“Ràn, what is hurting you the most?”
“Back. Shoulder,” he grinds through clenched teeth.
“Can you wiggle your toes for me?” He does it without question. Good. The first step is to stop the bleeding.
“Do you have any bandages?”
The guys shake their heads.
“It’s all in the house. And we don’t have any clothes we could rip.” Yes, thanks for reminding me.
“Then I’ll do it,” I say more confidently than I am. Without looking at the men, I take off my hoodie, then the thin sweater I’m wearing underneath. I hand them to Torben, ignoring the glances he shoots at my bra.
“Try and make some long strips out of them.” He gives me a grim nod and I turn back to Ràn. He’s staring at me, but his eyelids are flickering.
“We need to wash your wounds or they’ll get infected,” I tell him gently. “Finn, get us some snow. Húnn, I’m going to have to reduce his shoulder, and he might want something to bite on.”
Without waiting for their responses, I do a quick examination of his body. I can’t find anything more than the injuries I’ve already seen, but I’ve only seen his back. I need to examine his chest and abdomen.
Finn returns, and with his help, I carefully cover Ràn’s back with snow. The cold will not only stem the bleeding, but it’ll also help wash out any dirt from the wounds. With every touch, Ràn flinches and groans, but all I can do is to reassure him and tell him what I’m doing.
Torben hands me the makeshift bandages, and I carefully but firmly wrap them around Ràn’s back. “Help me turn him around,” I ask the guys, and they get in position at his feet and head.
“Ràn, I know you don’t want them to touch you, but it’s only going to be for a moment, ok?”
Waiting for them to signal they’re ready, I give the guys a nod and together we slowly roll him onto his back, making sure the bandages are staying in place. Ràn growls in pain. As soon as it’s done, the others step back.
There are a few scratches and bruises on Ràn’s chest, but nothing as bad as the gashes on his back. I wish I had a stethoscope with me. But I don’t, so I lower my head against his chest until my right ear touches his skin. His breath is a little shallow, but regular. No wheezing. That’s good.
“I’m going to feel around your chest and abdomen. I’ll try and be as gentle as possible, but let me know if it hurts.”
He gives me another grim nod and I begin running my hands over his collarbone, his ribs, his abs. For a moment, I’m imagining doing this in a different setting, wearing even less than my bra - but I brush that thought away as soon as it appears. Concentrate, Isla. And definitely don’t look down. Remember, he’s naked, and you don’t want to see him like that. Not now, anyway.
“Your belly is a little tender, but as long as it doesn’t get worse, we’ve got more pressing things to look at.” I don’t tell him that he might be bleeding internally. He didn’t mention pain in his stomach, so if I’m lucky, I can get him to shift before the bleed gets any worse. But for that to happen, I need to deal with his other injuries.
“I need to have a look at your shoulder. It’ll hurt. Do they need to hold you down or can you keep still?”
“I’ll manage.” His voice is hoarse, and the pain in it makes me shiver. I wish I had some pain meds I could give him.
I take a look at his arm, gently manipulating his hand and joints. When I bend his elbow, he cries out in pain, ripping his arm away, making him howl even more. I shoot him a stern look, and with a groan he stretches it back out to me.
“Your shoulder is dislocated, but I think I can get it back into place. Then we’ll see if anything is broken. Húnn, give him the wood you got.”
With the biting stick in place, I ask the guys to be ready to hold him down in case he struggles. I feel a little like a torturer when I say it.
This isn’t the first time I’ve set a dislocated shoulder, but it’s the first time I’m doing it on a bear shifter that could charge me at any moment. Maybe not the best idea, but I’m the only one who can do it.
“I need to stand for this. Finn, can you hold me up?” Damn this stupid ankle. The shifter steps behind me and pulls me to my feet. For a moment, I wish I could stay in his arms until I’m warm again. But there isn’t time. I bend down, wrap my fingers around Ràn’s lower arm and take a deep breath.
“Ready?”
He nods, his teeth already grinding down on the piece of wood Húnn has given him.
I slowly pull while twisting the arm. Ràn howls, but doesn’t struggle like I expected. I pull more, then release. With a satisfying crunch, his shoulder snaps back into place. Ràn roars in pain, but manages not to struggle. I run my fingers over his shoulder, gently probing whether everything is as it should be. I slump back, sighing in relief. It worked. And I didn’t get eaten.
Ràn spits out the wood. “Better,” he rasps. And shifts.
Maybe I expected the injuries to magically disappear after he shifted. They don’t. Ràn is staying on the ground, panting heavily. The bandages I put on his back are lying uselessly on the ground. Blood is slowly seeping through his fur. I quickly kneel down to put them back in place.
“Isn’t he supposed to heal?” My voice comes out as a high-pitched squeak. Oops.
Arms wrap around me from behind. I’m pulled up to my feet. “It’ll take a while,” Torben’s hoarse voice whispers into my ear. “Maybe an hour or two. But without you, it would have taken a lot longer.” I am turned around until his blue eyes are looking straight into mine. “We’re in your debt, little human. I’m in your debt.”
He carries me away from the others until we’re standing in the mouth of the cave, looking into the stormy darkness.
“You saved me. The debt is mine.” I expect the god of tearjerkers to appear any moment now.
“No. You are mine.” His smouldering eyes are coming closer, and so is the rest of his face. Including his mouth. His gorgeous lips. He hesitates just a breath away, then closes in. His lips press against mine, his tongue nudging me to open my mouth. I comply and the bear enters my heart.
We only break our kiss when Finn clears his throat behind us. I feel guilty about being caught, but Torben just puts an arm around my shoulders, staking his claim. Finn bows his head, accepting that I am now his alpha’s… what exactly? Woman? Girlfriend? One night stand? I really need to talk to him about this. I don’t know anything about bears and their… ehm… mating behaviour. Do they stay with someone for life? Wow, I hope not. I just ran from a marriage and I’m in no hurry to end up in another. Not that I’m someone to sleep around. Hell, I’m a virgin. My uncle has never let anyone get close to me. Except for Marcus. He was very happy to give me to him.
“I just wanted to ask where we’re going to sleep tonight,” Finn asks, clearly uncomfortable. “We no longer have the house, and this cave is not really the best place to stay.”
Torben sighs but keeps his arm around my shoulders. “We have no choice but to stay here for now. Once the storm dies down, we can see what’s salvageable from the hut. Wasn’t there another cottage on the other side of the island?”
“Yeah, but it was in pretty bad condition last time I checked. And now after this storm…. we can check, but we shouldn’t get our hopes up.”
Torben nods and my heart sinks at the thought of spending a night in this dark, wet cave. I miss my little attic room already.
“Maybe it’s time to leave this island,” Torben mutters, more to himself than to us. “We’ve been here long enough.”
“The sea ice was back last time I was at the beach,” Finn says. “I guess it would be nicer to walk over ice than to swim. But we’d have to be fast, we don’t want to be caught out in the middle of the ocean when the ice melts.”
“Good point.” Torben nods and Finn’s face lights up. I hadn’t realised before how much Torben’s praise means to the others. I’m beginning to understand that while the polar bear is one of them, he’s also in c
harge. The alpha. “Let’s wait until morning, by then Ràn should be fully healed. Isla can take turns riding on us. We only take the essentials, whatever we can find in the rubble of the old hut. Hopefully we’ll have more luck on another island.”
“Which one are we going to?” I ask, rummaging in my head for my limited geographical knowledge. There aren’t any proper maps of the islands that were once the Scottish Highlands, but my uncle had a few hand-drawn ones in his office. Not that I could even say which one we’re on. I didn’t really care what direction I went to when I fled my home.
“There’s one to the West which looks similar to this one. Maybe that’s the real Inchbrach, the Island of Bears. Or maybe it’s not, who knows. But we won’t find any answers here, so the chances are better everywhere else.”
He sounds resigned. I’m sure they’ve had that conversation many times before. Their search can’t be easy. They’re not even from this country - although they’d probably disagree. But they weren’t born here, and didn’t experience the Drowning here either. I have few memories of the time before the world sank, but those are mostly good ones. When my parents were still alive. When I still had a family.
“Let’s go back inside. It’s getting cold.” Wow, he’s finally noticed. Bears seem to deal with the cold much better than little human me.
Torben once again sweeps me off my feet (in more ways than one) and carries me into the cave. Finn winks at me as he follows us. We must look rather funny. The Viking carrying home his prize.
Ràn has changed back into his human form and is curled up on the ground. His wounds have almost disappeared and he seems to be sleeping peacefully. His brother is by his side, watching the small fire in the centre of the cave.
“How is he?” Torben asks and Húnn looks up, his face hidden in shadows.
“Well enough, I guess,” he says quietly. “He’ll be alright again by tomorrow.”
“Good. We’re leaving as soon as the sun rises,” Torben announces. “Spring is coming and we’ve got a long journey ahead of us.”
* * *
I’m lying across the laps of four bear shifters. They couldn’t decide who was going to cuddle me. Now they’re all laying claim on me. At least they’re wearing trousers. Lucky me.
We’re sitting at the mouth of the cave, watching the sun slowly appearing behind the trees. Its light is painting the world a beautiful orange, driving away the memories of a night of pain and fear. It’s cold, but I’m not. I’m warmed by my four shifters. Yes, my shifters. My four bears. I invaded their island, and they invaded my heart. It’s almost time to leave. I’m excited and a little scared at the same time. But I know we will succeed, because… come on… bears.
Chapter 6
“I see land!”
Ràn rips me from the doze I was in. I haven’t slept properly for two days, and neither have the bears. We’ve been racing across the frozen sea, acutely aware that the ice might start to thaw at any moment. It was a dangerous decision to leave the island like this, a foolhardy one. But one we all agreed to. I wouldn’t have been able to swim like the bears, so this is the only option for me to come with them. And so far, the ice has stayed thick enough to carry our weight, although each creak still makes my heart drop a little. We haven’t talked about what would happen if the ice broke while we were still in the middle of the ocean. Swim, I guess, me on one of the bears until hypothermia made it impossible to hold on. That’s why we don’t talk about it. We all know it would end in disaster.
I prop myself up, adjusting my grip on Finn’s fur. He’s been carrying me for several hours now, through most of the night. He must be exhausted, but just like the others, he continues to run across the ice.
Ràn is riding on his brother, quite a strange sight, one large man on an equally large bear. They’re each taking turns in shifting to human form. Staying as bears is too risky, Torben explained, they might lose themselves if they don’t think like a human for at least an hour or two each day. I have to say, it’s good to have some company. The bears can talk amongst each other in at least a rudimentary form, but I’m the odd one out. And even riding on a bear gets boring after a while, especially in this freezing cold.
I peer into the distance, trying to see the land Ràn announced. Nothing. But I already know that they have much better eyesight than me.
“How far?” I ask, stifling a yawn. Did I mention I haven’t slept in a very long time?
“Maybe twenty minutes, not much longer.” He gives his brother a playful kick in the side. “Fifteen if they hurry up.”
Húnn growls in response but does increase his pace. We are all desperate to feel solid ground beneath our feet. And beds. I hope there are beds. Maybe food. A fire. That’s all I need.
I grimace. Twenty years ago, that might have been easy to get. Now, most of the islands are no longer inhabited, or fenced off. We might not be able to get onto this one. I shake off that depressing thought. No, let’s stick with the image of a cosy fireplace. Some hot chocolate? Definitely.
“Do you think that’s Inchbrach?” I ask Ràn, but he only shrugs.
“No idea. But it’s land and right now, that’s all I care about.”
He looks tired and exhausted. I mustn’t forget that he was badly injured just a few days ago. The shift healed most of it, but he’s still weaker than he’d usually be.
I watch as the thin strip of land comes closer. It’s hard to see properly because the ground is covered in snow just like the ice we’re on. There are no trees, just a few low hills. Nothing to give shelter from the icy wind. Maybe we’ll be able to find another cave further inland. Not that I really want to spend time in a dark hole again. But better than camping out in the snow.
I cuddle against Finn’s warm fur and enjoy the movement of his muscles beneath me. It took me a while to get used to the movement of the bear, but now I’m in sync with him, so much so that I’m almost able to sleep while riding him. Almost. Sleep… Oh well, soon.
As soon as we reach solid ground, I slip off Finn and dramatically kiss the ground. When I get up again, four men are looking at me, three of them naked. They could have warned me that they were going to shift… I sigh and hand out their clothes that I’ve got stashed in my backpack. Ràn puts on his trademark t-shirt and I shiver at the sight. He should be the polar bear, not Torben.
“Let’s see what kind of place we’ve landed on,” the alpha announces and walks towards the closest low hill. Damn, he’s going to want to go up there to have a better view. I’m exhausted. Climbing hills was not on my agenda for today. Sleeping was. Resigned, I climb on Húnn’s back. My ankle is a lot less painful, but I don’t think traipsing through snow is going to do it much good.
Luckily, we never get to the top of the hill.
“Look, there’s smoke!” Finn shouts after we’ve only just started walking up the snowy slope. We all turn in the direction he’s pointing at - in a mixture of happiness and apprehension. This could be friends or foes. If the people on this island are anything like my uncle, they won’t be very welcoming.
“You stay here, don’t go to the top, they might see you. I’ll check it out,” Torben says and runs off without even giving us a chance to respond. I wiggle until Húnn lets me down so I can stand on my own two feet. I regret it immediately.
“Hero syndrome,” Finn mutters and sits down in the snow, patting his thighs. “Isla, you look like you’re going to fall over any second. Sit on my lap, I’m warm.”
How could I resist that invitation? I snuggle into his arms and enjoy the closeness he’s offering me. Yes, I’ve kissed Torben, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate the kindness (and hotness) of the other three. I have ovaries, sue me.
For once, I am glad that I’m quite small. I fit perfectly into the space between his legs. Which reminds me… I can feel something poking against my backside. No, ignore that, Isla. Better not to think about him like that.
“What are we going to do if the people living here are hos
tile?” Ràn asks into the silence. “We need to rest, we can’t run for another day, let alone several.”
“Maybe there’s a cave,” Ràn sighs, repeating my earlier thoughts. “Or at least a hollow where we can hide.”
“How about we put our hopes up? A hut? A cottage?” I asked, dreaming of a cosy living room with a heater and books. A girl can dream.
“Are you doing the opposite of what most normal people would do?” Húnn chuckled, ruffling my hair.
“Well, I’m not normal. Normal people don’t hang out with bears.”
“That’s true. Still, I like you as you are,” Finn whispers and pulls me closer. I breathe in his scent and smile. He is so comfy…
“There are people coming,” Húnn suddenly hisses and I untangle myself from Finn, getting ready to run. I’m in no mood to fight. Not that I knew how to, anyway. My fighting skills extend to using wooden spoons as swords when I was a child. So yeah, not much use in real life.
Finn helps me up and we wait for them to come closer. Somehow, my hand has found his - or was it the other way round? I curl my toes inside my boots. It’s not quite crossing them, but I’m sure it’ll have the same effect. I really want these people to be welcoming.
“It’s Torben and two other guys,” Húnn announces. Looks like he’s the one with the best eyesight. I still can’t see anything. “He’s leading them here so they must be friendly.”
My tension eases a little. Torben is protective of his sleuth and he wouldn’t put them in danger. These men will be safe. And maybe they’ll even let us stay for a night.
Finally, I can see them as well as they walk through the snow towards us. Torben is followed by two guys who are quite a bit older than him. Early sixties, perhaps? One is rather large, but I wouldn’t call him fat. Just big boned and muscly. The other looks like he could be Finn’s father: blond, lean, with wrinkles around his mouth that bear witness to a lot of smiles. Thick glasses surround his eyes.
Shifters Gone Wild; Collection Page 6