Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
All of her life, Kaitlin is drawn to wounded animals that need her help. Yet, when she follows an injured turtledove, and its mate, into the woods near her remote cabin in Alaska, she finds out the bird really doesn’t need her help. The only question she has now is why did the two birds lead her away from her home to a place where a polar bear waited to attack her. The thing that bothers her the most is, why is she so drawn to the two Scotsmen who rescued her from it?
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Polar Bear S-express
Copyright © 2012 Tianna Xander
ISBN: 978-1-77111-400-4
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Polar Bear S-express
By
Tianna Xander
Chapter One
Kaitlin walked through the woods, her arms full. She’d been looking for kindling. Stopping, she took a moment to smell the clean air and take in the beauty of the forest. Utter silence surrounded her, with the exception of the sound of her footsteps and the occasional snow-covered branch dumping its burden onto the ground with a low thud.
Nature had its own beauty. Unlike humans, it created beauty without destroying something else. Kaitlin loved that about being outside—smelling the clean air, taking in the natural beauty that surrounded her.
A cold breeze wafted over her as she turned and headed back to the cabin where she’d come to spend the holidays. She was alone. That was nothing new. Kaitlin was always alone on the holidays.
With her husband gone, she hated attending family functions. It was as though she was the family charity case. Everyone invited her over, but she didn’t accept. She always felt like a fifth wheel. Not to mention the fact that she didn’t want their charity, no matter how freely it was given.
The easiest thing for everyone was for her to take her vacation during the holiday months. This year, she had chosen Alaska. It didn’t matter that it got just as cold here as it did in Michigan. All that mattered was that she would be away from her well-meaning family. Next year, if she was still alone, she would go somewhere else. It had been the same every year since Ray passed.
Every year, Kaitlin would hole up in some out of the way place and spend the holidays alone. That way she didn’t have to wonder just who was talking about her, saying things like, poor Kaitlin, so young and already alone. The worst was when she walked in on the conversations. It embarrassed everyone, but mostly, it embarrassed her.
The best way to avoid the discomfort that caused everyone was to avoid the family gatherings, which was why she had decided to start spending the holidays alone. When one of her friends offered the use of her family’s vacation property, she jumped at the chance.
At least this year her accommodations didn’t cost her much more than what it cost for her groceries and fuel for the heater and generator. Though things were more expensive here than back home. Still, saving money was always good. Everyone in her family thought her husband had left her well off. She didn’t want to ruin that illusion for them. It would make them feel guilty for not insisting that she spend more time with them. Kaitlin didn’t want that.
Since she had all of the kindling she could carry, Kat turned back toward the cabin. With luck, she wouldn’t have to do this again for a while. While the heater did the job of keeping the small cabin warm, she wanted to supplement the furnace with a fire. With the fire, the cabin was warmer and it didn’t take as much fuel. Unlike gas for the generator and fuel oil for the heater, the wood was free.
It was a win-win situation as far as she was concerned. Kara had told her she could use as much of the firewood and deadwood as she could find to keep her costs down. She had found a lot. Just as she reached for the door, a strange sound caught her attention.
Kurr, kurr, kurr.
“What was that?” Looking around, Kaitlin didn’t see anything. Turning the knob, she opened the door and took a step inside.
Kurr, kurr, kurr.
Again, she looked around, but saw nothing.
Kurr, kurr, kurr.
For some reason, the sound seemed to grow more insistent. It was as though the creature that made it was getting impatient.
Setting her armload of wood down just inside the door, Kaitlin walked back outside, closing the cabin door behind her. Kaitlin stood on the porch listening for the sound. She thought perhaps it had come from the eaves of the cabin. Taking a few steps out into the front yard, Kaitlin looked up at the roof.
Kurr, kurr, kurr.
Her eyes widened when she finally saw what made the noise. On the roof, nestled in the gutter, were two snow-white birds. They looked down at her quizzically, as though they knew something she didn’t.
They repeated their now familiar call. The sound was more insistent yet. One of them seemed to glare at her as though she didn’t have much in the brains department. Maybe she didn’t. After all, she stood out here in the cold, looking up at two birds that appeared to be nesting in the eaves, instead of going inside where it was warm.
“What do you want? Are you hungry?” She started to go back inside to get them a slice of bread. She didn’t have much that she thought birds could eat, but she had made a loaf of bread just yesterday.
The birds stopped her with an anxious sounding noise. Looking up, she put her hands on her hips. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you want.” She cocked her head to the side and smiled. “Unless you’re just trying to keep me out of the cabin while your friends make off with my bread, I have no idea what you’re doing here.”
One of the birds, she thought it was the male of the two, looked down at her, made a noise and took off. The other followed him, but acted as though it couldn’t fly well. Its wing was injured.
“Great.” Kaitlin sighed. “You want me to follow you, don’t you? What in the heck are you two doing out here in the middle of nowhere anyway?”
Checking her pockets, Kaitlin made sure she still had the pistol Kara had made her promise to carry everywhere with her and the air horn to scare off potential predators, and trudged after the birds. She couldn’t, in good conscience, leave the wounded one out here to fend for itself. It was cold out here and bound to get colder. Just because it was unseasonably warm now, didn’t mean the weather couldn’t make a change for the worst any minute.
Beside
s, Kaitlin had always been a sucker for animals and birds—especially the wounded kind. Trudging after the two small birds wouldn’t have been her first choice. However, she knew she would never be able to live with herself if she didn’t follow them and later found one of them frozen to death.
Since she was a little girl, Kaitlin had had an affinity for animals. Big or small, they always seemed to know they could come to her if they were wounded. She wasn’t sure why. It was almost as though there was some animal grapevine that said she would nurse them back to health if they were sick or injured.
For some reason she was drawn to animals, especially those that needed some kind of special care. There were times when she woke up in the middle of the night with the inexplicable need to go outside. Once she left the confines of her home, she would find an animal of some kind that needed care. Something drew her to them.
Deeper and deeper, she followed the two birds into the woods. It was a good thing that there wasn’t any snow in the forecast for the day—otherwise, she could have gotten lost. At least she could follow her tracks back to the cabin.
After an hour or so, she saw the birds light on the branch of a tree close to the far edge of the forest. Beyond the woods was the vast tundra leading to what she thought was the ocean, or perhaps it was the Bering Straits. She had no idea. Just as she reached the tree, the wounded bird flew up to the uppermost branch of the tree, showing off the fact that there wasn’t anything wrong with it, after all.
“What the heck?” Kat said with a frown. The only reason she’d followed the stinking birds out here was that one had flown the entire way dipping and fluttering around as though it was wounded. Was there a nest all the way up there? If that was the case, she wasn’t about to climb up there and get it. It had to be at least ninety feet up. If she fell from that height, she would break something and never make it back to the cabin.
The animals in the forest grew quiet as the sound of crunching snow reverberated through the woods. Someone was coming and whoever it was wasn’t even trying to be quiet. Rounding the tree to look out over the tundra, Kaitin gasped when she saw a huge polar bear headed her way, and he wasn’t taking his time.
Looking around, she found a tree with low branches and scrambled up until she was relatively certain she was too high for the bear to reach. Great. Now, not only was she at least twenty minutes from the cabin, but she was also treed. Kaitlin closed her eyes.
“What else can go wrong?” she whispered to herself.
Kaitlin immediately got the answer to her question. The bear looked up, saw her perched on the branch and growled low. With a strange chuffing noise, the bear rubbed itself up against the tree, rocking it as though he wanted to shake her out of it.
Pulling the air horn from her pocket, Kaitlin aimed down toward the bear and squeezed. The bear looked up and growled. It must be hungry if the loud noise didn’t do a thing to deter it. If anything, it caused the bear to shake the tree even harder. It was almost as though the thing liked the sound of the horn.
Reaching into her other pocket, Kaitlin pulled out the gun. Aiming into the air, she squeezed the trigger. Still nothing. The huge bear looked up at her and growled just before it rammed its shoulder into the tree.
Standing on its hind legs, it reached toward her, swatting at the lower branches with its paw. If Kat had been even one branch lower, the bear would have clawed her feet. With that thought in mind, she noticed that the bear wasn’t reaching quite as high as it could. If it stretched to its full height, it just might catch her foot with those deadly-looking claws.
She set the safety, jammed the gun back into her pocket and grasped the next branch up. Standing carefully, she climbed up to the next branch. She realized she’d made a mistake just before her foot slipped on the ice-covered branch and she fell on top of the bear.
Stunned for a moment, the large animal just shook its head and stared at her for a minute. Kaitlin screamed and scrambled back, hoping she would have enough time to make it to another tree. It didn’t take long for the polar bear to regain its senses. With another low chuff, it lowered its head and charged.
Chapter Two
Liam looked to his best friend. Did ye hear that? he asked through their mind link as they rushed toward the screams. Shifting into their bear form forced them to communicate using telepathy.
Aye, Angus said, looking toward the tree line. It was a female’s scream. Do ye think another wild male is trying tae mount one of our females again?
I doubt it. One of our females wouldn’t hae changed tae human form when faced with a horny male. She would turn and fight. Besides, I haven’t seen one of our females here since we arrived.
True, Angus agreed.
They rushed toward the tree where they could see a large, what appeared to be an adolescent male standing on its hind legs. It was ready to attack.
Shit, Liam! That’s a human. We can’t let that young boar harm her.
Liam shuddered at Angus’s use of the word boar. He hated that male polar bears were reduced to the same name as a male pig.
Angus continued, Hunters will come out of the woodwork to hunt the great white bears again. Endangered or not, they won’t care that there are less than twenty-five thousand of them left.
They couldn’t afford for that to happen. The last time the humans made an all-out assault on large predators, it had almost wiped out their species as well. They couldn’t let it start again if they could prevent it.
Liam didn’t respond. He’d already launched himself at the young male, hitting him square in the side. They both rolled away from the woman, claws and teeth biting into each other’s flesh.
Though he was larger than the subadult bear, the young boar gave as good as he got. Pain tore through his side as the bear, wanting to take advantage of an opportunistic feeding, struck him, dragging its claws along his side. It left deep furrows, spilling his blood onto the ground.
The male swiped at him again, but missed as Liam dodged to the side, dancing away from the sharp claws.
Liam growled and lunged at the younger male, swiping his large paw across its face. The young boar reared back and out of the way before Liam could strike him again. Liam stood on his hind legs, raising his front paws into the air. The stance made him look larger and, with luck, it would scare the younger bear off. When the young boar lunged again, Liam swiped at him with his huge paw, digging long, deep gouges through the other bear’s flesh.
With a loud chuff, the adolescent bear turned and ambled away. Apparently, he had finally figured out that his easy meal wasn’t so easy after all.
Liam turned back to where he’d last seen the woman. Her long brown hair spilled about her head as she lay still as death in Angus’s arms.
“Ye hae tae see her up close, Liam.” Angus’s voice quivered as he spoke. His hands shook and if Liam wasn’t mistaken, the man’s legs even trembled a bit. “She looks like an angel and she smells like no one I hae ever scented before.”
“I know,” Liam said after he shifted to his human form. “I can smell her from here.” He dressed himself with a thought. This wasn’t the first time he was thankful for the magic that allowed them to pull clothing out of thin air. It most likely would not be the last.
Closing his eyes, Liam took a deep breath. She smelled unlike anything or anyone he had ever been close to in the past. Every time he inhaled, his body tightened, his stomach clenched with need, and his balls ached. Every steel-hard inch of his cock reminded him that she was a female and he an unmated male.
No female had ever made him feel this way human or clan sow. None had ever stirred his senses so much that he would do anything just to get another whiff of her unique scent. Sweetness wafted around her. A scent he couldn’t describe filled his nose and his cock ached with the need to sink into her silky softness.
He met Angus’s gaze. “What do ye think, Angus?”
“I think we need tae get her back home before we both lose our senses and mount her against her
will.”
Slowly, Liam shook his head. “I dinna think so.” There was no way he was exposing their clan mates to the delicious scent of this treasure. He walked around the area where he’d fought the bear and found the woman’s tracks. “Isn’t there a cottage back that way?”
He was sure there was. If he recalled correctly from their last visit to this area, its absentee owners loaned it out to friends and family.
“I’d wager she’s staying at the cottage through the woods.” He frowned. What was such a beautiful woman doing staying out here alone? She couldn’t have a man with her. He almost growled at the thought that some man would sit in the cottage safe and warm while she was out here risking her life in the harsh elements.
“What makes ye think that?” Angus looked at him as though he though he thought he was barmy.
“Because there isn’t another place tae stay anywhere nearby and it’s too damned cold for her tae hae walked far.”
“That makes sense.”
“Aye.” He turned and started walking toward the cabin. “Let’s get her inside and warm her up.” He smiled. “And when she wakes, she just might be grateful that we saved her from that bear.”
“Aye,” Angus agreed with a smile of his own. She might be very grateful.”
It took them almost an hour to follow the woman’s tracks back to the cabin. A large four-wheel drive stood in front of the small structure, its large wheels standing a good three feet taller than the snow. He shook his head at the thought that the woman in Angus’s arms drove the large beast up here from wherever it was she hailed. The thing looked like something out of some monster truck magazine.
Turning his attention back to the cabin, he noticed the door was closed. He could also tell it was her tracks all over the front yard. Since there was no smoke rising from the chimney, Liam assumed she was staying here alone.
He shook his head as he reached for the door. “Tell me, Angus, what could drive a woman tae spend the holidays in a cabin in one of the most remote areas of Alaska?” He pushed aside the pile of small branches just inside the door with his foot. “And what would draw a woman out intae the cold an hour away from her cabin?” He closed the door behind Angus when his friend carried the woman through the door.
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