Snowbound (Arctic Station Bears Book 1) (9 page)

He had to get away from the base. Calder would be coming for him, and he’d seen what had happened to the Golden brothers.
Fuck that,
Ollie thought.
That’s not happening to me
. He thought he would be able to slip away on the lone icebreaker ship that was docked at the base, but Calder had clearly been there first. All propulsion, navigation, and communication systems had been destroyed.

“Fuck!” Ollie smashed his fist into the wall of the cabin. “Fuck, fuck,
fuck
!. He tore open the wall-mounted emergency medical cabinet. Ollie could not believe his luck. The kit contained another silver scalpel. The Company really made sure that they were well equipped.

“Richie! Harry!” Donny ran from the entry of the common area over to the bodies of the brothers and knelt down beside them. Ben and Viktor were close behind.

“What happened to them?” Ben said. His voice cracked. “Where are Liam and the others?”

“We’re here.” Liam’s voice echoed from down the hall as he and Alanna ran into the room. Liam was the first to see the carnage, but he barely had time to react before something else grabbed his attention. “Ben, behind you!”

“What?” Ben said, but before he could turn, Ollie was pressing a scalpel to his throat. “Ollie? What the fuck, man?”

“Shut up!” Ollie said. “I need to get out of here, and you’re going to take me.”

“Ollie, we can talk about this,” Liam said.

“Fuck you, Liam.” Ollie’s voice was a deep growl. “I don’t know how you’re still alive, but I’m sure Calder will change that soon enough. For all of you.” He started to drag Ben down the hall toward the door to the landing pad. “I’m getting the hell out of here.”

“I’m not taking you fucking anywhere, man,” Ben said.

“Yes you
are
.” Ollie pressed the scalpel to his throat and drew blood. “Or I’ll cut your fucking throat.”

“You do that and we’ll tear you to pieces, Ollie,” Liam said. He and the others advanced on Ollie.

Ollie held the scalpel out to them, then back at Ben’s throat. “Stay back! I mean it. I’ll fucking kill him.”

“No you won’t, Ollie,” Alanna said. “Come on. Let him go. Liam and the others can help you.”

“Shut the fuck up, bitch.” Ollie had made it to the door. “All I wanted was for us to be mates. I thought we were fated. I wasn’t going to let Calder have you. But the second you got here and I saw you and Liam together, I knew. I fucking
knew
. Even when we fucked that night I knew. You would never be mine.”

“Get the fuck over yourself,” Alanna said. “I don’t belong to you. I don’t belong to anyone. I might be new to the reality of fated mates, but I guarantee that I would rather be alone than be with someone like you.”

Ollie pulled Ben out the door and it slammed behind him.

Liam was quick to act. Even though the situation was completely fucked, I had to admit that I still loved watching him be alpha.

“Viktor, get on the radio and make a distress call. If you can’t get through, get on the phone to the Company. Let them know that we have a situation and we need them to send a Sheriff. Donny, go with me. Be fucking careful.”

They both took off running down the hall.

“All right,” Liam said. “Let’s go.” We pushed the door open and stepped outside.

I was eager to clear more than a few things up with Oliver. First of all, when had he lost his fucking mind? Secondly, what the hell did he mean when he said that he wouldn’t let Calder have me?

Oliver had dragged Ben almost to the helicopter by the time we made it outside. The wind was like a slap in the face, but I hardly noticed the bitter cold. My adrenaline must have been working overtime.

“Ollie!” Liam said. “Stop! You don’t have to do this.” He had to yell to be heard.

“I’m going, Liam!” Ollie said. “You have more important things to worry about right now!”

This wasn’t the first time that Ben had found himself in a tight spot. Shit, it wasn’t even the first time someone had put a knife to his throat. He had a knack for opening his mouth and firmly inserting his foot. Plus, he was sort of a smart aleck. Generally though, he found himself charming. Most other folks did, too. So while this might not have been his first rodeo, it was definitely the first time he hadn’t done anything to start a fight and found himself in one anyway.

“Where do you see this going, Ollie?” he asked.

“Where I see this going is we get into the helicopter and you fly us the fuck out of here,” Ollie drew blood again with the scalpel.

“Okay,
okay.
Easy now, man. Can’t go anywhere without me to take you. We’ll go.”

Ben was herded into the helicopter from the passenger side. The very first thing he saw was a crude metal and glass container on the floor. The flashing LED and wiring was a good indicator that he really needed to get the fuck out of Dodge. And since Ollie’s scalpel wasn’t pointed at anything vital at the moment, he went right across to the pilot’s seat, unlatched the door and jumped out the other side. He completely missed the platform and jumped right into the Arctic Ocean.

And then the helicopter exploded.

“You all right, Ben?” Liam pulled him out of the water and back onto the platform.

“No worse for wear,” Ben said. “That Ollie guy sure is a bit of a dick though, ain’t he?”

I was amazed that Ben could come out of the water without at least mild hypothermia, but I guess being a polar bear must insulate him somehow. He was actually steaming. I’d never seen anything like it.

Liam lifted a chunk of burning wreckage and found Ollie. Or at least, what was left of him. He’d basically been blown apart by the explosion. Most of him was gone. It didn’t matter though. Ollie was still alive. You had to separate the head and heart to kill a shifter if you didn’t have any silver. Ollie’s head was still technically connected to whatever bullshit was stuffed into his chest where his heart was supposed to be. I knew it must have been unimaginably painful, and I knew that I shouldn’t care. I did, though. I could feel my eyes well up. Fucking Ollie. Even in a million pieces he still finds a way to make me cry.

“Will he live?” I asked.

“More than likely,” Liam said. “But it’s still too early to tell. Either way, he’ll be doing his healing locked in a little room. I’m sure the Company would like to have a word with him.”

“What do you think he meant about Calder having me?”

“It’s hard to say, but that’s something we’ll have to deal with next. There’s no telling the extent of what he’s done. If he was able to successfully engineer at least one new viral strain, there could be others. He’s much more brilliant than he even pretended to be. Since you’re the only woman among us, he could be looking for a way to create a new shifter species.”

“Why does it matter that I’m the only woman if that’s what he’s trying to do?”

“Because he would need to get you pregnant.”

“Ah. Yeah, that’s so not happening. Let’s just kill him.”

“That’s my plan as well. Great minds think alike. Or fated mates do?” Liam smiled.

“Should we pull him out of there?” Ben asked. He knelt down beside Ollie. “Yeesh. You’re a mess, my friend.”