BEARing The Frozen Night (Ice Bear Shifters Book 1) (7 page)

But he forced himself to pull back, and to look at her with a serious expression on his face. “Listen, Kenzie, there’s one thing I need to be sure you’re aware of, if you want to be with me. Not everyone is as accepting of bear shifters as you are. Many humans, if they discover the existence of a bear shifter, will go to great lengths to eliminate him or her. It’s possible we may have to deal with witch hunts, of sorts, at times. You also need to understand that the shifter gene is a dominant gene. It is almost always passed on to offspring from someone who was born to a long line of shifters, as I was. If we have any children, they will be shifters. Are you willing to accept this?” Ryker asked, as he slid off the couch and onto one knee. “Because, if you are, Kenzie, then I don’t see any reason to wait to ask the question. Will you marry me? Will you be my life mate—mine for the rest of my life? I want nothing more than to love and protect you for as long as there is breath in my body.”

Kenzie threw her hands over her mouth and nodded, as her tears of joy reappeared and started to fall even faster. “Yes! Yes, Ryker, I will marry you. Nothing would make me happier than to be your life mate. I will proudly stand beside you, and our future children, for as long as I live.”

Ryker stood up and scooped Kenzie into his arms, letting out a whoop and twirling her around the room. He could hardly believe how much his life had changed for the better in the last twenty-four hours.

That weekend, Ryker asked Kenzie to come with him to the Northern Lights Clan meeting in the back of Neal’s tattoo shop. Kenzie noticed that Neal raised an eyebrow when she entered the room with Ryker, but no one said anything. She sat quietly as Ryker cleared his throat and meekly addressed his alpha.

“Neal, I have a few things I would like to say, with your permission.”

Neal nodded. “You may have the floor.”

Ryker took a deep breath, and looked around the room at his brothers, the remaining members of his clan. “As you know, the last year has been a very difficult one for our clan. The months have been filled with a feeling of emptiness and sorrow, as we mourned the loss of so many of our fellow clan members. I must admit, I had begun to lose hope completely. With no prospect of love on the horizon, and the constant threat of a Blizzard attack breathing down our necks, there did not seem to be much left to live for. But then, I found Kenzie. She is fully human, but she has accepted me, and us, for who we are. She doesn’t see us as some sort of mystical freaks. She sees us as individuals worthy of love and acceptance.”

Ryker paused and slowly made eye contact with each of the men in the room before finishing his speech. “Last night, I felt the ancient bond with Kenzie, and I asked her to be my life mate. I bring her before the clan today, to humbly ask for your blessing on our bond.”

There was a long pause, which felt to Kenzie like an eternity. All of the men looked expectantly at Neal, waiting for their alpha to speak. Ryker had told Kenzie that before a bear could marry his life mate, the alpha had to approve the match. Normally, this was a formality, because most bears chose other bears for life mates, and those matches were rarely denied. But the choice of a human for a life mate raised more suspicion, and these matches were sometimes denied if the alpha thought the human was unable to properly carry the name of the clan with honor. Ryker told Kenzie he didn’t think that getting Neal’s blessing would be a problem, since Neal had given Ryker his blessing to date Kenzie. But as Kenzie sat there in the silence, waiting for Neal to reply, she suddenly started to panic. What if Neal didn’t want her to be with Ryker? She needed Ryker in her life. Even though she had been with him such a short time, she already felt that she couldn’t live without him.

She needn’t have worried though. After the space of a few long moments, Neal’s face broke into a huge grin. He looked at Kenzie and walked over to where she was sitting, taking her hand in his hand. He looked at her with his big eyes that were the same shade as Ryker’s eyes, and addressed her in his deep alpha voice. “Kenzie, our clan is indebted to you for saving Ryker. I can see that you are very brave, and understand principles of loyalty and honor. We would be privileged to welcome you into the Northern Lights Clan as Ryker’s life mate.”

Cheers erupted from the rest of the clan, and Kenzie’s face also broke into a grin. She had been accepted. She would be part of the clan! Ryker picked her up and swung her around the room again, and she laughed and squealed for him to put her down before he knocked over one of the piles of boxes near them. All of the men gave Kenzie congratulatory hugs, and she could tell that they were thrilled to have a new clan member, even if she was a human.

That evening, Kenzie went to Ryker’s cabin to celebrate with him. He got the most expensive steaks the superstore had to offer, and grilled them up for her. He also picked up a bottle of wine, which was a rare treat for Kenzie. The wine here in Glacier Point was all on the pricey side. Supposedly, importing it was costly and the storeowners didn’t sell enough to really make it worth their while. So, a good steak and a glass of red wine was a big, extravagant feast for Kenzie. She and Ryker ate and drank, talking and laughing until the late hours of the night. They sipped slowly, and when they had finally finished the whole bottle of wine. Kenzie stood and took the wine glasses to the sink, rinsing them out. Ryker came and stood behind her, putting his arms around her and pressing against her so she could feel his rigid erection.

“You look so delicious,” he whispered in her ear, bending his head down to nibble on her earlobe. “I want to take you right here and now. I’ve been dreaming about being inside of you all night.”

Kenzie smirked. “Have you now? Well, then, why don’t you take me?”

Ryker didn’t need to be told twice. He slid his hands down to the button on Kenzie’s jeans and made quick work of unbuttoning and unzipping her jeans, then sliding them down around her ankles. He unzipped his own jeans and slid them down as well. Then he slid Kenzie’s panties and his boxers down, leaving his huge, erect dick pressing against her bare, naked ass. He slid his hand down between her legs, and the dripping moisture of her passion covered his fingers.

“You’re ready for me,” he said, his voice husky and pleased. Kenzie moaned in response, her body already tingling at the feeling of his fingers touching her. Ryker slid his dick into her from behind, the shaft going so deep that Kenzie felt it was going to tear a hole in her stomach. He was almost uncomfortably large, but this was the best kind of discomfort. He grabbed her breasts with his hands, using them to anchor himself against her as he thrust into her over and over from behind. He arched his back, sending his penis even deeper into Kenzie’s body. She cried out over and over as his movements built a crescendo of pressure and heat in her body.

“Ryker, I can’t hold it in anymore,” she cried out, her voice raw and full of passion.

“Come for me, baby. Come for me!” he roared, holding her body captive with just his hands on her breasts and his penis inside of her. She let out a long, primitive wail and then the waves of ecstasy came crashing over her. She moaned, over and over, unable to do anything but scream at the tingling, hot sensation that he had sent pouring through her body. She felt him let go and come inside of her, the warmth of his orgasm filling her. The trembling spasms of his penis pulsed against her inner walls, sending aftershocks of pleasure all through her. As their orgasms slowed, Ryker pulled out of her and spun her around, planting a kiss on her forehead.

She smiled up at him as he gave her a wink.

“How’s that for after-dinner entertainment?” he asked.

“Not too shabby. I could get used to that.”

“Don’t tempt me,” he said with a low growl, lowering his eyes seductively in her direction. Kenzie just laughed and snuggled her head into his chest. He always smelled so good, like a fresh snowfall. Since the day she’d met him, she’d wanted to hold on tight and never let him go. And now, she could. He was all hers, for all of time.

* * *

The next day, all of the Northern Lights Clan came to Ryker’s cabin for dinner. He got more steaks, and even more wine, declaring the evening a celebration of better times ahead for the Northern Lights bears. He told Kenzie that he wanted to start living life again, instead of just existing. And he wanted his fellow clan members to join him in his optimistic viewpoint.

As the evening wore on, Kenzie realized that she was happier than she had been in a very long time. She was certainly happier than she had been since she moved to Alaska. She had missed feeling like she was part of a group of close friends, and the Northern Lights Clan gave her back that feeling. In fact, hanging out with them was even more intimate than hanging out with friends. It was like being part of a tight-knit family.

The group finished their steaks and their second bottle of wine, and Ryker stood to go grab a corkscrew for the third bottle. But when he got to the kitchen, he stopped in his tracks and the smile on his face disappeared. He turned to look at his fellow clan members with a wary expression on his face.

“Do you guys smell that?” he asked.

Kenzie sniffed the air and looked around in confusion as the other four men in the room breathed deeply, and their faces took on dark expressions.

“They’re close,” Neal said.

“Too close,” Tyler agreed.

Ryker sniffed deeply once more, and then turned to run toward Kenzie, pushing her toward his bed. “Kenzie, take cover. Get under the bed,
now
!

Before Kenzie could react, she found herself on the floor next to the bed, and she rolled underneath it. Several loud booms and crashes sounded, and she felt the floor of the cabin shaking underneath her. From her vantage point, she couldn’t see much, but, suddenly all around her the human feet disappeared. In their place, she saw several pairs of gigantic polar bear paws with impossibly large claws. She shuddered at the sight, and then shuddered even more at the sound of the cabin door being slammed open.

All she could see were bear paws everywhere. Fur and blood flew on the floor around the bed. There were so many paws, all with fearsome claws that seemed to swing wildly in every direction. She winced several times as a paw here or there would slide under the bed, but it never managed to hit far enough in the right spot to actually make contact with her. Which was a good thing, because one nick from those claws into one of her vital veins, and Kenzie would have been a goner. She whimpered in terror as the brawling continued on for several long, endless minutes. She had no idea who was winning, or even how many bears were out there. The only thing she knew was that the longer the fighting went on, the more blood and fur covered the cabin floor.

Kenzie felt completely helpless. If one of the bears decided to reach under the bed and take a swipe at her, she would die before Ryker even knew what was happening. But the attackers were either unaware that Kenzie was there, or they just didn’t care. Now and then, loud thuds reverberated through the cabin as a bear fell, dead. Tears rolled down her face, and each time she heard a thud, she prayed it wasn’t Ryker.

After an eternity, the noise subsided. Kenzie blinked through her tears and saw quite a few bear carcasses strewn around. Many dead bears had piled onto each other in the small cabin. There was a long series of snorts and snuffs, as several pairs of paws lifted carcass after carcass and dragged them outside. When the room was finally cleared of dead bears, several loud, forceful thuds were heard, and Kenzie saw bear paws being transformed into human feet again. She was relieved to see a pair of feet that she recognized as Ryker’s. She recognized it from the large scar across the top of his left foot, which was a souvenir he had taken away from another fight with the Blizzards at some time in the distant past.

Kenzie still didn’t move. She stayed under the bed, her body still in a mild state of shock. She decided it was best not to move until Ryker told her to. It looked like Ryker had handed fresh clothes to his clan members, and they were stepping into fresh pairs of pants. To her relief, she counted five pairs of feet. It looked like all of the Northern Lights Clan had survived the raid.

Moments later, Ryker knelt down and looked under the bed, his face filled with concern. “Are you okay? It’s safe to come out now.”

Kenzie wriggled out from under the bed, and looked around at the clan members. They had clearly been banged up and bruised quite a bit. They all had matted hair and blood streaks here and there across their bodies. But none of them seemed to have any deep wounds or broken bones. They were all in much better shape than Ryker had been in when Kenzie found him after that first attack.

“Blizzards?” Kenzie asked. Her voice shook when she spoke, even though she was trying to sound brave.

Ryker nodded, and pulled Kenzie into his arms. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I would have never forgiven myself if anything happened to you.”

Neal was rubbing the back of his neck, his expression weary. “Well, that’s the last we’ll see of them for a little while, anyways.”

“How do you know?” Tyler asked.

“Did you notice one of the bears they sent out today was Scott, their top fighter? The one with the distinctive scars across his face? They’ll be reeling from the loss of him. And I don’t think they were expecting our whole clan to be in here today, since they only sent ten of their bears. They thought they were catching Ryker alone, and could take him out.”

Kenzie felt Ryker shudder. “I wouldn’t have been too thrilled to take down ten bears alone,” he said.

“You would have managed,” Neal said. “Did you notice how sloppy they were fighting? They were too desperate. Their alpha must have been angry about the bears he lost on the first attack, and blindly sent them off without a good plan. Hopefully, losing ten more of their bears scared them off. And with summer coming, they’ll be heading as far north as they possibly can. If they dare show their faces around here next year, we’ll be sure to be well prepared to remind them why messing with us is a bad idea.”

“Why are they going north for summer?” Kenzie asked. She was still shaking, but her voice had steadied out a little bit.

“Blizzards are incredibly sensitive to heat.” Eric explained. “They tend to overheat easily, even in the mild summers of Alaska. When the light starts returning, signaling that summer is coming, they head as forth north as the sea ice will let them, seeking the coldest possible temperatures.”

“Don’t worry,” Ryker said, smoothing Kenzie’s hair back against her face. “They won’t have time to regroup for another attack before the light returns. That was the last we’ll see of them this year for sure.”

“And we
will
be ready for them if they dare show their faces here next year. I want all of you to make sure you keep a watchful eye over Kenzie, too. She’s part of the clan now, and it’s our job to protect her. And Kenzie, if you see anything at all that makes you uneasy, let us know. Even if it seems silly. We are here to defend you.”