Zodiac Shifters Aries Love's Warrior

by Jennifer Hilt

  What does Icy Cap have against double beds?

  When Carson finished assessing the gas tanks and vents, he heard the faint whine of another engine in the distance. He was most certainly not expecting company, especially anyone driving a snowmobile. He unpacked his sidearm from the saddlebags. They were miles from civilization of any sort. There was nothing here anyone on a snowmobile needed. Wildlife was another matter. His instinct told him this was trouble.

  If Jessica wasn’t so close by, he’d shift into his ice bear. But he’d rather not risk her safety without really knowing what the threat was. As the headlight from the lone snowmobile approached, he sniffed the air. The scent of Luanne’s hair gel was unmistakable. The lack of any scent other than the machine’s diesel fuel meant Mariko was with her.

  The machine slowed. Luanne flipped up her visor to speak. “Get her inside—she’s half frozen.”

  Behind her, Mariko’s black clad snowsuit form rested against Luanne’s back. Carson easily scooped his colleague off the machine and carried her inside. She didn’t move in his arms. Once inside he sat her in a kitchen chair near the heater.

  He’d not fully removed her helmet when she spoke through half frozen lips. “It’s Deegan. She’s the murderer.”

  Carson grabbed a few blankets and wrapped them around her. “Start at the beginning.”

  “I was going over the evidence again. The knife that the murderer used was still missing. But no one has left the Station until you two today which meant it had to still be there. I’d realized I’d searched everywhere except Deegan’s office. She always had someone in there.”

  Luanne came inside the trailer. Her cheeks were red from the cold but she was bright-eyed. “She all right?”

  “Just trying to warm her back up,” Carson returned to the vamp. “So you found the murder weapon in her office?”

  “No.” Mariko shook her head. “She seemed so superior after I did the search and found nothing.”

  “So?”

  “I searched everything again. And this time it turned up in one of the kitchen freezers. Still has blood on it.”

  “It’s my knife, though. I can’t believe someone stole it for such a horrible purpose,” Luanne said.

  “Are all you shifters so naïve? God, it’d be cute if we weren’t trying to catch murderers.” Mariko was feeling better, all right.

  “This relates to Deegan how?” Carson asked.

  “Now this is where it gets interesting.” Mariko’s dark eyes flashed. “The prints on the knife don’t match hers. They match Cornelius Root.”

  Carson sucked in his breath.

  “Deegan’s gotta be dead somewhere. Maybe we’ll find her in spring when the snow thaws. Root took advantage of Deegan being a last-minute replacement. He correctly assumed if Deegan’s paperwork was in order, no one would do a deep background check.”

  “How did you figure that out?”

  “There was something about how she acted as a physician that bothered me. I wondered if it was where she went to school. So, I started digging. Her class picture looks nothing like the Deegan at the station.”

  “What’s she after?” Carson stood up. He paced the length of the small cottage while Luanne made tea for herself and Mariko.

  “What’s the motive? Why go through all this? Root could’ve easily stayed hidden in California. Why come all the way to Fairbanks and then here?”

  “I found several articles on multi-organ transplantation under Deegan’s bed when we searched the office. Seems odd, right?”

  “You helped Mariko search the office?” Carson was sure he was staring down an oncoming freight train. Could they be this close to catching Root only for Mariko to jeopardize the investigation by allowing an outside person near possible evidence?

  Mariko leaned forward, speaking to him in a low voice. “Don’t worry—I glamoured her before just to make sure. She’s ok.”

  Luanne handed the vamp a mug. She gazed at Mariko as if she was the sun.

  Of course Mariko glamoured the fox shifter. It was the only reason she trusted her enough to bring her here. She couldn’t make the drive alone in the cold.

  “Deegan needs a transplant and she’s looking for a donor.”

  “We found a sheet with Jessica’s blood work on it. Her blood type matches Root’s data from prison.”

  “Where is Jessica?” Luanne asked.

  “She’s getting ready to release her puffin. I’ll go get her. She needs to hear this.”

  Carson left the hut without a parka. His head was spinning with these revelations. Thank the Goddess, Jessica was here with him.

  He walked to the bluff, scanning the shoreline below for Jessica’s headlamp. No light below. He scanned again, tension tightening his gut.

  The sea edge stretched out in the rock-and-ice-strewn valley below. Even if she was down there, he should be able to see her. But all he saw were hundreds of seals and birds packed together for safety.

  Relax. She survived here before you arrived. Just barely.

  She should have told him where she was going. Even for a pee break, Icy Cap wasn’t the place for modesty.

  “Jessica!”

  No answer.

  Had she really taken off to release that puffin without telling him, and why? There were plenty of puffins below.

  He climbed down the bluff.

  “Jessica! Jessica! Jessica!”

  The only sound was the deafening seal squawks as he roused them. Standing on the beach seconds later, he scanned the open water. Had she fallen in?

  Please be alive.

  He’d give up anything. Everything including his dream of marriage to her if only he could find her safe.

  Off to the left, something caught his eye. Jessica’s carrier that held the puffin was empty. It lay on its side, abandoned.

  Where was she?

  Carson raced back up the escarpment and burst into the cabin. He so wanted her to be inside having tea with Luanne and Mariko.

  “She’s gone.” He pulled off his boots and socks before shrugging his shirt over his head. “I’m going after her. Fire three shots in the air if she returns.”

  “What are you doing?” Mariko asked.

  “My ice bear is faster and better suited to the search.”

  “I’m going with you.” Luanne stood up. “Two shifters are better than one.”

  “You’ve done enough. Stay here.”

  “No.” Luanne started undressing too.

  Carson didn’t have time to argue. “Suit yourself.” He shucked off his jeans and then his briefs joined the clothes heap on the floor. He opened the door and started running. When he reached his maximum speed as a man, he rolled into a somersault in the snow, his body shifting. When he stopped rolling he was no longer a US marshal, paranormal division. He was an ice bear.

  12

  Jessica made her way farther up the coastline than she’d intended. She was looking for that perfect colony to release Addy. Not too large where food would be scarce and not too small where predators would single them out.

  There was no use putting it off. Addy was old enough now to leave the nurseries where she’d been separated from her parents along the rocky coast of the sea. Back at the lab, Jessica had inserted a dime-sized satellite tracking device under Addy’s right front flipper to track her movements. It was a perfect opportunity for research but Jessica felt sick inside at the thought of releasing her.

  Get over yourself.

  Addy’s species would be leaving the land for open water where they’d spend the next several years before returning to mate. She had to do it now before she lost her nerve, embarrassed herself as a scientist and endangered Addy.

  She’d left Carson back at the field hut, absorbed in coaxing the gas tanks which would heat the cabin into working. She loved his intensity in whatever he did. He gave himself fully to whatever challenges were before him. She felt raw from his touch. He unsettled her in the deepest parts of her soul. She had to have him. He was
like a drug she craved but had no cure for.

  So what if they fucked out here. No one would know. When they got back to Fairbanks, they’d resume their separate lives.

  By the Goddess, she hated her sisters for making her choose between them and the man she loved. And it wasn’t even like she loved them more—it was that sense of duty she owed them. Plus, her fear of what they’d do to Carson.

  She grabbed Addy’s cage, heading for the beach. Jessica struggled to keep her balance on the rocky terrain. To the far left, she spied the perfect place to release Addy. She could watch her join the colony without disturbing them.

  Addy’s cries mimicked those echoing around them. Peering inside the cage, Jessica reassured herself Addy was the same size as her peers. Still, there was a physical pain in Jessica’s chest as fumbled with to open the cage door. Could Addy evade the hungry walruses waiting offshore?

  She could take her back to Icy Cap for a few more weeks. Let her gain more weight. Keep her safe. Jessica’s need for control warred with her respect for Addy to be herself. The young puffin rocked her cage, excited by the sounds outside. Danger or not. This was where Addy belonged.

  Jessica released the lock. Addy paused at the opening, taking in Jessica and her surroundings.

  Jessica clucked encouragingly. Addy cocked her head. She waddled forward. Then she took another. Puffins were not graceful on land Addy lumbered forward until she rested between Jessica’s boots.

  Farther down the beach, a cluster of young seals hesitated at the sea edge. They would wait until they gathered enough fellow seals before launching en masse. Addy could do that with her puffin group.

  “Go on,” Jessica said. She pulled her boots out slowly from underneath Addy. Her bird shook herself, flapping her wings. Jessica continued backing away.

  Addy waddled and slid toward the shoreline. Halfway between Jessica and the puffin group, she paused. Jessica held her breath. A chorus of barks erupted from the seals. The front line began diving into the green foamy water. As more seals dove in from the group, Addy slid down the rest of the beach to join the puffins using the seals for cover in the water.

  Addy blended in with the crowd. She was back in the sea where she belonged.

  Be safe.

  A terrible emptiness opened inside Jessica. A sob escaped her. She’d done the right thing but that didn’t make her feel better. She still felt alone.

  As soon as Jessica returned to camp, she would begin tracking Addy on her laptop via satellite. Eager to make sure all the equipment was functioning, she cut across some fresh snow and climbed back up the slope from the beach.

  In the distance, she could see the cottage lights. She had one small hill to traverse before she got back.

  Her job was done. It was a beautiful night with moonlight reflecting off the snow, tingeing everything blue. Her heart ached with the loss of Addy. But she was where she belonged.

  And Jessica belonged in Carson’s bed. If he was still interested, and she was pretty sure this was a safe bet, she was ready to rock his world.

  If anything, events in the last week showed her how fleeting life was. She needed to grab her happiness when she could. Neither of them could see the future, and that was really a blessing. One of her sisters had the gift of foresight and she was a real killjoy to be around.

  She cut inland slightly, avoiding the edge again in case she lost her footing. She stopped short. Before her the moonlight cut away like a missing piece of pie. She angled her head lamp to get a better look.

  A crevasse.

  Alaska’s landscape was always changing, the perma frost shifting, glaciers moving. Ice freezing and melting.

  Jessica wasn’t a rookie. She knew enough to watch out for these treacherous gaps in the ice. She got down on her hands and knees to better assess how to get around it. Should she walk farther inland in hopes of it closing up or take the riskier path by the shore again?

  She peered in again. But this time she was pushed from behind.

  Jessica had fallen a good ten feet down a rocky ravine.

  She took a deep breath, taking inventory of her fall. She was bruised but nothing was broken. There was enough snow to cushion her landing on the rocks below. That was the good news.

  This crevasse reminded her of a bear pit. She’d been afraid of those ever since seeing one as a child. Now she was trapped at the bottom with only the dark sky above her.

  A headlamp from above shone in her eyes. “You ok down there?” a voice asked.

  Her head ached from the fall. She didn’t recognize the voice. It was not Carson.

  “Maybe sprained my ankle. Go get the marshal. He’s at the field hut.”

  “I can pull you out on my own.”

  “Oh, thank the Goddess.” Jessica squeezed her eyes shut. Damn, her whole body hurt all over.

  “I’m not ready to fish you out just yet.”

  Jessica squinted up to the speaker. All she saw was that damn headlamp shining back at her.

  What the fuck was going on?

  “I suppose you are wondering why I’m here.” Deegan removed the headlamp. “Sorry about the light.”

  “Where’s the marshal?” She must’ve knocked her head pretty hard because having Dr. Deegan here made absolutely no sense.

  “I imagine he’s back at that field hut you mentioned. He was inside warming up that frosty vamp last I saw him. Don’t you worry. She’s not making it out of here alive. Those snow machines won’t be going anywhere without these.” She jangled some keys.

  Please make this a bad dream. I’m ready to wake up and find I’m snuggled into bed with Carson.

  “What the fuck do you want?” Jessica asked.

  “Short answer: you. I’m in need of your excellent vital organs. Unfortunately, I didn’t take care of myself when I was younger like you.”

  “You’re crazy. I’m not giving you anything. Get me out of here.”

  Deegan scratched her chin. “See, you’re not really in a position to open negotiations now. I’ll be back soon. In the meantime, don’t fall asleep or you’ll freeze to death. Catch.” She tossed a thermal blanket down the hole.

  “Hey! Deegan! Don’t leave me here!” Jessica called until her voice was raw and her head ached from the ringing in the small chamber.

  Her arrogance would kill her. Unless Carson came looking. He would, but Deegan would be ready.

  Here she’d railed against Carson about how dangerous his activities were and look at the mess she was in. What a waste of their lives. She’d never get to wrap herself around him. Never to kiss him again--

  She couldn’t keep herself safe anymore than she could him.

  She’d let her sisters’ objections bolster her own fears. What an idiot. She would rather take her chances with Carson than without him any day.

  Jessica loved him. She loved his passion for life. And she always would. Being divorced wouldn’t change that. Or keep him safe. Life offered no guarantees. It just meant some other woman would eventually spend her life with Carson. She didn’t want that.

  Not at all.

  Tears rolled down her cheeks, she didn’t bother wiping them away.

  It was impossible to tell what time it was. The stars shifted from her sliver of the sky but too much darkness remained. She made herself run in place and do jumping jacks.

  What if the ice shifted again with her down here? She’d be buried alive. A few flecks of snow sprinkled down on her. Great. If fresh snow covered her tracks she’d never get rescued.

  When she tipped her head back, the whiskers of an arctic fox sniffed along the opening above her.

  “Help!” Jessica rasped. She didn’t want to scare the fox but she was trying to think of a way it could help her find Carson.

  The fox peered deeper in the crevasse. It cocked its head to one side to get a better look down the hole.

  “Luanne?”

  The fox’s ears wiggled.

  “Find Carson.”

  The fox disappeared.


  Alone again.

  Jessica felt like a mouse in a glass jar. She hated being helpless. She was a freaking warrior, albeit retired.

  She was getting cold. Just a quick nap. It’d feel so good to close her eyes.

  A soft whine above made her blink. Did she dream that? She rubbed her eyes and then stared up at the dark sky.

  The fox was back. Its’ sharp features were silhouetted by the moon. Had the fox found help?

  The massive head of ice bear blotted out all light.

  Fuuuck.

  Jessica shrank back against the walls of the ice cave. Getting eaten alive was not what she had in mind.

  The ice bear rumbled deep in its throat. She could feel the snow around her vibrate.

  “Carson? Is that you?”

  Both the fox and ice bear pulled back from the edge.

  “Hey, don’t leave me!”

  A short time later, Carson’s head popped in the hole above her. “Are you injured?”

  “Just twisted my ankle. I’m so glad you found me.”

  “Me too.”

  “Is Luanne ok?”

  “She’s wagging her tail as we speak.”

  “Get me out of here.”

  “This rope needs to be secured before I can pull you up. Here goes.”

  Jessica laughed shakily, brushing her tears away. He’d found her! She tied the rope around her waist. She couldn’t wait to get back on the surface. But hauling her up wasn’t going to be easy. The walls of the ravine were slick with softened ice. There was nothing to grab onto except the rope.

  Carson pulled, Jessica hung on.

  Her boots slipped against the crevasse walls when she tried to get traction. Inch by inch, Carson dragged her out of the hole, hand over hand. Her gloves were shredded. Her fingers were bloody and rope-burned.

  By the time Jessica’s head made it out of the hole, Carson was breathing hard. Clumsily Jessica climbed out, flopping on the ground next to him. They lay there on the snow, catching their breath. He was naked.

  Luanne’s fox licked Jessica’s face and then spun around in a circle and lay down next to Jessica in the snow.