Bearing the Frostbite (Ice Bear Shifters Book 6) by Sloane Meyers Read Free Book Online Page A

toting his large, black medical bag. James felt relief flooding over him when he realized that the male voice he’d heard had belonged to the doctor.
    “Well, Alexis, I’ve done everything I can. Just try to keep her comfortable. I’ll come back by in the morning to check on her. Try to get some rest, for her sake and yours,” the doctor said. He nodded a brief acknowledgment at James, and then headed out to his car.
    James watched him leaving, and suddenly understanding dawned on him. “You’re not the one who’s sick, are you?” he asked Alexis. “It’s your grandma. She’s not doing well, is she?”
    Alexis sighed and put her face in her hands. “You should go,” she said, her voice muffled by her palms. She sounded almost frightened.
    “Let me stay and help you,” James said. “You look exhausted, and I’m sure you could use some rest.”
    “I’m fine,” Alexis said, pleading. “Please just go.”
    Before James could say anything else, he heard a frail voice calling from somewhere down the hallway.
    “Alexis? Who’s there? Is it that guy you’ve been pining over? Bring him in here so I can meet him.”
    “You have to leave, now,” Alexis said. Then she gave James a small shove backwards to push him away from the door, sending the soup cans flying from his hands and bouncing down the stairs. James looked up with a hurt, confused expression, and saw Alexis’ eyes widening in horror as the frail voice grew stronger and more insistent.
    “Now, Alexis. I want to meet him.”

Chapter Six
     
    Alexis felt her heart sinking as her grandmother called again for her to bring James into the townhome. This situation was not going to end well. If she denied James entry, her grandmother was going to be angry and suspicious. And she could already see the hurt in James’ face at her hesitation to invite him in. He thought she was ashamed of him. But she wasn’t ashamed of him. In fact, she wanted nothing more than to parade through the streets of Glacier Point, shouting that she had found the best man in the world and that his name was James Tanner.
    Except that he wasn’t a man. He was shifter, a step above men. And her ever-perceptive grandmother would know the minute James walked into the room that James hid a bear within him. Her grandmother would lecture her about the dangers of getting mixed up with the supernatural, and probably forbid her to date him. Then what was she supposed to do? Defy her dying grandmother? Alexis would never be able to live with herself if she did that. Her grandmother had no one else left. She didn’t want to make her last days miserable.
    What had she been thinking, getting tangled up with James? Sure, he was a lot of fun, and he was one of the kindest and most gorgeous men she had ever met. But she had known from the beginning that he was a shifter. She had known from the beginning that things between them would hit this wall sooner or later. She would have to choose between following her heart or following centuries of the wisdom of her people. As much as Alexis wanted to follow her heart, the roots of her upbringing ran deep. She couldn’t just walk away from everything she had been taught as a child. And she definitely couldn’t date a shifter in front of her grandmother.
    Alexis heard her grandmother calling out again, and saw James questioning, hurt eyes looking over at her as he picked up the soup cans. She started to panic. Quick, she told herself. Think of an excuse that sounds somewhat valid for why he can’t come in.
    “She’s really not doing well,” Alexis said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for her to have visitors right now.”
    “All the more reason for me to come in,” James said. “I can help you, Alexis. Let me be there for you.”
    Alexis stammered out a few words, trying to explain why that wouldn’t be a good idea, and then saw to her shock her grandmother’s small frame rounding the corner of the hallway. Her grandmother had been