Chapter 2

Aurora Station, Arctic

The small cargo plane shuddered as it moved through the heavy arctic air. Lara thought she had dressed for the cold, but the frigid temperature was more than she'd prepared for. She now understood why Nightshadow had closed the door between the cockpit and the cargo hold. She was certain the cockpit was heated. She didn't think he'd be flying in a T-shirt, but she also didn't think he'd be worried about any parts freezing off.

And from what she could tell from looking at the fly of his jeans, he had some pretty impressive parts.

She shook her head. She was not going there. She didn't have time for thinking about the hunky, brooding dire wolf-shifter's parts—impressive or otherwise. A fleeting thought went through her mind—could male dire wolves form knots in their human form? Oh no, she was not going there. No way; no how.

The plane banked to the right and then began what felt like a controlled descent to the ground below. How was Nightshadow going to land this thing? At Otter Cove, it had been moored in the bay on floats or pontoons. She turned to peer out the window. The landscape that stretched out below was a vast, remote wilderness. It appeared to be a land of stark contrasts, where the beauty of its pristine environment was juxtaposed with the harshness of the climactic and primeval conditions. It was incredibly unique and awe-inspiring, seemingly characterized by its icy wilderness and what had to be its resilient ecosystem.

If Lara had thought the flight north was rough, it was nothing compared to the descent toward the icy expanse below, dotted with what appeared to be an enormous igloo and some kind of hangar. The doors to the hangar opened seemingly of their own accord. Lara, hidden beneath a pile of supplies, held on for dear life but still felt every bump and jolt of the plane as it bounced along in every fiber of her being. She clutched the straps of her backpack as well as those of the cargo netting trying to steady herself. Her heart raced with a mixture of fear and exhilaration. As the plane bumped down—she realized the pontoons must have some kind of wheels—she braced herself, knowing that her moment to sneak out was imminent.

The engine"s roar began to fade as the plane slowed and came to a stop inside the hangar. She could hear the large overhead doors closing as Nightshadow secured the plane, opened the cargo hold door and the clamor of unloading began. Lara bided her time, trying to keep as quiet as she possibly could, waiting for the right moment to sneak off the plane and hopefully into someplace warm. When she couldn't hear him moving around anymore, she slipped from her hiding spot and edged toward the open door. As she moved among the crates, her breath formed clouds in the frigid air. Damn, it was cold. She peeked out of the door and looked around. It didn't appear as though anyone else was in the hangar. She took a deep breath and slid over the edge of the door, lowering herself until she was just barely hanging on, and let go.

She landed with a thud, her legs buckling so that she fell on her ass, causing her to fall backward and roll to one side. As she tried to right herself, she came face to face with a pair of sturdy work boots. Even they were sexy—when had she started thinking Nightshadow was sexy?

About the time he walked into the war room. Her eyes traveled up a long set of jean-clad legs with muscular thighs and the aforementioned button-up fly, which seemed to be bulging.

"Eyes up here," he commanded, and much to her chagrin, she obeyed.

She let her gaze travel up the tall figure dressed in a way that seemed only to accentuate his muscles and masculinity. Lara hoped when she reached his face, he would be looking at her with a kind of bemusement. As she found his dark countenance, downturned lips and angry eyes, she thought to herself: no such luck.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" His voice was deep and moody, with a slight hint of violence that spoke of a life spent in the vast, empty reaches of the north. His eyes, a piercing blue, regarded her with a mixture of irritation and something else, although she couldn't quite figure out what that was.

Lara scrambled to her feet, brushing the imaginary dirt or snow from her clothes. "I... I didn"t mean to startle you. I just?—"

"You just stowed away on my cargo plane to Aurora Station," he finished for her, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

She would really have liked to have seen him with his shirt off. No, scratch that, she'd have liked to have seen him with all his clothes off. She wondered if his chest was as sculpted as the henley shirt made it seem. And she really would like a good look at his dangly parts—better yet, she'd like to put them to good use.

"It's not your cargo plane. It belongs to the Resistance."

"How do you know that?"

"Same way I knew how to get inside and the best places to hide—I looked up the schematics in the database."

He shook his head. "That really isn't the point. Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?"

"I had to get here," Lara said, her voice steady despite her pounding heart and other body parts. Suddenly her bra seemed way too constrictive. "I need to be here."

He arched an eyebrow. "I can get your plant. You don't even know where the damn thing is, and I'm pretty sure you couldn't find it without me. You could have talked to me or left me instructions, but you didn't. Why is that?"

She lifted her chin, meeting his gaze head-on. "Because I have work to do. Important work. And I won"t be sent back to Otter Cove. I"ll fight you tooth and nail if you try to force me back onto the plane before I'm ready to go. Even if you manage to get me back to Otter Cove, I'll just find a way back here, so you may as well help me find the plant before you boot me out of here."

He nodded slowly. "You seem to think you can just fly in and out of Aurora station as if it was Seattle—you do hail from Seattle, right?"

"How do you know that?

"You're not the only one who can access information on the Resistance's database." He studied her for a long moment, his expression inscrutable. Then, with a sigh, he shook his head. "I need to get the perishables inside. Grab your gear." He looked down at her choice of footwear—mukluks. "Those won't work."

He said nothing else before grabbing her pack, slinging it over his shoulder before doing the same with her. Lara squealed at his tossing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes; upending her world was the last thing she expected him to do.

"You're going to hurt yourself," she said, squirming.

"By carrying you?" He laughed and then strode to the far end of the hangar past a sno-cat, a snowmobile, and a larger expedition vehicle to a staircase.

He jogged down the stairs, bouncing her on his shoulder and forcing her to grab onto him as he opened a door and made his way down a cold, dimly lit tunnel. At the other end, he went up another set of stairs and into a large, warm room.

Setting her on her feet, he tossed her pack onto a sturdy counter like it was nothing. "Make yourself useful. Get a cup of coffee for you and drink it before you fall over from the temperature and not eating." He shook his head. "I'm assuming you didn't eat anything on the flight up."

"I didn't know how long it would be," she said, not quite managing to negate the stammer in her voice.

He looked back down at her footwear and at her down vest and coat. "Nor how to dress for the arctic weather. This isn't Alaska. The cold up here will kill you before anything else. Get a cup of coffee. Then grab a blanket from the chest. Wrap yourself and go sit in front of the fireplace. I'll have a fire going in no time."

"You don't get to order me around."

"Oh, but I do. You're suffering the early stages of hypothermia. If we don't get your body temperature headed in the right direction, you and I are going to end up in a hot shower together. There's no way I can fly you back down to Otter Cove before morning, and the window on the weather may be closing. Now, do as you're told."

"I'm not as helpless as you seem to think."

"Helpless? No. Foolish? Freezing? Stubborn? Yes, to all three. "Now move," he said, turning her around, and giving her a little shove by applying his hand sharply to her backside.

Lara yelped and stumbled forward.

Nightshadow chuckled and turned his attention to the fireplace at the opposite end of the room from the kitchen. He must have had a fire laid already, as it took him less time to get a blazing fire than it did for her to make two cups of coffee with the pod coffeemaker. Her choices for K-cups were dark and dark.

She was adding some honey to hers and was going to ask how he liked his when he settled a warm, fuzzy blanket around her. She squeaked and almost spilled coffee everywhere. God, he was quiet. She hadn't heard him move, but then, weren't dire wolves supposed to be stealthy predators?

"Go sit in front of the fire," he commanded, like a man used to having his orders obeyed.

She set the coffee mug she'd prepared for him down on the counter, clutched the blanket to her, as it really did feel warm and snuggly, and turned to face him.

"You know, you could be a little nicer."

"I could, but I doubt I will be. Keep in mind, Lara, that now that you're here, I'll be expected to look after you. The Resistance sees you as a great asset. Deke actually thinks you might be onto something with this plant thing. He'd asked me to keep an eye out for it. You stowed away on my plane, so now I'm stuck with you. From this point until I can dump you back into Deke's hands, you'll do what I tell you when I tell you."

"Do you find women just willingly obey you when you tell them to warm themselves by the fire?"

"Not really. Generally, I tell them to lie back and spread their legs, which they seem to do happily."

They stood there staring at each other. Lara wasn't sure what to say, decided to say nothing, and crossed the room to the fire.

Nightshadow chuckled. "That was the safe choice, not as much fun, but probably the best one you could make in the circumstances."

"Has anyone ever told you that you are an insufferable ass?"

"More often than you'd care to know."

He took a long drag on his coffee, made another mug, adding honey as she had, and took it to her.

"No, I'm fine, but thank you."

"You aren't fine. Drink it," he said, taking her almost empty mug out of her hand, adding it to the other mug and then handing the second mug to her. "As much as I admire your determination, you can"t just stowaway on a plane and waltz into Aurora Station. This is the Arctic. It'll kill you in less time than it takes for your breath to freeze in your lungs. There are protocols, safety measures, and you're going to follow them."

"I"m not a tourist," she snapped. "I know what I"m doing."

Orion"s eyes narrowed. "Doubtful." He walked over to a shortwave radio. "Lighthouse Compound, this is Aurora Station. You may not have noticed, but you're missing a vet."

"You have her?" growled Deke.

"I do. The little minx stowed away on my plane, and I didn't know it until we got here. I don't think I'm safe to fly without some shut eye, but I'll return her as soon as possible."

"Keep her safe, Orion."

"Will do. Aurora Station out."

Lara glanced around the room. Maps of the Arctic adorned the walls, along with photographs of the stark Arctic landscape—the endless white, the jagged mountains in the distance, the sky a perfect, unblemished blue. They were breathtaking and intimidating all at once and seemed to have nothing to do other than to adorn the walls and portray the arctic beauty of this place. And there in a small photograph framed in silver was the Solanum Mystica. Lara's resolve hardened. She was not going back until she had gotten what she needed. She"d come too far for that.

Nightshadow sat down at his desk and began to work on his computer. He was so involved in what he was doing, he barely noticed when Lara got up and searched his supplies, coming up with what she needed to make cacio e pepe. The dish was simple to make and took only a few ingredients: pasta, butter, black pepper, parmesan and pecorino romano cheeses. Even so, for Lara, it was comfort food.

"Damn, Doc, that smells amazing," he said, startling her once again with having come up behind her without a sound.

She was certain he did it on purpose to try and get a rise out of her. This time he had succeeded. As she tossed the ingredients together, she brought her elbow back into his mid-section, making him groan and backing him off.

"Be a little bit nicer to me, and I'll share it with you."

"It's my food."

"It's the Resistance's food."

He nodded as he took the plate she was offering him, expertly twirling the spaghetti around his fork before putting it in his mouth. "Damn. That tastes even better than it smells. I wonder if you'll be the same."

Lara gasped and stormed past him to the safety and warmth of the fire. "I cooked. You can clean."

"Sounds fair to me. Want a beer? I have Guinness and a really nice pale ale."

"Guinness would be great." He smiled at her, and she frowned. "What?"

"I'd have bet serious money you'd go for the pale ale."

"You'd have lost."

"Apparently there's more to you than meets the eye."

After they'd finished, Nightshadow cleaned up the kitchen without comment.

"Let"s get you settled. You"ll be in the dormitory. Follow me."

"Where will you be?"

"In my room. I'm right down the hall. Each dorm unit has four beds and an attached bath."

He picked up her pack and led her through the station, Lara couldn"t help but steal glances at Nightshadow. There was something about him—a wildness, a raw energy that seemed to mirror the untamed landscape outside. It both unsettled and intrigued her.

He showed her to a small, utilitarian room. "This is you," he said.

"Thanks. I appreciate your help."

He gave her a curt nod. "You didn't give me much choice, but I do appreciate the dinner you made. I haven't had cacio e pepe since the last time I was in Rome."

As he walked away, Lara opened her pack.

"Don't get too comfortable. I'm taking you back in the morning."

Even through the thick walls she could hear the arctic wind howling. This place was everything she had imagined and more—beautiful, desolate, and full of challenges—Orion Nightshadow being one of them.

As she lay in her narrow bed, the cold seeping in despite the station"s heaters, she found her thoughts drifting to Nightshadow. There was something magnetic about him, something that drew her despite his brusque exterior. She had never been as wildly attracted to a man as she was to him. Her response was visceral and profound. She could well imagine herself laying back at his command and letting him ravish her.

Lara closed her eyes, exhaustion finally taking over, and dreamed of him being some kind of barbarian warrior who had raided her village and taken her for his own. In a flight of fancy, she drifted off to sleep, wondering if perhaps in another time and in another life, they had been mates. It didn't matter. Tomorrow, she would figure out a way to convince Nightshadow to let her stay until she could find the plant she truly believed could be the gateway to a cure for the Tasmanian Devils.