It took all of Carson’s willpower not to drag Jessica into the field hut nestled on the other side of the ridge and bury himself deep inside her. Pleasuring her like that was what he should be doing as many times a day as she wished.

Why was she so stubborn?

She loved him. He knew it. But she kept pushing him away because of her family. He didn’t understand why they were so damn possessive of her. He was a fucking Ice Bear and he was willing to share her. Couldn’t her sisters share the same courtesy?

Apparently not.

He had to make her see reason and before it was too late. Getting her away from the Station was the best thing he could do. He didn’t appreciate her sneaking away and not telling him. But luckily, he knew her well enough that this was exactly the kind of thing she’d do. The look on her face when he met her at the transport garage was priceless. He restrained himself from kissing her right there.

Mariko was going over all the information again. He believed the two other deaths were distractions. But for what? He didn’t believe it was the Rumpelstiltskin project. It had something to do with Jessica though. She was the only common element.

Did she have the ability to murder? He was sure she possessed the know-how but she wasn’t a killer. It went against everything she believed in.

Carson mulled all this over while he unpacked the snowmobile. They were staying at the Station’s remote field hut, which was a weather-beaten wooden cabin with a bright red tin roof. It was situated on a bluff. The cries of the nearby seal and bird colonies dotted the shoreline below them.

He set about settling them in the field hut. There were vents and gas lines to open, carbon monoxide testers to be checked along with standard safety and first-aid supplies.

The windowless one-room hut held a table and chairs. Boxes of radio equipment and spare canned food stacked the corners. Carson left the door open, airing out the slight musty odor. Although Icy Cap was a desert, this cabin’s proximity to the water was revealed in the briny smell. A set of bunkbeds lined one wall. Carson sighed.

What does Icy Cap have against double beds?

When Carson finished assessing the gas tanks and vents, he heard the faint whine of another engine in the distance. He was most certainly not expecting company, especially anyone driving a snowmobile. He unpacked his sidearm from the saddlebags. They were miles from civilization of any sort. There was nothing here anyone on a snowmobile needed. Wildlife was another matter. His instinct told him this was trouble.

If Jessica wasn’t so close by, he’d shift into his ice bear. But he’d rather not risk her safety without really knowing what the threat was. As the headlight from the lone snowmobile approached, he sniffed the air. The scent of Luanne’s hair gel was unmistakable. The lack of any scent other than the machine’s diesel fuel meant Mariko was with her.

The machine slowed. Luanne flipped up her visor to speak. “Get her inside—she’s half frozen.”

Behind her, Mariko’s black clad snowsuit form rested against Luanne’s back. Carson easily scooped his colleague off the machine and carried her inside. She didn’t move in his arms. Once inside he sat her in a kitchen chair near the heater.

He’d not fully removed her helmet when she spoke through half frozen lips. “It’s Deegan. She’s the murderer.”

Carson grabbed a few blankets and wrapped them around her. “Start at the beginning.”

“I was going over the evidence again. The knife that the murderer used was still missing. But no one has left the Station until you two today which meant it had to still be there. I’d realized I’d searched everywhere except Deegan’s office. She always had someone in there.”

Luanne came inside the trailer. Her cheeks were red from the cold but she was bright-eyed. “She all right?”

“Just trying to warm her back up,” Carson returned to the vamp. “So you found the murder weapon in her office?”

“No.” Mariko shook her head. “She seemed so superior after I did the search and found nothing.”

“So?”

“I searched everything again. And this time it turned up in one of the kitchen freezers. Still has blood on it.”

“It’s my knife, though. I can’t believe someone stole it for such a horrible purpose,” Luanne said.

“Are all you shifters so naïve? God, it’d be cute if we weren’t trying to catch murderers.” Mariko was feeling better, all right.

“This relates to Deegan how?” Carson asked.

“Now this is where it gets interesting.” Mariko’s dark eyes flashed. “The prints on the knife don’t match hers. They match Cornelius Root.”

Carson sucked in his breath.

“Deegan’s gotta be dead somewhere. Maybe we’ll find her in spring when the snow thaws. Root took advantage of Deegan being a last-minute replacement. He correctly assumed if Deegan’s paperwork was in order, no one would do a deep background check.”

“How did you figure that out?”

“There was something about how she acted as a physician that bothered me. I wondered if it was where she went to school. So, I started digging. Her class picture looks nothing like the Deegan at the station.”

“What’s she after?” Carson stood up. He paced the length of the small cottage while Luanne made tea for herself and Mariko.

“What’s the motive? Why go through all this? Root could’ve easily stayed hidden in California. Why come all the way to Fairbanks and then here?”

“I found several articles on multi-organ transplantation under Deegan’s bed when we searched the office. Seems odd, right?”

“You helped Mariko search the office?” Carson was sure he was staring down an oncoming freight train. Could they be this close to catching Root only for Mariko to jeopardize the investigation by allowing an outside person near possible evidence?

Mariko leaned forward, speaking to him in a low voice. “Don’t worry—I glamoured her before just to make sure. She’s ok.”

Luanne handed the vamp a mug. She gazed at Mariko as if she was the sun.

Of course Mariko glamoured the fox shifter. It was the only reason she trusted her enough to bring her here. She couldn’t make the drive alone in the cold.

“Deegan needs a transplant and she’s looking for a donor.”

“We found a sheet with Jessica’s blood work on it. Her blood type matches Root’s data from prison.”

“Where is Jessica?” Luanne asked.

“She’s getting ready to release her puffin. I’ll go get her. She needs to hear this.”

Carson left the hut without a parka. His head was spinning with these revelations. Thank the Goddess, Jessica was here with him.

He walked to the bluff, scanning the shoreline below for Jessica’s headlamp. No light below. He scanned again, tension tightening his gut.

The sea edge stretched out in the rock-and-ice-strewn valley below. Even if she was down there, he should be able to see her. But all he saw were hundreds of seals and birds packed together for safety.

Relax. She survived here before you arrived. Just barely.

She should have told him where she was going. Even for a pee break, Icy Cap wasn’t the place for modesty.

“Jessica!”

No answer.

Had she really taken off to release that puffin without telling him, and why? There were plenty of puffins below.

He climbed down the bluff.

“Jessica! Jessica! Jessica!”

The only sound was the deafening seal squawks as he roused them. Standing on the beach seconds later, he scanned the open water. Had she fallen in?

Please be alive.

He’d give up anything. Everything including his dream of marriage to her if only he could find her safe.

Off to the left, something caught his eye. Jessica’s carrier that held the puffin was empty. It lay on its side, abandoned.

Where was she?

Carson raced back up the escarpment and burst into the cabin. He so wanted her to be inside having tea with Luanne and Mariko.

“She’s gone.” He pulled off his boots and socks before shrugging his shirt over his head. “I’m going after her. Fire three shots in the air if she returns.”

“What are you doing?” Mariko asked.

“My ice bear is faster and better suited to the search.”

“I’m going with you.” Luanne stood up. “Two shifters are better than one.”

“You’ve done enough. Stay here.”

“No.” Luanne started undressing too.

Carson didn’t have time to argue. “Suit yourself.” He shucked off his jeans and then his briefs joined the clothes heap on the floor. He opened the door and started running. When he reached his maximum speed as a man, he rolled into a somersault in the snow, his body shifting. When he stopped rolling he was no longer a US marshal, paranormal division. He was an ice bear.