Out Cold

My den left me out in the cold as a cub, hoping I’d never return. That didn’t work out too well for them.

As the firstborn son of the most powerful Alpha our den has ever known, I should’ve had everything. Respect. Protection. A future. Instead, my stepfather tosses me out into the freezing cold, left to face the elements before my first shift, and leaves me there to die.
My polar bear refuses to give up, pushing my shift early and saving my life. He keeps me alive. Keeps me fighting. Helps me find safety in the embrace of a small wolf pack.
While the den forgets me, I prepare. I study business management, train in mixed martial arts, and learn to survive among humans. I wait for the right time to return and take back what’s mine.
When I hear about a human scientist coming north to tag and track polar bears and examine why we settled so far away from most of our kind, my timeline shifts. It doesn’t matter if I’m ready or not, my den doesn’t understand how dangerous humans can be. Despite my past, protecting them is my duty… even if they never wanted me.
I don’t expect the scientist to be a hot nerd with a heart filled with kindness and a true desire to help wildlife. And I certainly don’t expect my bear to scent him as mine.

Now I have to find a way to save my kind without losing the one person fate put on this planet just for me.