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; they’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.
“But I’m no one.” She whispered with that cloying scent of fear that had him moving so that he could cover her and rub his cheek to hers.
“You are someone. You are my mate. I will protect you, Alaska. For now, just stay calm. We will figure this out, I promise you. Just take it easy for now. I hear the boys coming down the hall. We will get you out of here and home. Just trust me, can you do that?”
She looked up into his eyes, and he knew the moment she made up her mind to believe in him. He saw the flicker of trust in her eyes and then heard her whispered yes which made his heart swell with happiness. He leaned in and kissed her cheek and then pulled back.
“It’s cold out there but we are going to bundle you in furs, we know what we are doing even if the chuckleheads act as if they don’t.” Drake said with a quick grin and wink while he began to quickly pull furs out of his pack and then nodded to Oliver as he walked into the room.