Snowman (Arctic Station Bears Book 2) Read Online Free

and examined it up close. Each one was meticulously made by hand. It was part signature and part superstition. He also usually took thirteen clips on a mission, so he spent a lot of time making bullets. So far, he’d successfully completed every mission without ever requiring more than one clip. Still, better safe than sorry, and his gut told him this mission was going to be unlike anything he’d ever encountered previously. Over the years, Parker had learned to listen to his intuition. The large, sinuous scar over his left hip served as a permanent reminder of the one and only time he’d ignored his gut. Parker considered himself lucky that he’d come away from that mission mostly unscathed. A scar was definitely preferable to losing a limb. He shook his head. No sense in dwelling on the past. There was a fresh mission at hand, after all.
    He looked around at the six heavily armed and armored men and women who shared the helicopter with him. The Company had a very well-trained mercenary force, but Parker would insist on taking point. None of them spoke, but some looked worried.
    That wasn’t a feeling that Parker shared, or even could share. Any halfway experienced professional would recognize all the hallmarks of a sociopath in him, but the fact was known only to the Company and those individuals who a mission required that he make contact with. Not a single person in the world called him Alex. The Chairwoman was the closest thing he had to a mother, and even she had always called him Parker, never Alex. It was as though Alex had ceased to exist once Parker joined the Company. If he’d had an ordinary childhood, maybe there’d still be something of Alex left. But Parker’s childhood had been anything but ordinary.
    He had been recruited as a Sheriff at twelve years old after his parents and sister died in a car accident. He’d sat with their bodies for hours until the police arrived on the scene and pulled him out. Parker hadn’t cried then, or at the funeral. Or since. Someone had noticed, because his foster family wasn’t really a family at all. It was a company. The Company.
    He actually was surprised to find out that there were all sorts of supernatural residents in the world, but the emotion didn’t show on his face. He did feel things, but in a vestigial way. The information just didn’t affect him in any real way. Over the years, he learned names to give to the feelings, and also studied affectation to fit in. Most people would probably find him charming. He laughed at jokes, smiled at weddings, and looked sad at funerals.
    Even if he felt nothing, he was not apathetic. He took his job seriously, and his job was to be a line in the sand between humanity and the supernatural. And also a line between conflicting supernatural parties in the event of territory disputes, rogue elements, or crimes. He enjoyed keeping the peace. Protecting people. And he was fearless.
    That part was artificial. Even the tiny, disconnected amount of fear that he had felt as a child could prove fatal in the field. There were things that would eat you if you were afraid. Run from a shifter, and chances are it would catch up to you and eat you. The best bet for survival was to stand your ground and make them afraid instead. Part of his training was learning how to subdue and master fear.
    Some species found the Sheriffs very off-putting. Being immune to the seductive powers of a succubus or siren and the glamour of a vampire made all three less dangerous. And they liked being dangerous as much as Parker did, so the distraction gave him the advantage.
    Parker wiped away a haze of condensation and looked out of the window. He could see the base in the distance now. They were getting close.
    He wasn’t looking forward to his assigned tasks. The Company had instructed him to use fire sale protocol, which meant that he was going to have to kill everyone on site and destroy everything. Human. Shifter. Anything else that might be there.