Mine to Bear: Icy Cap Den #2 (Alaskan Den Men) by Jennifer Hilt Page A

all too new to me. Although, ironically, I’d spent years fighting it only to find it was a relief to be who I was. I liked being in ice bear mode.
    “You still OK with the plan?” I asked.
    Gary nodded. “Good luck.”
    I didn’t answer him. I was already raising my ice bear spirit.
    Gary trotted up to the front door. He knocked and looked around. Except for the rifle slung over his shoulder, he could’ve been selling magazine subscriptions.
    I paced, waiting.
    A blast from inside the house knocked Gary off his sandal-shod feet. I sprinted toward Rika. She stood on her front step, staring down at Gary. Black smoke trailed into the air over his body. She kicked him with her slipper. Gary didn’t move, but a puff of black smoke mushroomed from the hole in his chest. She raised the gun again, pointing it at his head.

11

Trudy
    “ N o !” I grabbed a carved Native American pipe displayed on the wall. Most likely it was stolen, I thought, as I heaved it across the room. I’d have to be a superhero to throw the thing through the door on the first try and nail Rika, standing out in the snow.
    It didn’t even make it past the foyer, hitting the doorway edge.
    “Ha! You missed!” Rika crowed.
    “I wasn’t trying to hit you,” I said. My eyes darted to the right, where Dane’s ice bear was closing the distance between him and Rika.
    It was my first time seeing his ice bear. He was beautiful. Even though I’d seen his twin, Ash, in his ice bear form, I would never mistake the brothers in their shifted states. Maybe it was all his years playing hockey, but Ash was more graceful.
    Dane was all dark vengeance. He hunted to kill.
    The succubus pointed the gun at Gary’s head. “Nothing that smells this bad deserves to live.”
    Dane’s movement caught Rika’s eye. She jerked the gun up in surprise. I pushed open the other side of the double door and rushed to Gary.
    Rika pointed the gun at Dane. “Even better.”
    Dane leapt, roaring as he twisted his massive body in the air. I shrank back as the two-ton ice bear bore down on me, Gary, and Rika. In midair, Dane swatted at Rika.
    She stumbled against me, knocking me over. “Get out of my way, you fools.” She headed for the side of her house. Dane followed.
    “Dane, come back!” I crawled over to Gary. The ground around him was covered with a lot of sticky black ghoul blood.
    The massive bear swung his head around.
    “Leave her. We need the vamp to save Gary. Check the garage.”
    Dane pivoted, surging off in the opposite direction. His massive head swung back to check on me.
    “Gary, hang on. You’ll feel better with some vamp blood. Remember how much better I felt after Meg gave me some blood?”
    Rika’s gun lay discarded in the snow. She was getting away. If she escaped, she’d still be out there—and be a threat.
    “I’ll be right back.” I picked up the gun and headed for the side of the house where Rika had disappeared. The forest was thick, and the lights from the house didn’t extend into the trees.
    She was in there. Watching. Waiting. I had to go after her.
    “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Dane called.
    I turned around. My mate was standing naked in knee-deep snow with a barely conscious vamp still dressed in BDSM gear. “Leave her. Gary needs your help.”
    Had I been glamoured to some extent by association with her?
    “Trudy,” Dane called again. “Come here.”
    I turned around, trotting back to join Dane, Gary, and Max. Rika watched me from the shadows. I knew it.

12

Dane
    T hat’s my mate , chomping at the bit to take on a creature that can crush paranorms. Trudy is not just my mate; she’s the mother of my unborn child. I’ll be damned if I’d watch her take on the succubus alone.
    Luckily Gary’s wound distracted her. I’d found Max collapsed in the heated garage near the snowmobile. He was still suffering from hypothermia. If it wasn’t for needing his blood to help Gary, I’d have left Max alone.
    Max