Polar Bared Read Free Page B

supplies. The bottle of booze he’d scored, a full gallon of ridiculously potent moonshine, was a bonus, one that didn’t last the night.
    While his kind might metabolize alcohol faster than humans, drink enough of it in a short time frame and they could get as smashed as the next guy. And Gene needed to get smashed. Zonkered. Anything to forget the fucking assholes back in Kodiak Point.
    Well over a month, or was it two, since his match with the moose and he still hadn’t formed a proper plan. Still hadn’t mustered enough rage to go after the others he hated so much. Still didn’t know what he wanted to do. Other than eat, sleep, and terrify the occasional idiot in a tent.
    Oh and avoid his shack because of concerns it was compromised. He had no real reason to think so other than a gut instinct, one that said don’t get complacent in one spot or he might just end up as a rug.
    Something that might happen anyway given he found himself sunning who the fuck knew where and was too lazy to figure it out. He made a tempting target for hunters, but given this area wasn’t known for illegal poaching, it being a research hot spot for every Tom, Dick, and Harry with a camera and a web cam, he felt pretty safe.
    Until something plowed into him.
    What the fuck?
    It better not be those pesky snow geese again. Feathers or not, I will eat them if they’re doing it on purpose to piss me off. Bird-brained little idiots.
    Rousing his shaggy head, he craned to peer at the—sniff—human female who’d skidded into his side. Where the hell did she come from?
    She raised her head timidly and blinked at him through skewed and misted glasses. Then she face planted.
    Lily-livered women! Whether he encountered them as a beast or a man, they just couldn’t handle the sight of him.
    He snorted as he stretched his muscles, her surprise arrival putting an end to his siesta. Where there was one human, there were usually more. Usually. Oddly enough though, he didn’t hear or scent any. Don’t tell me this idiot is roaming alone?
    On four paws, he rose, a hefty ton and a bit of predator with white fur, sharp claws, and a rumbling belly.
    Smells good. That remark came from his bear. But Gene agreed. Whoever she was, she did and not just in a red-meat kind of way. He let himself nose the hair peeking from underneath her wooly hat. Honey-scented shampoo. Yum. It wasn’t just brown and black bears who liked sweet things. Gene possessed a sweet tooth too. And this woman smelled good .
    Good enough to eat, and he didn’t mean as food. While his polar dick didn’t rise for the girl, mentally, his human side couldn’t deny a certain ardent interest.
    Attraction? Fuck, how long since that emotion had plagued him? Even odder, it was for a human woman he’d only gotten a glimpse of, a second really, where he got only an impression of big brown eyes and a pink mouth rounded in an O of surprise. A mouth perfectly shaped for—
    He shook his head. Keep your mind on the situation, soldier. He could practically hear his old sergeant’s bark. Who is she, and what is she doing out here?
    Or the better question, why was she alone? Surely by now someone would have come running to the edge of the slope or called out to see if she was all right?
    Other than the lap of water against ice, nothing echoed, either near or far.
    Strange. But not as strange as her arrival. Who was she? Curiosity made him want to see the woman who’d more or less landed in his lap.
    With a paw, he carefully flipped her over onto her back, sparing her face from the frostbite she’d surely get if she remained plastered to the cold surface he’d chosen to nap on.
    Tan skin, rounded cheeks, pert nose, and dark hair wisping out from the edges of her cap. Latina or Italian descent he’d wager. Dark-rimmed glasses sat crookedly on her face, and he could have tsked the fact she’d forgotten to wear protective goggles.
    Amateur.
    He eyed the rest of her, pegging her at about five foot and