Snowfall (Arctic Station Bears Book 3) (2 page)

C
hapter
T
wo
- L
iam

Liam woke to the smell of bacon. When he rolled out of bed, his shoulder ached for some reason.
I must be getting old
, he thought. Allie wasn’t in bed. He plopped down on the bed and laid on her pillow. Still warm. And her scent was more intoxicating than the bacon.

He got up and walked out of the bedroom. He loved the layout of his cabin in Nova Scotia. Giant windows on the landing overlooked a pristine lake and pine forest in the distance. The early morning sun shone through the trees, highlighting fish as they jumped out of the water. He’d have to take the boat out today. Maybe have some fish for dinner.

He walked downstairs and into the kitchen and there she was. Alanna. In a little apron and underwear. And nothing else. He growled as he felt his cock stir. The cheeks of her ass peeked out at him from across the room, beckoning him over. Who was he to argue with an invitation like that? Plus, there was bacon.

He walked up behind her and put an arm around her. His pulse quickened as he brushed her hair to the side and kissed the smooth skin of her neck.

“Mmm. Good morning, lazy,” she said. “Breakfast will be ready in just a few.” She pressed her ass against his cock and it throbbed. “Well. Good morning to
you
, too.”

He’d never wanted anyone so badly in his life, and every new day reminded him of that. He laid his strong hand over hers, taking the pan of sizzling bacon and moving it to a cold back burner. With the other arm, he spun her around to face him.

Allie’s hazel eyes glittered as she smiled up at him. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. She was his and he was so completely hers. When their tongues touched, it was electric. Liam put his hands under her ass and lifted her up onto the counter. She almost instinctively wrapped her legs around him. Her chest was flushed beneath her apron as Liam tugged on the tie in the back that held it tightly to her skin and pulled it over her head.

Liam slid his hands across her thighs, pushing her legs apart and pulling her to the edge of the counter. Liam knelt between her open thighs, caressing the length of her legs, causing her to sigh happily when he kissed her belly down to the waist of her panties. Gooseflesh rose on her thighs, either from the cool countertop or Liam’s proximity to her sex. She was very wet. The scent of her made him dizzy and caused his pulse to thunder in his ears. His cock issued commands that he fought to ignore.

Liam sighed deeply and looked up at Allie’s piercing hazel eyes. “God, you smell so good, Allie,” he said softly. He planted a row of soft kisses on each of her thighs, ending each row with a soft lick at the apex. He wanted to taste her. To revel in her. He pressed his mouth against her panties. The thin scrap of fabric did nothing to deter him from tasting her, and as he pressed his tongue against the delicate material, he briefly considered that the heat of her sex might singe off his facial hair. He dragged his tongue from the bottom of her cleft all the way up and over her clit. Then he pulled her panties to the side, exposing her, and did it again. Alanna threw her head back and moaned.

“Liam!” She was panting. “Don’t you want breakfast?” She tried to halt him by straightening up slightly and he replied by gently sucking on her clit while stroking the entrance to her pussy with one finger.

“This is all I need,” Liam growled, punctuating each word with a quick lick of her clit. “It’s my favorite.”

The way she pressed her hips into his face and ran her hands through his hair, Liam was pretty certain that she wasn’t keen on him stopping anyway. Her hands cupped her breasts and pulled gently on her nipples. Liam slid one finger inside her, alternating between using the tip to gently stroke her G-spot, and sliding his finger out and up over her clit. In the fog of contented pleasure settling over his brain as he devoured her, he suddenly realized she was going to cum faster than he wanted. It felt suddenly selfish, but he knew that he wanted to have his cock inside her when it happened. He wanted to hear her gasping breath against his neck and feel her legs wrapped around him.

Liam. Please. I need you.
He heard Alanna’s voice in his head.

He wasn’t going to argue. He’d never wanted anyone or anything so badly in his life.

Liam got to his feet, his thick cock mere inches from her opening. Alanna pulled her hips closer to him.

They kissed ferociously as he slid inside. Her gaze was wild. He could only imagine his own. Her breathing was fast. His heart was a jackhammer and so was his cock. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m cumming for you,” she said. Every word was a gasp.

I’m coming for you.
Her voice in his head, but from far away.

Liam opened his eyes.

C
hapter
T
hree
- C
alder

Calder closed his eyes and slid the needle into his skin. The contents were meant for Alanna, but it didn’t matter. There was enough left. He closed his eyes. His blood boiled with this new addition. He was already a shifter. Infection was instantaneous.

He doubled over in pain.

At his feet, the staff of the Alert research base was on their knees. Their eyes were wide and then shook and sobbed as they watched him.

Calder understood their reaction. He’d had to kill some of the soldiers. They were easy prey compared to his old life. Even less dangerous than the bears. He didn’t mean them harm, really. He just needed to change them.

The pain subsided. Calder grasped the head of one of the remaining soldiers as scientists and assistants looked on in horror. The woman’s eyes were steel and her jaw set as she stared at Calder defiantly. Calder stoked her cheek and she jerked away from him, her face contorting into a twisted mask. The same mask he saw on the faces of the men who took his mate.

He extended his finger. Small bones snapped and reshaped and suddenly his hand was a massive cat’s paw. He extended his claws.

“You want to pick on someone, pick on someone who could kill you,” said a voice from behind him.

Calder smiled and turned around, but did not release the woman. “Liam,” Calder said, “I was getting worried.”

Liam was bound on the ground. His shoulder bled from a wound that would not heal while the silver bullet was still in his shoulder. He bent and contorted his body trying to approach, but Calder wasn’t worried. Even if Liam was an alpha, if he couldn’t shift, he was just a man.

“You should be thrilled, Liam. I am about to create a new society. People like you will study it forever. Sadly, you might not be around to collaborate with them.”

Liam growled, deep and rumbling. “Go fuck yourself. Take this bullet out of my shoulder and untie me. Let’s find out,” Liam said.

“Not just yet. Our guests haven’t arrived.” He placed his claw against his captive’s face. “But we might as well get the party started.” He slid his claw gently down the woman’s cheek, drawing the thinnest line of blood.

She started to change almost immediately.
Beautiful
, Calder thought. As she writhed and moaned, her bones cracked and reformed. Her skin grew taut in places, loose in others. Fur grew from her skin. Claws sprung from fingertips that had once ended with neatly trimmed nails. She looked up at Calder.

“Hello my dear,” Calder said. “You are a real beauty.”
Now, kick the man behind me
.

She was graceful and fast as she crossed the floor and kicked Liam with her powerful leg in mere moments. Liam coughed and fought for breath. The woman roared and screamed at him.

“She knows I am more alpha than you,” Liam. “She will obey me. And soon she will bring your mate right to me.” Calder smiled, as if remembering the punchline to a joke. “But she’ll need help.”

Calder turned to the cowering group of people on the floor in front of him. “Who’s next?”

A
lanna

Ben circled the base as Parker worked on closing the wound in his leg.
Very neighborly of him
, I thought. Especially considering that Parker had been the one to put a silver bullet in Ben in the first place.

This helicopter was much more quiet than the one Ben and I had taken from Alert. We were actually able to talk to each other without the need for headsets.

“Ow!” Ben said, and suddenly my stomach was in my throat as the helicopter dropped a little. I braced myself against the frame.

“How much longer are you going to need to do that?” I asked Parker. “We’re getting close to Alert.”

“Just wrapping up,” Parker said.

I was not thrilled about Ben having his wound sutured while he was also trying to pilot a helicopter. Every time Ben winced, we lost a little altitude and I lost a few weeks of my life.

Satisfied with his work, Parker turned to me. “So what’s your story?”

“My story?” I said. “What do you mean?”
I don’t know you, dude. Are you trying to be friends?

“Well, I’m a Sheriff,” Parker said. “I spend half of my time trying to keep fights from breaking out among inhuman people, forty percent ending fights that start, nine percent hunting things that are also hunting me, and one percent taking care of my birds.”

From the limited amount of information about Sheriffs I’d encountered while I was working on my doctorate, I knew that the one thing they all had in common was that they were all sociopaths. In my field of work, it was fairly commonplace to meet people with various personality disorders, but Parker was the first sociopath I’d ever met. I was a bit taken aback at how chatty he was, and my brain latched on to the most mundane aspect of his introduction.

“Your birds?” I said.

“I have birds for pets. A couple of cockatiels.”

I totally was not expecting that. But what
was
I expecting? I guess I hadn’t expected such a high-functioning sociopath? Belatedly I realized he was patiently waiting for me to tell him my “story”.

“I’m a consultant, normally,” I said. “Mostly for pharmaceutical companies doing research into how different drugs might affect shifters.”

Ben laughed. “Yeah, I can’t think of a single drug that affects us at all. Even headache medicine.”

“Don’t tell them that,” I said, and smiled. “I like having a roof over my head.” I turned back to Parker. “I teach every so often as well. Biology classes primarily. Also I’m apparently the fated mate to a polar bear alpha who lives in Nova Scotia and is currently the hostage of recently thawed evil popsicle.” Parker appeared genuinely amused by this.

“Brace yourselves,” Ben said. “I’m setting her down.”

The helicopter landed with a thud and I hardly noticed. Parker grinned at me and I realized that he’d seen that I was afraid and had been trying to distract me.

“Thanks, Parker,” I said. “I appreciate that.”

He nodded. “Don’t mention it.”

I stepped off of the helicopter, feeling very proud of myself that I didn’t feel the same urge to fall to my knees and kiss the ground as I did the first time I’d stepped off a helicopter.
God, it feels so long since then.
But it had been less than two weeks.

The base was a ghost town. No lights were visible in the windows of the buildings.

A howl broke the silence as a half-dozen people ran toward us from the darkened buildings.

They looked human, but…twisted. Half-animal. Some growled and snarled. More frightening were the silent ones. They were trying to surround us.

Alanna.
Liam’s voice was in my head. My neck snapped around to see a building fifty yards away. None of these new additions were between me and the building. I could make a run for it.

“I know where he is,” I said.

“Who?” Ben asked.

“Liam. Calder’s got him over in that building. I can feel it.”

“You really
are
fated if you can do that,” Ben said. “I’m amazed.”

“Hopefully we’re fated to do more than just die here.”

“Go get him,” Parker said. He ejected the clip from one of his handguns and touched the top bullet, then reloaded the weapon. “We’ll cover you and try to even the odds a little.”

I didn’t even think. Liam was the only thing on my mind. My pulse was louder than the howling wind as I ran to the building. I was halfway there before I heard the first gunshot.

P
arker

Parker watched Alanna run. The bestial humans seemed to ignore her completely as they charged toward the helicopter. He pulled out one of his spare handguns and handed it to Ben.

“In case we need to make a strategically quick escape, it’s probably best if you don’t shift,” Parker said. Ben took the weapon in a shaky hand.

“You alright?” Parker asked.

Ben laughed. “Oh sure. We’re about to be torn to pieces by a bunch of monster men. This is a totally normal Friday night for me.”

The howling things were almost upon them. Parker was suddenly aware of their attire. A few wore fatigues. Two wore white lab coats. These people worked here. They had been fully human until
very
recently. Shit. They were about to become the victims of people who were victims themselves.

“I don’t know how good you are with a gun,” Parker said, “but if you can help it, try not to kill them.”