Page 16
Story: Bearing North (Grizzly Protection: Alaska Shifter Branch #1)
16
ALEX
A lex lost herself in the crowd at once, and wandered the streets of downtown Fairbanks until she ran out of festival abruptly by the parking garage in a quiet pocket without people.
Babies.
Marriage.
He was a bear.
Alex wasn’t sure which part was most unbelievable.
She’d been so stupid to sleep with him.
She had too much common sense for that kind of slip-up, no matter how handsome and funny he was.
She’d made mistakes before, plenty of them, and she knew how to file regrets and move on with her life. The problem was, she didn’t regret a single moment of it. She was actually considering babies and marriage, not just dismissing the idea as hormonal nonsense.
She wasn’t sure she was cut out for motherhood or matrimony, but it didn’t horrify her like she thought it ought to.
And perversely, the fact that she wasn’t afraid terrified her the most.
Alex realized that Orson was probably lost in Fairbanks with no idea which hotel they were staying at; the parking lot with the truck was located between several of them. He would be smart enough to meet her back there—and she’d have to return for her luggage eventually.
Alex found a trashcan to dump the empty platter from her fries and wandered back through the crowd to the truck.
Her first thought, when she caught sight of the man kneeling beside it, was that she was in the midst of getting a car boot from a cop. But event parking enforcement was part of their contract, and he wasn’t wearing one of their uniforms.
“Hey!” Alex called.
He startled up, turned, and fled, clutching something in his hand. A thief? What was he stealing from underneath their truck?
He was smart, heading straight for the crowd, and Alex lost him there because he was savvy enough to blend in instead of pushing through and leaving a wake for her to follow. He’d been wearing a ballcap and a T-shirt with a logo, but that described half of Fairbanks right now, and ballcaps could be removed.
Alex spent some time looking for him without luck, still distracted and trying not to peer into passing strollers like a creep because she still had babies on her brain.