Bearing the Black Ice (Ice Bear Shifters Book 4) by Sloane Meyers

back down on this one. They had to be sure they weren’t leaving any options undiscovered.
    Alan sighed. “Fine. We’ll look tomorrow, if it will make you happy. But don’t think I’m not going to say I told you so when we confirm that I’m right.”
    Hannah grinned. Victory! She knew it was a long shot, but she just had a good feeling about the other tunnels.
    Alan’s face broke into a smile. “You’re so cute when you’re feeling all self-righteous,” he said. “Come here, you.”
    Hannah went over to him and let him pull her down onto their rocky bed. He leaned in to kiss her, and she let him as she relished the feeling of his erection stiffening and pressing against her. They had spent almost every night making love. Hannah had thought the feelings of chemistry and passion would eventually start to fade, but so far they were still going strong. Being trapped in a cave was a pretty depressing situation, and Hannah could not have been more thankful for the nightly distraction. And tonight, especially, she needed the distraction. She closed her eyes and melted into Alan’s kiss, letting everything fade away except the delicious feeling of his body against hers.
     
    * * *
     
    “I told you so,” Alan said, crossing his arms and giving Hannah a defiant look.
    “Don’t be a jerk,” Hannah replied, her voice taking on a hollow note. “You can’t tell me that you’re happy about being right in this instance.”
    Alan didn’t reply, just watched as Hannah traced her hand along the perimeter of the solid rock wall where the last tunnel turned into a dead end. Of course, he wasn’t happy about being right. But he wasn’t surprised. And, as far as he could tell, they only had one option left. An option he knew Hannah would protest against vehemently.
    “We have to storm the Blizzards’ cavern,” he said.
    Hannah froze in her tracks, with her hand pressed against the rocky wall. Her back faced him, so he couldn’t see the expression on her face. But he knew whatever it was it wouldn’t be happy. After a few long moments, she turned to look at him, her eyes incredulous.
    “Are you out of your mind?” she asked.
    “I’m assuming that’s a rhetorical question,” Alan said.
    Hannah kept talking without even acknowledging his snarky comment.
    “There are only two of us, and a bazillion of them.”
    “Bazillion’s not a real number,” Alan said. Hannah shot him a look of death, and he decided to keep quiet and let her talk for a few minutes.
    “We’re way outnumbered. And, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not the strongest of fighters like you are. If we try to go into that room we’re dead meat for sure.”
    “Listen, Hannah, just hear me out. We’re not going to fight them. At least, hopefully not. All we need is a decent head start. If we can get out of that door before most of them have time to realize what’s happening, we can get away. The guards are lazy and not very alert. They’re not expecting anything exciting to happen. We’ll just go late at night, when everyone else is sleeping. We’ll count to three, shift, and run like hell. By the time they see that there are two non-Blizzard bears running across the cavern, we’ll be almost to the door. I’m a fast runner. I’m assuming from your small bear size and large calf muscles that you are, too.”
    Alan glanced appreciatively down at Hannah’s calves and she blushed.
    “Look,” Alan continued. “Staying in here forever isn’t an option. Going back to the other side of the cave isn’t a viable option. If we want to live, our only hope is to take them by surprise and get out of here before they have time to react. The longer we sit around here contemplating what to do, the greater chance we have of being discovered. I don’t think they know we’re over on this side of the cave yet. Obviously, they must know we’re in here. They might have looked in the old cavern where they threw you and saw that you were gone. And