Bearing the Black Ice (Ice Bear Shifters Book 4) Read Online Free Page B

two images had added themselves to the loop. First, Alan would see Hannah’s face, her stubborn, spunky expression daring him to disagree with her as she warned him not to go down the tunnel. Then, he would see her polar bear face as it lay lifeless on the floor of the cave, with her eyes rolled back into her head.
    Alan couldn’t ignore the strong, gut reaction he’d had when he heard her terrified roaring echoing through the cavern tunnels. He hadn’t stopped to think. He’d just shifted and took off running in the direction of the sound. At least he’d had the presence of mind to grab his backpack of supplies in his mouth before running off. Otherwise he and Hannah would both be naked and frozen right now. As it was, he wished he had taken his jacket off before shifting so that it wouldn’t have become ruined. The temperatures were too cold for bare human skin. But Alan hadn’t been thinking about jackets or clothing in the heat of the moment.
    He had found the spot where Hannah was unsuccessfully trying to fight off the Blizzard, and his angry polar bear had quickly decimated Hannah’s attacker. The other bear had been a giant compared to most Blizzards Alan had seen, but Alan still had no trouble taking him down. His first worry after killing the Blizzard was that there were more of them around, but after a few moments of sniffing around and not smelling or hearing anything else, Alan was satisfied that the bear had indeed been alone. He had probably been a lone guard bear patrolling the tunnels for signs of foul play. Well, he had found some foul play, alright.
    Alan had shifted back to human form and pulled the flashlight out of his bag. When the beam landed on Hannah’s face, he had seen the image that now haunted him of her eyes rolled back into her head. Even though her bear form was on the smaller side, he still had to shift back to bear form to manage to drag her to a remote space in the cave. Shifting back and forth took an enormous amount of energy, which he hated to waste with such low food supplies. But he hadn’t wanted to risk being on the main patrol route, in case another bear guard came along.
    Luckily, Hannah’s wounds had been minor. She had a couple nasty gashes, but nothing that required stitches. The Blizzard had mostly knocked the wind out of her, and when she came to she had been alright. After a few more hours of sleep, she should be up for more traveling.
    Alan tossed and turned, willing his mind and body to rest. But the gravity of the situation weighed heavily on his heart. He wanted to believe that everything would work out okay in the end, but he knew deep down that Hannah’s worries over their situation were legitimate. They had almost no food, and they were completely lost down here. The only spark of hope Alan felt came from the realization that the Blizzard who attacked Hannah had not been carrying any supplies with him. This meant that they had to be less than a day’s journey from some sort of food supply. The problem was finding it.
    Alan squeezed his eyes shut tight in the pitch black darkness. He had no fear of dying. Since losing Tessa, everything always seemed slightly out of focus. Colors were less vivid, and every emotion except grief had taken on a dull edge. But he found himself strangely troubled by the possibility of Hannah dying. When she had shifted back to human form earlier, and he had seen her exquisite human form standing right in front of him, he had felt his bear leaping with pleasure inside of him.
    Mine his bear had whispered as Hannah’s perfect, full breasts came into view. Beautiful , the bear added, as Hannah bent over and her smooth, round ass was put on display. Alan had turned away quickly, trying to stop the rush of passion that had unexpectedly started coursing through his veins. Seeing another shifter naked was a commonplace occurrence, thanks to how destructive shifting could be to clothing. But Tessa had been the only woman who had ever