Fantasy Lynxed [Teeth, Nails and Tails] - Brynn Paulin

[raone453k]

Chapter Five

 

Summer woke slowly and stretched, enjoying the lack of pain in her well rested body. Whatever was in Bar and Mika’s grandmother’s tea, they should market to the rest of the world. They’d make a killing on the stuff. At the thought of the two men, she opened her eyes and looked around for the pair who’d taken such good care of her yesterday—and given her unspeakable pleasure, too. The room was empty, and she frowned, sitting up and finding herself naked and alone once more. “This is getting to be a habit,” she muttered. “Naked and alone. Nice.” A rudimentary survey of the house revealed the men were gone again. This time, however, she found a note on the counter. Got called into the home office. Will be staying the night in Fairbanks and will see you tomorrow morning. Stay out of trouble! Bar and Mika. Her brows drew together as a spout of anger shot through her. They were in Fairbanks, in civilization, and they hadn’t woken her to take her with them. She was pretty sure Emmie and Kelsey would have wanted to go as well. They all needed to get back to the real world so they could resume their journeys to the next chapters of their lives. It was becoming infinitely clear Mika and Bar had no intention of helping her do that. Fine. She’d been on her own and fending for herself since she was a teenager and her dad had decided she was old enough to take care of herself when he went on his expeditions. She’d do it again now. Scrabbling around, she found her underwear and jeans. Though she wasn’t thrilled to be slipping on clothes she’d already worn, she reasoned she’d only worn them for a few hours yesterday before Bar and Mika had removed them again. Fishing around in Bar’s drawers, she found a thermal shirt and a T-shirt.

After pulling them both on, she looked in his closet and found a hoodie. All Bar’s clothes were too big on her, but she figured she didn’t have much choice. This was Alaska in the fall and she wanted to be warm. Finding her shoes was a bigger challenge, but she finally found them under the edge of the bed where she’d first slept. So what to do? Once her spate of activity wound down, she stood in the middle of the living room and realized she didn’t have a plan. Well, if what she’d been told was true, her only exit was via air-taxi. That meant she needed to go to the airport. That proved easier said than done, she soon discovered. Stepping from Mika and Bar’s house, she felt as if she’d been dropped into a different world. There was no flashy architecture in Caribou Run. There were no tall buildings, or even two-story structures, and few vehicles—and all of those were old model years. Offhand, she wondered why anyone would need a car in a place this size anyway. The no-frills houses, with squat roofs and painted, wood-panel walls, seemed scattered haphazardly along the wide street. Her brows drew together. Calling it a street was probably an overstatement. It seemed more of a well-trodden, unpaved path. However, that road, rustic as it was, made it easy for her to get to the tiny Caribou Run airport. The tower, maybe two or three stories, rose above the other structures in town, guiding her way. She headed for it, hoping to arrange a flight. She didn’t have her purse, which she assumed was on the plane somewhere in the wilderness, but if they gave her access to a computer, she could charge the flight manually since she had her number memorized. A man who looked vaguely like Bar and Mika stepped through the tall, chain linked gate from the runway area when she approached, and she waved her hand to get his attention before he disappeared anywhere. “Hey there,” he said with a smile that caused a pang in her middle because it reminded her of the men she was leaving. “You must be Summer. How are you?”

“Good… How did you…?” She shook her head. “Never mind. When’s the next air-taxi, and who do I have to see to arrange a flight? I’ll need a ticket—maybe, three.” She’d have to find Kelsey and Emmie and see if they were in good enough shape to fly. She was sure they’d want to be on their way, as well. “A flight?” His brows drew together. “You can’t get a flight.” “Why not? They run several times a day, don’t they? I have money,” she argued. “No, doll. Bar would kill me if I flew you out of here. Then Mika would kill me again. No can do, sweetness. Don’t worry. They’ll be back in the morning.” She let out a low growl of frustration. “Let’s forget for a minute that you called me doll—or sweetness, for that matter. Why exactly can’t you take me? Bar and Mika don’t have a say over whether I go somewhere or not. You people can’t detain me against my will.” The sex had been good, but she couldn’t sidetrack everything for two men, even if they were deep into fantasy fulfillment. Her plan had been one night, always only one night. Diligently, she pushed aside thoughts of them. He tilted his head and obviously bit back a smile. “Well, you happen to be on tribal land here. And our rules are the rules. You’re Bar and Mika’s mate, and that means you stay until they let you go.” “Of all the—” “And I’m Bar’s my brother, doll, so I’m definitely not pissing him off.”

“You can’t do this!” “Well, actually—” “Is there someone else I can talk to here? A manager for the airport or something?” “Mika’s mother books the flights and files the flight plans. You wanna talk to her?” The man’s smirk told her she wouldn’t get much further with the other woman. Summer rubbed her hand over her face and took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said as calmly as she could. “Let’s be reasonable. I am an American citizen on American soil who’d like to fly to another part of America. I am not anyone’s wife, girlfriend or mate. I’m just a photographer who needs to get back to her life. My family and friends will be worried about me. They’ll come looking for me.” She hoped the subtle threat of others would sway him. Instead, he shook his head. “No one ever just finds Caribou Run, doll. Besides, your plane went down a ways from here. We’re not exactly on the radar.” “I can’t believe this,” she exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. “This is…is…kidnapping! You’re actually going to nonchalantly stand there and tell me I can’t leave Caribou Run? I can’t believe you people. No,” she revised, lifting a finger. “I can’t believe you.” It wasn’t fair to group all the people of this town into the same crowd. “Are you always so…volatile?” She narrowed her eyes at him, unwilling to tell him she was generally good tempered—when she wasn’t being unfairly detained. “Where’s the security officer station? This place has one, right?” “Of course, sweetness. We’re not heathens.” She snorted but didn’t interrupt as he pointed. “It’s about a mile and a half that way, in the middle of town. Our crime rate is really low so Buck is only in on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and a half day every other Friday. But today’s Monday.” His grin looked far from contrite. “Of course,” she ground out. “And if there’s a problem on Monday?” “There are never problems on Monday.

Buck would kick someone’s ass for calling him in on his day off.” “Well, that’s nice, but I am having an emergency.” “Now, doll,” he said, clearly having fun at her expense, “wanting to leave isn’t actually an emergency.” “You’re impossible,” she muttered and turned to walk away. “It was nice to meet you,” he called after her. “I’m Fillion, by the way.” If she were staying, if he were truly her family, she might have acknowledged him, but she wasn’t and he wasn’t, so she kept walking. Her mind whirled as she trekked back to the house. She would have gone to the security officer, but that seemed a fruitless idea. In lieu of that, she’d like to track down Kelsey and Emmie, but short of knocking on every door, she had little hope of finding them. Too bad, because she was sure, with their heads together, they could come up with a solution. A few doors from Mika and Bar’s, she spied a green-painted building with the name “Mollie’s Store and Post Office” painted on a handmade sign. Maybe, someone at the post office would know where she could find the other women. A bell tinkled as she entered the windowless store, and she looked around, wondering what it would be like to actually live in this town with Mika and Bar, without a Wal-Mart or even a decent-sized grocery store nearby. Here, meager shelves lined the four walls with a single double-sided rack down the center of the room.

“Hey, hon, how can I help you?” a cheerful voice called from the front of the store. Her back half-turned to Summer, the woman sorted envelopes into mail slots behind the counter—that slab of wood and register apparently enough to constitute security. Summer pasted on a smile. She didn’t want to alienate another person from Caribou Run—though in retrospect, Fillion hadn’t been offended. “I’m looking for my two friends who were brought to town with me.” “Hi there!” the woman effused, turning fully and setting down the pile of mail she’d held. She stretched out her hand. “I’m Mollie Ra. Welcome! You’re going to love it here.” “Hi, Mollie. I’m Summer. Summer Nash. Do you know my friends? Kelsey and Emmie?” “’Fraid not. I heard there were three of you who came in, thank the gods. You’re the first to visit my store, though.” “But do you know who they’re staying with and where I might find them?” The shopkeeper’s smile dimmed by a few kilowatts. She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I was in Barrow all weekend and just came home this morning with the daily mail run. I heard one of them is staying with my brother-in-law Bar and his clus—his friend Mika.” “That’s me.” Summer sighed, before changing tactics. “Um, do you have a phone?” Perhaps she could call for help. Mollie shook her head. “Sorry. Too expensive.” “Okay. Well, thanks.” Obviously, the store owner wouldn’t help, especially if she was part of Bar’s family. Was everyone around here related? So far, Summer was three for three.

A flicker of an idea lit in her brain, accompanied by a male voice—Bar’s— ordering her Don’t do it! “Before I go…” Summer started, looking around with a lost expression. “I’m trying to get my bearings? Everything’s been so confusing. Do you have a map of the area?” Mollie started to shake her head. “Or tell me,” Summer quickly added. “What’s the nearest town? I have no idea where I’m at.” “Oh, that would be Alatna. It’s about thirty miles east of here, but Barrow’s the nearest city. It’s—” “Two-hundred-fifty miles. Yeah…they told me that. But it’s hard to figure out where I’m at from that, you know?” Summer’s thoughts whirled. Thirty miles? That wasn’t so bad. She’d done fifteen miles a day when she’d hiked the Appalachian Trail last year as part of a photo project. Yeah, she was walking out of here. She was fit and accustomed to wilderness survival. Who better to save the three of them? Summer smiled. “Thank you. I appreciate your help today.” Heading out of the store, she glanced at her watch and found it was only a little after nine, though it felt much later. In this part of September, the sun was up for about twelve hours here. If she got in gear, she could get in a good ten hours of hiking before dusk.