Bearing the Whiteout (Ice Bear Shifters Book 2) (4 page)

“I know everything I’m saying right now sounds crazy. But I promise you, I know what I’m talking about. Look. See? The bear’s leaving. I told you he won’t attack. Not by himself. But he knows that I can’t leave you alone on the ice here and swim back, so he cut us out to sea.” Eric ran his fingers through his hair.

“You can’t
swim
back just because I’m here? Um, okay. I don’t know how well you think you can swim, but that water is freezing cold. I’m as good a swimmer as the next person, but even Michael Phelps couldn’t make it across alive. Even if you get back to the mainland, then what? You’re soaking wet in freezing cold weather. You’ll die from hypothermia in a matter of minutes. There’s no way you’d make it back to the shelter. Impossible.”

“Who’s Michael Phelps?”

Delaney let out an exasperated sigh. “Michael Phelps? The Olympic swimmer? Never heard of him?”

Eric shook his head no.

“It’s not important. Is that really all you took away from that tirade, anyways? Do you not realize we’re in big trouble here? We need to go check if there’s a place we can get across without getting in the water.”

“There’s not.”

Delaney considered herself a patient person, but she was losing it. Eric wasn’t making any sense, and they needed to act quickly. If there was a spot to cross, they needed to find it before the stress of the gap in the ice grew and cracked any remaining bridges to land.

“Do you have a better plan?” she asked, her voice laced with anger.

“I need to make a phone call,” Eric said. “I keep a satellite phone for emergencies.”

“Well, thank goodness for that. And that’s the first thing you’ve told me in the last ten minutes that makes sense,” Delaney said.

Eric started digging through his backpack looking for the phone. Delaney couldn’t squelch the feelings of exasperation that were bubbling just below the surface, so she decided to take a walk. She needed some space between her and crazy Eric.

“I’m going to walk a little while you make your phone call, to see if there’s a spot to cross,” she said.

“Suit yourself,” Eric said, pulling out his phone and powering it on.

Delaney rolled her eyes and stomped off. All of her feelings of admiration for Eric had flown out the window. If they made it out of here alive, Eric would still need to watch his back, because Delaney was already starting to fantasize about strangling him. Some tour guide he had turned out to be.

Eric watched Delaney stomping off toward the east, looking for an ice bridge he already knew she would never find. He wished he could explain things better, but he couldn’t come up with an explanation that would sound plausible. And even if he told her the truth—oh, by the way, I’m a polar bear shifter—it wouldn’t make things better. She wouldn’t believe him, or she’d be terrified. Or both. She was already starting to think he was crazy.

So what’s new, he thought. He listened to the phone ringing in his ear, waiting for Neal to pick up. Eric had spent his entire life dealing with people thinking he was crazy. It was hard to live among humans and keep a secret as big as his.

“Neal’s tattoo shop,” came Neal’s voice on the line.

Eric took a deep breath. He knew his alpha was not going to be pleased with the ice floe predicament. “Neal, I need some help.”

“Okay. What’s wrong?” Neal drew out the word “okay,” and Eric knew that Neal was already suspicious of why Eric was calling.

“I’m stuck on an ice floe. With a girl. A human girl. We fell asleep while ice fishing, and a Blizzard cut us off from the mainland. I need someone to come rescue us. Obviously, I can’t exactly just shift and swim back with her here. The Blizzard knew that. He’s probably been trailing us and waiting for an opportunity to do something like this. He’s alone, so he couldn’t attack me by himself without facing certain death himself.”

Neal let out a frustrated growl. “Why is this the first I’ve heard about this girl? I thought I gave specific instructions that any potential human life mates had to first be approved by me.”

“I’m sorry, Neal. It’s not anything serious. Tyler dared me to ask her on a date. And this wasn’t even a date, exactly. She’s a photographer, and wanted someone to show her some good spots to get some sunrise and sunset spots. So I took her out to the ice fishing shelter, and she came ice fishing with me today. I wasn’t intending to mate with her or anything like that. I was just fulfilling a silly bet I lost with Tyler.” Eric purposefully left off the fact that Delaney was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and had been the first person to truly awaken the bear within him since Gina had died.

Neal growled again, but now he sounded less angry and more concerned. “Are you sure it was a Blizzard that did this?”

“Positive. I saw him. Jet black eyes and all.”

“Shit. I thought they were all gone with the warmer weather rolling in.”

Eric kept his mouth shut. It didn’t seem like the right time to point out that Eric had tried to tell Neal that there were still Blizzards around.

“Alright. Hang tight. I know you have an inflatable rescue boat in the shelter, right?”

“Right.”

“I’ll get one of the other bears and head out right away. We’ll grab the boat and get you and the girl out of there. Should be about an hour.”

“Okay, Neal. We’ll be waiting.”

As Eric hung up the call with Neal, he saw Delaney stomping back across the ice, looking defeated. He couldn’t really blame her for being upset. In her eyes, he was probably an irresponsible wacko who had taken her out on dangerous ice. She had trusted him to know the ropes out here, and he had failed her. He couldn’t explain to her that the ice they were on was still way too thick and solid to have broken off on its own. He had been overly cautious about staying on safe ice with Delaney around. But the ice wasn’t the problem. The Blizzards were.

Those goddamn Blizzards. They were the scum of the bear shifter world. Shady, underhanded cowards, too afraid to fight to your face. They were infamous for pulling tricks like this—for waiting until your defenses were down and poisoning you, or setting you out to sea, or some similar, spineless attack. They were determined to wipe every other polar bear shifter clan from the face of the Arctic. And, so far, they were off to a pretty good start. None of the other shifter clans really wanted to fight. They all just wanted to live in peace, giving each other space and carrying on with their own lives. The Blizzards were different. They were out for blood. And while the rest of the bear clans sat back and tried to diplomatically solve things, the Blizzards were slowly picking off any polar bear shifters that weren’t Blizzards.

Even Neal, the hotheaded alpha of the Northern Lights Clan, was reluctant to go on the offensive against the Blizzards. Despite his anger over the death of his father and the majority of the clan, he didn’t want to fight. He said it wasn’t the bear way. He insisted that bears were noble animals, meant to live in peace. Eric agreed with him on that point, but he kept trying to tell Neal that bears shouldn’t be afraid to stand up and fight when an enemy left their families unable to live their lives without constantly looking over their shoulders in fear.

Delaney arrived back at the fishing hole, glaring at Eric as she sat back down in her folding chair with a huff.

“Well I hope you’re happy,” she said. “Because you’re right. We’re completely surrounded by water. We’re on an ice island. No way off.”

Eric resisted the urge to say he had told her so. Instead he gave her the news about Neal coming to get them. “I got a hold of my buddy. He’s bringing a rescue boat to come get us. Should be here in less than an hour.”

Delaney nodded, but said nothing further. She was pissed. Eric almost laughed. There was not going to be a second “date,” that’s for sure. At least, once they got back to town, he’d have another good “I told you so” to throw at Tyler. Human women just didn’t mix well in their lives.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, and Eric decided to set up another bait line. If they were stuck out here for another hour, he might as well try to catch another fish. Delaney made no comment or movement while Eric set up the line. She had lost any interest in taking pictures of their little fishing expedition. After the line was set up, Eric leaned back in his folding chair and breathed in deeply, and let out a deep sigh.

Then he sat up suddenly. He didn’t like that smell. He breathed in deeply again, then looked up at the sky, which was quickly turning gray.

“Oh, what now?” Delaney asked in an exasperated tone. “Don’t tell me you smell another bear or something.”

“No. It’s not a bear,” Eric said, still looking up at the sky, which seemed to be growing darker by the second. “It’s snow.”

“Really, Eric? Have you completely lost your marbles? In case you haven’t noticed, there’s snow
everywhere
out here. We’re in the far north of Alaska.”

“No, it’s more than just the snow on the ground. There’s a snowstorm coming. A big one.”

“Okay. If you say so,” Delaney said. She gave Eric a longsuffering look and settled back into her chair, closing her eyes and furrowing her brow.

But Eric couldn’t close his eyes now. He watched the sky with a worried look on his face. A few minutes later, a few flakes started falling. The flurries came faster and faster, until they were beating down with such fury that Eric could barely see Delaney through the whiteness, a few feet away. He could smell her, though. She smelled like fear. And with good reason. This was the worst blizzard Eric had ever seen, and he was willing to bet it was the worst one Delaney had ever seen, by a long shot.

“Eric?” she yelled. Her voice was muted and hard to hear through the thick snow. There was no anger or sass left in her voice. Only fear. “How much longer do you think it will be before your friends get here?”

Eric took a deep breath. Neal wasn’t going to come in these weather conditions. He wouldn’t survive them very well as a human, and if he shifted to a bear, well, what was the point? Then their cover as bear shifters would have already been blown. And even a polar bear would have a hard time finding them in these conditions. There wasn’t much of a scent to go on when the snow hung so thickly in the air.

Eric had no choice but to shift. Neal wouldn’t be happy about revealing their true identity to another human. But there was no other way out of this without leaving Delaney to die, and Eric sure as hell wasn’t going to do that. Nor would Neal expect him to. Eric stood up and trudged the few feet over to where Delaney was sitting.

“Delaney, listen to me. I can save you. But you’re really going to have to trust me.”

Delaney looked up at him with such fear in her big, beautiful eyes that Eric’s heart ached. The look she gave him said that she was giving up hope. She really thought she was going to die. Eric let out a low growl. Not on his watch, she wasn’t!

“Delaney, the insulated bag I brought to hold the fish is really big, and it’s waterproof. If you curl up, you should be able to fit in there. You’ll probably have to take off your parka to fit, but you can do it. You can hold your camera in there, too, so you don’t lose any photos.”

“I’m not really worried about my camera at the moment,” Delaney said, her voice shaking.

“I know. I’m just saying. If we’re going to do this, we might as well save the camera, too.”

“Okay. So I curl up in a huge waterproof bag. Then what? I’m still not seeing how this is solving anything.”

“Then I’m going to swim across, taking you in the bag so you stay dry.”

“Oh hell, no,” Delaney said. “First of all, even if you make it across with me, you’re going to die. And I’m not okay with that. But second of all, the gap is pretty wide, and I’m sure widening by the moment. What if you can’t make it all the way across? There’s a good chance you won’t. Then I’m trapped, floating in a giant bag in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. I’ll die for sure. No thanks. I’d rather stay here and take my chances that we make it through this storm and someone comes to rescue us. They know we’re out here, somewhere. We just have to make it until they show up and save us.

“Delaney, these whiteouts can last for days. There’s a good chance we will freeze out here before the storm ends. Not only that, but the winds are going to push this ice floe further out to sea. The longer we sit here, the harder it’s going to be for someone to find us. Right now, we’re still pretty close to the shelter. I can get us back there, but you have to trust me to swim you across.”

“Look, Eric, I admire your bravery, and your willingness to sacrifice your own life for me. It’s actually pretty astounding, considering we’ve only known each other a few days. But I’m not going to agree to a plan that involves you swimming me across in a bag. No way, no how, not even, and
no
.”

Eric took a deep breath. Here went nothing. “Delaney, are you familiar with bear shifters?”

Delaney gave him a death glare. “Eric, this isn’t exactly the time to bring up fairytales and legends. Yes, I’ve heard of bear shifters. But in case you haven’t noticed, we’re in danger of dying out here. So maybe we should focus on surviving first and worry about story time later.”

“Delaney, I’m a polar bear shifter.”

The only sound was the constant whir of the howling, swirling snow. Delaney’s incredulous face would have been almost comical, if it wasn’t for the fact that she thought she was going to die. Eric waited for a few beats to give her time to process what he had just said.

“I’m sorry,
what
?”

“I’m an ice bear shifter. Or what you would probably call a polar bear shifter. It’s not just legends. We really do exist. I can shift into a polar bear, and once I’m in bear form I can grab the handles of the waterproof bag in my mouth and swim you across, easily. You won’t be super warm, but you’ll be dry. Once we’re across, I’ll tear open the bag and let you out. You won’t want to stay in there very long, because there won’t be much oxygen. You can climb on my back, and I can run back to the ice shelter. Once we’re there, I can shift back to human form. We’ll have shelter, and heat. The solar panels don’t pick up enough light in a storm like this to generate much electricity, but there should be enough stored to keep us warm until this ends. Even if the heat fails, we’ll be sheltered and have food, and there are plenty of warm clothes and blankets in there. We’ll survive. If we stay out here, we’re going to die.”

Delaney stared at Eric, saying nothing.

“Please, Delaney. I know it sounds crazy, but I swear everything I’m telling you is true. It’s our only chance. Please trust me.”

Delaney still said nothing. She just looked at Eric with sad eyes, like he had gone insane and she was resigned to her fate of being trapped out here to die with a madman.

Eric had a sudden idea. He pulled off a glove and held up his hand. “Delaney, watch,” he said. Then he morphed his hand into a giant, furry, white paw that ended in a set of fearsome, long claws.”

Delaney’s eyes widened, and she looked like she might cry. But she finally nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I’m not sure if this is really happening, or if I’m going delusional from being at death’s door, but what the hell. I guess trying something is better than just sitting out here to die.”

Eric gave her a look of grateful relief. He pulled out the fish he had caught from the bag and threw it on the snow. Then he dug in his backpack and pulled out a thin blanket.

“This is a blanket for emergency warmth. It’s thin, but very effective. You’ll have to take off your big parka to fit in the fish bag, but you should still be able to keep this wrapped around you. And keep your gloves and boots on. I don’t want you losing any fingers or toes.”

Delaney nodded, she got out of her parka, and wrapped the blanket around her, then crawled into the bag. It was a snug fit, but not impossible when she curled up tightly. Eric handed her the small bag that held her camera, and she pulled it up tight against her chest. She looked up at him one last time and nodded before closing her eyes tightly. Eric zipped the bag shut and checked to make sure the waterproof seal looked tight.