“Thank God,” he said. “I thought I was the only one.”
My mind was racing. My heart was racing. “And it’s okay? I feel like I’m going crazy.”
“You’re not going crazy. You know shifters have mates—”
“I know of it.”
“I think you might be mine.” He brushed the hair out of my eyes.
God, my hair must be a mess, I thought.
“Relax. You look beautiful,” he said. “I just…wasn’t expecting to ever meet my fated mate. I just thought it was a thing shifters told themselves to keep from feeling alone.”
I smiled. “I’ve only read about it in books, so you know more about it than I do. I don’t think either of us is alone anymore.” Just saying the words out loud terrified me and calmed me at the same time. I guess I couldn’t discount insanity just yet.
I stood up, trying to hold in his seed. I wasn’t ready to let him go completely just yet. Our clothes were all over the place, and I found mine in a nearly useless order. Socks. Sweater. Pants. Bra. Where the hell were my panties? Liam was slow to dress, not that I minded, and we didn’t talk much. We just stared at each other a few times until we both started to giggle from the awkwardness.
“Aren’t you going to get dressed?” I asked.
Liam walked to the door and pressed on it with all of his strength. The way the muscles in his back and ass flexed made me wish I was slower to dress as well.
“Nothing,” Liam said. “We’re trapped in here.”
“Is there any other way out?”
“Just the drains in the floor. We’re not getting out that way.”
“So what do we do? Can you force the door? What if we pushed it together?”
The cold steel of the door was like a wet blanket after touching his warm chest. Even the two of us combined couldn’t budge the door.
“We’ve got to warn the others,” he said. For a second, I thought he was talking to the door, like he was trying to reason with it.
“What are you thinking?”
“I think you need to stand back. I’m going to shift and I don’t really know what is going to happen.”
“I think that if you shift and lose control I’m pretty fucked anyway. I’ll just stay here.”
“At least pick up the scalpel.”
I conceded the argument. We didn’t have time for debate. I clutched the scalpel and came back to stand by him.
“Here we go,” he said. He did not step out of his skin like I was expecting, but rather started to shift like Calder. His bones cracked and reformed. Fur sprang from his flesh. Claws erupted from the tips of his fingers and toes.
“Hurts,” he said. His voice was strange. More guttural. He fell to his hands and knees and completed the shift. A gigantic polar bear now stood in front of me. I could not help myself. I reached my hand out and touched his fur. So warm. Did you really expect a polar bear to be cold? Shut up, brain.
He turned and looked at me with deep brown eyes. When he took a step toward me, I almost held out the scalpel like a deterrent. Compared to the size of the bear, I might as well have been holding a toothpick, anyway. He nuzzled me with his giant head. I stroked his fur. Then he sort of…I don’t know. Herded me? He pushed me with his nose, again and again, moving me away from the door. Then a lightbulb came on. You want me to move away from the door. Right. I got underneath a table on the other side of the room and away from any of the aquariums should anything go wrong.
Liam roared and charged at the door, slamming his massive weight against it. It cracked open a few inches. Liam stood and shook his head.
“That’s it!” I said. “One more time, Liam.”
The bear crossed the room and rushed the door again. This time the door didn’t just give a few inches. It fucking exploded. As in came off of its hinges. The metal! table that had been propped in front of the door handles was a twisted mess.
Liam sat down, content with himself, like the only thing he needed to do was get the door open. As I walked over, he started to shift again. Fur and claws receded. His bones cracked and reshaped. In a few moments he was human again.
“You know,” he said. “It does hurt more, especially if you fight it, but I could get used to not having to eat my own skin.” I helped him to his feet. “I was also able to think as the bear, which I’ve never been able to do before.”
I brought him his clothes and he dressed. When I handed him his shirt, he grabbed my wrist. “Allie, wait. I just wanted to say…thank you. My fated mate. I totally have no idea what to expect now. I didn’t even know someone like you was even out there.”
“I know,” I said. “I don’t know where this is going, but I’m excited.”
“You brought me back. I thought I was going to lose control. I was so afraid that I was going to hurt you.”
“You didn’t know that my pussy is fucking magical?” I said. “Now let’s go get that asshole.”
Chapter Ten - Calder
The bear proved to be a disappointment after all. Letting his personal feelings get in the way of the plan. The female was not to be harmed. No matter. The bear had failed to injure either of them anyway. Calder considered killing the alpha now, but he didn’t want to chance fighting fated mates at the same time. The female may not recognize her power yet, and the alpha may not recognize the extent of his, but it was better not to leave things to chance. Calder watched both the alpha and the female as they ran back to the common area.
Calder carried an axe down the hall in the opposite direction. The bears may have decided against contacting anyone in the outside world, but Calder would ensure that they wouldn’t be disturbed once the games began. He opened the door marked “Comms” and proceeded to smash all of the important components. He cut wires and sparks flew. Destroying the equipment was actually therapeutic, since what he really wanted to do was take the axe to his agent for forcing him to alter his plan. It wouldn’t kill him, but it would definitely hurt.
Calder had left quite a few surprises for the bears as well. There would be no escape and no one would be coming to help them. He had waited too long for an opportunity like this. He’d crossed the span of time and been given another chance. He wouldn’t let it go to waste.
Oliver
He had to get away from the base. Calder would be coming for him, and he’d seen what had happened to the Golden brothers. Fuck that, Ollie thought. That’s not happening to me. He thought he would be able to slip away on the lone icebreaker ship that was docked at the base, but Calder had clearly been there first. All propulsion, navigation, and communication systems had been destroyed.
“Fuck!” Ollie smashed his fist into the wall of the cabin. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!. He tore open the wall-mounted emergency medical cabinet. Ollie could not believe his luck. The kit contained another silver scalpel. The Company really made sure that they were well equipped.
Ben
“Richie! Harry!” Donny ran from the entry of the common area over to the bodies of the brothers and knelt down beside them. Ben and Viktor were close behind.
“What happened to them?” Ben said. His voice cracked. “Where are Liam and the others?”
“We’re here.” Liam’s voice echoed from down the hall as he and Alanna ran into the room. Liam was the first to see the carnage, but he barely had time to react before something else grabbed his attention. “Ben, behind you!”
“What?” Ben said, but before he could turn, Ollie was pressing a scalpel to his throat. “Ollie? What the fuck, man?”
“Shut up!” Ollie said. “I need to get out of here, and you’re going to take me.”
“Ollie, we can talk about this,” Liam said.
“Fuck you, Liam.” Ollie’s voice was a deep growl. “I don’t know how you’re still alive, but I’m sure Calder will change that soon enough. For all of you.” He started to drag Ben down the hall toward the door to the landing pad. “I’m getting the hell out of here.”
“I’m not taking you fucking anywher
e, man,” Ben said.
“Yes you are.” Ollie pressed the scalpel to his throat and drew blood. “Or I’ll cut your fucking throat.”
“You do that and we’ll tear you to pieces, Ollie,” Liam said. He and the others advanced on Ollie.
Ollie held the scalpel out to them, then back at Ben’s throat. “Stay back! I mean it. I’ll fucking kill him.”
“No you won’t, Ollie,” Alanna said. “Come on. Let him go. Liam and the others can help you.”
“Shut the fuck up, bitch.” Ollie had made it to the door. “All I wanted was for us to be mates. I thought we were fated. I wasn’t going to let Calder have you. But the second you got here and I saw you and Liam together, I knew. I fucking knew. Even when we fucked that night I knew. You would never be mine.”
“Get the fuck over yourself,” Alanna said. “I don’t belong to you. I don’t belong to anyone. I might be new to the reality of fated mates, but I guarantee that I would rather be alone than be with someone like you.”
Ollie pulled Ben out the door and it slammed behind him.
Alanna
Liam was quick to act. Even though the situation was completely fucked, I had to admit that I still loved watching him be alpha.
“Viktor, get on the radio and make a distress call. If you can’t get through, get on the phone to the Company. Let them know that we have a situation and we need them to send a Sheriff. Donny, go with me. Be fucking careful.”
They both took off running down the hall.
“All right,” Liam said. “Let’s go.” We pushed the door open and stepped outside.
I was eager to clear more than a few things up with Oliver. First of all, when had he lost his fucking mind? Secondly, what the hell did he mean when he said that he wouldn’t let Calder have me?
Oliver had dragged Ben almost to the helicopter by the time we made it outside. The wind was like a slap in the face, but I hardly noticed the bitter cold. My adrenaline must have been working overtime.
“Ollie!” Liam said. “Stop! You don’t have to do this.” He had to yell to be heard.
“I’m going, Liam!” Ollie said. “You have more important things to worry about right now!”
Ben
This wasn’t the first time that Ben had found himself in a tight spot. Shit, it wasn’t even the first time someone had put a knife to his throat. He had a knack for opening his mouth and firmly inserting his foot. Plus, he was sort of a smart aleck. Generally though, he found himself charming. Most other folks did, too. So while this might not have been his first rodeo, it was definitely the first time he hadn’t done anything to start a fight and found himself in one anyway.
“Where do you see this going, Ollie?” he asked.
“Where I see this going is we get into the helicopter and you fly us the fuck out of here,” Ollie drew blood again with the scalpel.
“Okay, okay. Easy now, man. Can’t go anywhere without me to take you. We’ll go.”
Ben was herded into the helicopter from the passenger side. The very first thing he saw was a crude metal and glass container on the floor. The flashing LED and wiring was a good indicator that he really needed to get the fuck out of Dodge. And since Ollie’s scalpel wasn’t pointed at anything vital at the moment, he went right across to the pilot’s seat, unlatched the door and jumped out the other side. He completely missed the platform and jumped right into the Arctic Ocean.
And then the helicopter exploded.
Chapter Eleven - Alanna
“You all right, Ben?” Liam pulled him out of the water and back onto the platform.
“No worse for wear,” Ben said. “That Ollie guy sure is a bit of a dick though, ain’t he?”
I was amazed that Ben could come out of the water without at least mild hypothermia, but I guess being a polar bear must insulate him somehow. He was actually steaming. I’d never seen anything like it.
Liam lifted a chunk of burning wreckage and found Ollie. Or at least, what was left of him. He’d basically been blown apart by the explosion. Most of him was gone. It didn’t matter though. Ollie was still alive. You had to separate the head and heart to kill a shifter if you didn’t have any silver. Ollie’s head was still technically connected to whatever bullshit was stuffed into his chest where his heart was supposed to be. I knew it must have been unimaginably painful, and I knew that I shouldn’t care. I did, though. I could feel my eyes well up. Fucking Ollie. Even in a million pieces he still finds a way to make me cry.
“Will he live?” I asked.
“More than likely,” Liam said. “But it’s still too early to tell. Either way, he’ll be doing his healing locked in a little room. I’m sure the Company would like to have a word with him.”
“What do you think he meant about Calder having me?”
“It’s hard to say, but that’s something we’ll have to deal with next. There’s no telling the extent of what he’s done. If he was able to successfully engineer at least one new viral strain, there could be others. He’s much more brilliant than he even pretended to be. Since you’re the only woman among us, he could be looking for a way to create a new shifter species.”
“Why does it matter that I’m the only woman if that’s what he’s trying to do?”
“Because he would need to get you pregnant.”
“Ah. Yeah, that’s so not happening. Let’s just kill him.”
“That’s my plan as well. Great minds think alike. Or fated mates do?” Liam smiled.
“Should we pull him out of there?” Ben asked. He knelt down beside Ollie. “Yeesh. You’re a mess, my friend.”
Viktor and Donny crashed through the door to the base. They were both out of breath. “The communications equipment…has been completely destroyed,” Viktor said. “Even the satellite uplink. We cannot call for help.”
“Shit. So no one is coming,” Liam said. “Well, it looks like we’re on our own.”
Then the landing lights and base lights went out. We were suddenly plunged into near-darkness that became an eerie purple twilight after my eyes adjusted. Smoke began to rise into the sky, but I couldn’t see the source.
“The generators,” Ben said. “The fucking generators. And Harry and Richie aren’t around to help.”
I finally began to notice the cold. I wrapped my arms around Liam’s waist. If the power was out for the entire base, and we couldn’t get it running again, it was about to get much, much colder.
Ready For More?
The Hunt isn't over, not by a long shot. The next book in Maeve's Arctic Station Bears series is Snowman. The stakes are even higher for Alanna and Liam's growing love as they contend with Calder, the freezing cold, and a new enemy who wants them both dead. Check it out NOW on Amazon!
Amelie Hunt Presents
Ophelia Bell’s Black Mountain Bears
Clawed
Bitten
Nailed
Vivian Wood’s Winter Pass Wolves
Howl
Growl
Prowl
Sennah Tate’s Sunset Glade Panthers
Spark
Ember
Blaze
Maeve Morrick’s Arctic Station Bears
Snowbound
Snowman
Snowfall
Cass Reynolds’ Emerald Isle Tigers
Scoundrel
Soldier
Scholar
About Maeve Morrick
Maeve draws from the fantasies of friends (extracted with wine, of course) when crafting her torrid tales. Nothing pleases her more than to know that someone enjoyed a story as much as she enjoyed writing it. When not tickling her keyboard, she's probably trying to dislodge her cat from it so she can write, or bribing her dog to not eat her cat with varying degrees of success.
She's also fond of blues music, people-watching, aesthetics, video games, cooking, art, movies, and travel. Also, were dirty stories mentioned? She likes those, too.
Last thing, and probably the most important: she can make a cup of
hot chocolate that will knock your socks off.
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About Amelie Hunt
Amelie Hunt is the hottest new purveyor of sexy shifter stories. Feisty, passionate, and romantic, Amelie draws on the best paranormal romance authors to bring you incredible tales of sexy shapeshifters, star crossed lovers, and hard-fought happily ever afters. With five incredible series under her belt, Amelie’s always on the prowl for something new, spicy, and sweet to bring her devoted readers…
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Snowbound (Arctic Station Bears Book 1) Page 5
