“We have to go, now. Emergency clan meeting.”
Ryker raised his eyebrows but didn’t look all that shocked. “I take it Neal was pissed?”
“To put it mildly. Can we borrow one of your snowmobiles to get into town? Mine is probably a pile of ashes since it was parked right next to the shelter when it went up in flames.”
“Sure, here,” Ryker said, and tossed a pair of keys to Eric.
“Delaney, do you want to borrow a parka?” Kenzie asked. “That jacket you wore in here isn’t exactly the warmest for this weather.”
“That would be great,” Delaney said, and Kenzie handed her a parka. The four of them bundled up and then headed out to the snowmobiles. The women each hopped on behind their respective man, and the snowmobiles zoomed off toward town. Delaney had no idea where they were going, exactly, but she didn’t want to press Eric with any further questions. His mood had soured considerably. Delaney kept silent and watched the buildings and parked snowmobiles fly by. Occasionally they would speed past a person in a parka trudging along on foot. It seemed odd to be taking in the normal details of society when Delaney had spent so much of the last day thinking that she was going to die. Everything seemed to be in super sharp focus as she took it in, every little detail a reminder that she was, in fact, still alive and breathing.
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled in front of a building with a sign that read “Neal’s Tattoo Shop.” There were already several snowmobiles in front, and Delaney assumed that the rest of the clan was there already. Either that or the tattoo parlor was doing a heck of a lot of business at the moment. Delaney realized she wasn’t entirely sure what the day or hour was right now. Everything had melted together into a blurry continuum of events.
Ryker and Kenzie filed into the shop, with Eric and Delaney behind them. They walked past the front waiting area and a few tattoo chairs and privacy curtains, and into a back room that was full of boxes and filing cabinets. Delaney recognized Tyler from the Northwinds Pub. He gave Delaney a friendly nod of greeting, but his face had a somber expression on it. Another large man with violet eyes leaned against the wall next to Tyler. And sitting on a large stack of boxes, was a large man with arms crossed and an air of authority. This must be Neal. His expression appeared so angry that Delaney almost expected to see smoke literally coming out of his ears.
“You must be Delaney?” he asked. His voice was strained, but he didn’t sound unkind.
Delaney nodded.
“I’m Neal, the Northern Lights alpha. I see you’ve already met Ryker and Kenzie. Over here is Tyler, who I understand you’ve also met?”
Delaney nodded again.
“Next to him is Alan. This is our entire clan.”
“It’s nice to meet you all.”
Neal gave her a brief nod. “Likewise. If you’d like to have a seat, we’ll begin this meeting.”
Delaney scurried over to sit on a box next to Kenzie. Neal stood and raked his fingers through his hair, pacing back and forth for several moments before speaking.
“There are a few reasons I called this meeting today. The first of which is that we’ve now been exposed as shifters to another human. We’ve got to be more careful, guys. I know you were in an emergency situation, Eric, but you all need to be more careful about putting yourselves in these situations.”
Eric frowned. “With all due respect, Neal, I was being perfectly safe. And you said yourself that you thought the Blizzards were gone for the season. I wasn’t expecting to encounter them out there on the ice.”
Neal’s eyes burned with anger. “I told all of you that I want to approve any human before you start dating her. You took Delaney out on the ice without even telling me about her.”
“I wasn’t planning on it being anything serious.”
“You smell like sex!” Neal bellowed. Delaney’s face turned bright pink at the accusation, but no one else in the room seemed surprised at the blatant accusation.
“I wasn’t planning on anything serious,” Eric repeated, then took a deep breath and stood tall and straight, facing his alpha head-on. “But my bear had other plans. I mated with Delaney and we bonded. I’ve asked her to be my life mate, and she has agreed. We would like to seek the clan’s blessing.”
Delaney saw Tyler’s eyes widen, but no one in the clan said anything. They all focused on Neal, waiting for his response.
“You asked her to be your life mate?” Neal said, his voice filling with rage. “You barely know her.”
“I do know her,” Eric said. “We bonded. She’s forever a part of me now.” Despite the tense situation, Delaney felt her heart filling with warmth at Eric’s words. She was a part of him! He was hers, and she was his.
The warm, fuzzy feeling didn’t last long, however. In the next moment, Neal let out a giant roar, and his hand morphed into an enormous polar bear paw with impossibly long claws extending from its edges. Neal slapped Eric across the room with his paw, sending Eric tumbling into a pile of boxes with a yelp. Delaney sucked in her breath and resisted the urge to run to Eric. Eric stood, slowly, and glared at Neal.
“What is your problem, Neal? I found a wonderful woman, who not only accepts me for who I am, but loves me for who I am. Why don’t you take off your blinders for a minute and stop automatically thinking that all humans are out to get you. Of course, many are. But many aren’t. Delaney’s a good, noble woman. She’s exactly the type of person we need to help rebuild our clan.”
“What is my problem?” Neal asked. “My problem is that I have a clan to protect. A clan with hardly any bears left. If the humans start a bear hunt against us, we don’t stand a chance. We have to be more careful. We can’t afford to keep recklessly exposing ourselves to humans.”
Delaney’s heart burned with anger. This wasn’t fair. Eric was a good man, and a good bear. And she was a loyal human, perfectly capable and willing to keep their secret. Neal was punishing Eric for no good reason.
“No!” Delaney yelled, standing up and looking Neal straight in the eye. Neal’s violet eyes appeared startled, and Delaney could see Eric in her peripheral vision, shaking his head at her, silently pleading with her to sit down and stay out of it. But Delaney had never been one to sit idly by when someone she loved was being attacked. She didn’t care if Neal was an angry bear. She wasn’t going to let him treat Eric this way. Besides, she had already faced death more than once in the last few days. She wasn’t going to let a hot-tempered alpha bear scare her off.
“No, you’re wrong,” Delaney said, her voice still raised. “Eric wasn’t reckless. He had no way of knowing the Blizzards were going to set us out to sea. And he tried everything he could to save me without shifting. But you know what? I’m glad he had to shift in the end, because I got to see him for who he really is. And I love him for who he really is.”
Neal’s eyes blazed with anger, but he said nothing, so Delaney continued.
“I know you’re the alpha here, and you’re concerned with protecting your clan. But you’re so blinded with rage that you won’t see what’s standing right in front of you. I’m here, willing to stand by your side and help the clan. I will help you keep your shifter secrets from the rest of the humans. I will protect you from anyone who wants to start a bear hunt. And, although I’m not physically very strong, I’m smart. I’ll do whatever I can to help you push back the threat of the Blizzards. I’m not here to cause trouble. I’m here to help. Your fight is my fight. Your clan is my clan. Let me stand with you. I promise you will not regret it.”
The room was completely silent. Delaney held her breath as Neal stared at her with agitated eyes. After several moments, he crossed his arms, and sat down on his box again, looking contemplative. Finally, he spoke.
“In all my time as alpha, I’ve never had a woman stand up to me like that. I should be furious, and I sort of am. But I’m also impressed with your gumption. And you’re right. I’m being too hard on Eric, and potentially passing up the opportunity for an amazing new clan membe
r. Clearly, you have what it takes to manage a bear.”
Delaney felt her breath returning to normal, and her wildly beating heart slowly settling down. She had just stood up to the alpha of a clan of bear shifters, and she was still standing here unharmed. Eric still stood with his mouth agape, hardly able to believe that he had just witnessed his girlfriend standing up to his alpha like that.
Neal morphed his paw back into a human hand, then looked over at Eric and smiled. “Eric, you’re right. I should have given Delaney a chance. I’m impressed with her loyalty to you, and we could use more of her kind of tenacity in our clan. I give you my blessing to make her your life mate.”
Eric let out a whoop and ran to Delaney, nearly knocking her over with his enthusiasm as he scooped her up into his arms. Cheers rang out from the rest of the clan, and Kenzie ran up to Delaney to join in on the hug.
“I’m so excited!” Kenzie squealed. “It’s going to be so awesome having you around!”
As the cheers died down, Neal called his clan to order again.
“Congratulations, Eric. And Delaney, welcome to the clan. Now that we’ve settled that issue, I have another pressing matter that we need to think about. As we can see from the recent Blizzard attack on Eric, the Blizzards are still here, despite the warming weather. I’m not sure how long they’ll stay. I’m hoping that with the temperature continuing to rise, we’ll have a break from them soon. But, there are no guarantees.”
Neal looked around at his clan members. Their faces were all somber as they waited for him to continue.
“All of the recent Blizzard attacks have occurred when a bear has been alone, or when the Blizzards have at least thought the bear was alone. If we stick together, the Blizzards are much less likely to attack. With that in mind, I came up with the idea of moving us all to the outskirts of town, where Ryker’s cabin is located. There’s a lot of land out there, and it can be bought up pretty cheaply. We could use clan funds to do that, and to build several more cabins close to each other. It would be a slight inconvenience to those with jobs in town, but I think the extra protection of having the clan together would be worth it. And, quite honestly, I think having more bears around to protect Kenzie will be a good thing. It won’t be too much longer before it’s obvious that she’s expecting a bear cub, and I don’t want the Blizzards to feel like they have an opening to attack her. I know asking everyone to build a new cabin and move is a lot, but I think it will go a long way toward curbing Blizzard attacks. I’d like to hear your thoughts on the plan.”
“I think it sounds fantastic,” Ryker said. “I’d love to have the clan out there near my cabin.”
“I’m fine with the idea,” Tyler said. “Of course, it will make my commute to work a little bit longer. But it still won’t be that bad. Glacier Point is a small enough town that it never takes too long to get anywhere.”
Alan shrugged. “Fine by me. I work from home anyways.”
“Eric?” Neal asked.
Eric grinned. “As long as I have Delaney by my side, I don’t care where the clan lives.”
Neal smiled, and nodded. “Alright then, it’s settled. I’ll handle purchasing the property out there, then you can all decide amongst yourselves who wants which spot for their cabin. We should be ready to build as soon as the snow and ice melts, so we can get everything done before next winter. In the meantime, try to stick together as much as possible. Building cabins close together is just the first step in preparing to defend against a Blizzard attack. I’m not sure when they’ll be back, but they will be back. I thought we were in the clear for a while, but this last attack has shown us that we need to be constantly alert. Stay aware, and look out for your fellow clan members. If we stay close to each other, we can fend them off. We’re much stronger than they are, and there’s safety in numbers.”
The meeting officially adjourned, and Eric and Delaney headed out amidst congratulations from other clan members on their engagement. Delaney beamed as she climbed onto the snowmobile behind Eric for the short ride back to his cabin. Her place in the clan was secured.
A few minutes later, they arrived at Eric’s cabin, and he swept her off her feet up into his arms to carry her over the threshold.
“That was quite a show you put on back there during the meeting,” he said.
Delaney shrugged. “I wasn’t going to lose you just because your alpha has a big temper.”
Eric threw back his head and laughed. “I’m beginning to see that someone is used to getting her way.”
Delaney smirked. “Only when I’m right. Which is most of the time.”
Eric laughed again, and set Delaney down on his couch, then leaned down to kiss her lips. “Well, I’m definitely glad you got your way on this one, my beautiful life mate.”
“Oh, I’m not done getting my way,” Delaney said, lowering her voice to a sultry tone. “I have some plans for you tonight, mister.”
Eric laughed as Delaney pulled him down onto the couch. “Oh, is that so? And what if I resist?”
“It would be better for you if you don’t,” Delaney said, then covered Eric’s mouth with hers and pressed her body against his.
With urgency, she stripped down his jeans, and wriggled out of her own pants. She was already dripping wet. She had been waiting to have him alone again, to have a chance to bond with her life mate again.
“You’re not wasting any time, are you?” Eric said, his voice husky.
“I want you, and I want you now,” Delaney said, then straddled him and slid over his stiff erection. She moved up and down with urgency, relishing the feeling of growing, tingling pleasure. It didn’t take long for passionate heat to fill her body and overtake her. She cried out as the first waves of orgasm hit her, letting the release wash over her like a flood. She rode the swells of pleasure loudly, moaning with ecstasy. But she wasn’t satisfied with just one ride. As her first orgasm subsided, she pulled Eric over onto his side, and then on top of her.
“Take me again!” she pleaded.
He happily obliged.
They made love like their lives depended on it, all afternoon long. As the final rays of sunlight disappeared over the horizon, they lay in a tangled, sweaty mess in each other’s arms. Delaney sighed happily and snuggled into Eric’s arms—into her life mate’s arms. Her last thought as she drifted to dreamland was that it had been a long time since she’d felt so tired and happy all at once.
Chapter Eleven
A few weeks later, Delaney stood with Eric in front of a small clearing of land that was nestled in a grove of pine trees. Snow and ice still covered the ground, but soon it would be melting, and Delaney and Eric would be building a new cabin on this plot. Best of all, Ryker and Kenzie’s cabin stood just a few hundred feet beyond the trees. Delaney could hardly wait to be neighbors with Kenzie. She had spent a lot of time with her new friend over the last several weeks, and the more she got to know Kenzie the more she loved her.
“Are you sure this is the spot you want? Neal purchased this whole stretch of land for the clan, so we have a lot of options.”
Delaney nodded. “This is the spot. It’s perfect. I love how it’s secluded in this pine grove. And it’s the closest lot to Ryker and Kenzie. I’m so excited to move next to them.”
Eric smiled and put his arm around Delaney. “Me too. I’ve enjoyed my place in town, but it will be nice to have the whole clan next to each other again.”
The pair were silent for a few moments, taking in the snowy ground where their future home would stand.
“So…” Delaney said, with a twinkle in her eye. “How many bedrooms should we build?”
“Hmm,” Eric said, playing along with Delaney. “Well, there’s just the two of us, so I guess we only need one bedroom. What do you think?”
“I guess one bedroom is good. Although, you never know when you might want to add a cub or two to the mix.”
“True. So maybe two bedrooms? One for us and one for the cub?”
“Maybe fo
ur bedrooms.”
“Four bedrooms? That would be three cubs!” Eric said.
Delaney shrugged. “Gotta rebuild the clan somehow.”
Eric chuckled, and kissed the top of Delaney’s head. “Nothing would make me happier than having a cub with you. Except maybe having three cubs with you. We’ll build four bedrooms, and we’ll fill them with beautiful little cubs. As many as you want.”
Delaney grinned, then sighed. “Too bad we have to wait on the weather to start building. It would have been so nice to have a cabin ready to move into right after our life mate ceremony.”
“We could push the life mate ceremony back, if you want? A few months from now the cabin should be done.”
Delaney shook her head. “No way. Don’t think you’re getting out of marrying me next week, Eric Caldwell!”
Eric laughed and hugged Delaney tighter. “I want nothing more than to be your life mate. But I want the ceremony to be everything you dreamed of.”
“It will be, because I’m getting you for a life mate. What more could I ask for?” Delaney said, then tilted her head up to give Eric a soft kiss on the lips.
“Well, there is one thing you haven’t asked for, but I know you want,” Eric said.
Delaney gave him a quizzical look.
“Come with me,” he said, and walked a few feet over to where their snowmobile was parked. He opened the storage compartment and pulled out a large paper bag, then handed it to her. When she peeked inside she saw a box wrapped in colorful gift wrap.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“Open it and see,” Eric said.
Delaney pulled off her gloves and set them on the seat of the snowmobile, then carefully tore away the wrapping paper. Underneath, she found a box for a brand new, top of the line professional camera.
“Eric! This is the best digital camera on the market right now. I’ve been drooling over this model since it came out two months ago. This is for me?”
Bearing the Whiteout (Ice Bear Shifters Book 2) Page 7