He sat down on his bed, threw back the last of his drink, and fought sleep. He knew it would bring dreams of something he could never have.
Alanna
“Good morning, Dr. MacCready,” Donny said. “Eggs and meat are on the table. With this group, I’d grab a plate quick or you’ll lose an arm.”
I grabbed a plate from a stack on the table. “Alanna, please. And thanks. It smells great.”
Oliver was already at the table. He smiled and winked at me. I rolled my eyes. And the award for most subtle booty call goes to Oliver Campbell, I thought.
The Golden brothers were having a lively conversation with Viktor about who should take responsibility for cleaning the labs. Richie Golden looked like he’d actually combed his hair.
Calder sat alone across the room, staring out of a large window that faced lapping waves and blowing snow. The window was framed by a ring of condensation. His expression caused an ache in my chest. What had happened to him all of those millennia ago?
The food was set up buffet style. Eggs, ham, and bacon, all in their own serving dishes. I had a sudden fantasy that I was Goldilocks and I should be looking for porridge, but then, these were very different bears. Ahead of me, Liam was filling a plate with eggs, he grabbed a few slices of bacon, immediately sticking one into his mouth. Just being in his presence made me wonder what he’d be like in bed. He seemed so commanding and sure of himself. I was so close, it was all I could do to not reach out and touch the powerful muscles that rippled under his shirt.
He spun around.
And suddenly I was wearing his breakfast. Not my best look.
“Oh shit, Alanna!” Liam said. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” He threw his plate on the table and grabbed a towel from the buffet. For a second, I thought he was actually going to brush the eggs off of my sweater as well, but mercifully, he just handed me the towel.
“Very smooth, doc,” Ben said with a big yawn. I hadn’t even seen him come in.
I wiped the eggs from my sweater, trying to drop as little on the floor as possible, although there was already a mess at my feet. “It’s okay,” I said. “I’m fine. No harm done. But if you wanted me to have breakfast with you, you could have just asked.”
Liam’s expression softened. He laughed. I smiled and warmth radiated through my chest even though I could feel Ollie’s gaze burning a hole in the back of my head.
Alanna
A saber-toothed tiger was licking my hand. I was suddenly a ten-year-old science nerd again. I had to suppress my urge to squeal. Calder regained his human form in a few bone-cracking moments, and I was impressed by the physique of a naked man for the second time in less than twenty-four hours. That might be some sort of record. Keep it professional, Alanna, I thought. Calder got dressed again, putting on sweatpants and t-shirt.
I couldn’t believe it. In all of my research and travels, I’d never met a single shifter who could partially shift. It was always an all-or-nothing deal. Until now. Modern shifters were like a one-way street. They could shift into animal form at will, but they were of two minds about everything, and the bestial side wanted to stay in animal form. Unconsciousness immediately triggered a shift back to human, so lots of people awoke butt-naked in caves or curled up on piles of leaves after their animal had decided to take a nap.
“That’s amazing,” I said. “You’re able to shift back and forth at will? Even partially?”
“Yes,” Calder said. “I was the only one of my tribe. There were others in other tribes.”
Typically, shifters had skin problems. A shift left them with an empty human skin or an empty animal skin depending on which direction the shift was happening. Normally, the animal form would dispose of the human skin by eating it — it was almost ritualistic for some species. For the animal skins, the human side had come up with some novel ways of recycling.
“The TPV in his blood altered his DNA at birth, just like the modern versions,” Ollie said. “But most modern versions have mutated into TPV-Lite.”
“TPV? Is that going to be the official name?” I asked.
Ollie smiled. “It rolls off the tongue a little more easily than Therianthropy Progenitor Virus, don’t you think?”
“Oh, for sure,” I said. “I’m sure it’ll be a trending hashtag by next week.”
Ollie narrowed his eyes at me in mock disgust and shook his head. “Anyway, there are some other interesting things about TPV. For one, it looks like the silver allergy is still present. It’s almost hard-coded into the virus.”
“Silver allergy?” I said. “That’s diplomatic.”
Donny stood up from a microscope and walked over. “It’s very close to an allergic reaction, and it’s one our new friend definitely shares with us,” he said. “Silver in contact with his skin or imbedded in his body will prevent a shift. Silver weapons will cause wounds that he wouldn’t be able to regenerate.”
“There are quite a few other interesting things about TPV,” Ollie said. He motioned to a microscope.
I looked at the slide. “The virus can be seen with a normal light microscope?” I asked.
“The virus cells are huge,” Ollie said. “Massive by virus standards, but they function exactly like the more modern virus. All shifters are carriers for the virus. A shifter parent produces an offspring and will automatically pass on the virus. The virus makes changes to the human genome in utero and a new shifter is born. It doesn’t even matter if the shifter parent is the father or mother. Genetically, it’s like taxes. You just can’t avoid it.”
“Calder, we really appreciate your help,” I said.
“It makes me happy,” Calder said.
The door to the microbiology lab opened and Viktor entered. “If you all are done, Dr. Roy has some questions for Calder,” Viktor said.
“I’m good,” Ollie said. “Donny, are you done here?”
“For now,” Donny said. “I need to analyze these new samples. I’ll walk you both over. I had a couple of questions for Liam anyway.”
Viktor, Calder, and Donny left the lab and Ollie started to put his samples into storage. “So,” he said. “What was that this morning?”
“What was what?” I said. Oh God. I knew that tone. He was trying to pick a fight.
“This morning. With Liam.”
“He ruined one of my favorite sweaters?”
“You sure that’s all it was?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I couldn’t help but sound defensive. My face burned like he’d actually caught me doing something I wasn’t supposed to do.
“You were flirting with him.”
“And what if I fucking was?” I slammed my palm down on the metal table, jostling some test tubes and flasks at the other end. “I don’t think that’s what it was, but who gives a shit? You don’t own me.”
He took a step toward me. “What about last night?”
His energy rolled over me in waves. It felt like I was standing in front of a hot oven. “What about last night? It was fun, right? Nice to blow off some steam? Get a little closure?”
“Closure,” he said. His eyes were suddenly far away.
“Yes. Closure.”
“Hopefully your legs got that closure memo. Plenty of other men here to blow off st—”
Before I knew what was happening, I’d already slapped him. I fought the urge to tear up. I fought the urge to murder him. I fought the part of me that wanted him to hold me even though he was a giant asshole. I wondered if I had been flirting with Liam. I wondered if Liam was a giant asshole.
Oliver growled at me.
“Oh, go fuck yourself with that shit,” I said, and got the hell out of there.
Chapter Six - Alanna
I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t shed another tear over that ass, and yet here I was, staring at myself in the mirror and looking very heartbroken. Really though, I was just very pissed. I was still shaking. I thought very seriously about hitting up Richie Golden for some of his magic “Fuck
the World” juice, but I still had work to do. The show must go on, and I wasn’t about to let Ollie’s douchebag ass ruin my day. I got to pet a saber-toothed tiger this morning.
Someone knocked on the door. Please don’t be Ollie. I crossed my fingers.
“Yeah?” I said.
“Alanna?” It was Liam. Fucking perfect.
“One second. I’m changing.” I splashed some cold water on my face and then screamed into my favorite towel. I always brought my own towels from home when I traveled. They’re big and plush and purple. I needed a little comfort and familiarity.
Content that I’d gotten a little rage out of my system, I opened the door.
Liam scanned the room over my shoulder. “Is this a bad time?”
“Not at all,” I said. “Come in.”
He came in, closed the door, nearly sat on the bed, thought better of it, and sat on the small reading chair instead. His large, muscular frame in the tiny chair made me smile.
“What can I do for you?” I asked.
“Viktor overheard your conversation with Ollie.”
Shit. So embarrassing.
“I just wanted to apologize,” he said. “Even if I wasn’t the administrator of this facility, I am still alpha of this group, and this isn’t the first time Ollie has tested me. If he wasn’t brilliant, between you and me, I might toss his ass into the Arctic Ocean.”
I laughed. “It’s all right. We have history. I knew it would come up sooner or later. I keep expecting him to change when I should really know better.”
“Either way, I wanted you to know that if it happens again, he’s gone. I’ve already had the conversation with him.”
“A conversation?” I laughed. “Between two alpha bears? I’m surprised one of you isn’t in the infirmary.”
He smiled. “I can hold my own should it come to that. Also, you should know that I’ve given Calder more access to the labs. You’re right. He should have more freedom, and he certainly seems up to the task.” He stood up. “Well…”
“Well.” I smiled. “Thanks for coming.”
He nodded and walked to the door. Before he opened it, he turned and sheepishly smiled. “I’m sorry again about this morning. I hope I didn’t ruin your sweater. It looked great on you.”
I laughed. “It’s totally fine. How’s the laundry here anyw—”
Someone pounded on the door. “Dr. MacCready! Dr. Roy!” It was Viktor. Liam opened the door.
Viktor was out of breath. “Come quick,” he said. “It’s Dr. Campbell. Someone injected him with colloidal silver.”
Calder
It had begun. His agent had been successful. Calder watched as Viktor, Liam, and Alanna ran across the common room to the lab where Oliver was screaming in agony. The confusion would perfectly cloak Calder’s experiment in one of the unused labs. He turned the key card over and over in his hand. If only access to such miraculous technology had existed in his own time. He loathed to use it, but sacrifices needed to be made.
Soon the bears would all be dead and the woman would be pregnant with a new, perfect shifter breed with a more potent virus, derived from Calder’s own blood. The female’s progeny would be able to infect humans with a bite or a scratch. And Calder himself would be responsible for the child’s upbringing. The child of nature that would usher in a new age, and who would be alpha to all.
Humanity was a blight upon the Earth. Hours spent in study showed Calder how little they respected the world and each other. But soon that would all change. Soon they would change and a dream would be realized.
Donny and the Goldens raced across the common room. There was muffled shouting, then Ben ran across the room as well. There should still be time to check in on the experiment before the need to maintain appearances demanded Calder join the others. Colloidal silver. That was very clever. Calder would congratulate his agent on his job well done later. But first, the experiment. Then the end of humanity.
Chapter Seven - Alanna
I’ve seen Ollie drunk and I’ve seen Ollie sick, but I’ve never seen him like this. He writhed on the floor, and it took the combined might of four burly bear shifters to even attempt to hold him down.
“We’re going to have to bleed him or he’ll die,” Liam said. “Viktor, I need one of the silver kits from the infirmary. Now!” Viktor was gone so quickly it barely registered with me.
“We need to get him on the table,” Liam said. “Grab him where you can, everyone.” Donny, Richie, and Harry helped Liam lift Ollie’s body and set him on the table. Liam tore open Ollie’s shirt at the trunk and sleeves. His veins stood out like a grotesque relief map. “Ollie — Ollie! What happened? Who did this to you?”
“Don’t…know,” Ollie said. His words were a hiss. “Didn’t see. Came from…behind.” Then he started to scream anew.
Viktor rushed in with a plastic container. He nearly tore it in two getting it open, and setting it on the table. He removed a handful of tourniquets. Each man tore the sleeve from his own shirt if necessary, and then began tying on a tourniquet. I looked at my own sleeve. Did I need to —
“No,” Liam said, nearly reading my thoughts. “Try to keep him calm. We’re going to do a blood transfusion.” Liam removed a silver scalpel from the case. “Ollie, buddy. I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt.”
I held Ollie’s head and stroked his hair. “Oliver, it’s me. You’re going to be fine.”
“Allie…,” he said. “I’m…I’m s—sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “Shh. You’ll be okay.”
Viktor pulled some tubing out of the case along with silver needles. I was amazed at how adept the men were at finding their own veins and getting themselves prepped.
“Here we go, Ollie,” Liam said. He began making precise cuts with the scalpel at specific points on Oliver’s body. Ollie screamed and blood seemed to explode from the wounds. Each man held one of Ollie’s limbs and inserted a needle into one of his veins located in his wrists and thighs. Blood flowed from the tubing and into Ollie. There was an almost immediate difference. Ollie quieted and began to relax.
I stroked Ollie’s hair and tried to be a calming effect. It really wasn’t my strong suit. “Shh. It’ll be okay, Ollie. Shh.” Eventually he passed out.
“He’s out of the woods,” Liam said. He took Ollie’s pulse. There were sighs and murmurs of relief from the other men.
I knew that silver poisoning was rare among shifters, but it was almost always fatal. Blood types didn’t really matter among shifters of specific species. As long as they shared animals, they could share blood. I’d heard of cases where the blood of one species was used on another, but that was really a last resort — it was almost always just as fatal as the silver itself.
Oliver stirred on the table. “Allie?” his voice was weak.
Tears streamed down my face like opening a floodgate. “Yeah?”
“You should really have some of this blood when I’m done. It’s nice.”
I laughed through my tears. “I have to fight with body hair enough, thank you very much.”
Oliver passed out again. After a while, blood simply flowed from his wounds instead of erupting from them. Liam handed out silver needles and special thread, even to me, and we worked tirelessly and in silence to stitch and dress his wounds while Viktor cleaned up the blood wearing what looked like a hazmat suit.
Ollie improved and started to heal in the days that followed, but tensions were high because the question remained. Who had done this to him?
Alanna
“We should scrap the project,” Donny said. “Call for support.”
Everyone, save Ollie, was gathered in the common area.
“Shit,” Ben said. “I’m ready to pack up anyone who wants to get gone and jet the fuck out of here.” There were murmurs of agreement.
“We can’t go,” Liam said. “And we can’t call for support. This project is code black. There’s just as much chance that the elders will burn the entire place to
the ground, and us along with it, as there is that they would send in assistance. We’re going to have to handle this ourselves.”
Harry Golden finally asked the question that everyone wanted to ask. “Then who could have done it? Who poisoned Ollie? I was with Richie.”
“I was with Calder,” Viktor said.
“And I was with Alanna,” Liam said. All eyes were suddenly on him, then on me.
“Well go ahead, you two!” Ben said.
“Stop screwing around,” Liam said. “It was nothing like that.”
I was actually disappointed to hear those words come out of his mouth, even after everything that had happened. What the hell is wrong with me?
“Ben, that leaves you and Donny. Can you provide for your whereabouts?”
“I was in the kitchen prepping dinner,” Donny said.
Ben looked indignant. “And I was outside having a piss. Do we really suspect each other? Are we so sure that we’re alone here?”
“Calder,” Liam said. “I hope you understand, but we may need to confine you for your own protection. You’re too valuable to the project.”
“Understandable with circumstances,” Calder said.
“Everyone else, we’ll split into two groups and search the entire facility top to bottom.”
“You won’t do that without me.” Ollie was suddenly in the entryway. “I’m going to find this fucker.”
“Ollie!” everyone nearly exclaimed in unison. Ben was across the room much faster than a man of his size should have been able to move. The agility of shifters never ceases to amaze me. Ben grabbed Ollie in a bear hug.
“Easy, Ben!” Ollie said.
“You should really be resting,” Liam said.
“I’m fine,” Ollie said. “Besides, no one wants to catch this guy more than I do. I want a little payback.”
“All right then,” Liam said. “Ollie, Alanna, you’re with me. We’ll take the north and east wings. Donny, Viktor, and Ben, you guys take south and west. Harry, you and Richie stay here in the common area with Calder and yell out if anyone you don’t recognize comes through.”
Snowbound (Arctic Station Bears Book 1) Page 3
