Grizzly Flying High (Air Bear Shifters 1) (4 page)

Sawyer didn’t mind that much. He was happy to be home, and to not be making one more stop in Kodiak. After he finished shutting down the plane and rolling it into the hangar, he saw Chance sitting at the desk in the corner that formed a makeshift office.

“Chance!” Sawyer said, waving at his friend and letting a big grin spread across his face. “So good to see you. I’m exhausted, but I could use some dinner. Want to go grab some food and a beer?”

Chance looked up, his green eyes weary, and Sawyer immediately knew that something was wrong.

“Chance? What’s the matter?” Sawyer said, his voice filling with concern as he walked over and dropped his pilot’s bag next to the desk.

“I’m not so sure you’re going to want to go out and get a beer right now, and I’m not sure you’re going to be getting much rest any time soon,” Chance said in an ominous tone.

“Why not?” Sawyer asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Sit down and I’ll explain,” Chance said, gesturing to the chair on the opposite side of the desk. “We’ve got a major problem.”

Amanda shivered slightly in the cool evening air. She had a warm sleeping bag on top of a warm mat inside her tent, but she didn’t want to go to sleep just yet. She had been sitting outside her tent watching the stars and writing in her journal, and she couldn’t tear herself away from the wide open view of the Alaskan sky. The soft sounds of evening in the wilderness greeted her ears, and she breathed in deeply, enjoying the freshness and stillness. She still had no idea what she was going to do with her life when she finished this whole hiking around the states thing, but she didn’t have to worry about that too much just yet. She had given herself a year deadline to come up with a plan, and she was only about three months into that year.

She was trying her best to forget about Sawyer, but that was much easier said than done. She worried that he would forget about her as soon as he was back to his everyday life, or that he would accidentally throw out the phone number she had written down for him and decide it wasn’t worth trying to find her. Amanda was easy enough to find, if someone knew her name and really wanted to. She had social media accounts, and an online career profile. Amanda laughed. Her online career profile was a joke at this point. She had pretty much given up her old career when she walked out on her job, and it had been the best decision she’d ever made. Now, she just had to figure out what was next. And she couldn’t stop the strange feeling deep down that Sawyer was next. The thought was ridiculous, really. Who falls head over heels for someone they’ve met once, and will likely never see again?

Amanda sighed. She’d gone further off the deep end than she thought, apparently. She paused, with her pen over the half-filled page in her journal, and mulled over in her mind what it said about her that she was so willing to let a near stranger grab her heart so quickly. Was it possible that Sawyer was somehow her soulmate, destined to be with her? Was that why she was so drawn to him?

Amanda laughed out loud when that idea crossed her mind. The more likely scenario was that she was so starved for love and human interaction that she fell for the first nice guy to come across her path. After all, Sawyer had basically turned her down, even though he’d been nice about it. After he’d kissed her, he’d pulled back. He wouldn’t have done that if they were soulmates.

Amanda put her pen on the page of her journal again, and began writing a little pep talk to herself. She would not look for love while on this trip. She had to figure out who she was first, and what she wanted. And things like silly crushes just got in the way of that. She would refuse to engage with any man who made a move on her. If he was truly meant to be with her, and truly interested in her, then he would still be there when her year of sojourning was over.

Amanda felt encouraged as her hand flew across the page. She kept writing by the light of the small reading lamp that she had clipped on to her journal. She had been feeling down about her trip for the last few days, almost as though the whole undertaking had been a bad idea and a ridiculous waste of time. But now she felt inspired and encouraged. She lost track of time as she let her feelings flow out through her pen and onto the page, not even noticing the cool air anymore.

She might have kept writing for hours, if it hadn’t been for a loud grunting noise startling her out of her reverie. Amanda looked up, surprised by the sound, and then her heart stopped in her chest. Standing not more than twenty feet away from her was the largest bear she had ever seen. It had dark brown fur that was illuminated with a silver edge from the bright moon and starlight. It sniffed the air noisily, swinging its head back and forth, and then letting its gaze land squarely on Amanda.

Petrified, Amanda slowly reached to flick off the reading lamp, as though that would somehow keep the giant beast from noticing her. And what a giant beast the bear was! Its front paws were bigger than Amanda’s head, and its long claws gleamed in the moonlight. Even though it was standing on all fours, its shoulders reached as high as a man’s head. Amanda had heard that Alaskan grizzlies were giants, but she hadn’t truly understood the concept of enormous until this bear appeared. He was so large that he seemed like a fantasy creature, but he was very real, and Amanda was very scared.

The bear continued to watch Amanda, grunting occasionally and sniffing the air, as though trying to figure out who this intruder was who had shown up unexpectedly in
his
wilderness. Amanda could feel her heart beating in her chest, and blood roared in her ears as adrenaline flooded her entire body. But she kept perfectly still and tried to keep her breathing even. She had to remain calm so that she could think clearly. What should she do? The bear didn’t seem angry or aggressive, although it did have a bit of a wary expression on its face. Amanda had bear spray in her tent, but she wasn’t sure if even a whole can of it would be enough to stop this beast if he attacked. And, besides, she was afraid to move. If that bear wanted to, he could catch her within a matter of seconds. She wouldn’t be able to get the spray out in time if he attacked. Amanda resisted the urge to berate herself for so foolishly sitting out here with no protection. She had become too trusting of the wilderness, and had let herself forget that she was a visitor here—a stranger among wild animals. Who did she think she was, gallivanting alone across the Alaskan backwoods like she was invincible? She hadn’t made the wisest of choices, but, still, telling herself she was an idiot wouldn’t help her in her current situation, and would only cloud her mind. She had to keep her wits about her.

She decided to remain perfectly still, and hope that the bear would leave as silently as it had come. It seemed calm enough, which hopefully meant that it was just curious and would soon go on its way. If it charged, Amanda would make a run for the tent and try to grab the bear spray, although she had a feeling that still wouldn’t save her from a speeding grizzly. Still, it would be her only shot.

Amanda breathed in and out with slow, deliberate breaths, trying to focus on the beauty of the night and the magnificence of the beast, rather than on the fact that she could be moments from death. And the beast was, indeed, magnificent. His giant sides rose and fell as he breathed almost in time with Amanda, and, for a moment, she forgot to be afraid. She had wanted to come out here to be one with nature, and she felt somehow connected with this bear, and with all of the natural wonder around her.

But, just when she began to relax a little, the bear took a step toward her. Amanda froze as she watched him slowly take another step, and then another. He seemed curious, not angry, but Amanda still had trouble resisting the urge to scream. The pounding in her chest grew so rapid that she felt sure her heart was going to give out before the bear even reached her. She could feel her hands shaking, and she dropped her pen on the ground, where it landed with a plop that echoed too loudly across the stillness of the night.

The bear walked right up to Amanda, and stuck his muzzle in her face. His black, velvety nose was as big as Amanda’s fist, and her emotions were torn between absolute terror and complete fascination. The bear breathed in deeply, taking in Amanda’s scent and letting out a few satisfied huffs. He nuzzled her under her chin, nearly knocking her backward despite the fact that the motion wasn’t aggressive at all. It was hard for a bear that large to do anything gently. Then, as quietly and quickly as he had come, the bear turned and ambled away.

Amanda watched him go, and sat unmoving for several minutes after he had disappeared from view. She felt like she was coming down from an unbelievable adrenaline high. Never in her life had she been so sure that she was about to die, and yet, she had never witnessed such magnificence. After staring for several minutes at the spot where the bear had last been, Amanda slowly stood up. She picked up her pen and journal, and walked into her tent.

In the morning, she would head back to civilization. She would find the nearest town and figure out a way to make her hikes a little more bear-proof. Maybe she needed to go with a guided group for this part of her adventure. Although she wanted to find herself, she didn’t want to be foolish and seclude herself so much that she was putting her life in significant danger. Amanda shuddered as she climbed into her sleeping bag, thinking about how differently the night could have gone. For good measure, she pulled out the can of bear spray and laid it next to her pillow. But she knew she wouldn’t be needing it. She had already encountered the King of this stretch of Alaskan wilderness, and he had decided to let her stay.

* * *

A few hundred miles away, Sawyer was having an interesting night as well. He sat, stunned, as he watched his clan gathered in their town meeting hall, arguing over whether he should be alpha. They were talking about him like he wasn’t even in the room, and he felt like he was invisible as he watched the show.

When he had arrived back from Snow Valley earlier that day, ready for an evening of rest after the chaos of the last several days, he had never expected to be walking straight into an attempted coup. Chance had sat him down to warn him, but Sawyer hadn’t believed how serious the situation was until he arrived at the meeting hall for an emergency clan meeting—a meeting he had not been the one to call, for once.

Chance told him that, while he was gone, Simon, a hot-blooded grizzly a few years younger than Sawyer, had made a move to start undermining Sawyer’s authority. Simon had stirred up discontent among the clan by pointing out how often Sawyer was away from Frost Peak. He had asked what kind of an alpha would leave his clan so frequently, exposing them to attack without any leadership present.

Sawyer had been aghast when he heard the accusation. For one thing, Sawyer was rarely gone overnight. He did travel quite a bit during the day, flying tours back and forth over the Frost Peak wilderness. But he was never more than an hour or two away from his clan. The wedding in Glacier Point had been a special exception, and the overnight trip with the group of corporate clients had been an extremely rare occurrence. Sawyer had taken the job mostly because of how well it paid. Frost Peak Tours poured most of its profits directly back into the clan’s coffers, so when Sawyer had the chance to make good money, it benefited his clan, not him directly.

But besides the fact that the accusations that he was gone so frequently didn’t hold much merit, Sawyer never left his clan without leadership. Chance was his right hand man, and well capable of handling any emergencies that arose. And his friend Anderson was always around to help if Chance wasn’t there. But, in the whole time Sawyer had been alpha, there had never been an emergency while he was gone. The clan had lived through some tough times, including the threat of attacks by rival clans and the threat of extermination by evil scientists who wanted all bear shifters dead. Sawyer had always been there when his clan needed him. And now, things were relatively peaceful for the shifters. There hadn’t been any threats of attacks from rival clans or suspicious humans in a few years. Simon’s doom and gloom warnings had no foundation. But despite the complete lack of logic in Simon’s warnings, he had managed to stir up the entire clan, and divide them into factions. Emotion was a powerful motivator, and emotion was running high at this meeting.

Per clan rules, any shifter could challenge the alpha for his position at any time. If at least a majority of the clan members voted to allow the challenge, the challenger had the chance to a formal fight with the current alpha. If the challenger won the fight, he would be instated as alpha, and the former alpha would be demoted. Theoretically, this process was in place so that a clan was not stuck following a truly weak alpha. The process had never actually been used by the Frost Peak Grizzlies, as far as Sawyer knew. Sawyer came from a long line of alphas who had served the clan faithfully and fearlessly. There had never been a need to question their authority.

And there wasn’t a need for it now. But, somehow, Sawyer found himself sitting there listening to Simon expounding on all the things that were wrong with the clan—all of which were Sawyer’s fault, according to Simon. Sawyer felt his blood boiling, and he wanted nothing more than to stand up and pound Simon’s face in. But he remained stoic, sitting silently in his chair while his challenger made the case for why he should be allowed to fight the alpha. Sawyer would not stoop to Simon’s level and start throwing insults around. If the clan voted to let Simon challenge Sawyer, Sawyer would let his actions speak for him. There was no way that Simon could win in a fight against Sawyer. Simon may be slightly younger, but his youth was his downfall in this situation. Simon suffered from the kind of delusion that only being young and stupid can bring. This delusion made him think that he could actually take on and win against a bear as big and strong as Sawyer. Sure, Simon was strong. All grizzlies were. But Sawyer was the strongest of the clan, without a doubt. He stood a head and shoulders above everyone else, and he worked out regularly. He kept himself in top physical shape, so that he would be ready at a moment’s notice to defend any of his clan members. He had never imagined that he would be defending himself
to
his clan, but that was looking like more and more of a possibility the longer Simon’s speech went on. Sawyer told himself not to take things too personally. Great leaders always had to be ready for the possibility of challenge. If Sawyer was called on to prove himself as alpha, then prove himself he would.

“And, besides,” Simon was saying, as the crowd murmured uneasily, split between supporters for Sawyer and supporters for Simon. “Do you really want an alpha who hasn’t even taken a lifemate? Who will rule when Sawyer is gone? He’s not immortal, and, honestly, he’s not getting any younger. It’s well past the time that he should have fathered a cub or two, but he hasn’t even found a mate. And why not? I know he’s had several interested bears from our clan, and from our sister clans. And yet, he remains single. Does he think he’s too good for us? Does he think he’s going to live forever, and is exempt from the duty all alphas have to produce an heir to their position?”