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Tiikaan glanced at Merritt in his copilot seat of his Maule M-7-235 as he prepared to taxi and inwardly sighed, knowing if he outwardly sighed, she’d feel it with her arm pressed against his.

Looked like he’d be stuck with the Ice Queen all summer. She’d hardly said a word to him since she arrived with her shoulders pinned back in her designer coat.

Who in their right might would wear a white Gucci jacket to a mine site?

Not anyone he knew. His world was Carhartt and bunny boots. Not jackets that probably cost more than his truck.

Though, to be fair, he drove an old beater for a reason. Hard to care about scratching the paint when it was already dented.

As he turned at the end of the tarmac to take off, movement off to his right caught his eye. A polar bear and two cubs meandered onto the runway in front of his plane.

“brW, this is Rebel Air 6532. Over.” He called into the airport as he slowed to a stop.

Merritt jerked her head up from her phone and glared at him.

“Rebel Air, this is brW, go ahead.”

“We have polar bears on the runway. Mom and two cubs. Over.”

“Copy that. Thanks for the heads-up. Over.”

Merritt’s head snapped forward, and she pushed her feet against the floorboard like she was trying to disappear into the seat.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Tiikaan sat up straighter to get a better view of the bears.

“No. Not cool.” She fumbled with her buckle.

He put his hand over hers. “Hey. It’s okay. She can’t get us in here.”

“Right.” Merritt dropped her chin to her chest and closed her eyes.

With a huff, she lifted her phone back up and clicked on a new message. He rolled his eyes and returned his gaze out the windshield. This was probably a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and she’d rather check email?

“Can’t you just, I don’t know, honk a horn or rev the engine or something to get her to move on?” Her annoyed tone grated on him.

“And miss this experience? Nah.”

If she was going to be all business, he would lean into his laid-back Alaskan roots. You can’t change nature, so might as well just go with it. Besides, it wasn’t like the bears would stay there long.

“But we need to get to the mine.”

“And we will. But Alaska has its own timeline and forcing it to bend to yours is pointless.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“That’s Alaska.”

She muttered something under her breath he didn’t catch. She’d traveled the world helping in refugee camps and orphanages. Wouldn’t those experiences have taught her that life didn’t always toe the line? Maybe if he explained the situation to her, she’d loosen up.

“If it was just a lone animal, revving the engine might work. Though I’ve seen animals dig in and dare you to make them move almost as much as I’ve seen them take off. But if I try to scare these three, there’s a good chance the mom will go one way and the cubs another, and then what do we have?”

Merritt shrugged. “Two less bears to grow to adults that terrorize the town?”

Wow. Talk about coldhearted.

If she had such little regard for life, he was out of there. He clenched his teeth together and stared at her, lifting one eyebrow when she finally looked his way.

“Sorry. That was…” She cringed before continuing. “Callous.”

“That’s one way to put it.”

“It’s just I’m not a big fan of bears.” She shivered. “I don’t actually want the cubs to die. I just don’t want them anywhere close to where I am.”

“And they aren’t. That mama isn’t going to attack the plane, unless she views us as a threat. Sure, revving the engine could make them leave. But it could also separate them, and then we’re creating an even more dangerous situation for the people here at the airport and in town. A mama polar bear will go to great lengths to find her cubs.

“I’m not willing to do something that could potentially send the mom right into town searching for her babies. Children are playing there, children that are easy pickings for a grown polar bear. Heck, most adults can’t take them on. So, get comfortable, boss lady. We’re waiting these three out.”

Merritt nodded and returned to scrolling through her phone, but she wasn’t as forceful about it. Not a minute later, the bears meandered off the runway. Tiikaan called the information in to the airport as he throttled up the engine.

Once in the air, he marveled again at how different the terrain was from Tok. The ocean stretched unending to one side, the flat tundra to the other. At least the mine was located close to the mountains. He might go crazy seeing nothing but flat every day.

Merritt tucked her phone into her purse and stared out the side window. Her fingers toyed with her necklace like they had the day before.

She muttered something that sounded like a list or procedures, almost like he used to do when he first started flying. If he hadn’t repeated them out loud, he would have forgotten a step.

The difference in her attitudes still confused the heck out of him. Did she turn into the cold woman who offhandedly talked about dying cubs because she was stressed from suddenly being the person in charge of such a huge operation? Or was that who she really was?

He didn’t know how she was in her philanthropy work. She could’ve been just as cold and efficient then, too. Running a nonprofit division as big as the one Harland must have didn’t need heart to operate. In fact, not having one would make it easier to decide who got help and who didn’t.

He shook his head as he checked his instruments and then scanned the mountains they approached. It didn’t really matter what she was like. Heart or heartless didn’t matter as long as he got paid and she didn’t spew too much attitude his way.

As he entered the Brooks Range, he sighed in relief. It felt right to be among the peaks that jutted from the earth. He lowered his altitude so he could fly through the mountains instead of over.

A small glacier sat between two peaks. At the bottom of the valley, an ice cave beckoned from the glacier’s folds to be explored. He veered closer to get a better look.

“See that?” He tipped the wing of the plane so Merritt could see the glacier from her seat. “Now, that cave would be fun to check out.”

“Under the glacier?” Finally, there was a bit of awe in the boss lady’s voice.

“Yeah. They’re the coolest.” He winked at her as he flattened out the plane and circled the glacier.

She shook her head and chuckled. “That joke was horrible.”

“Maybe one evening after work we’ll have to plan a mini adventure. We could land in the creek bank right there.” Tiikaan pointed to the flat area along the creek the glacier had left as it retreated. “Then we can hike up and check it out.”

“Really?” She leaned closer to the window like it would give her a better look.

“Sure. It won’t be as epic as what Sunny does, but it’d be fun.” He straightened the plane out and pointed the nose back toward the mine. “Sometimes those caves aren’t much past the mouth, but sometimes they can weave way up under the glacier. And since we’re in the Land of the Midnight Sun, going after work wouldn’t be an issue.”

“I’d really like to do that.” She watched out the window until the glacier disappeared, then turned to him. “But you might have to force me to do it. I’ll probably get a little tunnel-visioned in the next few weeks. I’ll give you a bonus or something.”

“No bonus necessary. I’ll be itching to get into the mountains soon anyway.”

She smiled her tight-lipped smile, then looked out the window, her fingers searching out her necklace. Her response made his worry a bit lighter. Maybe it was just the stress of her dad dying and taking over the business that was making her remind him of Cruella at times.

If she could be civil to him, he could help keep her grounded.

And the Alaskan wilderness could keep a person humble better than anything else.