To distract herself from her impending moment of doom at the gym, she decided to try going for a run. She knew it was pointless to try to work out in preparation for her personal training session. It was sort of like flossing your teeth the morning before a dentist appointment, after neglecting to do so the rest of the year. One time wasn’t going to fool the dentist into thinking you actually took care of your teeth. The cavities were still there. And one run wasn’t going to fool Tyler into thinking Kat actually kept herself in shape. The extra pounds were still there.
But Kat felt like she would go crazy if she sat at home in her cabin and watched the minutes tick toward her scheduled training session, so she laced up her tennis shoes and bundled up for a run outside in the brisk May weather. The ground was still largely covered with snow, and would be until next month when the temperatures finally rose above freezing. But the snow on the roads was packed down hard from the snowmobiles that constantly drove across it. Kat took off running, slowly, toward the west edge of town. Although it was early, the sun was already high in the sky thanks to the long days.
Kat only ran about three minutes before her burning lungs forced her to slow down. Panting and out of breath, she decided to alternate walking and running for a while. Doing something was better than nothing, after all. As she headed west, the cabins became further and further apart. Eventually, she came to a spot at the edge of a clearing where the hard-packed road veered off to the left, and a less trampled trail turned to the right. The trail led into a grove of huge fir trees, and Kat decided to walk down it for a while. The bright, white snow that still covered the dark green branches looked like a scene from a postcard. Kat briefly wondered if it was safe to be heading out beyond town by herself, but she shrugged away the thought. As long as she stayed on the trail, she would be fine.
For several minutes, she continued deeper into the forest, feeling truly at peace for the first time since her flight had landed in Alaska. She had needed this break, this time away from everything. She hadn’t had time to think, or to grieve her father’s death. Everything after he passed away had been such a blur. The funeral arrangements, the will probate, packing up his possessions to sell or donate, or put in storage. The breakup with Ethan. There, in the middle of a quiet forest trail outside of a small Alaskan town, Kat found herself overcome with the emotion of it all.
Tears started pouring down her face. They came slowly at first, and gradually turned into rivers as she let her sobs ring out through the forest. She sat down on an old log, and let the tears come, bringing clarity and healing to her soul. She didn’t know how long she sat there, but she must have cried for the better part of an hour. As her loud weeping finally faded into soft sniffles, she found herself feeling better. She was glad that she was alone on a secluded forest trail, because she must have looked like a complete mess. She could feel that her eyes were puffy. She knew her face would be flushed red from crying, and her blond hair was coming loose from the ponytail she had put it in for her run. She shivered, as she realized the sweat from exercising was still sticking to her body. She should head back into town.
But as Kat stood, she suddenly froze, and then screamed. A bloodcurdling scream, at the top of her lungs. If she had been thinking rationally, she probably would have realized that staying calm would have been a better course of action. But thinking rationally wasn’t easy when the largest wolf she had ever seen was standing about a hundred feet away from her. The wolf was gray, and enormous. The fur on his back bristled upwards as he snarled at Kat, putting his giant, knife-like canine teeth on full display. He had green eyes, the angriest green eyes Kat had ever seen. Terror overtook her, and she screamed again.
The wolf snarled louder, and started creeping toward her, slowly at first, and gradually picking up speed. All Kat could think about was that he was about to charge, and she was going to die out here in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. She gave up any vestige of trying to be calm, and started to scream hysterically, which only seemed to encourage the wolf. He began charging at full speed. Kat kept screaming, and as the wolf closed the distance between them, she kicked as hard as she could. She landed a blow square on his nose, and he seemed momentarily stunned. But he quickly recovered, and clamped his impossibly large teeth around Kat’s leg. The agonizing pain of his sharp teeth ripping through her thick pants and into the flesh of her calf muscle left her breathless. All she could do was scream some more. This was it. She was going to be eaten by a wolf, while Ethan sat at home in Nebraska, happily oblivious with his hot new flavor of the month. So much for proving she was the adventurous type.
Suddenly, a shot rang out, startling both Kat and the wolf. The wolf leaped backwards and started snarling again, his angry gaze directed somewhere over Kat’s right shoulder.
“Kat, stay perfectly still,” commanded a voice that she recognized as Tyler’s. “Don’t move a muscle if you want to live.”
Kat wanted to live. She forced herself to sit there, frozen as a statue while the wolf snarled and snapped at the air, then started slowly creeping forward once more. Just as the wolf started charging again, a loud shot rang out, then another. The wolf yelped and jumped backwards, then turned and started to run away. A final shot rang through the air as the wolf fell to the ground in a crumpled, bloody heap. The adrenaline of the moment, coupled with the pain from her bleeding leg and the chill from the wind on her sweaty body, became too much for Kat. She felt herself fading as she heard hurried footsteps crunching toward her through the snow.
“Kat, are you alright?” Tyler asked, his voice laced with concern. He reached her just as her vision started to blur. “Kat! Kat, stay with me!” The last thing Kat remembered was seeing Tyler’s concerned, violet eyes hovering just above her face. Then everything went black.
* * *
When Kat came to, she was lying on a soft bed and staring up at the ceiling of a log cabin. She could hear the sound of an axe outside, splitting against wood over and over with rhythmic timing. She sat up slowly and looked around. She was inside a one room cabin. Across the room from her, a slender woman with dark brown hair was washing dishes at the sink with her back to her. Kat tried to move her injured calf and winced at the pain that shot up her leg.
The woman heard her, and turned around. That’s when Kat saw that the woman was pregnant. She was one of those lucky skinny women who only gained weight in her stomach when they were expecting. You always wanted to hate them because of how good they looked, even pregnant, but you couldn’t because they were just too damn adorable.
“Hi, I’m Kenzie,” the woman said, shutting off the water and drying her hands on a dish towel. Kenzie crossed the room and put her hand gently on Kat’s forehead.
“Good, no fever. You were shaking a lot earlier, but you must have just been in shock. That and your clothes were drenched in sweat and blood. I changed you into some of my sweatpants so you’d be warm and dry. You’re very lucky. The wolf had a hard time biting too deeply through your thick pants. The cuts are deep, but not horribly so. I was able to stitch them up easily, and you should be good as new in a few weeks. Although, you’ll probably have a couple nice battle scars on your legs to show for the experience.”
Kat tried to move, and winced again. Her leg felt really stiff. “You’re a doctor?” she asked.
Kenzie laughed. “Sort of. I’m a veterinarian. But there’s only one medical doctor in town, and, as you can imagine, he’s quite busy and can be difficult to track down if he’s out on a call. Especially since there’s no cell service out here. So I’ve ended up helping out a lot in town lately with minor emergencies. I was nervous to treat humans at first, but it turns out stitching up a human isn’t all that different from stitching up an animal. Flesh and blood is just flesh and blood.”
“Well, thank you,” Kat said.
“It was nothing,” Kenzie said, smiling kindly. “Tyler is the one you should be thanking. It sounds like he saved your life out there.”
“Yeah, he did. W
here is he, by the way?”
“I sent him outside. He was hovering over you like an overprotective maniac and I told him to go do something useful. Want me to go get him?”
“Yeah, I guess so. I should thank him, although I’m a little embarrassed over the whole situation. I should have known better than to wander into the woods alone out here.”
“Well, you’ve learned your lesson well, I’d say. Wolf attacks used to be rare, but they seem to be increasing lately. We’ve had a long, cold winter, even by Northern Alaskan standards. The wolves have gotten braver, coming closer and closer to town trying to find food. I’m hoping that once the weather warms up and the tourists come, the wolves will be too overwhelmed by the crowds to want to come close to town anymore,” Kenzie said, as she crossed the room and filled a glass with water from the sink. She grabbed a bottle of what looked like ibuprofen from a cabinet, then shook a few of the pills onto her hand.
“Here, take these. I’ll go get Tyler.”
Kenzie stepped outside the cabin, leaving Kat alone with her thoughts for a moment. She had no idea what she would say to Tyler. She felt like she should apologize, although she wasn’t exactly sure for what. Putting a damper on his day by almost dying in front of him? Kat didn’t have long to think about it, because a moment later, Tyler burst into the cabin and covered the distance from the door to the bed in long, quick strides.
“Oh my god, Kat, I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said, and then wrapped his arms around her. Kat hadn’t expected such an exuberant gesture, and it caught her completely off guard. As did the sudden butterflies in her stomach and the electricity that filled her body at his touch. She felt herself heating up with desire, and she couldn’t choke out any words other than “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Tyler said, pulling back to look at her. “I’m just so glad I was out here today and heard you screaming. What in the world were you doing walking on that trail by yourself?”
“I went for a run. I know it was stupid. But I wanted to warm up a little and get ready for our training session later today. The woods looked so beautiful, and it didn’t feel like I was that far out from town. I thought I would be alright, which obviously was not true.”
“Well, you’re a little ways out, but, you’re right, it’s not that far. It doesn’t take much, though. You shouldn’t leave town’s boundaries unless you have a gun, or someone with you that has one. Do you know how to shoot?”
Kat nodded. “My dad taught me,” she said, and then burst into tears. She tried to force herself to stop, expecting him to roll his eyes and tell her to quit acting like such a girl. That’s what Ethan would have done. But Tyler reacted completely differently.
“Oh, sweetheart,” he said, putting his arms around her and holding her close. “I know you miss him so much.”
Kat again felt the warmth of Tyler’s touch, and she melted into his arms, allowing herself to sob into his shoulder. It was the first time she had felt truly safe since her father had passed away and left her with no family.
Chapter Five
Tyler insisted on driving Kat home on his snowmobile. She had insisted she was okay to walk, since she didn’t want to cause any more inconvenience than she already had. But they both knew she was lying. Her leg was okay, but it was stiff and in pain. Kenzie saw them off, telling Kat to check in with the town’s medical doctor as soon as possible, since he’d probably want to give her antibiotics and a rabies shot to be on the safe side. Wolf bites weren’t something to take lightly.
Kat directed Tyler to the front of her cabin in town, and he hopped off the snowmobile to help her dismount. She had given up trying to squelch the butterflies in her stomach every time he touched her, and decided to chalk it up to the fact that he had just saved her life. Hero syndrome, or something like that, right?
He helped her to the front door, and seemed unwilling to leave her there.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, hopping nervously from one foot to the other.
“I’m fine, really. Thank you, again. It seems like such a hollow thing to say when you just saved my life, but there’s really no other way to put it.”
“It was nothing. I’m just glad I was out there. Listen, I know you’re okay now, but I just don’t feel good about leaving you alone when you almost died in a wolf attack today. Can I stay for dinner? I’ll cook something for you. You can kick up your feet and relax.”
Kat hesitated. The idea of relaxing and letting someone make her dinner sounded fantastic. The idea of having Tyler around for a little while longer sounded even better. But she felt herself standing at the edge of a giant cliff. She knew she was falling for Tyler, and if she took one more step toward the edge, she was going to go completely head over heels for him. She tried to come up with a reason to decline his offer, but all she could think about when she looked into his big, violet eyes was that she wanted him around tonight, talking to her and laughing with her. Mesmerized by his sweet, concerned face, she gave in.
“Okay,” she said. “But we don’t have much to eat here. Just some soup and crackers. I haven’t done a good grocery shopping trip since I arrived.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll go get some stuff from the superstore. You sit on the couch and watch some TV or something until I get back.”
Kat nodded, and let herself into her cabin as Tyler headed back to his snowmobile. She stood in the doorway for a moment, watching him ride away, and feeling her heart tumble over the edge.
* * *
Tyler browsed through the shelves of the grocery superstore, the one spot in town where everyone went to stock up on food. He wanted to make something fancy and impress Kat, but his worries about trying too hard and accidentally burning dinner got the better of him. He settled on something simple, loading spaghetti, ground beef, an onion and pasta sauce into his basket. He grabbed a half gallon of Neapolitan ice-cream as well. He thought about splurging and grabbing a bottle of wine, but he wasn’t sure whether Kat would feel like drinking after the day she’d had. Tyler quickly checked out, then loaded the food into his snowmobile’s storage compartment and headed back toward Kat’s cabin. The sun shone brightly in the sky even though the day was winding down.
He took a deep breath as he pulled back into her driveway. He knew he was playing with fire. He wanted nothing more than to mate with her. His bear had not stopped clawing at him since the moment he had run to her rescue that morning. When he had heard her screaming, he had somehow known it was her. His heart had dropped into his chest as he grabbed his gun and ran in the direction of her screams. He had feared an attack by one of the Blizzard Clan’s bears, and had been relieved to see it was only a wolf. For a split second, he had considered shifting. As an angry polar bear, he could have easily taken out even that giant wolf. But Neal hated it when they shifted in front of humans, and Tyler didn’t want to freak Kat out any more than she already was. The wolf attack had clearly come as an unexpected shock to her. Luckily, he had been able to save her using just his gun, and she remained oblivious to his bear shifter status.
But for how long? Should he tell her? Should he try to see if there was any hope of a future with her? He knew she wasn’t blind to the chemistry between them. He knew she felt the sparks that flew every time they touched. He could see it in her eyes. But he wasn’t sure if she wanted to act on those feelings. She had seemed so caught up in her jerk of an ex-fiancé. And she had been through so much already, with her dad dying and her engagement going to pieces. As Tyler gently rapped on her cabin’s front door, he decided he wouldn’t make any moves unless Kat clearly signaled that she wanted him to do so. He didn’t want to cause any more trouble for her than she already had to deal with.
Kat called out that the door was open and he should come in, so he pushed his way into the cabin, his arms loaded down with the grocery bags. Kat looked relatively chipper as she sat Indian-style on the middle of the couch and took in an old episode of Wheel of Fortune. She had changed into an
oversized sweatshirt and a pair of cropped yoga pants.
“Hey,” she said, picking up the remote and hitting the mute button. “What’s for dinner?”
“Hey you,” Tyler said. “Spaghetti and meat sauce. It’s not fancy, but it beats soup.”
“Oh, that reminds me. I bought some premade garlic toast slices the other day. They’re in my freezer. We can make them, too.”
“Perfect. You’re looking a lot better. Did you take another nap?”
“No but the doctor came. The human doctor. I called him to see if I could set up an appointment for tomorrow, and it turns out he lives just down the street from me. So he came by and gave me a prescription for some pain meds and antibiotics. He also gave me a rabies shot, which was not fun. Too bad Kenzie couldn’t have done that since she’s a vet.” Kat laughed at her little joke, and Tyler grinned.
“Did you already fill your prescription?”
“No, the pharmacy was closed for the day, so I’ll get it in the morning. But the doctor gave me a few sample pain pills, and I’m feeling much better.”
“Good,” Tyler said. “You just relax while I make dinner.” He found a pot and put some water on to boil, shaking a little bit of salt into it. Kat wasn’t content to sit still for long, however. She seemed to be hyped up on the pain medication, and she was full of questions. She came over to the kitchen and leaned against the counter to watch him as he diced up the onion.
“How do you know Kenzie?” she asked.
“She’s my buddy Ryker’s life mate,” Tyler said, his eyes watering a bit from the onion.
Bearing the Midnight Sun (Ice Bear Shifters Book 3) Page 3
