by April Zyon
When Alaska woke up, she felt like she was floating. There was a sharp and horrifying pain, but it was almost out of reach. It was like it was being held back by some sort of bubble. I.. She could hear her mom talking to someone, someone with a deep voice that went straight through Alaska’s gut and down lower. She jerked in their direction, she couldn’t seem to help herself. She felt her hand involuntarily reaching toward that voice and then gasped as that bubble burst that was holding back the pain, and it all flooded into her body like a freight train.
“Alaska, baby.” Her mom was there in just a moment, touching her and brushing her hair away from her cheeks. “Don’t move baby. Drake sent one of his men to get the doctor. Oh honey, we didn’t know if you were going to wake up or not.” Her mom leaned in and kissed her cheeks then and her forehead making Alaska wince.
“Oh God, Mom, that hurts.” She said with a gasp.
“I’m sorry, baby.” Her mom brushed her fingers across Alaska’s cheeks again. “Drake and his men found you just in time, baby, and they’ve been here since you were brought in. They seem like good guys.”
“Who's Drake?” Alaska swallowed and then coughed—more pain. “Water, please?”
Why was her mom talking about some guy named Drake and acting like she should know him? Her mom was acting all kinds of weird.
In just a moment there was a straw at her lips and a massive shadow standing at her side. Whoa, that shadow was way too big to be her dad or her sister so who the hell was it? Was it her sister’s new husband? Maybe that was who this guy was. Alaska tried to focus on the man but he was just a huge fuzzy mess, her head hurt too much for her to actually focus.
She took a drink and sighed. “Thank you.”
Then there was that voice again, that deep voice that went straight through her whole body and soul. It had to come from the man who appeared blurred to her who gave her water, the words, you’re welcome, just made her shiver, and she knew her nipples hardened which was embarrassing.
“You’re very welcome little one.” He said once more, and it almost sounded like he was smiling. She liked that, a lot. “I’m just glad we were able to get there in time. I’m afraid you will have to deal with insurance and the rental agency, but that’s for later. For now, you are safe, and that’s all that matters.”
“I don’t even remember how it happened.” She leaned into her mates touch almost instinctively and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry I screwed up Christmas, mom.” She whispered while leaning into that man.
“Don’t even say that, baby girl. You’re safe.”
“Thanks, mom.” Alaska yawned then and licked her lips. “I think I need to go to sleep.”
“Sleep baby girl, rest.”
Her mom moved away from her side, and she heard the door open and close behind her. She was then surprised when she felt the gentlest of touches to her cheek and that male voice once more. “Sleep, little one. You are protected. I won’t let anyone hurt you, this I swear to you. I couldn’t protect you before, but I will now.” He assured her.
How weird, why would she need protection?
“The police will want to question you soon, but if you want, I will stay with you, just tell them that. I won’t leave you, you are a part of me. I know you don’t understand this, but when you wake, I swear I will explain everything to you.” He thought she was asleep, she realized. “You are mine, you are the only one that could or would ever complete me, and I will never give you up. I’m so damn happy to have you in my life. I’ve waited so long.” He leaned in and brushed his lips against her cheek. “You are my mate, now and for all time, and I will never allow anyone to harm you ever again.” She heard the conviction in his voice, but what’s more, she loved the feeling of his lips against her cheek. “Sleep little one. Sleep.”
It was almost as if his words were hypnotic because before she knew it, she was sound asleep.
****
Drake leaned back in the seat at Alaska’s bedside and watched her sleep. He let out the breath he’d been holding. Rubbing his hands over his face, he shook his head. His mate was in better shape than she should be after her accident, truth be told. He was blessed that she was as strong as she was. Her mother and father had gone home, but he hadn’t. He had refused to leave her side, and he was thankful that the doctor who was taking care of her was also a shifter and understood when Drake had told him that she was his mate.
Her parents had been exhausted, but they wouldn’t have left had it not been for Alaska’s little sister and the woman’s fiancé they would have stayed. There was something about the young woman and man that not only had Drake and his bear standing up and growling but his men as well. Each of his clan had voiced that they didn’t care for the young couple, especially when the woman complained that Alaska obviously did this to herself to take away from her special Christmas announcement. It took every ounce of Drake’s considerable willpower not to yank the woman over his lap and spank the spoiled rotten child because that was exactly how she was acting, like a spoiled, petulant child that wasn’t getting her way.
When his angel moved in her sleep once more, Drake was there at her side. He placed his hand on her cheek and whispered against her cheek. “Shh, calm little one. I’m here.”
“Thirsty.” She was still more asleep than not, and he was very well aware of that however he couldn’t and wouldn’t deny her anything. He gave her a small sip of water through the straw once more and watched as she drifted back off into slumber. She drank from his hand, his bear chuffed in happiness. If only she understood what that meant to shifters. He would tell her one day, however when she was awake and able to make her own decisions without pain. When she was sound asleep again, he leaned back. Not even five minutes had passed before he could feel one of his men just outside of the door. Adam if he wasn’t mistaken. He growled a low come in, to his man and looked up at him.
“What have you found out?” Drake asked immediately as he sat there at Alaska’s side holding her hand. She was out cold, but he had to touch her, especially if the look on Aeolus’s face was any indication.
“Her brake lines were tampered with, her steering compromised, and from what we were able to learn from the rental agency the SUV had been earmarked for her before her getting there. In fact, someone else had already been there and looked it over before she had arrived, which is very odd.”
“Very.” Drake agreed with a frown. “Her family was at their home and were all accounted for.”
“Not the fiancé.” Adam interrupted. “He and the sister had gone out, Christmas Shopping, but we both know that there is nowhere in that area that you can really Christmas shop at.”
“Her sister is a spoiled young woman, but I find it hard to believe that she would have anything to do with trying to murder her own sister. Besides, she doesn’t seem to be all that intelligent.”
“This is true. I will do some more looking around, but there is something about the male. I can’t find anything on him prior to five years ago, and we both know he’s human so that means he’s got something big to hide. I’ve called in a favor from Samuel.”
Samuel was their contact in DC, a man that they had all served in the SEALs with and a man they had trusted with their lives. He was also now a black ops team leader who had more access to files than they did.
“Shit.”
“We are doing rolling patrols in the hospital until your mate is able to come home.”
“Thank you, Aeolus.” Drake bowed his head to his longtime friend and then smiled. “She’s tougher than anyone expected, that’s good.”
“She’s going to need to be to stand up to you and your growly, cranky ass,” Adam said with a laugh and took a seat at one of the chairs at the foot of the woman’s bed. “The parents don’t know that there was an attempt on her life, the police are waiting until she wakes fully at your request.”
“I owe Douglas for that one.” The Sheriff had held back on Drake’s request. At first, he hadn’t wanted to
upset the parents of his mate, but now it seemed as if this was far more than just that. Perhaps now it was his inner animal trying to protect his mate from the real danger? Her family maybe?
“We don’t have any sort of proof, but we will get it. Blaze is going to talk to the young man that helped her at the rental agency in Anchorage and get everything from him. You know as well as I do that Blaze is the best man for that job.”
Blaze might be a smart ass who was more willing to joke than not, but when it came to getting information from people he was the smoothest and the best of the best. When they were SEALs, it was often Blaze who would go in to gather information for them from the most difficult of informants.
“Tell him to call me, day or night. I don’t care when it is. I need to know as soon as he does. I have to know what or who I’m protecting her from.”
“We all need to know.” Adam agreed.
“Thank you.” Drake bowed his head, humbled by the show of solidarity from his clanmate. “For now, will you watch over her while I take a five-minute shower?”
“I was going to say something about you stinking to high heavens, but I wanted to keep my head on my shoulders,” Adamsaid with a laugh.
Drake snorted and stood. “If she wakes, get me no matter what.” Drake was loathe to leave her side, but he knew that he needed to shower and change clothes so that he didn’t look like a crazy man when her parents came back the next day. He and his men had talked their way into the family’s good graces and oddly they hadn’t thought twice about he and his men staying there with Alaska. Several of the people in the hospital knew what he was and realized by the way that he was acting that Alaska was his. He was certain that it had gone through the grape-vine that he had claimed Alaska as his, and he was perfectly fine with that.
Before he could talk himself out of it, he walked away from his mate and into the on suite bathroom so that he could shower.
Chapter 6
Two weeks later…
It had been utterly surreal when Alaska had woken fully. Sure, she had hurt like hell, but the biggest shock was when she saw Drake Tillman sitting at her bedside holding her hand and talking to a huge man that stood off to the side of him. From that moment forward her whole world had seemed to turn on its ear. Drake was always there, and her family appeared to accept him as part of her life even though she hadn’t known him before she woke in the hospital two weeks earlier. They had both discussed the immediate and intense attraction that they had, she had told him about the lust she had for him pretty much all of her life.
For the last week, however, it had been just her, Drake and his men rotating in and out of the room. Her sister and the idiot that she had attached herself to had to go back to the lower states to work and her parents decided it would be better for them to go as well. They talked Alaska into staying in the hospital, but oddly enough it hadn’t taken much convincing on their part. It wasn’t as if she had to get back to her home, after all, her job was based online, so there she was in Alaska healing from injuries sustained in an auto accident and spending time with her idol, Drake Tillman.
She looked up at something that one of the men said and smiled, Aeolus, she thought his name was. Yes, that was who it was. She heard Blaze snapping some snide comment back that had her snickering, until she noticed the look on Drake’s face and realized that the man that Adam was making fun of was him. Hilarious, now if only she could recall exactly what it was that Adam had said she would be much happier.
“And then he went back into the bar, thanked the bartender for all he’d done to help him get his face smashed in and then promptly fell to his stomach, out cold.” Blaze added helpfully.
Alaska snickered and then she heard the best sound ever, Drake’s laugh. She didn’t know why but there was just something about hearing that man laugh that made every inch of her body respond to him. She saw him turning to look at her as well, and if she didn’t know better, there was the same hunger in his gaze as she was feeling in the pit of her stomach. The rest of the men were handsome, but none affected her the way that Drake did.
These men acted more like a family than they did a crew of men that rescued people from their own stupidity, herself included. Part of her cringed because she knew that her time in fantasy land was coming to an end. Her doctors had been in and told her that she should be able to leave within the next two weeks, and she mourned that woefully too short of time. Two weeks wasn’t enough time for her to fill her mind and soul with enough sounds, touches, and scents of Drake to last a lifetime. She was lucky however, she had broken several ribs, punctured lung, concussion, a broken arm and a shitload of lacerations that had required a boatload of stitches but she had healed. It had been her unconsciousness for so long that had the doctors keeping her as long as they had.
She suddenly realized that she didn’t want that two weeks to end, ever. She wanted to spend more time with this man, with his friends and for the first time in her life, she felt as if she belonged. In this backwoods hole in Alaska, she felt as if she had found a home. It was crazy, but it was because of Drake and nothing else, especially since she hadn’t seen anything outside of the hospital.
She looked up and wiped a tear from her left eye and recognized suddenly that she and Drake were alone.
“I need to talk to you, little one.” He said and leaned into her and touched the tear that trailed down her cheek. “Why the tear, Alaska? You looked so sad all of a sudden, so I sent everyone away so that we could talk.”
****
It had been the tear that had done him in. The moment he smelled her sadness he silently pushed his friends out of the, but then when he saw her tear it was almost like she had ripped his heart out and handed it to him. He moved her over on the bed, gently of course, and then sat at her side so that he could look at her face to face. He watched her, and then touched his fingertip under her chin and lifted it so that he could see into her eyes. “I need to tell you some things, but you need to stay calm.” He flipped off the machines so that the alarms wouldn’t be raised when he told her everything he needed to say to her.
“The boys will ensure that they don’t notice that the machines are off.” He explained when he saw her eyes flip to the machine. “You don’t need it anyway. You are healing wonderfully, little one.” He cooed and then brushed his thumb over her lips. “When I saw you in that car, I knew I had to get you out, or I was going down with you.” He admitted to her. And took another deep breath.
“I don’t understand.” She did, however, lean into his touch and closed her eyes. He liked how she closed her eyes and searched for his touch. It was how a mate should react and how he had always dreamed his mate would respond to him.
“I’m going to explain everything to you, Alaska, but I need for you to stay calm, okay? I swear to you everything that I’m going to tell you is the truth, I’ve been at your bedside for several weeks, and you know that what I say, I mean. When I’ve had to leave you it’s been because of a rescue, but you know that I would always come back to you because you mean something to me, but it’s more than that. It’s so much more than that. This thing that you are feeling isn’t what normal humans feel. It’s something that is felt between mates. Something that would be felt between a shifter and his mate. The pain that you felt when I left and the instant relief that you felt was because of us being mates.” He waited to see if she would pick up on that one word he uttered aloud for the first time.
He knew she had because he heard her heart rate increase, and her gasp for air.
“Shifter?” Was all that she had said in a very soft whisper.
“Yes baby, shifter. I’m not entirely human.” he could smell her confusion now. “I’m a polar bear shifter, Alaska. I would show you right now, baby, but I can’t, not in here. I will show you when we get you home. I know you don’t believe me, but it’s true. I can smell your confusion. I can also smell your attraction to me, and it’s been driving me crazy. My friends are also polar bear shifters; t
hey’re part of my clan, and I am their Alpha. They know you’re mine. That’s why they’ve stayed here. To help me protect you.”
“I am attracted to you and have been for a very long time, I’m confused because I never believed that shifters were real. I thought that they were the things of romance novels or something like that. Also, why would you need to protect me? I knew that all of you were there and hanging around but I didn’t know why, so, why?”
This was where it got even trickier, where things could go even worse. “Alaska, someone meant for you to die in that accident, honey.”
She gasped, “What?” Was the only word that was said along with that gasp of air.
He heard her gasp, watched her chest rise and fall in her shock, but when he caught the scent of her fear it made his bear growl, he couldn’t help it. “I won’t let anyone hurt you, Alaska. I swear it to you.”
“I believe you.” The truth in her words resonated in the air, and made his bear rumble in pleasure.
“I’m going to get you out of here and to the pack lands. Oliver is a medic and has everything that he needs to ensure your continued care so that you heal properly. I know we shouldn’t move you, but Trent scented something was off in one of the rooms beside yours and…” There was hesitation, he didn’t want to tell her, but he knew that he shouldn’t keep anything from her, ever. “The last day that your sister and brother in law were here, after they left, Trent walked past the room to the left of yours and scented explosives. If they hadn’t been found, it would have taken out the wall at your head and since you have oxygen, you as well, Alaska. Someone wants you dead, but we don’t know who, and we don’t know why.”
“Someone wants me dead? And it just happened to be right after my sister and brother in law left?”
He had his suspicions, but the explosives had blown once they had safely gotten them out of the hospital before they could disarm them. None of them had been able to get a scent from them so that had them back to square one. Same with the car, it was destroyed when it hit the gulley and exploded after they pulled her out.