks had filled in.

  Gary’s Taxidermy was the second-largest building in town, after the newly rebuilt lodge. Its exterior was an old metal warehouse. I hadn’t been inside before. Turns out it was more than just a taxidermy studio.

  The ground floor studio/showroom was locked up. We climbed the stairs that led to Gary’s apartment.

  “This is where you live?”

  “People ship me their kills from all over the world. I’m the best Dall sheep taxidermist in Alaska.”

  “I never doubted your talents, but this is not what I expected.”

  “A ghoul in Icy Cap appreciates quality as much as anyone else.”

  The hardwood floors were polished and warm, and the sloped roof sported skylights. The windows facing the street were regular size, in line with the ones on the lower level. But in the back, overlooking the fields beyond town, was a massive picture window.

  I swallowed to keep myself from asking “You had Leo here?” but then I noticed that the expensive electronics were buffered by padded edges and impressive wall anchors.

  “I was making us pancakes. He loves those. He wanted them shaped like bears. I swear I turned my back for thirty seconds and he was gone. I checked all over, then went downstairs. I found the door to the backyard ajar and sets of paw prints on the back step, which is more protected from the wind and snow. After he entered the yard, the snow filled in his trail.”

  “Show us,” Liv said.

  Gary grabbed her a long coat and boots, which she adopted without expression. She appeared wooden now, almost frozen. When I slid the coat around her shoulders, I understood. She was terrified past comprehension.

  “We’ll find him, Liv. Gary and my ice bear will both track him. The best thing is for you to wait at home.”

  “No!”

  “Listen, most likely he’s taken a romp in the snow and then he’ll be home to you. You should be there for him. I’ll get some radios for us to communicate.”

  “If anything happens to him—”

  “Nothing is going to happen. Young paranorms do this kind of thing all the time. Scares the crap out of their families, but they come home fine. The things Gary and I could tell you . . . right, Gary?”

  The ghoul looked tentative at best. Luckily he understood that the question wasn’t meant to be answered.

  10

  Liv

  Fearing for my son’s safety was paralyzing. My body felt frozen, but my heart and brain pumped panic into overdrive to compensate. I wanted to scream, but that wouldn’t be enough.

  I mindlessly stacked shampoos, conditioners, and hair gels. I had to stay here. Leo couldn’t have gone far. Likely he’d come home any minute. If he didn’t see me here he’d worry—or worse, go out looking for me.

  I rearranged the bottles on the shelves by height. I pulled them all down and began again, this time by the color of the bottle.

  Three crisp raps on my back door startled me. I flung the door open without even pushing the curtain aside. Rika huddled on my doorstep. The blowing snow blocked her face behind a scarf, but the long fur coat was the same. Her dark eyes blazed like coals over her scarf.

  “May I come in?”

  Snow drifted across my slippered feet into the kitchen. It wasn’t Leo. My boy was still out there.

  “I’m sorry. Now isn’t a good time.” I started closing the door, but Rika’s arm shot out. She stopped it before it latched.

  “That’s why I came. There’s no time to waste. I found your son.”

  I opened the door fully and stood on the step, searching for Leo. “Where is he?”

  “He’s in a trap.”

  My knees weakened, and I grabbed the metal rail on the steps to brace myself. The cold seeped into my fingers and palm.

  “I have to tell Tristan—the deputy.”

  “No time. We need to leave now. With the two of us, we’ll get him out in a jiffy. Grab your jacket and your boots,” Rika said.

  In mere seconds I was ready. It was only me and Rika on my back step. “Are you sure you can find him again? Was he badly injured?”

  “One thing at a time.” Rika reached inside her fur coat. Muttering, she dug around, eventually producing a small leather pouch. It was stained and worn soft.

  She reached into it and pulled out a pinch of what looked like green moss. I’d never seen that shade of blue-green before. Interesting as it may have been, I was only intent on finding Leo.

  “Take a closer look.” She raised her palm up to my face.

  I bent closer to humor her. When I did so, she blew the moss right into my face.

  I sneezed. My eyes itched terribly. “What the fuck was that?”

  “I’ll tell you, since you’ll never remember it: memory loss moss.”

  Before me, Rika shimmered. She tucked the pouch away, then set her bare hand on my forehead. I smelled an awful burning odor. It stung my nostrils. Then, incredibly, I was a snowflake being carried on the wind.

  There is no sense of time in being a snowflake. There is only being in the now of the blizzard. I tried to open my eyes. Surely I might spot Leo this way. But I saw nothing. Instead, it was like riding a rollercoaster in the dark.

  I tried to call out to Tristan, but I had no mouth.

  Then suddenly I was back in my body, cold and wet. The wind chafed my face.

  “Time to wake up,” Rika said.

  I struggled to open my eyes, but they felt glued shut. I finally pried them open when Rika kicked my side. The pain lifted whatever she’d given me that had made me so sleepy.

  “What was that?” My tongue felt coated with carpet.

  “You don’t remember?”

  I shook my head slowly because it hurt to move it. “What have you done with my son?”

  “That’s not very gracious, after I brought you to him. But I forgive you; that potion can make one irritable.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Rika. The succubus.”

  I let this creature in my house. She had my son. Now she had me.

  Tristan, help us. Please.

  “Leo? Leo?” I glanced around wildly, but all I saw was snow. It fell from the sky; it whirled around me. Beyond a few feet, it was white-out conditions.

  No answer.

  Leo, please be alive. I’ll find you.

  “Where is he?”

  “That part was a fib. I don’t know. I can’t smell him. Usually I can smell bears a mile away. I know his scent from that day at your house. Did you kill him?”

  I’d scrubbed Leo up in my soap. That’s why she couldn’t smell him. I prayed Tristan and Gary would find him before harm came to him. I wasn’t a monster like her. I’d never harm my son. However she was another story.

  I launched myself at Rika. I would’ve knocked her over, but she waved her mittened hands and I smashed into an invisible wall. My hands flew to protect my face—too late. My fingers came away bloody. Even with my eyes closed, stars danced before me.

  The fall knocked the air out of my lungs. I gasped for breath, crawling forward, then stopped. Pain wracked me. I tried to speak but the breath had been robbed from my body.

  “Wh-why?” I managed.

  “Why what, dear? There are so many things to wonder, a simple why doesn’t begin to cover it. Let’s start with a what instead. I’m going to level Icy Cap.”

  I gaped at her.

  “As a human, you are my witness. You will tell the world that
I have reclaimed Icy Cap. With no goods and services there, no one will come to town. Its ruination will serve as a example for those that dare confront me.”

  “You don’t want my son?”

  “I want him dead, just as my children are. I want you to know he’ll never grow up. Now get up or you’ll freeze here. Moving will keep you warm. We’ll move higher up the slope so you can have the best view.”

  11

  Tristan

  We found Leo chasing skua birds along the shoreline and scavenging debris. The young shifter was so intent on his game, he didn’t notice our approach until the wind changed, carrying our scent. A hungry adult ice bear could easily have killed Leo for sport as much as food. But, thankfully, we found him when we did. By then we were out of the two-way radios’ range and couldn’t notify Liv. We three hurried back to Icy Cap with Gary and Leo on my back. I was not risking that little shifter wandering off again.

  As soon as we reached the edge of Icy Cap, the sulfur odor hit me. Dark magic. It grew more potent as we approached Liv’s place.

  It couldn’t be.

  No.

  At Liv’s back door, the place reeked. The door wasn’t latched when Gary entered. Sensing the dark magic, Leo slid off my back and paced between my front paws, whining.

  Gary returned shaking his head. “She’s gone. It’s Rika. The odor is the same. No sign of a struggle.”

  With Leo missing, Rika could easily convince Liv to join her in the search. But what did the succubus want with Liv? Human females weren’t of interest to the succubus since they were immune to glamour. From what my cousins told me, this succubus always had a plan.

  I took off, leaving Leo and Gary at Liv’s house. No harm would come to them now. If I tracked the scent of dark magic, it’d lead me to Liv. Certainly this was a trap. I’d lost Liv once before, and never again would I fail to act regarding her.

  Rika had taken her toward the Brooks mountain range, the opposite direction from the sea. This was where my cousin Dane, his mate, and Gary burned Rika’s lair to the ground a few months back. I’d been over this area multiple times, but I’d never caught the dark magic scent like I did today.

  It felt good to be let my ice bear spirit rise. I ran miles easily, never once bothered by the elements. Instead I relished them. Possessive power raged through me. I would kill this succubus. She dared to take Liv—my mate—from me?

  I’d not asked Liv to accept me as her mate, but in my heart I knew it was true. She was the only woman for me. I’d raise Leo up as my son, teaching him all the ways of the ice bear shifter and, when the time came, manhood.

  The blizzard weakened. Snow continued falling steadily, but the temperature warmed. Ice stuck to the fur between my pads. I gained elevation as I followed them. Mingled with the dark magic was Liv’s scent. I smelled her fear.

  This was exactly what I’d been afraid of. I’d wanted her away from Icy Cap because as a human she was easy prey for a malevolent paranorm. Now my worst fears had come to pass. Liv was captive to one of the few creatures more powerful than me.

  I’m coming for you.

  What was Rika doing, heading up into the mountains this late in the year? The fresh snow was covering the warmed snowpack below. Springtime was avalanche season in the mountains. Rika knew that.

  I loped up the steep incline as lightly as my bulky body allowed. Ice bears move gracefully, but dislodging a shelf of soft ice and sending it crashing down a mountain was something even I couldn’t survive.

  What was plan of this crazy bitch succubus? It might be the last thing I did, but she was going down.

  Up ahead, the scent drew me. My fur bristled. A growl rose up deep in my belly.

  Rika was marching Liv up the mountain. They zigzagged to prevent triggering an avalanche. Didn’t matter; loosened ice chunks rolled down anyway. I dodged the first two, but the third one took me by surprise. I turned my head just in time to avoid getting hit face-on. Instead it was like a fist of ice slamming my right ear.

  My bellow rang out against the snowpack. If Rika hadn’t known I was following her before, she knew now.

  I’m coming for you, Liv. Hang on.

  The midday sun burned through the last of the clouds. No more blizzard. Instead, the sunbeams warmed the new snow, making it slick over the snowpack. My ear rang from the hit. A trickle of blood stained the snow, marking the path I followed.

  12

  Liv

  Tristan was here. Not with us, but close behind. His below made me shiver for reasons that had nothing to do with temperature.

  “Ice bears. Never subtle.” Rika poked me in the back as we climbed.

  I wanted to free myself from her, but for the first time since Ted died, fear gripped me. My marriage to an abusive ice bear was a picnic compared to the threat of dark magic wiping out my son. Being with Leo as he grew was no longer my biggest concern. His very survival was now top priority.

  “Stop dawdling. Keep it moving,” Rika said. “Don’t get all mushy on me now.”

  How to stop her from setting the town on fire?

  I couldn’t see Rika behind me, but I could feel her distraction with Tristan following us. She muttered and cursed in a language I’d never heard before. Increasingly, snow chunks from our footsteps fell down the mountain. My pace slowed, and dizziness overcame me. This wasn’t dark magic. This was lack of oxygen from our fast ascent.

  Rika’s gnarled walking stick surely aided her, but I had only my puny human lungs and lack of physical fitness. The trail narrowed again. Ahead, a curve beckoned—or my eyes were playing tricks on me. I had to do something. Throwing myself over the edge would be easiest, but suicide wouldn’t help Leo. Rika would still burn the town, with my son in it.

  I’d have happily tossed Rika over the edge, by my face still ached from the invisible force field she threw at me the last time.

  “Stop!” Rika called.

  I turned around. She dug around in her evil purse, out of my reach. I rested my hands on my knees, panting.

  “What’s the matter with you?”

  “Elevation.”

  Rika snorted. “Not my problem you’ve never seen the inside of a gym. You humans are so soft. How you are successfully ruining the planet at this pace impresses me, considering how weak your own bodies are.”

  Where the hell was Tristan now? I could no longer hear his outraged growls.

  I launched myself at Rika, aiming low for her knees. This was no airborne tackle but more like a belly flop on my part. Surprise and my low center of gravity were more effective than I’d guessed.

  “Oomph.” Rika hit the ground face up, with me landing on top of her.

  That’s when my unappreciated previously good luck ended. To our horror, our momentum propelled the two of us downward.

  As a kid back in Ohio, I loved sledding. I was even pretty good at it, sensing when to lean one way or the other, just so, to increase my speed. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined such experience would one day find me riding a succubus down an Alaskan mountain.

  “Watch out!” I called. My first full-on look at ice bear Tristan was his dark eyes wide in surprise.

  I closed my eyes, bracing for impact. Surely we would hit him at this speed. Instead, I felt the whoosh of moving air. The back of my jacket jerked like a parachute opening.

  I cracked open my eyes.

  The ice bear’s right paw had plucked me right off Rika. I was suspended from his enormous black claws while his left paw swatted her away from me. She went airborne, a look of surprise mixed with outrage creasing her face. Her fur hat flew off. Her cane dropped.

  Tristan bellowed. I was never sure if that was satisfaction at separating us or disappointment that Rika was still intact.

  The succubus continued tumbling down the mountain, dislodging snow.

  That particular spot she came into contact with must have been warmer than farther up the mountain. The snow around her point of impact cracked and then, in one fluid motion, gave way. An
avalanche rolled down the mountain in a blinding cloud of snow. The roar was louder than anything an ice bear was capable of.

  And she was gone in that fresh mountain of snow.

  Far beyond, Icy Cap rested undisturbed.

  Tristan lowered me to the ground, careful to keep me away from the edge.

  I was shaking. “Did you find Leo?”

  The ice bear nodded.

  “He’s safe?”

  The bear nodded again.

  I flexed my cramped hand, releasing Rika’s bag. I had gripped it when we separated. Tucking it in my jacket pocket, I touched my ice bear’s bleeding ear.

  “Come on, let’s go home.”

  13

  Tristan

  We returned home, courtesy of my ice bear. A grimy Leo was fast asleep in child form on the couch next to Gary. The babysitter raised his head from his current copy of Modern Taxidermist, placing a finger to his lips to quiet us.

  “He’s exhausted, and honestly he had a few too many cookies before he conked out. If you wake him, you will quite literally have a little bear on your hands.” Gary slid off the couch and tiptoed to the door.

  Stopping by Liv, he kissed her on the forehead. “Glad you’re back. See you tomorrow. ” Then to me he said, “You killed her.”

  It was a statement, not a question.

  “Avalanche. Nothing could survive that. Even a succubus.”

  Gary raised an eyebrow at me but exited the back door without a word.

  Liv locked the door behind him. She reached up, touching my bloodstained face. Her fingertips danced along my brow. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

  Hope surged inside me. I may have been battered and bruised, but if Liv wanted to play doctor, I was happy to oblige.

  ***

  About the Author

  Thank you so much for reading Theirs to Bear!