Page 1 of His Rescued Mate

CHAPTER 1

ASSIGNMENT: KODIAK ISLAND

Road Less Traveled Magazine

Portland, Oregon

It was the time of the year Alexa Carrington most dreaded. No, not that time, but a specific monthly staff meeting. Normally she didn’t mind staff meetings, but once a year, her boss took the names of a bunch of destinations and tossed them into a hand-woven basket. Each of the four journalists who worked for the magazine had to draw one out, and that was their next assignment.

Their editor, Perry, didn’t care what they wrote regarding the selected destination; only that it was featured prominently in the article. Alexa didn’t know why she dreaded it—the last couple of years’ assignments had been kind of fun. Her trip the previous year to Easter Island, off the coast of Chile, had been enlightening. The island was home to fewer than 8,000 permanent residents. It was so much more than just the famed 887 monolithic statues known as moai. They’d been carved out of volcanic rock by the island’s indigenous people between 1250 and 1500 C.E.

For Alexa, the trip had been a turning point. She’d returned home and ended her marriage of eight years not because it was toxic, but because it had become stale. She didn’t hate her ex; their paths had just diverged to the point that they no longer had much in common, and neither cared enough to try and change that.

Karen, one of the other travel writers, chose first and whined, “God, what is it with these locations? Ittoqqortoomiit, Greenland? I don’t even know how to pronounce that.”

“Then I suggest you learn,” chuckled Perry. “Next?”

“Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like they’re sticking their hands into a basket of vipers?” asked Chuck. He pulled out a piece of folded paper and groaned. “I will buy dinner for anyone who is willing to swap with me.”

There was muffled laughter, but no one took him up on it.

“Nepal again?” teased Geordi.

Chuck nodded. He’d had Nepal for the past three years and all three times had come home sicker than the proverbial dog.

“Make it Salvador Molly’s, and you’ve got a deal. I love their jambalaya,” said Geordi.

“Hey, you know the rules,” said Perry. “No trades.”

“Come on, Perry. Let him trade this once,” said Alexa, who actually felt sorry for Chuck.

There were murmurs of agreement, and Perry waved a hand in defeat. “All right, but just this once.”

“Thanks, Geordi. You let me know when you want to go. So, what did I get?”

Geordi grinned. “The Canadian Rockies—Banff and Jasper, specifically.”

“Whoa. Okay I owe you dinner before and after. You know how much I love those areas.”

“True. I feel bad that you’ve been stuck with Nepal and keep getting sick. I figure you’re owed a good one, and I’ve been there, anyway.”

Perry looked to Alexa. “Are you okay with what you got?”

“Very much so. Kodiak Island up in Alaska. I’ve wanted to explore that area for a long time.”

“Ah, the Alaskan experience,” said Chuck. “No offense, but aren’t you going to have to work on finding a new angle?”

“Alexa always finds a new angle,” said Perry confidently.

He wasn’t wrong, but so much had been written about Alaska. It was really one of the last frontiers for Americans. It was part of their country but so distant, and in many ways, so foreign. Alexa’s plan was to book her flight and a place to stay, and let it go from there. Perry was very generous with their expense accounts. He had a top-notch team, and the magazine’s readership kept increasing.

“Well, that’s it,” said Perry. “Let’s make this the best edition ever. Let me know if we can do anything to help here at the office.”

Alexa remained in the conference room while the rest of them strolled out, and started researching places to stay. She avoided hotels if she could and preferred either a bed and breakfast or an Airbnb.

In spite of herself, Alexa found she was getting excited. She wondered why she dreaded these meetings assigning these remote locations. She hadn’t been assigned a bad one yet, and it was kind of fun watching her co-workers squirm. Okay, so maybe she enjoyed them more than she should.

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