BEARing The Frozen Night (Ice Bear Shifters Book 1) Page 4

  Ryker only had a moment to consider, and in a split second he made the decision to shift. He knew his cabin was close enough to town that people from the town did occasionally pass by here, and Ryker risked revealing his true identity if someone saw him shifting. But he would not survive a Blizzard attack if he remained in human form.

  Ryker let out a giant roar, and his eyes churned as his inner bear overtook his body. His hands and feet changed first, morphing into giant white paws that ended in a formidable set of claws. Slowly, his legs thickened and became bear legs, the white fur and giant muscles replacing the pale peach flesh of his human legs. His torso followed suit, and soon his whole body had changed into a mass of white fur, muscles, and claws. His head was the last to change, and Ryker let out another terrifying roar as his face became that of a bear, with a large black nose and menacing jaws.

  In the darkness, he could barely see the outlines of his large polar bear assailants. He surveyed as best he could in the limited light and flurry of activity. There seemed to be six of them. The Blizzards might be weaker than the Northern Lights bears, but they weren’t stupid. They knew it would take at least five of them to take down one of him, and they weren’t taking chances. Ryker knew his situation was dire. He had been surprised by the attack, and he had already been wounded. He could feel a trickle running down the back of his neck, and he knew whichever Blizzard had hit him had drawn blood. But even though Ryker was outnumbered and caught off guard, he had one advantage the Blizzards didn’t have.

  Anger.

  Burning, fiery, all-consuming anger. These were the bears who had nearly wiped out his clan. These were the bears who had caused Ryker’s friends, brothers, and dear ones to fall in writhing piles of poisoned pain. Ryker would kill every last Blizzard that had dared come out to attack him tonight. He would make them feel the same anguish of losing clan members that they had inflicted on the Northern Lights bears.

  With another fearsome roar, Ryker stood on his hind legs and bared his teeth. Three of the bears lunged at him from the front. He could smell the other three behind him. He was surrounded.

  Perfect.

  He extended his right paw, and with all the strength he could muster, he started to spin in a giant circle, ramming his razor-sharp claws into everything in his path. Yelps, groans, and the sound of breaking bones rang through the frozen forest. Ryker had managed to slice right through the neck of one of the Blizzards, and the wounded bear cried out in horror before giving up the ghost.

  One down, five to go.

  Another of the Blizzards jumped on Ryker from behind, and started sinking his teeth into the back of Ryker’s neck. Ryker fell straight backwards, the entire force of his fifteen hundred pound body landing squarely on the attacker. Again, the sickening crackling of breaking bones rang out, and then the bear’s grip went slack. Four bears remained, and two of them appeared badly wounded. Ryker would take them down first. He lunged at the bear with the broken paw, aiming straight for the bear’s neck. His teeth closed down around the bear’s jugular, and he felt its body going limp.

  Ryker was full of adrenaline. Only three more bears. He spun around in a quick circle, trying to survey his remaining opponents. He spotted the other wounded bear, who had a large bleeding gash across his entire face. Again, Ryker lunged for the bear’s neck. Although this bear took slightly longer to succumb to Ryker’s attack, he fell after a few moments of struggle. Ryker spun around to face the last two bears, but they were nowhere to be seen. Had they fled? Ryker cautiously turned in a giant circle, looking for signs of his opponents. The bodies of the four dead bears, along with gallons of blood, littered the snow around him. He didn’t see anything else. But their smell was still strong. They were still close. Ryker dropped to all fours and warily swung his giant polar bear head back and forth, trying to figure out from the smells in the air where the other two bears were. Just as he realized from the scent that they were behind him, both of the bears lunged at him from behind.

  For several moments, Ryker and the two Blizzards were a giant ball of flying claws and teeth. Snow and fur flew everywhere. Ryker couldn’t tell where one bear ended and another began, and he started to panic. He lashed out wildly, just trying to make contact with any vulnerable part of the other bears. He felt a sharp sting as one of the Blizzards managed to cut a deep gash across his furry chest, and he yelped in pain as he felt one of his back legs breaking in two. For the first time since the Blizzard attack had started, Ryker began to truly panic. What if he didn’t make it out of this alive? The faces of his four fellow Northern Lights bears flashed across his mind, and he imagined their agonizing grief upon discovering that another of their brethren had fallen. The image gave Ryker a fresh wave of strength. He could not let that happen. He would not.

  Mustering up all of his remaining energy, he looked for eyes. Where were their eyes? That would tell him where their heads were, and therefore their necks. He found the first pair of jet black eyes shining at him, and found the attached neck. With a roar, he swiped at the neck and made a huge gash, which quickly started spurting blood. The Blizzard wasn’t quite dead, and kept fighting, but it was only a matter of moments before he fell. Ryker searched for the other pair of eyes. He couldn’t find it, so he started biting and clawing wildly. The fury of his teeth and paws had never been unleashed with such a sharp intensity before, and Ryker heard several yelps as he made contact with the Blizzard’s skin. The Blizzard kept fighting, though, so none of the jabs had been fatal. Ryker and the remaining Blizzard tumbled through the bloodstained snow, each trying to be the first one to hit a vital organ or vein. Normally, one Blizzard would have been a piece of cake for Ryker to take down. But Ryker was badly wounded. His broken leg was sending searing pain through his whole body, and he could feel warm blood continuing to ooze from the gash on his chest. His vision grew blurry, and dizziness threatened to overtake him. Find his neck, Ryker told himself. Find his neck.

  All of a sudden, the Blizzard stopped fighting. The large bear let out a whimper and started going limp. Ryker wasn’t sure whether he had finally hit something, or whether the other bear had just succumbed to the loss of blood at last. But after a few last whimpers, the Blizzard fell, lifeless, and Ryker was finally alone.

  Ryker tried to mentally survey the damage to his body, but it was difficult to even count the numerous gashes and scratches. The worst overall was the slice across his chest, and his broken leg. But he was badly wounded in several spots. He felt himself fighting to stay conscious as the pain overwhelmed his senses. He had to get to his cabin. He would not survive without help. He had to get to his phone, and call the town doctor.

  But Ryker didn’t have the energy to move his giant bear form. He lay there, panting on the snow, feeling himself fade away. Despite his worries about staying warm for the trek to the cabin without his fur, he needed the lightness of his human body. Maybe if I shift back, I can make it, he thought. He rallied up all of his remaining energy, and forced his beaten body back into human form. He was naked, since his clothes had burst off of him in shreds when he turned into a bear. His whole body shook with violent shivers. Ryker had to get inside in a matter of moments, or he would freeze. He stumbled to his feet, and staggered in the direction of his cabin. It was only about a four hundred foot distance, but it took everything Ryker had left in him to hobble to the door on his one good leg. Ryker burst into the warmth of the cabin, and grabbed a blanket off his bed. He wrapped himself in its warmth, then grabbed his phone and dialed the doctor’s number. There was no answer. The doctor must have been out on a call already.

  Ryker let himself sink against the wall, the handset for his cordless telephone held tightly in his hand. He was going to die. After all of that effort, fighting off all of those Blizzards, he was now going to die in his cabin alone. He should call Neal. Neal was no doctor, but maybe they could keep him alive until professional medical help arrived.

  But then, Ryker had a sudden inspiration. He could call Kenzie. Sure, she
was an animal doctor, not a human doctor. But she must know something about broken bones and stitching up gashes. It couldn’t be that different, could it? The only problem was that Ryker didn’t know Kenzie’s number. In a last ditch effort to save himself, he called the superstore. Maybe someone at work had pets, and knew the number for the town veterinarian.

  “Glacier Point Superstore,” a bored sounding voice answered on the third ring. It was Ryker’s coworker, Joe.

  “Joe,” Ryker said, trying to sound as normal as possible. “Do you happen to know the number for Kenzie, the veterinarian? I need to call her. It’s an emergency?”

  “Kenzie? Oh, right. The Doc. Yeah, actually she’s here in the store right now, funny enough. I’ll go grab her. Are you alright, man? You sound a little sick.”

  “I’m fine. I just need Kenzie, er, Doc. It’s an emergency.”

  “Yeah, yeah, sure thing. Just give me a sec. I didn’t even know you had a pet. You never talk about it.”

  Ryker didn’t even bother replying. He couldn’t waste anymore precious energy trying to explain things to Joe. Ryker just kept breathing slowly in and out, willing himself to stay conscious. A minute later, he heard a rustling on the receiver, and then her voice came on the line.

  “This is Kenzie.”

  “Kenzie, it’s Ryker. It’s an emergency. I’m injured and can’t get the doctor. Please help.”

  “Ryker? Oh my god, you sound awful! Where are you?”

  “My cabin. Please help. Please.”

  “I’m on my way. Hang in there, Ryker. I’ll get there as fast as I can.”

  But there was no response on the line. Ryker had passed out onto his side, the phone’s handset tumbling out of his hand and across the kitchen floor.

  Chapter Seven

  Kenzie ran out of the store as fast as she could, barely slowing her stride as she reached her snowmobile and hopped onto the seat. She sped off in the direction of Ryker’s cabin, pushing the engine as fast as she could. The fact that this was the second time she had sped out to the edge of town for an emergency was not lost on her.

  “Why can’t people just stick to the safety of the village?” she mumbled to herself, gripping the handles of her snowmobile as she bounced wildly over the snow banks. She was driving way too fast, and she knew it, but she couldn’t force herself to slow down. The death in Ryker’s voice had been unmistakable. Whatever had happened to him, it wasn’t good, and Kenzie felt panicked. Thankfully, the drive from the superstore to his cabin was a short one, and in under five minutes she was speeding up to his front door. She killed the engine and hopped off the snowmobile, quickly throwing open the storage compartment and grabbing her medical bag and flashlight. She had no idea whether she would be able to help him. She had handled her fair share of wounded animals, but a dying human was a different matter altogether. But she had to try. As ridiculous as it was, she had fallen for Ryker. He was the one person out in this godforsaken wilderness who warmed her heart.

  As Kenzie turned to run into the cabin, she suddenly stopped in her tracks, and felt her heart sink all the way to her feet. She shined her flashlight on the large mounds of fur that had caught her eye.

  “Holy hell,” she said out loud. She thought she might vomit at the sight in front of her. Several gigantic polar bears were strewn across the snow several hundred feet away from Ryker’s cabin. Blood covered the snow in unbelievable amounts, and a trail of it led to the door of the cabin. No wonder Ryker had sounded like he was dying. Kenzie had no idea what she would find when she entered the cabin. If Ryker had just tangled with all of those bears, it was a wonder he had even survived to crawl to his home and make the phone call to the superstore.

  Kenzie bounded up the steps and threw open the cabin door, not bothering to knock. It wouldn’t have mattered if she had—there wouldn’t have been an answer. Her heart sank as she saw Ryker, wrapped in a blanket and lying motionless on the floor.

  “Ryker!” she screamed out, crossing the kitchen in two quick strides and rolling him onto his back. She checked for a pulse, fearing the worst. To her great relief, he was still alive, although she wasn’t sure for how long. She did a quick assessment of his wounds. He was not in good shape. It looked like one of his legs was broken, and he had several deep gashes that would need stitching, the worst of which ran across his entire chest.

  “Stay with me, Ryker,” she pleaded as she pulled several sterile cloths out of her bag and started trying to stop the flow of blood where it was still trickling out. She ran some hot water and got some other cloths wet, trying to wipe away enough blood so she could get an idea of what the wounds actually looked like. The water on his skin seemed to revive him momentarily, because he suddenly groaned and jerked one of his arms sideways.

  “Kenzie,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. “You came.”

  “Shhh. Of course I did. Just lay still and try to relax.”

  “Can you save me?” he croaked out. “I tried to fight them off, but there were so many of them. So many bears.”

  “I’ll do my best, Ryker. I think you need stitches, And you definitely need your right leg set. It’s broken, in more than one place from the looks of it.” Kenzie’s voice shook a little as she spoke. She had never stitched up a human before and she was beginning to doubt her abilities. What if she messed this up? What if she couldn’t do it? She gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. She had to try. She was his only hope. She had no idea where the town’s doctor was, but even if she could get a hold of the doctor right now, there was no time. Ryker needed help immediately.

  “What’s wrong?” Ryker asked. His voice sounded so far away. Kenzie bit her bottom lip to keep from crying. It might be too late already.

  “Shhh. Nothing’s wrong. Just try to relax.”

  “No,” Ryker said, trying to sit up, but quickly falling backwards again and grimacing in pain. “No, something’s wrong. Your face. Your expression. You looked really troubled.”

  “It’s nothing,” Kenzie said. “I’m just used to stitching up animals, not humans. So it takes a little getting used to mentally, that’s all.”

  Kenzie tried to smile and look brave, but she knew her voice was shaking. She was about to lose a patient. Only this time, it wasn’t someone’s beloved dog at death’s door. It was the man she had fallen for. The man she had been thinking about constantly since he put his hand on her leg at Northwinds Pub last week.

  “Would it be easier if I was an animal?” Ryker asked.

  “Don’t be silly,” Kenzie said, as she started to pull stitching supplies out of her bag. But she couldn’t focus. She dropped a small box of antiseptic wipes, and when she picked them up her hands were shaking. How was she going to stitch him up with shaking hands? And where were the nerves of steel she usually had when working? She had to get past this mental block about Ryker being a human patient.

  “Would it be easier if I was an animal? A bear?” Ryker asked.

  Kenzie gave him a frustrated look. “I guess, it would be easier if you were a bear. But you’re not, so we’ll have to make this work anyways.”

  “But I am a bear,” Ryker said weakly.

  Kenzie bit back the tears that were threatening to fall. He was completely delirious. She was losing him. “Shhh. It’s okay. If you want to be a bear then we’ll pretend you’re a bear.”

  “No,” Ryker said, his voice momentarily growing stronger and more urgent. “It’s not pretend. I am a bear.”

  All of a sudden, Kenzie was thrown backwards by some sort of explosive wave of power. Her medical bag was thrown across the room, spilling half of the items into a haphazard mess on the floor next to it. Kenzie sat up, disoriented. What the hell had just happened? Then she screamed. Lying in front of her was the biggest polar bear she had ever seen. Had it just burst through the side wall or something? Where did it come from?

  “Ryker, there’s another one!” she yelled, scrambling to her feet and looking around for her gun. Damn it, she had left it
strapped out on the snowmobile’s sled! She had to get to it! And where was Ryker?

  Where was Ryker?

  Kenzie swung her head back and forth, panicked. But the dust settled and she realized that the bear wasn’t moving, except to slowly turn its head toward her. Its eyes were the same shade of violet as Ryker’s eyes. In fact, they eerily held the same expression as Ryker’s eyes did. As Kenzie stood there transfixed, unable to move or process what was happening, the bear slowly lifted one of its front paws in her direction, and let out a low whine.

  Suddenly, everything came into focus for Kenzie. The bear in front of her not only had the same eyes as Ryker, but also was wounded in exactly the same places as Ryker had been. There was a deep gash across the bear’s chest, and its back right leg was clearly broken. Kenzie couldn’t believe her eyes. Ryker had just changed into a bear, right in front of her. Gingerly, she walked toward Ryker, er, the bear. Her heart pounded with a mixture of fear and incredulity as she reached out and stroked the matted fur on the bear’s head. Those deep violet eyes looked up at her mournfully, and she could see just a hint of a familiar yellow glow around the edges. There was no doubt about it. Somehow, Ryker had morphed into a polar bear.

  Kenzie took one more deep breath, and then got to work. She had never treated a bear before, but stitching up a bear seemed much closer to stitching up dogs than stitching up a human did. Over the next thirty minutes, Kenzie shaved the fur off of Ryker’s bear chest, and skillfully sewed the large gash there shut. She set his broken leg, and then cleaned up several of the smaller wounds. She brought him water in a huge pot she found in his kitchen, and let him drink. He looked up at her with those big, violet eyes, his gratefulness evident in his expression even though he was a bear. Kenzie tried not to think about how bizarre this situation had turned out to be. She just took care of her patient as best she could. She wanted to give him a sedative so he could rest, but she didn’t think she had anything in her bag strong enough for a polar bear. As she dug through her bottles of medicine, trying to find something that might work, Ryker fell asleep on his own.