Grizzly Flying High (Air Bear Shifters 1) (5 page)

The crowd went wild, some jeering at Simon and some cheering him on. Sawyer’s face remained unreadable, but his insides twisted up in a painful knot. Who did Simon think he was, commenting on Sawyer’s love life? Yes, it was important to find a mate. But it was important to find the right mate. No one wanted an alpha who was bonded to the wrong bear. An unhappy alpha would bring down the whole clan. And, yes, most bears Sawyer’s age had already found a mate and had a few cubs. But for fuck’s sake, he was only in his mid-thirties. It’s not like he was on his deathbed. He still had plenty of time to father cubs. In fact, one of his greatest desires was to father cubs. But he wanted his cubs to have a mother and father who truly loved each other, and Sawyer hadn’t found true love yet. Besides, his lack of a love life had been largely due to the fact that he had poured his life completely into running the clan. It was his love for his clan that had made finding romantic love difficult. Did his clan members really want to nail him to a cross for the mistake of caring too much about them?

But Simon had stirred up the crowd to the point that reason didn’t matter. The din in the room grew louder and louder and Sawyer wanted nothing more than to run onto stage and explode in a fit of rage, showing off his true strength and alpha abilities. But Sawyer knew that part of being strong was knowing when to bide your time, so he waited. Chance, as second in command of the clan, was responsible for taking a vote on whether or not Simon would be allowed to challenge Sawyer for the position of alpha. Sawyer watched carefully as Chance slowly plodded up the steps onto the stage of the meeting hall and took his place behind the podium. A hush fell over the crowd as Simon stepped aside and Chance began to speak.

“You all know the clan rules,” Chance said, his eyes scanning the room as he spoke. “If more than fifty percent of you think that Simon should be allowed to challenge Sawyer for alpha, then a fight will be scheduled for three days from today. The winner of that fight will hold the position of alpha. Paper and pens are provided at the back of the room. Please write your name on the paper, and then yes if you want Simon to be allowed to challenge, or no if you want Sawyer to remain alpha without a challenge. The clan elders will tally the votes and make the final determination on whether Simon’s challenge moves forward.”

Chance stepped down from the podium and the din in the room quickly rose again. Chance had done a remarkable job of appearing calm, but Sawyer had been able to hear the emotion in his voice. Chance was Sawyer’s best friend, and would defend Sawyer to the death if necessary. Sawyer almost thought that the ridiculous challenge to his leadership was harder on Chance than it was on him.

After another hour of votes being cast and counted, then recounted to make sure, the elders gave Chance their decision. Sawyer knew as soon as Chance opened the envelope that the news wasn’t good. The change in Chance’s expression was nearly imperceptible, but Sawyer saw it. Before Chance even spoke, Sawyer knew the words were coming.

“The elders have deemed that, by majority vote, Simon’s challenge for alpha will be allowed. Three days from now, the clan will gather in Frost Peak’s town square to witness the fight for the title of alpha.”

The crowd went wild before Chance had even finished speaking. Enraged screams mixed with celebratory screams, and Sawyer felt his heart clenching up again. He couldn’t bear to watch the scene. Even worse than the fact that Simon had convinced half of his clan to question his authority was the fact that Simon had caused a rift in his clan. The once united front of the Frost Peak Grizzlies was now an angry, arguing mess. This was not how clan members should act toward one another.

Sawyer slipped out the door and into the quiet night, his inner beast growling mournfully. His heart had never felt so heavy, and he needed to let his inner beast run free for a while to ease some of the pressure. With a formidable roar, Sawyer let loose the bear within him. A loud, powerful rush of energy filled the air, and Sawyer’s clothes tore to shreds as his human skin was quickly replaced by thick skin and dense brown fur. Sawyer’s hands and feet became enormous paws, adorned with razor sharp claws. His teeth stretched and sharpened into the fearsome teeth of a grizzly, and his face morphed into the face of an angry bear.

With another loud roar, Sawyer took off running. He bellowed out a series of mournful cries as he felt adrenaline filling his body. He felt a strange peace settling over him as his bear ran toward the forest, becoming one with the wilderness. This challenge brought grief to his heart, and filled him with sadness. But it also breathed new life into the alpha instincts that permeated every cell of his body. As Sawyer ran through the forest, tearing through the brush like it wasn’t even there, he felt strength and confidence filling him. Whenever his clan was threatened, he rose to the challenge. No one messed with his bears. No one. It didn’t matter whether the threat was external or internal. Sawyer would fearlessly defend his clan against anyone trying to harm them, or tear them apart. Although his heart ached, it also beat faster, and with a new passion.

Sawyer knew one thing with certainty: Simon had messed with the wrong grizzly. Sawyer would defeat him, and find a way to reunite the clan. And when he did, Simon was going to curse the day he had decided to challenge Sawyer Williams for the title of alpha.

Amanda looked uncertainly around the diner she had just entered, unsure of whether she should seat herself or wait for one of the overworked waitresses to notice her. One of the bellboys at her hotel had told her this was the best place in Kodiak for breakfast. From the looks of it, the place was definitely popular. After waiting awkwardly by the front door for a few minutes, Amanda decided to just grab a seat at the counter on one of the old-timey barstools. Hopefully, she would eventually be noticed and be able to order some food.

She settled in between a young mother who was nervously bouncing a baby to try to keep it from fussing, and a tanned, blonde-haired man who was distracted by the local newspaper. Luckily, the waitresses seemed to pay more attention to her once she was actually seated, and one of them came over to greet her with a harried but kind smile.

“Hello, dear. Coffee?” the woman asked.

Amanda nodded. “Yes, please. And can I get a menu?”

The waitress nodded and ran off to grab coffee and a menu. She returned a minute later with both items and promised to swing back by in a bit to take Amanda’s order. The sticky menu had just about every breakfast item you could possibly want listed. Amanda finally decided on the blueberry pancakes, and then set the menu down to look around the room. The space was crowded, and filled with laughter. It was the middle of the week, but there were still plenty of people who had managed to show up for breakfast. Life moved at a different pace here. Many of the people earned their living from the sea, working as commercial fishermen. The Monday to Friday schedules Amanda was accustomed to from the corporate world didn’t exist here. The people worked hard, but their schedules weren’t dictated by the open hours of the New York Stock Exchange or some other nonsense like that.

The waitress came to take Amanda’s order as promised, then scurried off to her next customer. Amanda took a long, satisfying sip from her coffee, which was surprisingly good. It tasted more like it came from a gourmet coffee shop than from a diner with sticky menus and overcrowded booths. She let out an audible “Mmmmm” without even realizing it, earning her a chuckle from the man sitting next to her.

“Not bad stuff, eh?” he said, glancing over at Amanda with a twinkle in his eyes.

Amanda laughed. “Not bad at all. It’s especially good since I’ve been hiking quite a bit lately, and didn’t bring any coffee with me on the trail. I’ve missed having a warm beverage to hold in my hands in the morning.”

“Where’ve you been hiking?” the man asked, his face lighting up with interest.

“Um, some trails around Snow Valley, and then some other paths around Frost Peak. I cut my Frost Peak trip short, though, because I saw a grizzly out there and it freaked me out a bit. Thankfully the bear left me alone, but I decided I didn’t want to do anymore solo backwoods camping after that.”

“You’ve been out there by yourself?” the man asked with a low whistle. “Most of the tourists don’t have the guts to do that.”

Amanda tilted her head sideways. “Well, first of all, I can see why they don’t have the guts. That bear encounter was pretty frightening. But, second of all, how did you know I’m a tourist? Was it that obvious?”

The man laughed again, a deep belly laugh that made Amanda want to join in. “Yup, sorry. It’s obvious.”

“How?”

“It just is,” the man said. “We locals know when someone’s not from around here. “I’m Peter, by the way. I’m a fisherman here in Kodiak.”

Amanda sighed, and then took Peter’s offered hand to shake it. “I’m Amanda. Tourist extraordinaire.”

Peter grinned. “So where are you from? What brings you to Alaska?”

Amanda hesitated. She didn’t feel like getting too deep into her story right now. She wasn’t even sure exactly what her story was at this point, beyond the fact that she was searching for herself, which always came out sounding kind of cliché when she said it out loud. So she just shrugged and said, “I needed a break from my everyday life.”

Peter’s grin deepened. “Don’t we all,” he said, then raised his coffee cup to toast Amanda. Amanda clinked her mug with his and then frowned.

“Do you need a break from your everyday life?” she asked. “It seems pretty awesome—fishing and spending so much time out on the water.”

“I do love it, for the most part,” Peter said. “But it can be dangerous work, and some days you’re so cold and tired that you really just want to curl up in bed and not go outside.”

“I can understand that,” Amanda said. “Still, you must have had some adventures out there.”

“Oh, I’ve had a lot of adventures,” Peter said, throwing his head back and letting out another hearty laugh. “The stories I could tell you!”

“Well, why don’t you? Tell me a story or two,” Amanda said, as her pancakes arrived and she started digging into the warm, rich food.

Peter was happy to oblige her, and he spent the next forty-five minutes telling her about the scary, funny, or just plain weird things that had happened to him while he was out on the water. Long after Amanda had eaten the last bite of food on her plate, she was still sitting there, laughing at Peter and just enjoying being around humans. She realized, as she looked around the crowded diner, that it wasn’t necessarily solitude she was craving. She did want to be around people, but she wanted to be around people who valued the same things as her. Things like laughter, nature, and friendship. Amanda hated the power struggle she had found herself in during her years in her corporate job. She didn’t want to claw her way to the top. She wanted to be part of a group of people who encouraged each other on the climb to the top.

Amanda mentally decided that part of finding herself had been finding out that she wanted a job where everyone was supportive of each other. She made a mental note to write about this in her journal when she got back to her hotel room, and then she turned her attention back to Peter, who was telling a story about the time his heavy duty rain boots went overboard and sank to the ocean floor, leaving him with nothing but ratty old tennis shoes to wear for several days out at sea. Amanda started asking him questions about the kinds of shoes fishermen wore, and didn’t bother to look up when the bell above the front door jangled. People were coming in and out quite frequently, so the bell had just become background noise. She didn’t notice, then, when a familiar, dark-haired giant entered the restaurant. But he noticed her.

Sawyer’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Amanda, and he quickly strode across the dining room to stand next to her.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked, crossing his arms and scowling down at her.

Amanda looked up, startled, and raised an eyebrow when she saw Sawyer. “Well, hello, to you, too,” she said. “Am I not allowed to be in this diner or something?”

Sawyer’s scowl deepened. “You can be here, sure. But why are you sitting next to him?” Sawyer spat out, pointing to Peter.

Amanda’s surprise deepened when she realized that Sawyer was actually jealous of the man sitting next to her. Suddenly, a wave of annoyance washed over her. Who did Sawyer think he was? He had all but outright rejected her the other night, and she had finally made peace with that. But now he was showing up again and acting like he had some claim to her. She had no romantic interest in Peter, and she was pretty sure Peter had no romantic interest in her. But why should that matter to Sawyer, one way or the other? Amanda crossed her arms, matching Sawyer’s antagonistic body language, and she stuck her chin out defiantly.

“I’m sitting next to him because I want to,” she said. She saw Peter chuckling out of the corner of her eye. Apparently, he found this whole scene funny. Sawyer, however, was not amused.

“Come outside with me,” he said, his voice low and angry.

“Tough luck,” Amanda said. “I don’t want to go outside.”

“It wasn’t a question, Amanda.”

“I just got a coffee refill,” Amanda said, tossing her hair over shoulder. “I want to finish drinking it, so I think I’ll just keep sitting right here, thank you very much.”

She turned back to the counter, and reached for her coffee mug, fully intending to completely ignore Sawyer. He might make her heart beat faster, and he might be the most handsome man she’d ever laid eyes on, but that didn’t mean that Amanda was going to let him boss her around.

But before her hand could reach her mug, she felt a strong arm reaching around her and lifting her up. She looked over her shoulder in horror and realized that Sawyer was lifting her off the barstool.

“Sawyer, what the hell? Put me down!” she ordered.

But he ignored her. He easily tossed her over his left shoulder like she weighed no more than a pillow, then held her there with one arm. He used his free hand to grab her coffee mug from the bar top where it sat, and then headed for the door. She kicked and screamed the whole time, her face heating up to beet red with embarrassment as the diner fell silent and all eyes turned to her. But Sawyer didn’t slow down, and he didn’t loosen his grip. Despite her kicks, punches, and frantic wriggling, he held her firmly. When he reached the front door, he kicked it open, causing the bell above it to jangle so wildly that Amanda feared it might fall off. As soon as they were outside, Sawyer set her down, and then held out her coffee mug.

“Here. You can finish your damn coffee out here,” he said through gritted teeth.

But Amanda had lost any desire for coffee. She tossed the mug aside angrily, letting it land in the flowerbed near the front of the diner. “What makes you think you can just waltz in there and order me around? And, worse, use physical force to drag me out here against my will.”

But Sawyer ignored her question. “What were you doing with that man?” he asked.

Amanda raised her hands above her shoulders and then let them drop in frustration. The raw mix of emotions filling her right now was quickly overwhelming her, and she could feel her arms beginning to shake. Sawyer’s physical presence was electrifying. She was overwhelmed both with a desire to pull him close and kiss him, and with a competing desire to slap him across the face. Hard. But in the end, she just stood there, hands on her hips and eyes shooting angry darts at him.

“What’s it to you, Sawyer? I don’t belong to you. We spent one evening talking and shared one kiss. Lest you forget,
you
were the one who decided to walk away. And you have my number, too, but you haven’t called it. So why the hell would you be surprised to find me with another guy?”

“I’ve been busy,” Sawyer said, his eyes dropping to the ground. But Amanda didn’t miss the pained expression that crossed his face before he looked away. For a moment, she felt sympathy for him, but the feeling quickly passed. Whatever he was going through didn’t give him an excuse to treat her like he had some sort of claim to her.

“Well, so have I.”

Sawyer raised his face again, the pained expression expertly hidden. But his anger was still evident. “Is he your boyfriend?”

Amanda let out a loud, exasperated sigh. “No, Sawyer. He’s not my boyfriend. He’s just some guy I happened to be sitting next to at breakfast today who had some interesting stories to tell. But I’m not sure why it matters when—”

Sawyer’s lips cut her off before she could finish her sentence. In one quick movement, he had pushed her up against the wall of the diner and covered her mouth with his. Amanda lost track of everything around her. Her resistance melted away as that now-familiar electricity started shooting through her body again, filling her with a heat that was equal parts wonderful and terrifying.

His kiss was long, deep, and passionate. He slipped his tongue past her lips and found her tongue, caressing it with his own as his palms came up to caress her cheeks. Amanda let out a little whimpering moan as her fierce anger faded into a different kind of strong emotion: desire. Her whole body responded to Sawyer’s touch. Every hair on her body stood on end, and she could feel the space between her legs turning white hot. Her breasts rose and fell rapidly as her breaths came in short, quick succession. She was vaguely aware that everyone walking in and out of the diner was looking at them, gawking. But she didn’t care. She only cared about the fact that Sawyer’s hands on her body felt unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

But, just as quickly as the flood of ecstatic emotions came, another flood of emotions came. Amanda realized that she had just made a promise to herself that she would focus on herself, and not on finding love. Yet, here she was, making out with a guy who had just carried her across a restaurant without permission. As hard as it was to do, she pulled back and pushed Sawyer away. He didn’t fight her, but he did look at her with wide, questioning eyes. The hunger of desire burned in his gaze.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice husky and gentle.

“I can’t do this,” Amanda said. “You had your chance, back in Snow Valley, and you chose to pass on it. I made a decision to focus on me, not on a man. I need to figure out who I am, first, before I start down a road like this.”

“I need you,” Sawyer said, his voice sad.

Amanda let out a derisive snort. “You need me?” she asked. “Why? Are you short on copilots to boss around?”

Sawyer ignored her cutting joke. “I’ve needed you for a long time,” Sawyer said. “I didn’t know who you were, but now I do. And I’m not sure my life as I know it can continue on without you.”