“Eh, I just needed a long break of something different from my everyday life. It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time,” Tyler responded, taking a long, slow sip of his beer, as if to demonstrate that he was in no hurry right now.
Kat sighed. “I took a leave of absence from my job for four months. It was the most they would give me, even though it’s an unpaid leave. I lost my father in March of this year after a long battle with cancer. I’m an only child and my mom died in a car wreck a few years ago, so I pretty much have no family left.” Kat’s voice caught a little, and she paused for a moment to regain control of her emotions. Tyler reached over and squeezed her shoulder.
“Kat, I’m so sorry for prying. You don’t have to talk about.”
Kat shook her head. “No, no. It’s okay. It’s nice to talk about it a little bit, actually. I’ve been keeping everything so bottled up inside, and it’s driving me crazy.”
The bartender came back by, dropping off Kat’s food order and bringing Tyler a fresh drink. Kat took a long sip of her beer and then continued. “I had been dating this guy, Ethan, for several years. We had actually gotten engaged, and were planning to get married this year. But when my father’s battle with cancer took a turn for the worse, the wedding plans got put on the back burner. I spent literally all of my free time taking care of him. This was back in Nebraska, where I worked as an investigative reporter for the small-town local newspaper. I would work all day and take care of my dad all night. I barely slept. I don’t remember eating, though I must have. I certainly didn’t have time or energy for dates with my fiancé. I guess he got tired of dealing with it, because a week after my dad died he called off the wedding and broke up with me. Now he’s dating some skinny, blonde athlete who supposedly makes a living collecting prizes at beauty pageants.”
“He broke up with you a week after your dad died? And for another woman, from the sound of it? For fuck’s sake! I mean, pardon my French, but what an asshole!” Tyler barely knew Kat, but he burned with anger for her. She seemed like such a good-natured, kind person. How could anyone do that to her?
But Kat just shrugged. “It was pretty tough, but I probably deserved it. I basically ignored him and spent all of my time with my dad. And I cried a lot. It had been like that for a long time. I mean, it got worse toward the end. But the whole time my dad had cancer I was kind of a mess.”
“Kat, you went through something really hard. You lost the last family member you had. You’re allowed to be a little bit of a mess. You’re allowed to be a lot of a mess, in fact. You need time to grieve.”
Kat stared down at her beer, looking uncomfortable. “I guess. But, when Ethan broke up with me, he said something that really bothered me. He told me that I didn’t seem like I knew who I was. That I just went to work and went through the motions, then came home to mindlessly watch television. And I realized that it was true. I used to be this fun-loving person who was always up for an adventure. But somewhere along the way I lost my spark and started just getting by. I decided that maybe if I took some time and went away for a few months—somewhere far away and adventurous—that I could get my spark back. During college, I always wanted to visit Alaska, but it never worked out for me to go. I decided now was as a good a time as any to come here. Then, I discovered that the midnight sun stuff was going on while I was on leave, and I knew I had to come to Glacier Point so I could see it. Sorry for being cliché,” Kat said, giving Tyler an apologetic glance.
Tyler grinned at her. “It’s okay. It is a pretty cool thing to experience.”
“Well, anyways, that’s how I ended up here. I got a bunch of money as an inheritance from my dad when he died, so I could afford to take some time off. I rented a cabin for four months, and decided to come ‘find myself,’ or whatever the expression is that the cool kids are using these days. I’m not sure if I want to stay at my job in Nebraska, but at least I have the option to go back after four months. This vacation will give me some time to think. I’m hoping I can get some clarity and decide where to go from here. And I want to get in kick ass shape, which is where you come in,” Kat said, grinning at Tyler.
“I can certainly help with that.”
“I feel like if I can just get my life in order and get myself back in shape, that I can win Ethan back. He’ll see that the person I became when my dad died was just a bump in the road. I’m better than that.” Kat smiled brightly. She put up a brave face, but the pain in her eyes had been obvious all through dinner.
“Kat, I’m a big believer in doing things to better yourself. I think it’s amazing that you came here by yourself to take a break and take some time to reset. But do it for yourself. Don’t do it for some asshole who wasn’t there for you when you needed him most. That’s not love. If he couldn’t handle the fact that you were sad because your dad died, then he doesn’t deserve you.”
Kat tilted her head sideways to look at Tyler. “I’m not surprised to hear you say that. All of my friends back home told me the same thing, in so many words. But what Ethan and I had was good. I’m determined to find myself again, and to win him back in the process.” Kat took a final swig from her beer mug, and pushed away her half eaten nachos. Then she stood and pulled some cash out of her wallet, throwing it down on the bar top next to her plate.
“I should get going. I’m still adjusting to the time zone here, so I’m pretty tired. And I have a big day, tomorrow. Big workout coming up!”
Tyler nodded and smiled at her, raising his glass in a farewell cheers as she headed toward the entrance. But he felt anger rising like bile in his throat. She could smile all she wanted, and make as many excuses as she wanted to for her scumbag ex-fiancé. But Tyler could easily see she was hurting, and he felt strangely protective of her. He didn’t want Kat going back to a man who obviously didn’t love her. But that’s clearly what she had set her heart on doing.
Tyler frowned and turned back to staring at the baseball game, but he couldn’t concentrate on the television screen. All he could concentrate on was the bear inside of him, roaring with rage at the mistreatment Kat had received. The feeling overtook him with an unmistakable intensity. Could it really be? None of this made sense.
But Tyler’s bear instinct inside of him demanded to be heard, roaring out insistently with a message that came clearer and clearer with every rush of passion through his body. Tyler slumped his head down into his hands, unsure of what to do next.
Kat Peterson was his mate. He was sure of it.
Chapter Three
Kat cursed under her breath for the duration of the walk back to her cabin. She had decided to walk the mile to the pub earlier, but now she was wishing she had a snowmobile or car to get her home quicker. Even though it was mid-May, the nights in Glacier Point were cool. The sun was still up, even at this late hour, but it was waning, and the temperature had dropped. Kat shivered, and cursed some more. She should never have shared so much personal information with Tyler. Training with him was probably going to be super awkward now.
But what bothered Kat more than the forthcoming awkwardness, was the fact that she realized she actually cared what Tyler thought about her. He had looked at her with such kind, sad eyes as she told him her story. He focused on her completely when she talked, and the faint lines on the sides of his eyes crinkled every so often with concern. Ethan had never gazed at her like that—like she was the only person in the room. Kat had figured that men only looked at women like that in movies. Men in real life could only be expected to always be somewhat distracted. Or so Kat had thought, until tonight.
Kat shook her head as she reached into her purse for the key to her cabin, trying to shake off all the thoughts of Tyler creeping into her mind. She hadn’t come here to find a boyfriend. She had come here to win her former fiancé back. And even if she and Tyler did hit it off, she was going back to Nebraska in four months. Then what? He seemed pretty settled here. Kat didn’t want to move this far north. And Alaska to Nebraska wasn’t exactl
y an easily commutable distance. Flights were long and expensive.
Kat let herself into her small cabin and pulled her coat off, throwing it on the couch. She went to the kitchen to pour herself a tall glass of water, all the while trying to convince herself that Tyler Cox was not, in fact, the kindest, sexiest man she had ever met.
The butterflies in her stomach every time she thought of him suggested that she was losing that battle.
* * *
Across town, Tyler was doing some mental gymnastics of his own, trying to figure out how to justify to his alpha his very sudden interest in a human woman. He stood in the lobby of Neal’s Tattoo shop, waiting for Neal to finish up the last touches on a tattoo for a big, burly man. The man scrunched his face up in pain every so often, a comical sight on such a large person. Neal remained professional, pretending not to notice. Tyler could have cared less what was going on in the tattoo chair right now. He just wanted Neal to hurry up and get the man out of the store so Tyler could get some advice. It was late—after ten p.m.—but Neal frequently kept his tattoo shop open for customers who wanted to come in and get some ink done after finishing up their own work shifts.
Neal Ray held the title of Alpha for the Northern Lights Clan, the clan of polar bear shifters to which Tyler belonged. Neal had a reputation for being hotheaded and throwing temper tantrums if he perceived the slightest hint of subversion from any of his bears, but he was also quick to apologize when he knew he had overreacted. In addition, Neal gave excellent advice. He had learned well from his father, the previous alpha. Tragically, Neal had lost his father, along with most of the Northern Lights Clan, in a poisoning incident last year. A rival polar bear shifter clan, the Blizzards, was slowly wiping out the clans in the northern Arctic Circle. Their attempts to take over the region had left many of the clans with only a handful of bears. The Northern Lights Clan had five bears left—Neal, Tyler, Ryker, Eric, and Alan.
Since the polar bear shifter clans were vanishing due to the Blizzards’ attempts to eradicate them, Neal had relaxed a prohibition on dating humans. Neal wasn’t the biggest fan of human life mates, since many humans feared shifters and would attack if they knew shifters existed. But with the lack of bear shifters, his bears were likely going to have to choose humans for life maters. Ryker had already chosen a human life mate, Kenzie, and she was pregnant with their first cub. Eric had recently chosen a human life mate as well, a spirited woman named Delaney.
When Tyler had entered Neal’s tattoo shop, unannounced and looking distressed, Neal had briefly raised his eyes from the work he was doing on the man’s arm. Tyler had shrugged and mouthed “I need to talk to you.” Satisfied that Tyler’s visit wasn’t due to an emergency situation, Neal had smiled politely and said, “Have a seat. I’ll be with you in a few minutes.” That was thirty minutes ago, and Tyler hadn’t sat down for even a minute. He had paced relentlessly, running his fingers through his hair and wishing Neal would hurry up and finish that stupid tattoo.
After forty-five minutes, which felt like an actual eternity to Tyler, Neal finally finished his work on the man’s arm and sent him on his way.
After cleaning up from the last customer, Neal motioned to the back room. “Let’s go talk back there,” he said. Tyler followed him to the back storage room, and sat on a box, as he had during so many clan meetings over the last year. Neal opened the mini fridge and stuck his head in. “Beer?” he asked, his voice sounding muffled by the inside of the fridge.
“No, thanks. I’ve had plenty already tonight,” Tyler said. Tyler tried to remain patient and let his alpha take his time settling in and unwinding from his long day of work. But he felt like he was going to explode, and he wished Neal would stop dilly-dallying. The room was silent as Neal perused the selection in the fridge. Finally, he grabbed a bottle of his favorite Pilsner, and shut the fridge door. Using a bottle opener magnet on the fridge, Neal opened the beer. The clinking sound of the bottle cap hitting the ground sounded abnormally loud to Tyler in his agitated state. Neal took a long, slow sip from his beer, then sat down on a box across from Tyler and grinned.
“So, buddy, who’s the girl?”
Tyler let out an exasperated sigh. “How do you know it’s a girl?”
“You’re eyes are glowing yellow.”
“Shit, really? Still?” Tyler rubbed at his eyes, which had traitorously revealed his emotions. A genetic mutation in Northern Lights bears caused their trademark violet eyes to glow yellow around the edges when they were sexually aroused by a potential mate. Tyler was pretty sure his eyes had been glowing all during dinner, but he had thought they would have calmed down by now. Apparently his attraction to Kat was even stronger than he thought.
Neal chuckled. He seemed to be in an unusually cheerful mood, and he took long sips of his beer as he waited for Tyler to spit out his story.
“She’s human,” Tyler said, carefully watching to gauge Neal’s reaction. Although Neal allowed his clan to mate with humans, he did so grudgingly. Neal required any of his bears who wanted to date humans to clear it with him first. The Northern Lights bears all grumbled about this rule, mostly because Neal had a tendency to automatically fly off the handle whenever he discovered that one of his bears was interested in a dating a human. But tonight, Neal seemed resigned to the idea. He merely nodded, with a neutral expression on his face.
“I figured,” Neal said, and waited for Tyler to continue.
“Her name’s Kat. She came into the gym today looking for some personal training. She’s beautiful—just beautiful. The most stunning woman I’ve ever seen. But she’s only here for four months. She’s from Nebraska, and came here to try to find herself after her dad died and her fiancé dumped her. Her goal is to find herself, get in the best shape of her life, then go back to Nebraska and sweep her ex off his feet. Her ex sounds like a big jerk to me, and Kat’s plan sounds like a horrible plan to me. But she seems very determined.”
“Oh, buddy,” Neal said, shaking his head and looking at Tyler like he was a lost cause.
“What?” Tyler demanded, a note of irritation in his voice.
“Come on, dude. Don’t tell me you haven’t seen this before. Girl gets dumped by jerk, but for whatever reason thinks he is amazing and she is the problem. You don’t stand a chance.”
“Thanks for the encouragement.”
Neal’s voice softened. “Look, I know you’ve been lonely. I know things have been difficult lately, but chasing after a girl who lives so far away and is bent on getting back her boyfriend is only going to make you feel worse. There are going to be lots of pretty girls coming in with the tourist flocks in a few weeks. Why don’t you find one a little less attached to swoon over?”
“My bear wants her,” Tyler said flatly.
Silence hung in the room for several moments as Neal processed this information. Neal now understood that the problem was deeper than a mere physical infatuation. Thanks to their human side, bears shifters could easily be drawn to a girl based solely on her appearance. But they had to be careful not to sleep with her unless they wanted to awaken their bear. Sex could trigger a deep, unbreakable bond between a bear and his mate, and anytime you slept with a girl you risked that. You didn’t want to bond with the wrong person. Despite this, Tyler had a bit of a playboy reputation. He had mated with several bears when the Northern Lights Clan still had a lot of bears. His behavior had been reckless, but he had never bonded with any of them. None of them had awoken his bear. And after the poisoning tragedy wiped out most of the clan, Tyler had given up his ladies’ man lifestyle and focused on his work, pouring his energy into learning as much as he could about personal training.
But sleeping with a woman wasn’t the only way to form a bond. Legend had it that, in rare cases, a bear’s connection with a woman could be so strong that merely spending time with her could start the bonding process. Tyler hadn’t even kissed Kat, but his bear was struggling to bond with her. After sleeping around so much and never forming a bond, Tyler had beg
un to think that his bear simply wasn’t interested in finding a life mate. But he had been wrong. His bear had just been waiting for the right connection, and had now found it.
His bear wanted Kat.
Neal finally sighed, breaking the silence. “Look, Tyler. If your bear wants her, he wants her. If I were you, I would avoid seeing her as much as possible, because the more your bear sees her, the stronger the bond will grow. You risk reaching the point of no return, and believe me, you don’t want to end up fully bonded to someone who’s going to head back to Nebraska in a few months. You’ll be miserable. Your bear will be miserable. But, I know you, and I know how stubborn you are. So you’re probably going to ignore my advice and spend a bunch of time with her anyways. But just be careful. Don’t put yourself in a situation where you have to shift in front of her. The last thing we need is a tourist from Nebraska going home and blabbing about how she saw polar bear shifters during her little Arctic holiday.”
“So you’re not forbidding me from seeing her?” Tyler asked
“I’m not forbidding you from seeing her. I’m strongly advising against it, but I know you’re going to ignore that recommendation.”
That was all the encouragement Tyler needed. He stood to his feet and headed for the door before Neal could change his mind. “Thanks Neal, good talk!”
Before Neal could respond, Tyler had slipped out to the front of the tattoo parlor and let himself out the front door. Neal stayed perched on his makeshift box chair, polishing off the last sips of his beer and shaking his head at his clan member’s stubbornness.
Chapter Four
Kat woke up the next morning wondering what the hell she had been thinking by signing up for personal training. Tyler was going to laugh her out of the gym the minute she tried to lift a single weight. She considered cancelling several times, but finally convinced herself not to by imagining the expression her ex would have on his face when he saw her new, improved body. For the thousandth time that week, she pushed away the little voice inside telling her that if a man didn’t love her unless she had the perfect body, then he wasn’t worth her time.
Bearing the Midnight Sun (Ice Bear Shifters Book 3) Page 2
