Snowbound (Arctic Station Bears Book 1) (2 page)

I swear to God,
I thought,
I will swim back to the mainland before I ever get back in a helicopter again. Even if I have to do it naked and handcuffed and eventually die from hypothermia or drowning.
The pilot seemed to read my mind.

“Sorry about the rough air, doc,” he said. His voice was loud and tinny in my headset.

“Is it always like this?” I asked.

“It’s a little worse today than most days. Not to worry though. I’ll get you there safe and sound.” He flashed me a shit-eating grin, which I could barely see through his thick beard. It was almost reassuring until another violent gust of wind made my stomach do a belly flop.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to focus on something, anything else.

“Are we getting close, Ben?” I asked the pilot. More than anything, I just wanted this trip to be over.
Do they have hot showers in the Arctic
? I needed one desperately. I’d been on planes from Atlanta into Canada, and then to Alert, which is apparently the northernmost place sane humans will actually live. It’s on the very northern edge of Canada. Then Ben picked me up in Alert and it’s been a
hell
icopter ride from there. Ben worked as a pilot for Arctic Station and a Canadian polar bear shifter. Nice enough guy, but I think he might have been away from civilization too long.

“Oh surely, doc,” he said. “Look out your window there and see for yourself.”

And there it was. I could barely see it through the blowing snowfall and perpetual twilight. It looked like a small island in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, surrounded by patches of drift ice and towering icebergs. Landing lights flashed red in the distance, giving the surrounding snow an unearthly glow.

“Hold on, doc,” Ben said. “We’re headed down.”

“You
can
get us to the ground, right?” I asked. I had to clench my teeth and grip my seat for dear life as another gust of wind made us its plaything.

He laughed. “Oh, for sure! That’s the easy part. In one piece? That’s where it gets tricky.”

He continued laughing at my obvious discomfort as I fought the sudden urge to murder him. That probably wouldn’t help with the landing though. I crossed my arms across my chest and looked out the window. “Very reassuring.”

“We’ll be on the ground in two shakes, doc. And without a mark on you, cross my heart.”

I tried some controlled breathing and watched as we approached the base. I could see some figures emerge from the base and walk toward the landing pad. Not a single coat among them. Winter was Oliver’s favorite time of year. He could walk around in shorts and a t-shirt. Part of the trade-off for changing into a polar bear once a month, I guess?

With a thump, we were on the ground, and Oliver was pulling my door open. The freezing wind took my breath away as I struggled to remove the headset and unbuckle the harness. Ollie was still sexy as hell, and he smiled warmly as he offered me his hand.

“It’s great to see you, Allie,” he said. He almost had to yell to compete with the helicopter’s slowing rotor and the howling wind. I ignored his hand and jumped down from my seat in the helicopter. And immediately slipped on a patch of ice.

My life flashed in front of my eyes as I imagined busting my ass in front of my ex and a group of complete strangers. But I didn’t fall. I landed in strong arms. Impossibly warm, strong arms. I opened my eyes and met a gaze that was even warmer than the arms that held me. Impossibly, his smile was even warmer still.

My God, his eyes are blue,
I thought. More blue than any eyes I’d ever seen. They were they color of frozen sky. Sandy blond hair blew gently in the freezing wind. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, but his facial hair did nothing to hide his chiseled features.

Looking at him, I felt immediately safe. I knew that he’d never let me fall. My heart pounded in my ears and my breath caught in my throat.

“Are you okay?” he asked. He helped me stand, but I was still a little dizzy.

“I’m…fine, thank you,” I said. “Nothing hurt but my pride.”

He stuck out his hand. “I’m Dr. Liam Roy. I’m the administrator here at the lab. But call me Liam, please.”

I shook his hand and was thrilled when he firmly gripped my hand. I hated weak handshakes. “It’s a pleasure. Dr. Alanna MacCready. Allie.”

“Oliver has nothing but nice things to say about you. We really appreciate you coming.”

“I didn’t tell them how clumsy you were though, Allie,” Oliver said, smiling. “I figured you would rather just show them.”

Fucking asshole. I fought to summon my sweetest smile. “I can’t wait to tell them how clumsy
you
are, Oliver. In bed.” His eyes flashed with anger and his smile vanished.

Ben laughed and clapped Oliver on the back. “I like her, Ollie!” He grabbed my bags from the helicopter.

“I can get those,” I said.

“No sense in doing everything yourself,” Ben said. “I like making myself useful. Plus you can walk with me and tell me about what an asshole Ollie is. Can’t wait to hear!”

“We’ll make the rest of the introductions inside,” said Liam. “Let’s get out of the weather.”

I wasn’t aware of it at first since a circle of shifters generates as much heat as a furnace and I was standing in the center, but it was freezing. “Perfect,” I said. “Lead the way.”

T
he main common room at Arctic Station was comfortable. We sat in a circle of cushy red chairs. The overhead lights were bright, and huge windows looked out on the twilight sky outside.

“We thought it might be prudent to bring someone in with your credentials,” Liam said. “You know Ollie and you’ve met Ben.” Ollie completely ignored me, his arms folded across his chest as he stared out the window, but Ben tipped an imaginary hat and grinned. Liam gestured to the four others who were still strangers to me. “Let’s have the rest of our introductions.”

An older, strapping man with a salt-and-pepper beard spoke first. “I’m Donny Bragg, resident microbiologist and bacteriologist. I also do all of the cooking, since the rest of these guys can’t cook worth shit.” He smiled and everyone laughed in agreement.

“Harry Golden. Glad to know you,” said the handsome bald man across from me. “My brother Richie and I are station engineers. So if anything breaks or your hot water stops working, let us know.”

Thank God there’s hot water!
I thought. Potential crisis averted.

“Howdy,” Richie said. In contrast to his brother, Richie had a full head of brown hair which looked like it hadn’t been combed in days. His clothes were rumpled, too—like he’d slept in them. Like his brother though, he was very attractive.
So I get to spend a bunch of time with a bunch of cute, brainy guys,
I thought.
I’ll have to thank Oliver if he ever stops sulking.

“I’m the lowest on the totem pole,” said a young, handsome man with a thick Russian accent. His long hair was pulled back into a ponytail. “Viktor Petrov is my name. I’m Dr. Roy’s research assistant. Currently working on my PhD in anthropology.”

“Perfect!” Liam said, then looked at me with a piercing gaze. His tone grew hushed and grave. “Now, Dr. MacCready. We have made a discovery that will change the world as we know it. Ollie tells us that you generally work alone, but this will be a shared project. We need to know that you’re interested in sharing your expertise and that you will be comfortable working with Ollie.”

Working with others is definitely not my strong suit, but I was overcome with curiosity. “I’m a professional,” I said. “It’s not going to be an issue. I’ll help in any way I can.”

“Ollie?” Liam said.

“I’m totally cool,” he said, although I knew him well enough to tell that he wasn’t.

“Great!” Liam said. “I don’t feel like I’m overstating it to say that this will be the opportunity of a lifetime. Welcome aboard, Alanna.”

“I appreciate it,” I said. “But I have to ask. Where is the rest of the staff? This facility is huge, and there has to be tons of other research going on here. Meteorology, geology, climatology. More technicians. More assistants. Where is everyone?”

“Nearly everyone has been transferred to different facilities in light of the recent discovery,” Ollie said.

“The virus?” I said. “A safety precaution?”

“It’s much more than that,” Liam said. “Ollie’s work with the virus has already produced amazing implications, but the virus wasn’t the extent of the discovery. We found a man.”

“A skeleton? A mummy?” I said.

“A man. A shifter. Fully intact and alive. We’re calling him the Snowman.”

“Wait. What?” I unconsciously moved to the edge of my chair. “Did you say alive?”

“Alive!” Ollie said. “I wanted to tell you on the phone, but I was sworn to secrecy. We pulled him out of a chunk of ice floe that was dislodged from a glacier. When we thawed him, his heart started beating and brain activity resumed. He had severe hypothermia and skin damage, but he’s since healed. He’s a shifter after all. We’re rugged.” There were some chuckles from the others.

My head was spinning. A man buried in a chunk of ice tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago? “Can…can I see him?” I asked. My mouth felt like it was filled with cotton.

“Of course,” Liam said. “We’ll go over together. He’s in the research library at the moment.”

“The library?” I said. “What’s he doing there?”

“Probably still reading,” Liam said. “He’s been reading since he regained consciousness.”

“You’re fucking kidding me. I can’t wait. Let’s go.”

I felt giddy as I followed Liam and Ollie down the hall. Half of it was the fact that I was about to meet a protohuman shifter that was apparently a fucking bibliophile.

The other half was due to my proximity to two alpha shifters. Their energy made me feel very sexy. I couldn’t help but stare at Liam’s ass as he walked. It really was a testament to his jeans that they were even able to contain it.

And I’d made a crack about Ollie being clumsy in bed, but nothing could be further from the truth. The sex we had was insane. Even as messy as things got between us in the end, I still thought about him. Just being around him again and smelling his familiar scent made me wet.

And Liam was no slouch, either . There was something about him that I couldn’t put my finger on. And I wanted to do more than put just my finger on it.

What the hell is wrong with me?
I thought.
I’m about to win the scientific lottery and all I’m thinking about is sex.
I looked at my feet to avoid undressing Liam with my eyes.
Get it together, Alanna.

Still though, I could still feel Liam’s arms around me after he’d caught me earlier. And his amazing eyes looked right through me, as if he saw something inside me that I wasn’t even aware of yet.

“…four days or so,” Ollie said. Ollie was talking. Shit. I had been fantasizing about Liam and totally ignored Ollie as a result.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “What did you say?”

Ollie smiled. “Been awhile since you were around an alpha, huh?”

“Fuck you,” I said. My cheeks burned.

Ollie laughed and Liam looked confused. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist,” Ollie said. “I just said that we thawed him about two weeks ago. The progenitor virus was in his blood. Within a week, he was talking to us, but it was more mimicry than communication. He’s done nothing but read for the past four days. He won’t even eat.”