Outfoxed by Love (Kodiak Point Book 2) Read Free Page B

it hard to believe. The Jan he knew and had first met when he accompanied Reid on a military leave had him meeting a demure young lady who inspired a man to wash his hands, hold open doors, and use the words please and thank you. That kind of femininity did not shoot guns for sport or tear out jugulars.
    But still … he eyed the corpse. Lucky bite? Had to be. Sweet delicate Jan wasn’t a killer.
    He moved on, following the lupine and cougar prints chasing after the smaller vixen ones. Morning darkness eased into the few hours of daylight Alaska got this time of the year. The sunlight didn’t make anything much warmer, but it did illuminate the landscape, sometimes too much at times as the sun refracted off the snow.
    Tinted goggles solved that problem, but they didn’t help him when he hit a rocky ridge, the fluffy snow having a hard time clinging to the solid stone surfaces. Here, at the foot, he found the second body. Also dead. A shifter in his naked man shape, a male who’d morphed in his last moments.
    Boris gazed to the top of the ridge and shook his head. If he didn’t know better, he’d say the dead bugger was pushed. He might have said slipped, but slipped would have placed the corpse closer to the edge of the promontory. However, the ignoble splay and face -first plant seemed to indicate foul play.
    By Jan? Desperation for survival could make even the nicest person do murderous things.
    Removing his snow shoes, Boris attached them to his knapsack and climbed, his heavy-duty gloves protecting his hands from the sharp edges of the rocks, but making his grip hard to maintain.
    At the top, he found himself able to see for a fair distance. Nothing jumped out at him. No movement, no tracks, the top of the ridge windswept, at least the parts that were somewhat flat. Who knew what hid behind the rock boulders and humps?
    Without a scent or tracks, Boris paused to take stock. Jan, the fox, was proving more resilient and wily than he would have credited. He took out a flask for a gulp of vitamin-infused liquid. He pondered his next move. Which direction would she have gone in?
    “Dammit, Jan, where are you?” he muttered aloud.
    “Right here,” she announced before pouncing on him.

Chapter Three
    Okay, so Jan should have known better than to scare a man who’d served in the military. As soon as she hit his back, legs wrapping around Boris’ waist and arms around his neck, his body moved.
    Boris clamped a hand around her forearm and yanked, flipping her over his head. She slammed onto her back in the snow, thankfully not atop jagged rock. But she shouldn’t celebrate yet.
    Still reacting to her playful attack, Boris leaped atop her, pinned her to the ground, and pointed a gun at her head. At least he didn’t shoot her.
    But boy, did he look annoyed.
    “Hello, Boris,” she said with a bright smile. “Fancy meeting you out here.”
    “What is wrong with you?” he yelled.
    “Did I scare you?” she asked, not at all perturbed by the situation because, really, despite the violence of the act, this was the closest she’d gotten to Boris in years. And hey, he was actually looking at her. Not a point above her head. Or at the floor. Of course, his expression wasn’t exactly filled with happiness, but she considered it a start.
    “Are you okay?” How grudgingly he asked.
    She arched a brow. “Depends. If you mean am I hurt, then no, not really. Just a few bruises and scratches. But, as for frostbite… While I’ve been wanting to have you lie atop me for years, Boris Sobolev, I’d prefer a bed to a snowbank.”
    He growled, which , considering he was a moose, made it pretty special. As usual, she drew the most ornery of responses out of the man and had for years, especially since he returned from the war. Unfortunately, for him, she no longer cared. She’d accepted the fact Boris would never admit they were fated mates, but it didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy needling him every chance she got.
    “You are