Wild Men of Alaska Collection

by Tiffinie Helmer

  The day was a weird one. Either everyone was being affected by the twenty-four hours of daylight, the summer solstice coming up, or she wasn’t privy to a town “language” that everyone else was. She tried calling Lynx, hoping he was free to have lunch with her, but had to leave a voicemail when he didn’t answer.

  When there was no word from him at the end of her day, Eva decided to head to the lodge for dinner.

  She nodded to a few people on her walk as the lodge was only a mile from her place. Nice thing about small towns, most things were within walking distance. She’d probably only need her car to travel to Fairbanks, or to explore farther than the village. It would sure save her a lot in gas money. Besides, it was calming and beautiful to walk outside in the fresh air and sunshine. In Cincinnati she was always in the car from work to home to store. It was an effort to spend anytime outside because she was always rushing somewhere. This was a nice change of pace she hadn’t known she needed.

  She stepped up on the plank sidewalk of the lodge and entered the restaurant section. The lodge was the town hub. Part hotel, part restaurant, and part country store. If they didn’t have what she needed, Fairbanks or the Internet was her only hope.

  “Hey, Eva,” Lynx’s uncle Pike hollered from the kitchen. “How’s life treating ya?”

  “Great. Just great.”

  “So I heard.” He saluted her with his spatula and a smile, returning his focus to the grill.

  What did he mean by that?

  She took a seat at the same table she’d waited for Lynx the night he’d stood her up so she could see out the windows, which were wide open to let the cooler air in. She’d be hard pressed to find any building in Alaska with air conditioning.

  “Good to see you again, Eva,” Bree greeted, setting a water glass in front of her. “Looks as if you and Lynx made up. Is he meeting you?”

  “No. It’s just me.” Did everyone know they were a couple already? Who had Lynx been talking to? She hadn’t told anyone. Not that she had many friends to tell. She hadn’t made more than acquaintances as of yet.

  There weren’t many people in the restaurant as it was early for the dinner crowd. A few tourists at one table and two old sourdoughs sitting near the window, one with bat-winged brows and another with a snowy beard that would give Santa a run for his money. She half listened to the conversations going on around her as she studied the menu. She was starved after the night she’d had.

  “Now, that there ain’t no Fred Meyer bra,” Bat-wing Brow said around a mouthful of food. “That’s one of those fancy Victoria Secret numbers.”

  How would they know what kind of bra a woman was wearing under her clothes? Eva centered more of her hearing on their conversation. Beat the one with the woman tourist discussing the merits of different bug spray brands to her husband who looked like he was ready to bug out.

  “Bet you a cord of wood that’s a citified garment,” Bat-winged Brow said.

  “How in the hell do you know that?” Snowy Beard asked.

  “No way is that boulder holder going to keep the titties warm come winter. I guarantee you that.”

  “Like you’ve seen any titties in the last two decades,” Snowy Beard said, shoveling mashed potatoes in his mouth.

  “Now don’t be spouting off about things you know nothing about,” Bat-winged Brow said. “Granted it’s been a few seasons between the lovelies, but by the looks of the bra BW is sporting, I’d lay ten to one odds that bra is our new nurse practitioner’s.”

  Eva jerked up from the menu and looked out the window at what the men were talking about.

  There was BW grazing on wildflowers alongside the road with her lavender bra hanging off his antlers.

  Holy shit.

  How had that moose gotten a hold of her bra? She sank into her chair and raised the menu to cover her face. Her heart thrashed like a hummingbird’s as she tried to think it through.

  Lynx had taken the bra off her last night along with her top while they were still outside her door. Come to think of it, she didn’t know where her top was either. She hadn’t given her clothes a thought, not when all she could think of was Lynx. Embarrassment flamed up her body in waves.

  “No way am I taking that bet,” Snowy Beard said. “But I’ll think I’ll make an appointment with the little gal. How do you think BW came about such a lovely garment?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past Lynx to have found a way around her mad for standing her up the other night. That boy never did stay in trouble for long.”

  “Yep, he sure does have a way with the ladies.”

  Eva sank farther behind her menu. A way with the ladies? How many ladies? Maybe he wasn’t as invested in their relationship as she realized she was.

  Had she jumped from one doomed relationship to another? You couldn’t call what she’d done a pattern because she hadn’t fallen for another gay man. Lynx was as straight as a birch tree. But could he be just entertaining himself with her? And where the hell was he anyway?

  “Have you decided what to order?” Bree asked, trying her hardest to keep a straight face. She’d heard those old sourdoughs too. Damn it.

  Eva slapped the menu down on the table. It wasn’t in her to hide like some simpering female. “I want the moose steak. Rare.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Crap, there were three of them.

  How was he going to take down three poachers? Lynx settled back on his haunches, hiding deep within the diamond willow and watched. He needed to catch them unawares, and so far they’d been pretty damn aware.

  He should have known it was Chad Diamond bringing in hunters on Refuge land. Damn idiot, he knew better than to risk poaching. They’d put him away for good this time. The other two men Lynx didn’t recognize. Knowing Chad, he was hiring out as a guide and charging a king’s ransom.

  One man was big, well over six feet, probably as tall as Lynx was, somewhere in his forties, but that beer belly would slow him down. The other worried Lynx a little more. About ten years younger than Beer Belly, he had a military stance and comfortable manner in which he held his rifle as though it were an extension of his limbs. He wore camo cargo pants with a big knife strapped to his belt, along with a handgun. Lynx figured he probably had a smaller one strapped to his ankle. Yeah, he’d be the one to worry about. Chad would most likely run for the hills.

  Lynx had found their truck where his informant had said it was and parked right next to it. Not leaving anything to chance, he’d disabled the late 80’s pick-up by taking out the distributor cap and hiding it in the woods. He snapped pictures of the butchered moose head already lying in the bed of the truck, sickened over the needless waste for a fucking trophy to hang on some idiot’s wall. He’d tracked them into the woods from there. Now he sat, ignoring the protesting of his muscles as he blended into the foliage around him.

  The evidence indicated a snatch and grab. The trio had no camping equipment, and didn’t build a fire to cook their lunch as they rested and ate MREs.

  Lynx slowly slid his cell phone from his pocket. One bar. Pretty soon he wouldn’t have that. He texted his trooper buddy in Fairbanks and sent his GPS coordinates. Chances were this would be all over with by the time Nate could get here. Lynx was on his own, but that didn’t really bother him. He did most of his job alone.

  He waited. One thing about stopping for lunch, their next step would be to relieve themselves. Then he’d catch them with their pants down.

  Beer Belly was the first to stand, spitting and hiking up his belt.

  “Fucking-a, Pete,” Beer Belly said. “As soon as we bag that other moose I’m going to get me some of that honey at the Lodge. Did you see the lips on that native? They’re going to look might purty around my pecker.” He turned to Chad. “Whatdaya say her name was?”

  “Raven,” Chad answered, tearing off another bite of jerky.

  Lynx steeled himself to remain where he was and not gut the man where he stood.

  “But if I were you, I’d leave her alon
e,” Chad continued. “She’s got a badass of a brother who also happens to be the Refuge Officer.”

  Whom they were about to meet. At least Chad was showing some sense. Dumbass. Breaking bread with these men.

  “Naw,” Pete said, relaxing his stance a little. He’d yet to sit. “You can go for the native, Big Bart. I want a taste of that sweet little blonde nurse. Bet she’s a hellcat in the sack.”

  Yeah, he had to die.

  “You can’t be dipping your wicks in Chatanika,” Chad said, with a shake of his head. “Bad enough you’ve been hanging out there. We bag that second bull moose, and you get the fuck out of town, and forget you were ever here. No dawdling.”

  “Relax, Chad,” Big Bart said. “We’re savvy enough to bag more than one trophy on this trip.” Big Bart gave a raunchy laugh along with a few hip thrusts. Pete joined in with a more sedate chuckle while Chad shook his head again.

  Lynx almost felt sorry for him.

  Pete looked around and then seemed to relax his guard and took a seat on a fallen log.

  Yeah, get comfortable with your surroundings, Lynx thought.

  Big Bart grabbed his rifle. “I’m going to go give Mother Nature a what for.” And headed off into the trees.

  Lynx readied himself, inching quiet as a cat, in the direction of Beer Belly Bart.

  “Don’t be taking all day,” Pete hollered. “I want to be in that blonde’s bed by sundown.”

  Asshole. Sundown wasn’t happening until sometime in July, and no way was Lynx letting him get close to Eva.

  “No sundown, remember,” Chad pointed out.

  “It’s an expression,” Pete responded. “You’re strung too tight.”

  “Let’s just get the moose and get out of here.” Chad looked around. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

  Pete stood, drawing his gun, scanning the clearing. A porcupine swaggered slowly by. “It’s just a rodent. You need a woman worse than we do.”

  “What I need is to get this over with.”

  Not to worry, Lynx thought. It will be over with soon enough.

  He skirted the clearing, staying deep within the shadows. The forest seemed to hold its breath as he headed in the direction of Big Bart.

  The man was whizzing on a poor bush of wild rosehips. Lynx snuck up behind him, Glock already palmed, and placed the barrel at the base of Bart’s head. “Don’t move,” he growled softly.

  Bart squeaked.

  “Shake it off, and put your hands in the air,” Lynx said.

  “Shit, man. I need to shit.”

  “Not my problem, dumbass. Come on, zip it up.” Lynx waited until the man did what he said. With his hands in the air, Lynx searched him, finding a hunting knife, pepper spray, and another firearm. He was packing more than Lynx had given him credit for.

  Never underestimate your prey.

  Big Bart’s rifle leaned against a tree too far out of range. First rule of the forest, you never put your rifle out of arm’s reach even while answering a call of nature.

  “Hands behind you,” Lynx said.

  “Come on, man, all I was doing was taking a piss. Don’t tell me there’s a law against that?”

  “I’m sure the rosehips would like to file a charge. You know what this is about. You picked the wrong place to poach. Alaskans take the crime of poaching seriously.”

  “P-poaching? Man, we’re out here for a nature hike.”

  “Right. Hands behind you.”

  “Give me a break,” Bart whined. “I can’t get my hands behind me.”

  That was a problem. The man’s girth started at his shoulders and worked its way down to his gut, his legs looked fairly trim, causing him to resemble an ostrich.

  “Fine, in front then.” Though Lynx preferred the off-balance of a prisoner’s arms behind him, the man would still be restrained.

  Big Bart gave a deep sigh and put his hands together over his stomach. “I could really make this worth your time if you would forget I was here.”

  “I can’t be bribed, but I’m happy to add that to the list of charges.” Lynx zip-tied Bart’s hands together while he read him his rights. All the while Bart bitched like a PMSing woman.

  “Yo, Big Bart, what the hell’s taking you so long?” Pete hollered.

  “Run, Pete! I’ve been snagged by a trooper,” Bart bellowed.

  Shit.

  The problem was Pete didn’t run.

  Before Lynx could blink a fist slammed into his face, followed up by another to his gut. Air whooshed out of him, and he fought to stay on his feet with stars blinking overhead. He blocked another hit, but not the one to the back of his head.

  Damn. Chad, the weasel, had snuck up behind him.

  The midnight sun set behind his eyelids.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Eva sat in wait for BW.

  She’d get her bra back from that reputation-ruining moose if it was the last thing she did. She’d bought apples at the lodge’s market and laid a trail back to her place. With her kitchen shears in hand, she watched BW munch away and wondered how stupid she really was to sneak up on him and cut her bra free of his antlers.

  Where the hell was Lynx? The man had tranquilizers that would come in real handy right about now.

  There had been no return calls from her messages. Yes, she was upset with herself that she’d actually left more than one. All right three. Lynx hadn’t seemed the type of man to sleep with a woman and then forget her the next day. She hadn’t figured him for a player. But then, she didn’t have the best track record with men either. So what the hell did she know?

  Case in point, she was stalking a moose with a pair of scissors.

  She crept up on BW. His ears twitched, one facing toward her, the other facing back. This damn moose was determined to make a headline out of her. Instead of her being held hostage in her house, she was now going to be known as the cheechako in a tug-a-war for her bra, which would bring up questions of how she lost it in the first place.

  This was so messed-up. Or fucking moosed-up. Yeah, she completely understood the terminology now.

  She inched a couple of feet closer to BW. His head stayed down as he munched the pieces of apples she’d sliced with her newly purchased pocket knife—also from the lodge—while on the trek back to the clinic.

  She bit her lips to keep from uttering, “Nice moosey” again. Last time that had gotten her chased up a tree. A few more inches closer, and suddenly BW raised his massive rack and pierced her with his deep, knowing brown eyes. There was intelligence there, probably more than she possessed. Her very expensive, lavender, Victoria Secret bra—the sourdoughs knew their lingerie—swung from his antlers.

  They stared at each other. Eva didn’t breathe as she slowly raised her hand with the scissors.

  “What are you doing?”

  Eva yelped, jumping back and dropping the scissors while BW took off into the woods, spraying her with clumps of dirt, her lavender bra waving like a flag as he navigated the trees.

  Damn it.

  Eva swung around to find Raven behind her.

  “Are you nuts?” Raven asked. “What did you think you were doing?”

  “Trying to cut my bra off his antlers.” Wasn’t it obvious?

  Raven paused and then started to laugh, holding her stomach as she bent at the waist and gave into the belly roll.

  In disgust, Eva gave a longing look in BW’s direction. No sign of him. Who knew how long it would take to coax him back, and how many apples? She’d have to drive into Fairbanks since she’d bought out the lodge.

  She picked up the scissors and took a seat on the stairs while Raven laughed. Raven eventually sobered, wiping her eyes of tears, and joined Eva.

  “You should have seen yourself. I thought you were going to stab him or something.”

  “I’m not that much of an idiot. Besides, if I want to stab someone, I have much sharper instruments in the clinic.”

  “So, it is true. Want to tell me how BW came about wearing your un
dergarments?”

  “One undergarment. And would you buy that I’d hung clothes to dry, and he got tangled in the clothes line?”

  “No, not when I see how Lynx looks at you.”

  “Does everyone know?” This small town stuff was going to take a lot of getting used to. She never thought she’d miss the anonymity of the big city.

  “Yes. They’re taking bets.”

  “Bets! On what?”

  “Well, the first—and this was set when you arrived in town—how long you’d last. The second, and more interesting, is whether or not you’ll tame Lynx.”

  “Tame Lynx? As in...?” She couldn’t bring herself to utter the word.

  “Yes, marriage.” Raven laughed all over again at Eva’s shocked expression. “Relax, the invitations haven’t gone out. Yet.” She giggled again, wiping at the mirth tearing in her eyes. “Damn, but you are fun.”

  “We aren’t even technically dating. He stood me up, and after sleeping with him last night, he hasn’t returned any of my calls.”

  Now, why had she said that?

  “Ah, I knew there was a good story on how BW got a hold of your bra.” Raven suddenly got serious. “How do you feel about Lynx?”

  “Uh.” Did she share with this woman? While they had been friendly since she’d arrived in town, they weren’t really confidants. She hadn’t had a confidant since Jeremy. Did she want to risk developing another one? Yes, as it turned out, she did. “Can we talk?” She dropped the scissors on the stair next to her and clasped her hands between her knees. “I really could use another woman to talk to.”

  Raven met her eyes and studied her for a long uncomfortable minute, as though really sizing her up. “You realize he’s my brother?”

  “Can you be impartial?”

  “I think so.”

  Eva gathered her courage. Courage that she used to have buckets full of until Davis and Jeremy had emotionally beaten her up. She set all that aside. This was a new life, a new beginning, and Raven, a new friend.

  “I think I could really care for Lynx. What am I saying? I already care too much for him.”