Page 9 of Bite the Power
"I appreciate that," Tessa replied, proud that her voice sounded steady despite the way her heart was still hammering against her ribs.
Kaidan gave a curt nod to Eli, another unreadable look to Tessa, and then strode toward the door with the same predatory grace he'd entered with. "Gerri."
"Always a pleasure, Your Majesty," Gerri called after him, her tone innocent as fresh snow.
As soon as the door closed behind him, the station seemed to exhale, as if his commanding presence had been holding the very air hostage. Through the walls, Tessa could hear the distant groaning of glaciers and the sudden gust of wind against the windows—the Arctic itself seemed restless, matching the tension that had just filled the small space.
"Well," Gerri said, turning to Tessa with eyes that were now fully golden with satisfaction, "wasn't that interesting?"
"I should... get settled," Tessa managed, her mind reeling from the encounter. "Lots to unpack."
She escaped to her small bedroom in the dormitory area, closing the door behind her and leaning against it as if it could somehow block out the memory of his ice-blue eyes and the electric shock of his skin against hers. Her luggage sat on the narrow bed, but she ignored it in favor of the small window that looked out over the Arctic landscape.
The view was breathtaking—endless expanses of ice and snow stretching toward a horizon painted in shades of silver and blue. The research station felt impossibly small against the vastness, a tiny human outpost in a world that belonged to forces far older and more powerful than anything she'd ever studied.
And ruled by the most attractive man I've ever met,she thought, touching her palm where she could still feel the phantom warmth of his hand.
FOUR
KAIDAN
The moment Kaidan stepped outside the research station, the frigid Arctic air hit him like a physical assault—but it was nothing compared to the chaos raging inside him. He climbed onto his snowmobile with mechanical precision, his hands steady despite the storm brewing underneath his skin.
That sweet floral scent.The memory of Tessa's fragrance flooded his senses, and his polar bear stirred relentlessly, pushing against the barriers of his human form.
When their hands had touched minutes ago, the electric jolt that shot through his body had confirmed what his bear had been growling about all morning—she was his fated mate.
Of all the females in the Arctic, fate gives me a human mate.
Kaidan gunned the engine and roared away from the station, snow spraying behind him in crystalline arcs. But with each passing meter, the distance felt like someone was stretching a steel cable taut in his chest. The mate bond—newly awakened and raw—tugged at him with increasing desperation, demanding he turn around and claim what was his.
Turn back. Protect her. Take her.
His bear's demands crashed over him in waves, and suddenly Kaidan couldn't breathe. The snowmobile lurched to a stop neara cluster of ice caves that marked the eastern border of his territory. He stumbled off the machine, his legs unsteady for the first time in decades.
The panic was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. Every instinct screamed that he'd made a catastrophic error by leaving her behind, vulnerable and unprotected. His hands shook as he yanked off his gloves, the freezing air doing nothing to calm the fire racing through his veins.
What the hell is happening to me?
He'd watched his parents, seen other mated pairs in his clan, but nothing had prepared him for this consuming need. The way her green eyes had widened when they touched, the soft catch in her breath—every detail was burned into his memory with startling clarity.
Kaidan began pacing between the ice formations, his boots crunching against the snow with sharp, agitated steps. "Focus," he growled to himself. "You're the king of Frosthaven. Act like it."
But even as he said the words, another image flashed through his mind—Tessa's beautiful face, and the way her dark brown waves had caught the light shining through the research station's windows.
Mine.
A subtle tremor rolled beneath his feet, and Kaidan forced himself to acknowledge the shifting ice patterns around him. His land was restless, responding to pressures he couldn't identify. Under normal circumstances, he would have deferred to Eli about the environmental anomalies. Instead, all he could think about now was Tessa venturing out into these unstable conditions for their research.
She could fall through the ice. Get caught in a storm. Or worse, Magnus could target her.
The last thought sent a surge of protective rage through him so fierce that his bear nearly broke free. Magnus had been increasing his presence near the research station the past week, and now Kaidan's mate was living there, completely unaware of the danger.
She's not equipped to handle shifter politics or Arctic warfare. She needs my protection.
But as king, he couldn't simply hover around the research station without raising suspicions. His clan and the other clans' members already questioned his judgment regarding a human presence in their territory. If they discovered he was considering a human as his queen...
The political ramifications could be devastating.
