Snowbound (Arctic Station Bears Book 1) (5 page)

Oliver was already at the table. He smiled and winked at me. I rolled my eyes.
And the award for most subtle booty call goes to Oliver Campbell,
I thought.

The Golden brothers were having a lively conversation with Viktor about who should take responsibility for cleaning the labs. Richie Golden looked like he’d actually combed his hair.

Calder sat alone across the room, staring out of a large window that faced lapping waves and blowing snow. The window was framed by a ring of condensation. His expression caused an ache in my chest. What had happened to him all of those millennia ago?

The food was set up buffet style. Eggs, ham, and bacon, all in their own serving dishes. I had a sudden fantasy that I was Goldilocks and I should be looking for porridge, but then, these were very different bears. Ahead of me, Liam was filling a plate with eggs, he grabbed a few slices of bacon, immediately sticking one into his mouth. Just being in his presence made me wonder what he’d be like in bed. He seemed so commanding and sure of himself. I was so close, it was all I could do to not reach out and touch the powerful muscles that rippled under his shirt.

He spun around.

And suddenly I was wearing his breakfast. Not my best look.

“Oh shit, Alanna!” Liam said. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” He threw his plate on the table and grabbed a towel from the buffet. For a second, I thought he was actually going to brush the eggs off of my sweater as well, but mercifully, he just handed me the towel.

“Very smooth, doc,” Ben said with a big yawn. I hadn’t even seen him come in.

I wiped the eggs from my sweater, trying to drop as little on the floor as possible, although there was already a mess at my feet. “It’s okay,” I said. “I’m fine. No harm done. But if you wanted me to have breakfast with you, you could have just asked.”

Liam’s expression softened. He laughed. I smiled and warmth radiated through my chest even though I could feel Ollie’s gaze burning a hole in the back of my head.

A saber-toothed tiger was licking my hand. I was suddenly a ten-year-old science nerd again. I had to suppress my urge to squeal. Calder regained his human form in a few bone-cracking moments, and I was impressed by the physique of a naked man for the second time in less than twenty-four hours. That might be some sort of record.
Keep it professional, Alanna,
I thought. Calder got dressed again, putting on sweatpants and t-shirt.

I couldn’t believe it. In all of my research and travels, I’d never met a single shifter who could partially shift. It was always an all-or-nothing deal. Until now. Modern shifters were like a one-way street. They could shift into animal form at will, but they were of two minds about everything, and the bestial side wanted to
stay
in animal form. Unconsciousness immediately triggered a shift back to human, so lots of people awoke butt-naked in caves or curled up on piles of leaves after their animal had decided to take a nap.

“That’s amazing,” I said. “You’re able to shift back and forth at will? Even partially?”

“Yes,” Calder said. “I was the only one of my tribe. There were others in other tribes.”

Typically, shifters had skin problems. A shift left them with an empty human skin or an empty animal skin depending on which direction the shift was happening. Normally, the animal form would dispose of the human skin by eating it — it was almost ritualistic for some species. For the animal skins, the human side had come up with some novel ways of recycling.

“The TPV in his blood altered his DNA at birth, just like the modern versions,” Ollie said. “But most modern versions have mutated into TPV-Lite.”

“TPV? Is that going to be the official name?” I asked.

Ollie smiled. “It rolls off the tongue a little more easily than Therianthropy Progenitor Virus, don’t you think?”

“Oh, for sure,” I said. “I’m sure it’ll be a trending hashtag by next week.”

Ollie narrowed his eyes at me in mock disgust and shook his head. “
Anyway,
there are some other interesting things about TPV. For one, it looks like the silver allergy is still present. It’s almost hard-coded into the virus.”

“Silver allergy?” I said. “That’s diplomatic.”

Donny stood up from a microscope and walked over. “It’s very close to an allergic reaction, and it’s one our new friend definitely shares with us,” he said. “Silver in contact with his skin or imbedded in his body will prevent a shift. Silver weapons will cause wounds that he wouldn’t be able to regenerate.”

“There are quite a few other interesting things about TPV,” Ollie said. He motioned to a microscope.

I looked at the slide. “The virus can be seen with a normal light microscope?” I asked.

“The virus cells are huge,” Ollie said. “Massive by virus standards, but they function exactly like the more modern virus. All shifters are carriers for the virus. A shifter parent produces an offspring and will automatically pass on the virus. The virus makes changes to the human genome in utero and a new shifter is born. It doesn’t even matter if the shifter parent is the father or mother. Genetically, it’s like taxes. You just can’t avoid it.”

“Calder, we really appreciate your help,” I said.

“It makes me happy,” Calder said.

The door to the microbiology lab opened and Viktor entered. “If you all are done, Dr. Roy has some questions for Calder,” Viktor said.

“I’m good,” Ollie said. “Donny, are you done here?”

“For now,” Donny said. “I need to analyze these new samples. I’ll walk you both over. I had a couple of questions for Liam anyway.”

Viktor, Calder, and Donny left the lab and Ollie started to put his samples into storage. “So,” he said. “What was that this morning?”

“What was what?” I said. Oh God. I knew that tone. He was trying to pick a fight.

“This morning. With Liam.”

“He ruined one of my favorite sweaters?”

“You sure that’s all it was?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I couldn’t help but sound defensive. My face burned like he’d actually caught me doing something I wasn’t supposed to do.

“You were flirting with him.”

“And what if I fucking was?” I slammed my palm down on the metal table, jostling some test tubes and flasks at the other end. “I don’t think that’s what it was, but who gives a shit? You don’t own me.”

He took a step toward me. “What about last night?”

His energy rolled over me in waves. It felt like I was standing in front of a hot oven. “What
about
last night? It was fun, right? Nice to blow off some steam? Get a little closure?”

“Closure,” he said. His eyes were suddenly far away.

“Yes. Closure.”

“Hopefully your legs got that closure memo. Plenty of other men here to blow off st—”

Before I knew what was happening, I’d already slapped him. I fought the urge to tear up. I fought the urge to murder him. I fought the part of me that wanted him to hold me even though he was a giant asshole. I wondered if I
had
been flirting with Liam. I wondered if Liam was a giant asshole.

Oliver growled at me.

“Oh, go fuck yourself with that shit,” I said, and got the hell out of there.

I
’d promised myself that I wouldn’t shed another tear over that ass, and yet here I was, staring at myself in the mirror and looking very heartbroken. Really though, I was just very pissed. I was still shaking. I thought very seriously about hitting up Richie Golden for some of his magic “Fuck the World” juice, but I still had work to do. The show must go on, and I wasn’t about to let Ollie’s douchebag ass ruin my day. I got to pet a saber-toothed tiger this morning.

Someone knocked on the door.
Please don’t be Ollie
. I crossed my fingers.

“Yeah?” I said.

“Alanna?” It was Liam. Fucking perfect.

“One second. I’m changing.” I splashed some cold water on my face and then screamed into my favorite towel. I always brought my own towels from home when I traveled. They’re big and plush and purple. I needed a little comfort and familiarity.

Content that I’d gotten a little rage out of my system, I opened the door.

Liam scanned the room over my shoulder. “Is this a bad time?”

“Not at all,” I said. “Come in.”

He came in, closed the door, nearly sat on the bed, thought better of it, and sat on the small reading chair instead. His large, muscular frame in the tiny chair made me smile.

“What can I do for you?” I asked.

“Viktor overheard your conversation with Ollie.”

Shit.
So embarrassing.

“I just wanted to apologize,” he said. “Even if I wasn’t the administrator of this facility, I am still alpha of this group, and this isn’t the first time Ollie has tested me. If he wasn’t brilliant, between you and me, I might toss his ass into the Arctic Ocean.”

I laughed. “It’s all right. We have history. I knew it would come up sooner or later. I keep expecting him to change when I should really know better.”

“Either way, I wanted you to know that if it happens again, he’s gone. I’ve already had the conversation with him.”

“A conversation?” I laughed. “Between two alpha bears? I’m surprised one of you isn’t in the infirmary.”

He smiled. “I can hold my own should it come to that. Also, you should know that I’ve given Calder more access to the labs. You’re right. He should have more freedom, and he certainly seems up to the task.” He stood up. “Well…”

“Well.” I smiled. “Thanks for coming.”

He nodded and walked to the door. Before he opened it, he turned and sheepishly smiled. “I’m sorry again about this morning. I hope I didn’t ruin your sweater. It looked great on you.”

I laughed. “It’s totally fine. How’s the laundry here anyw—”

Someone pounded on the door. “Dr. MacCready! Dr. Roy!” It was Viktor. Liam opened the door.

Viktor was out of breath. “Come quick,” he said. “It’s Dr. Campbell. Someone injected him with colloidal silver.”