Snowman (Arctic Station Bears Book 2)
Page 4
A bear tackled Calder and sent them both crashing into the wall. Their roars and growls were almost as deafening as the gunshots.
Liam. Please be okay. I couldn’t stop running. I couldn’t turn around. Finally, I reached the corridor. I crumpled into a heap behind the protection of the corner. My legs felt like someone had replaced the bones with molten lead. They were so heavy.
More gunshots. I couldn’t help myself. I had to see. I peeked around the corner.
Liam fought with Calder. I’m not sure how I knew the difference between he and Ben at the moment, since they were both bears, but somehow I knew. The two animals circled each other — polar bear and prehistoric cat.
Calder swiped at Liam’s face.
I had to catch a scream in my throat and hold it in with my hands. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself and things were moving so quickly that it was hard to process. Liam roared and stood on his hind legs.
Across the room, Ben roared and charged the stranger.
The gunman threw himself backward and squeezed off a single shot.
Ben roared in pain and almost immediately shifted back into a man. He writhed on the floor and cried out.
The gunman was using silver bullets! My mouth went dry, but the stranger looked satisfied with just crippling Ben.
I clasped my hands together in front of my face. Liam was paying no attention to the shooter. Liam! The guy with the gun! He’s using silver bullets! I thought for a moment that I’d screamed it out loud.
Liam looked at me, and Calder took advantage of his distraction and jumped on his back.
My teeth snapped together and I balled my hands into fists. That motherfucker!
Liam bodyslammed the cat onto the floor and roared as if telling him to stay down. I was too excited to think straight. My heart raced. I didn’t even care to stay hidden anymore.
“Kill him, Liam!” I screamed.
Calder sank his teeth into Liam’s leg and the bear roared in pain. My own leg suddenly felt like someone had pulled it off at the knee. The pain took my breath away. Another symptom of being a fated mate? The pain slowly faded into a dull ache and I could breathe again.
Liam had pulled Calder off and the cat immediately jumped onto his his back, all teeth and claws.
The bear struggled and twisted, then stood on his hind legs and fell backwards, crushing Calder under his weight. My chest suddenly felt lighter. Liam had the advantage! I was dizzy from the adrenaline, but was able to get to my knees. Shit! I had forgotten the shooter!
He was taking aim to shoot Liam!
Wait. Not Liam. Calder. The bear looked up at the gunman.
“Can’t miss from this close, you bastard,” the man said.
Suddenly, Calder pulled himself out from under Liam and knocked the gunman off balance. His weapon discharged as he fell.
Liam took the bullet. His white fur turned red with blood. I fell forward on my hands as a burning agony tore through my chest. Blackness started to overtake my vision. Each breath was a gasping struggle.
Liam�
Liam looked at me, then shifted and collapsed.
I’m sorry, Alanna. Again, his voice was in my head.
Calder shifted into a half-man, half-tiger. He looked at me and smiled. Blood oozed from his wounds as he lifted the gunman off the floor, raked his claws across his abdomen, and threw him across the room. He landed in a heap.
And his gun slid across the floor right in front of me.
I didn’t even think. I picked the gun up with shaking hands. I’d never touched a gun before—it was heavier than I expected. Every muscle in my body in my body tensed as I raised the gun to Calder. My pulse hammered in my ears and I tasted blood in my mouth as I bit my lip. There was nothing else in the room besides the muzzle of the gun and the monster in front of me.
My target.
Shit. I’ve never fired a gun. What if I miss? I knew I would only get one shot.
Impossibly fast, Calder pulled Liam up off the ground and hid behind him.
Why couldn’t you be a scrawny guy instead of a wall, Liam, I thought.
“Put him down, you motherfucker!” I said.
“I’m afraid this changes things, Alanna,” Calder said. “I’m going to have to take some time to think about how to proceed. And I think Liam will help me.”
“No! Put him down!”
“Or what?” Calder scoffed. “You’ll shoot? I’m not sure he’d survive another silver bullet. What if you hit him in the head? Or the heart?”
“What if I hit you in your fucking head?” I retorted with as much bravado as I could muster, but my hands began to tremble slightly at the thought of accidentally shooting Liam. I redoubled my grip on the gun.
“I’d be surprised. From the looks of it, you’ve never held that weapon before. But maybe you’re a natural. Care to find out?” Calder was enjoying taunting me.
Calder dragged Liam down the hall toward the helicopter pad.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked. “You destroyed the helicopter, genius. No way out there.”
“I destroyed a helicopter, for sure. But some new friends came to visit today and brought along another. One of them gave me a…crash course? Is that the term?”
“You can fly it?”
“We’ll soon see.” Calder pushed open the door.
I had a flashback from the day before of Ollie with a silver scalpel to Ben’s throat. God, I thought. Was that only yesterday? I followed close behind, gun first.
Calder had been busy. My breath caught in my throat as I surveyed the carnage. They looked like a SWAT team. What was left of them, anyway.
“Where will you go?” I’m coming, Liam, no matter how far he takes you. I hope you can hear me.
“I think Alert, in the northern tip of Canada. Due south from here. You know the place?”
I did. I’d met Ben there before I first came to the Station. Not a fun trip. Just thinking about it made my stomach drop.
“Yeah, I know the place.”
“Liam and I will be waiting there. I still have big plans for you, Alanna. You’ll be the mother of a new race. I hope you’ll come.”
Calder stepped into the helicopter and pulled Liam’s unconscious, bleeding body inside. This one was different. It was black, for one. More military in appearance than the one I’d flown in with Ben. The one that exploded with Ollie inside.
Oh, Ollie� No. I couldn’t think about that now.
The helicopter rotor started to spin and I was surprised at how quiet it was. No wonder we didn’t hear it, I thought.
I stood in the blowing snow as the helicopter took off. Tears streamed down my cheeks and froze. I clenched my teeth and fought the ache in my chest as I fought to raise the gun and point it at the helicopter. I couldn’t even summon the energy.
The helicopter hovered in the air awkwardly for a moment, then slowly flew south. I hope Liam wakes up while you’re up there and tears you a new asshole, you bastard.
“Doc?”
I spun around, pointing the gun in a shaking hand. It was Ben. Behind him was the gunman.
“What the fuck is going on, Ben?”
“Easy, doc. Just don’t point that thing at me,” Ben said.
“Actually, pointing it at you is exactly what’s going to happen,” I said. “Now, what the fuck is going on?”
Ben had a bleeding gunshot wound in his shoulder. He saw me looking.
“Oh, this?” he said. “It’s nothing. Through and through. I’ll stitch it up.” He looked at the stranger. “I’m glad you weren’t aiming for my head.”
The man was expressionless. I trained the gun on him. “What’s your story?” I asked. “And how are you not dead? I saw Calder claw you.”
“My name is Parker,” he said. “I work for the Company. As for the miraculous survival…” He knocked on his chest. “I’m superstitious. I always wear three layers of armor.”
“So you work for the company that runs the show
around here? I hope your human resources department doesn’t mind a little overtime. It looks like there are some job openings.”
“He’s a Sheriff,” Ben said. “Sent to liquidate the lot of us.”
I’d heard the term before in my research. “So you changed your mind?”
“I have,” he said. “For now, at least. Right now our priority is Calder. I think it might be wise to work together.”
Ben laughed. “Because if you call home, they’ll just send another Sheriff and another team to liquidate your, ass. I can’t believe you shot me. I thought we were friends.”
“I thought you were infected,” Parker said. “Your reports said that Calder was able to infect shifters with TPV and that it made them volitive, like him, but also made them unstable and violent. Nothing personal, but you’re a polar bear shifter. I’m only going to get one chance to shoot you before I get disemboweled. And I like my bowels where they are. Besides, I shot you in the shoulder. It’s a flesh wound. It’ll heal.”
“Yeah, eventually. In the meantime, it hurts like hell.”
“If you two are finished, can we talk about how we follow Calder? He’s going to Alert.”
“I might be able to help on that end,” Ben said. “The Company is a sucker for redundancy. I have an emergency helicopter. It’s on a platform a mile or so north from here.”
I really wasn’t looking forward to another trip in a helicopter, but Liam was worth it. He was worth anything.
“So what’s the plan?” I asked.
“We can take one of the lifeboats from the cutter ship,” “Paddle out to the platform, and then take the helicopter from there, although I might need to stop here and refuel,” Ben said.
I handed Parker back his gun. I had no choice but to trust him. “All right. So when do we leave?”
Ready For More?
The Hunt isn't over, not by a long shot. The next book in Maeve's Arctic Station Bears series is Snowfall. The riveting finale of the series sees Alanna stop at nothing to rescue the man she loves from an unstoppable enemy. Check it out NOW on Amazon!
Amelie Hunt Presents - Series Listing
Ophelia Bell’s Black Mountain Bears
Clawed
Bitten
Nailed
Vivian Woods’ Winter Pass Wolves
Howl
Growl
Prowl
Sennah Tates’ Sunset Glade Panthers
Spark
Ember
Blaze
Maeve Morricks’ 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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