Laid Bear 2: The Kodiak Clan by Marina Maddix Read Free Book Online

hour ago so that would mean his flight is probably just taking off.”
    “Ooh, good info. M’kay, hold on.” Kimmy pulled her smartphone from the purse hanging on the back of her chair. The kitchenette was silent as she tapped away.  
    “Ouch! If I’m right, which of course I am, he’s got a three-hour layover in Anchorage. Hold on.”
    More tapping. “Yes! I can hook you up with a Family Pass for a direct flight that leaves in a couple hours.”
    It took a minute for Bethany to understand what Kimmy meant. “You mean, I fly up there to meet him?”
    “Why not? You’ll get there after him but I’m sure Kodiak has cabs, or some version of them. It’s pretty dinky.”
    “You’ve been there?”  
    “That girl has been around the world, and that was just this morning,” said Paul, waggling his eyebrows.
    Kimmy ignored him. “Not as a flight attendant. My dad took me fishing up there back in the day. Can’t imagine it’s grown much since.”
    Bethany knew how much it hurt Kimmy to talk about her late father, so she gave her arm a quick rub. Kimmy smiled tightly.
    “But is it safe for me to travel? I thought women in their third trimester weren’t supposed to fly.”
    Kimmy shrugged. “Get a note from that witch doctor of yours. My airline isn’t as strict as others. As long as your doctor says you won’t pop on the plane, you’re golden.”
    “So it’s settled,” Paul said, rubbing his hands together as if he’d just solved some great mystery. “Get to packin’, girl. You’re going to Alaska! Ohmigod, he’s going to cream himself when he sees you!”
    The pair shooed her off to her side of the duplex to pack while Kimmy made the arrangements. With each item she stuffed into her suitcase, the knot in Bethany’s stomach grew tighter. She was excited at the prospect of meeting and hopefully helping Veronica. Of course more than anything she wanted to see Max again to apologize, but the feather of doubt that started fluttering in her brain next door had turned into a pounding. If Max’s warnings about the Brotherhood were true, she could very well be walking into a lion’s den.
    “Scratch that. Bear’s den,” she whispered. Every hair on her body stood on end.

    ~ * ~ * ~

    “It’s me again,” Max said into his phone. “I hate how we left things, and now you’re not returning my calls. I’m really sorry, Bethany. Please call me as soon as— Dammit!” That was the third time his phone had cut out since he’d arrived. Cell coverage on this little rock in the Gulf of Alaska was pretty sad.
    He was surprised he hadn’t worn a path in the hotel room’s grungy carpet from his pacing. He’d called Bethany three times since he landed in Kodiak — when he had a signal, that is — but she wasn’t answering. Which meant she was still pissed, and he couldn’t really blame her. He knew as soon as the words left his mouth that calling their child a half-breed was a mistake. More than a mistake; a major fuck-up. And now she was rightly letting him suffer.  
    He’d only been trying to point out what those involved in the Brotherhood would think about their baby, but even so, he regretted it instantly. It was as if saying the word — even if he didn’t feel it — made it true, gave it unexpected power. Anyone else she could have brushed off, but not him.  
    The shame he felt at being so insensitive to his mate was getting his bear worked up and fidgety. If he couldn’t talk to Bethany, he needed to do something. Anything. A run, he decided. That would blow off some steam and allow him to scope out the town.  
    As he laced up his running shoes, he tried to push the anxiety out of his mind. Running always cleared his head, but he wasn’t so confident it would work this time. He’d really screwed things up and had no clue how to fix them.
    Walking through the lobby of the rustic Kodiak Lodge the Council had chosen for him, sadness gripped his gut. Bethany would love this place , he