CHAPTER TWO – Nicolette
My scream was cut off as I fell backward onto the floor with the animal on top of me. Five minutes in Alaska, and I was going to be mauled by a ferocious beast. I thrust my hands toward it, but it was stronger. It forced its massive head between my arms and came straight at my face.
Licking me. With a big slobbery tongue.
And hot breath that smelled like old meat.
“Atka!” A gruff woman’s voice snapped. “Get off that woman!”
Not a wolf. A dog. A huge furball of a dog. It wiggled and whined and continued to nose my hands out of the way so it could lap at my cheeks.
I almost laughed that I wasn’t going to die. Yet the second I smiled, the sloppy tongue got too close to my mouth, and I pressed my lips together tight. There’s no way I wanted any dog kisses that intimate.
“Dammit, Atka. Off.” The stranger grumbled and the weight of the dog was gone from me.
I stared up at an older woman with short light gray hair and a weathered face lined with wrinkles. Yet she couldn’t have been much older than sixty with the way she adeptly handled the still excited dog. Atka was a big husky with pretty blue eyes and a broad chest. He happily howled as his curled tail wagged a hundred miles a second.
“Thanks.” I hopped to my feet and wiped my face with a sleeve. Could this be Kodiak’s mother? She seemed a tough woman, nothing at all like any Omega I’d ever seen. “He’s a beautiful dog.”
“Pretty but dumb.” She steered Atka toward the outside and released him to go running around the parking lot. A second husky sniffed a post near a dented pickup truck. “You have your bag? We need to get going.”
So she was here to pick me up. I straightened and smiled and held out my hand. First impressions. “Hi, I’m Nicolette Lancaster. It’s nice to meet Kodiak’s mother. Thank you for coming to pick me up.”
She snorted. “I’m not Kodiak’s mom. Just their neighbor. Shae Long.” She gave my hand a very firm and brief shake before turning to go outside again. Shae must be the one acting as my chaperon. I was fine on the plane with Betas, but now I was to meet Alphas, and any unclaimed Omega needed an escort in those situations. “Bring your bag and toss it into the back of the truck.”
I glanced over my shoulder at my suitcases and trunk. Panic crawled over me for the hundredth time today. I didn’t want to ask Shae for help. No doubt she was a no nonsense type of woman, and she was here to pick me up. Was she testing my patience to see how I could handle stressful situations? Did she want me to be a spoiled brat and stomp my foot demanding she do it? I might be a little bratty at times as the youngest in my family, but I would never let anyone think I couldn’t do anything.
Fetching two of my suitcases, I wheeled them out to the truck. Shae had opened her door and ushered the dogs inside the cab. The huskies stood watching me through the window with tails wagging as I pushed the luggage up into the back. Atka’s nose pressed against the glass as he licked it.
“I have more. I’ll be back in a sec.” I hurried back into the terminal to fetch my last suitcase and the trunk. Everything had wheels, but I didn’t think I could lift the trunk on my own. Yet when I returned to the truck, Shae was inside, revving the engine, and not even looking back at me.
I clenched my jaw. I put in the smaller suitcase first and debated asking Shae to help me with the trunk. Atka barked and danced on the seat. The other husky sat and cocked their head. Shae had not budged.
Alright, I could do this. Just prop up the chest lengthwise and tip it up onto the truck bed.
Propping it up was easy enough, but I struggled to lift it. The engine revved again.
I let out a long breath and tried again. I got it a little off the ground but it fell and nearly crunched my toes. Pressing my palm against my forehead as I crouched there, I forced back my tears of frustration. One more time, I could do this.
Being sure to lift with my legs, I groaned as my arms screamed with the heavy weight. The chest scraped against the edge of the truck, but with a great heave, I managed to get it up. My arms shook as I pushed it all the way in and closed the tailgate door.
As I came around to the passenger side door, Atka seemed ready to pounce on me again if I opened it. Shae obviously didn’t care as she put the truck in gear. I hurriedly opened the door and stepped in, fighting off Atka’s happy kisses as I sat and shut the door. I didn’t even get a chance to put on a seat belt before we were moving.
My nerves were still rattling even if the truck was doing enough of that for us both. Fending off Atka, I clicked in my buckle and gave him head scratches which seemed to settle him for the moment. The other husky sat beside Shae staring ahead at the road as if they were driving.
We drove along the road past a grocery store and some homes. Mountains surrounded us and great evergreen trees hid the road and whatever awaited us around every bend. Saying it was majestic barely covered what the island looked and felt like, but what it also felt terribly isolated.
Since Shae hadn’t said anything, I lightly cleared my throat. “Thank you again for picking me up. I had expected Kodiak himself—”
“He’s working,” Shae cut in. “Him and the boys might be home tonight.”
Might? He had to know I was arriving today. “I know next to nothing about Kodiak and his family. Does he have brothers?”
“Not by blood.” Shae nodded at a few people on their bicycles on a cycling path as we passed and continued talking. “His mom died in childbirth. Destroyed Savva who was left to raise the boy on his own. Took him to work with him in the Tongass. Kodiak was raised in the woods along with Silas and Ezekiel, who Savva adopted when their fathers died in a logging accident. The lot of them, all Alphas, all creatures of the forest and as damn wild.”
That was devastating. I couldn’t imagine not having my parents in my life. What would that mean for what Kodiak was like? Would he be like a fierce beast just looking to breed me or would he crave the tender affection of an Omega? And what did Savva truly think about it all? He was the one that made the deal with my father, after all. “Does Kodiak still live and work with his dad?”
“Nah, Savva busted his leg a few years back and can’t get around well enough to fell trees anymore. The boys do it all, and they’re building their own cabin on Volkov land. Savva has the old cabin, and the boys live in theirs. Land that I guess now also belongs to the Lancasters.”
I stiffened at that last statement. Her words were harsh and, if I read her tone right, disgusted. My father had made the deal with Savvo for a piece of valuable land in exchange for me coming to Petersburg for a year to see if I was compatible with his son. He had made it sound like Kodiak was ready for a mate and to start a family.
But he hadn’t even come to pick me up himself.
Kodiak probably felt the same way as Shae did about his father selling some of their land to my dad.
I’d promised my parents to give it a try, but now I suddenly felt immensely unwelcome.
Atka licked my hand and nuzzled me. Okay, maybe one furry boy was happy I was there.
Swallowing back my roiling emotions, I sat in silence as we drove along. We skirted the small town, which I knew subsisted mostly on tourists coming in to fish, and followed the road along the coast. It was beautiful, but increasingly overwhelming. There was no one out here. I hugged Atka closer.
Shae turned inland, taking a winding rocky road up a mountain. It wasn’t as big as some of the other mountains I could see, but it was still huge. Trees blocked the view, and I felt totally lost even though we probably weren’t twenty minutes outside of town.
A battered post that was roughly cut to resemble an ax marked a driveway which forked about a hundred feet in. Shae jerked her to the right. “Savva lives there to the right. The boys are up here on the left.”
The truck bounced along the road, having me bouncing in my seat. “Where do you live? You mentioned you were their neighbor.”
“A couple miles down the road to the west. You might hear my dogs from here.”
“Atka and his friend are that loud?” Huskies could howl, but could it really carry that far?
“Sound carries. I raise sled dogs, and I’ve got twenty-six right now. But Atka and Kavik aren’t mine. They belong to Ezekiel.” Shae slowed the truck as we exited the woods onto the side of the mountain. The darkening gray sky stretched out into forever. The strait between the mainland and the island was a rippling line below. A few boats chugged along heading north looking like they were the size of fake fingernails. “I take care of the dogs while they’re working, but not anymore. That’s your job now.”
Wait. I twisted to face Shae as she put the truck into park. My job?
“But… I’ve never had a dog before.” My heart raced. I’d never had any pets. My family traveled way too much.
Shae opened her door and slid out. “Well, now you do. The dogs approve of you too.” She shook her head as if she disagreed and walked to the back end. “Come on. We’re here.”
Here? Where? All I saw was a sheer drop off the mountain. I turned around in my seat and gasped.
There was the cabin. No, not a cabin. A great wooden castle in the making. Massive timbers framed the peaked roof and anchored it to the side of the rock. A stack of large beams were piled on the ground behind the truck half covered by a tarp. A steel framed walkway led across a crack in the mountain to the front door. How was this place not tumbling to the forest below?
Atka and Kavik jumped out and ran a half dozen circles around the yard before trotting over to the cabin’s door. Shae yanked my suitcases and trunk out of the truck as I slowly exited. They lived on the side of a mountain. I was going to live on the side of a mountain.
“Quite the sight, isn’t it?” Shae didn’t smile but she lifted her chin with a glint of what looked like admiration in her eyes. “The boys did good. Silas, especially. He can build a house anywhere.”
“How…?” I wasn’t even certain what to ask. If she told me the cabin was floating on a cloud, I was inclined to believe her. “They built this themselves?”
“Yup.” Shae shrugged. “I don’t know their secrets. You’ll have to ask Silas. But the rock is granite. It isn’t going to crack.”
I didn’t know one rock from another, but this was an incredible feat of engineering. The men weren’t just good, they were geniuses.
“Alright. Front door’s unlocked. Kodiak cleared out his room for you to use. It’s the one with the balcony.” Shae hopped back up into her truck. “I’ve gotta go home and feed my dogs before the storm hits.”
I jerked myself out of my shock. “But what about you being my chaperon? I can’t be alone with Alphas if I’m unclaimed.”
My words fell on deaf ears. Shae had already gotten into the truck and revved the engine as she pulled out. I wasn’t even sure if she looked in her rearview mirror at me. Squashing the urge to run after her, I lifted my arm to wave. It was the law that unclaimed Omegas needed escorts around Alphas, but I guess no one was around up here to enforce it.
The chill in a gust of wind nipped me, and I hugged myself. Think positive. It will all be fine. Kodiak will be home soon, and we’ll get along splendidly. Plus he had two friends to help keep us company and act as chaperons.
Propping up two of my suitcases, I popped out their wheels and led them to the front door. The cabin towered over me, easily three stories high. Atka barked eagerly, and the second I opened the door, he was inside. Kavik was much more calm. She sat, waiting for me to go in.
“Thank you.” I gave her a small curtsy and a head scratch before wheeling my suitcases in. Kavik followed and sat where I placed my luggage as if guarding them.
I wiped my boots on the mat as I stared at the main room with wide eyes. The ceiling was the full three stories. Several beams as wide as a car ran across above me. There was a grand fireplace with a wide screen TV over top of it and a long L shaped couch in front. The big room was open to the kitchen which had butcher block counters, a massive island with a double sink, and a long dining room table cut from what looked to be the same wood the house itself was made from.
There was no mess, which I might have thought with three men living on their own. Yet there was also no décor. No art, no photographs, or throw pillows or anything with color. It was minimalism beyond just living an uncluttered life. It seemed their house was not a home yet.
The most stunning part of the cabin was the huge wall of windows at the back looking down the mountain over the woods to the strait and the mainland. Clouds swirled around the tops of the peaks and no more boats sped toward Petersburg as the sky had darkened further.
Dark. That’s right. A storm was coming.
I rushed back outside and brought my other suitcase in before fetching the trunk. Though it had wheels, it still was difficult to roll over the rocky ground and steel bridge. I closed the door, and as soon as it clicked, both dogs went over to sit beside a pair of bowls by the kitchen island.
While I had never had a pet, I knew you had to feed them and give them water. “Okay darlings, let’s see where they keep your food.” I peeked through the lower cupboards until I found a fifty pound bag of dog food. Thankfully it was half empty.
I filled the food bowls and spotted two water bowls on the other side of the island. I put clean water into them. The huskies gobbled down all their food and drank all the water before sitting and staring at me again. “Do I give you more? I don’t know how much food dogs are supposed to have. The bag suggests…” I read over the back of the package. “Large dog, two to three cups a day. I’m going to assume you were fed this morning. So no more of this.” Atka whined at me, and I shook my finger. “No more, sweetie. But water, I will give you all the water you want.”
I refilled the water bowls and checked the rest of the kitchen. There was the bare minimum. Mostly beer and meat in the fridge.
Having noticed the satellite dish outside, I pulled out my phone to let my family and friends know I’d arrived. The cabin did have wifi, but I didn’t have the password. Well, crap. I wrapped my arms around myself and took in a few deep meditative breaths. It would be alright. I just had to keep myself busy.
Wandering to the right side of the cabin, I found two unfinished rooms. One bedroom sized and the other twice as big. Tools and lumber lay spread around. The drywall wasn’t primed or painted. A weight bench with several weights sat stacked in a corner.
Atka and Kavik followed. Atka skipped around and sniffed everything. Kavik followed near me as if she were my supervisor making sure I didn’t do anything wrong.
“A house full of Alphas. I bet this is going to be a workout room,” I mused and glanced at Kavik who seemed to nod. “How is it living in a house full of males? I’ve only had sisters and then I went to an all girl school. I’m used to feminine energy, so all of this will be very new to me.”
Kavik said nothing, of course, but her tail swayed back and forth a little. Atka rushed over and bumped into me. His tongue lulled out and started out of the room, glancing back to see if we were following.
“Yes, we’re coming.” I gave him a good rub as I passed and headed to the other side of the house. “I bet the bedrooms are over there.”
My assumption was right. The first two rooms were a mess. Clothes on the floor, beds unmade, and beer bottles left on dressers and window sills. One room had a small totem pole in a corner and a shelf of smaller wooden sculptures. The other room had beautiful and realistic paintings of animals on the walls. The two rooms shared a bathroom between them.
The final room had its own bathroom suite, and I guessed it was the one meant for me because it was the only clean bedroom. The king sized bed had a dark and thick comforter with several pillows. A six drawer dresser matched the wood of the bed frame. Both looking as though they were handcrafted. A large closet with no doors sat against the wall opposite the windows and French doors leading to the balcony. I wanted to check out the view, but the wind had picked up and the sky was nearly dark as night.
I glanced at the time on my cell phone. Almost five. Perhaps it did get dark this early here.
Alone in a strange house in the dark with a storm looming. No phone. No neighbors close by. The dogs were there but my heart started beating hard and my breathing quickened.
Sitting on the bed, I grabbed a pillow and hugged it. Tears pricked my eyes. Everything would be okay. It had to be. If I wasn’t compatible with Kodiak, I could go home sooner than later. And if we did match?
My stomach flipped and tightened. If we did, we’d work something out. Maybe we could move south. Seattle wasn’t a long flight from here. Yes, a big city with lots of people.
My stupid panic wasn’t willing to be soothed. I buried my face in the pillow, and as I breathed in, a woodsy musk filled my nose. My trembling eased.
Deep breaths. I just needed deep breaths.
Kodiak and the others would be back soon. They had to come home. They couldn’t work in the dark. Certainly not in a storm.
Because there was no way I could make it through the night alone.