Bearing the Midnight Sun (Ice Bear Shifters Book 3) (5 page)

Kat’s lungs were on fire. Literally on fire.

“Need… to… stop,” she choked out. The energy it took to say those three words felt overwhelming. Tyler, of course, wasn’t impressed with the fact that she was dying from lack of oxygen.

“Almost there,” he chirped out cheerily as he glanced at his sports watch. “Three more minutes of running and you can take a walking break.”

Kat wanted to groan, but she didn’t have the energy for even that. She would have quit a long time ago if she had been running by herself. But Tyler was a brutal taskmaster, forcing her to stick to the time goal she had set for herself when they took off this morning. As she closed in on the last fifteen seconds of her run, she swore to herself she would not work out with Tyler again.

But she did.

Over the next several weeks, they went running almost every morning. Under Tyler’s insistent coaching, Kat found herself running longer and faster than she had ever thought she could. She was in better shape than she had been in a very long time, but the fact that her clothes fit better wasn’t the motivating factor anymore. She also forgot about trying to impress her ex-fiancé with her “new and improved” body. All she cared about was the feeling of euphoria that overtook her every morning as she met her daily goal and Tyler called out “Time!”

If Tyler had a few spare minutes before starting work for the day, they would go grab a coffee at a little café across the street from Glacier Point Gym. Occasionally, if Kat got really lucky, Tyler had time to grab dinner with her. Sometimes he came over and they cooked food at Kat’s apartment. They would grab their plates and eat in front of the television. Sometimes they actually watched whatever was on the screen, and sometimes they just let it run in the background while they talked and laughed. Every time he came over, Kat wished that he would kiss her on the top of her head again when he hugged her goodbye. But he never did.

One evening, Tyler looked inside of the carton of Neapolitan ice-cream left in her freezer and laughed. She had eaten all of the strawberry, and left the vanilla and chocolate untouched.

“I guess I know which flavor to buy next time,” he had said, playfully punching her in the arm.

There were a lot of playful punches. A lot of teasing pokes or familiar brushes of his hand across her lower back. Every time his skin made contact with hers, she felt a shock of electricity go through her. Her ex had become a distant memory. All she could think about anymore was Tyler’s lips on hers. All she could dream about was what his soulful, violet eyes would look like if he were laying on top of her naked, skin to skin.

But she knew she could never have him like that. Summer was drawing to a close. August was around the corner, and in just five short weeks Kat would be getting on a plane back to Nebraska. She and Tyler would promise to keep in touch. And for a while, they would. Maybe they would email now and then—frequently at first, then less and less as time went on. He would find a girl, and get busy with work again. Life would happen, as it always does, and their communication would drop off. Kat would probably never see Tyler again. Every time that thought crossed her mind, it caused her heart to tighten up with pain.

She had already been through so much heartache in the last year. She didn’t want to think about having to bear any more.

* * *

Tyler wrestled constantly with the desire to sweep Kat into his arms and put his mouth over hers in a passionate kiss. He knew he needed to take a step back. But, like a moth drawn to a flame, he found himself continually drawn to her fire. She was the most amazing person he had ever met. The more he got to know her, the more he admired her determination. The transformation in her over the last few weeks had been incredible. She had gone from a sad, worn-down girl who had lost her family and was pining over her lost ex, to a strong, vivacious woman who was full of purpose and ready to face the future. Her heart was healing, he could tell. The time in the beautiful Alaskan wilderness had been good for her soul. And her body was growing strong through her daily runs. She was doing what she came here to do. She was finding herself. Transforming herself.

Tyler had told himself to just enjoy the time with her that he had left. He intended to treat her as a good friend, and then send her back off to Nebraska with a renewed spirit. But as the weeks ticked by, Tyler began to panic at the thought of goodbye. Every evening, as his bear clawed at his insides, begging for Tyler to acknowledge his growing bond with Kat and mate with her, Tyler realized that he would regret it for the rest of his life if he didn’t at least see if there was a chance that Kat cared about him enough to consider staying with him. He knew it was a long shot, but he had to try.

A few days before the end of July, Tyler hatched a plan. He would lay it all out there. He would show Kat who he really was, and how he really felt. He would put his heart on the line for her. It was up to her what she did with it.

On the thirtieth day of July, Tyler and Kat had made plans to have one of their normal weeknight dinners at her place. But when 7 p.m. arrived, Tyler showed up at her door, and, instead of coming in, told her to put her shoes on and grab a light sweater.

“I want to show you something,” he said. It was the only clue he would give her. Kat looked skeptical, but followed him outside to where he had a large four wheeler waiting. After she hopped on, he sped off toward the west side of Glacier Point. When they reached the edge of town, they kept on going past where Tyler’s new cabin was located. They whizzed through the forest, flying by tall, dark pine trees whose needles glistened in the brilliant sunlight. They kept going, past a large section of rocky terrain, where Tyler pointed out more than one Arctic fox darting in and out of the rocky crevices as they passed. After another ten minutes, the unmarked dirt road they were on narrowed. A section of it split off and started winding upwards. Tyler followed the obscure trail up through the rocky elevation, past brilliant white, yellow, and blue wildflowers. After a curvy, fifteen minute climb, they broke through the rockiest portion and onto a plateau at the peak of the giant hill. Wildflowers blanketed the plateau, and the elevation gave an unobstructed view of the Arctic Ocean, its blue water spreading out in front of them in shimmering splendor.

Tyler killed the engine and hopped off the four wheeler, looking back at Kat to see her reaction.

“What do you think?” he asked, although the expression on her face made it clear that she was in awe.

“This is incredible,” she said. She slowly walked around, taking in the view of the rocky cliffs, the colorful wildflowers, and the glittering ocean. “How did you find this place?”

Tyler shrugged. “I found it with Ryker. We were just goofing off one day, racing around on our four wheelers, and he wanted to follow that trail, so we did. We ended up here, and this has been my favorite spot near Glacier Point ever since. You’re the first person besides Ryker that I’ve brought up here.”

Kat looked at him with grateful eyes. “Thank you so much for sharing it with me. I’ve seen some pretty spectacular things in the last few weeks, but this really blows them all out of the water.”

Tyler grinned. Kat’s reaction was just what he had hoped for. “Don’t think I forgot about dinner, though,” he said, and stepped back over to the four wheeler. He opened the storage compartment and pulled out an insulated picnic basket. Inside were gourmet deli sandwiches, garlic stuffed olives, and two bottles of wine. There were fresh strawberries for dessert. Tyler grabbed a thick picnic blanket from underneath the basket and spread it out across the wildflowers. He positioned it near the edge of the plateau so they would have a premium view of the sun of the ocean. Then he pulled out one of the wine bottles.

“Tyler, you got wine? Two bottles? What’s the occasion?” Kat asked. Wine in Glacier Point was obscenely expensive, due to the high costs of importing it all the way to Northern Alaska. Residents usually only bought a bottle for very special occasions. And in the months Kat had been in Glacier Point, she had never seen anyone splurge on two bottles at once.

“We’re going to need two bottles, because we’re going to be here a while,” Tyler said. “We’re going to watch the ‘non-sunset’ together.”

“The non-sunset?”

“Yep. Today is the last day this year that the sun will be up for twenty-four hours. Tomorrow, it starts setting again. Of course, the days will still be extremely long for a while. But this is the last official day of the midnight sun. So we’re going to sit here until midnight, enjoying the good food and good company. And when midnight hits, we’re going to toast each other and the midnight sun.” Tyler watched Kat’s face light up with pleasure at his explanation. Her joy made her appear even more beautiful than normal. He didn’t know how that was even possible, but it was. She practically radiated happiness as she took a seat on the picnic blanket and picked up one of the sandwiches. She took a bite and chewed slowly while Tyler opened the wine bottle and poured two generous glasses.

“Tyler, this is incredible. I can’t believe I’m getting to experience this with you.”

Tyler took a deep breath. At the risk of making the rest of the evening awkward, he decided to go ahead and say what he had brought Kat here to say. He wanted to make sure to get it all out before the wine started to dull their senses. He didn’t want any of what he was about to tell her to be filtered through an alcohol screen.

“Listen, Kat. There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while, but I haven’t quite known whether I should, or what the right time to say it would be.”

Kat paused mid-bite and looked over at him. Tyler couldn’t be sure, but it almost looked like her expression was hopeful. Did she know what he was about to say? Had she been hoping for this? The thought gave Tyler courage, and he forged ahead.

“Kat, I don’t want you to go back to Nebraska,” Tyler said, then watched her carefully for a moment.

“Um, okay,” she said, drawing out the okay. She looked surprised, but not necessarily shocked.

“I know we’ve only known each other for a few months. But those few months have been the best months of my life. I haven’t talked about it much, because I didn’t want to overshadow your grief with my own, but I lost a huge part of my family last year in a poisoning tragedy. Some days, it’s been hard to stay positive. But your smile and your laugh have brought joy back into my life. You’ve shown me that I
can
be truly happy again. And I don’t want to lose you. I know your whole life was back in Nebraska. I know Glacier Point is a different kind of place to live. But I’m begging you to stay here and give me a chance. I’m in love with you Kat. Maybe you think I’m crazy for saying it so soon, but I am. I love you, Kat. I need you. I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you, and I’m terrified of losing you.”

Before Tyler could get out another word, Kat had covered his mouth with hers. She kissed him, passionately, deeply. She drank him in like a woman who had spent weeks thirsting for his love. Tyler felt his senses leaving him. All he could think about was the fire, the electricity that coursed through his body at her touch. He knew his eyes were glowing yellow around the edges. His dick stiffened almost instantaneously as the warmth of her tongue filled his mouth, she put her hands on his cheeks and drew him closer to her. He had a vague realization that they had narrowly missed knocking over the wine bottle but he didn’t care. His focus honed in on Kat, on her intoxicating smell and the softness of her skin against his.

She reached for the buttons on his shirt. Her fumbling urgent hands started undressing him. Oh, how he wanted this. He wanted to strip her down naked right there. He wanted to fill her with himself, and show her how deeply he had been craving her all these months. But he couldn’t. Not yet. He needed to explain one more thing to her before they completely gave in to the passion that continued to sweep over both of them. When he confessed to her what he really was, that would be the moment when he truly knew whether they had a future together.

“Kat, wait,” he said pushing her back gently. “There’s something else I need to tell you. It’s kind of a big deal and I want to make sure you know about it before you make any big life decisions based on being with me.”

“Whatever it is, my answer is yes,” Kat said, and started leaning in to kiss him again. Tyler grimaced. She wasn’t making this easy on him. He gently pushed her back again.

“No, Kat, I’m serious. This is a really big deal, and I really need you to be okay with it if we’re going to be together.”

Kat made a pouty face, but stopped kissing him and sat back to let him talk.

Tyler felt his hands trembling with nervousness. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this scared before in his life, not even when he had been in the middle of a full blown attack by the Blizzards where he thought he might not make it out. But if Kat decided she didn’t want him after he confessed his big secret to her, he wasn’t sure how he was going to handle the pain of her rejection.

“Kat, have you ever heard of bear shifters before?”

She shook her head no. This was going to be even harder than he thought.

“Okay. Well, just as a very basic explanation, a bear shifter is a human who has a genetic mutation that gives him or her the ability to shift forms into a bear.”

“Oh. Kind of like a werewolf, except a bear. Like a werebear,” she said, then giggled. She thought this was a joke. She had no idea how serious he was.

“Well, sort of. But werewolves become werewolves by being infected with the werewolf contagion. Shifting is different. It’s not a disease, so it’s not contagious. It’s a genetic mutation. Either you have it or you don’t.”

“Gotcha,” Kat said, still looking at him with an amused look on her face.

“Please don’t freak out, Kat, but if you move to Alaska to be with me—which you’re thinking of doing if that incredible kiss was any indication—then you need to know this first. I’m actually a polar bear shifter.”

Kat looked at him in silence for a few beats, and Tyler felt his heart clench up. This was it. She was going to think he was a freak, and ask him to take her back into town. He would have to beg her not to divulge his secret to anyone, and pray that she agreed so that he didn’t have to get his alpha involved.

Then Kat burst out laughing. “Okay, Mr. Polar Bear. Well, now that we got that out of the way, can we get back to making out? I was rather enjoying it.”

She still thought this was a joke.

“Kat, I’m serious,” he said, looking at her with pleading eyes. She stared back at him, and the amused look on her face slowly faded into disbelief.

“You’re serious,” she said. The statement hung heavy in the air, as Tyler waited for her to say something else, anything else.

“Prove it.”

“Kat, it’s kind of complicated, if I shift, then—ˮ

“Prove it,” she interrupted, her expression defiant.

Tyler sighed. “Okay. But if I’m wearing clothes when I shift, it will ruin them. I didn’t bring an extra set of clothes with me, so I’m going to take off my clothes first. Otherwise, I’ll be naked for the rest of the night once I shift back.”

Kat’s eyes widened a bit when he said this, but she didn’t say anything. She merely nodded, and waited for Tyler to proceed.

Well, here goes, Tyler thought, as he began unbuttoning his shirt where Kat had left off.

He could only pray that she would stick around after the show.