Polar Fates Read online

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Author’s Note

  Also By

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Sneak preview: Polar Miracle

  Sample: From the Deeps

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Also By

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Sneak preview: Polar Miracle

  Sample: From the Deeps

  2018 Skye MacKinnon

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Basically, please don’t pirate this book.

  [email protected]

  Cover by magicalcover.de.

  To my readers. Sorry it’s taken me so long to dedicate a book to you.

  Tiny Warning

  This book is written in British English (less Zs, more Ss) and contains some weird humour. There are also some darker scenes, sexy scenes and sad scenes. There are no rainbows, sorry, but a few cloudlings. And some naked bear shifters. Yummy.

  What Happened Before

  Girl meets bears. Girl gets pissed off at bears. Girl saves bear. Girl bangs bears. Girl becomes bear (kind of). Girl gets pissed again at bears. Girl bonds with bear. Girl bangs bears.

  The Women:

  Isla, a 20-year-old human who grew up on Salvation Island, a cult ruled by her uncle

  Alis (short for Callisto), a human who was turned into a bear by Artemis

  Isla’s Bears:

  Torben – 26, polar bear

  Finn (Mahon) – 22

  Húnn (Pelja) – 25, Ràn’s brother

  Ràn (Orson) – 24, Húnn’s brother

  The Older Bears:

  Bertrand – panda shifter

  Arnold – spectacle bear shifter

  Prologue

  Alis

  Once upon a time there was a beautiful nymph who... oh cut the crap, that was me and my life wasn’t a fairy tale. Not in the slightest.

  It started off well, though. My father was Lycaon, King of Arcadia. He wasn’t the nicest man to his subjects, but he was to his daughters. He had fifty sons with a range of different women, most of whose names I can’t even remember anymore. But there were only three girls: Dia, Psophis and me. Callisto. He called us his nymphs, his carefree, pretty spirits.

  He spoilt us and gave us the best life he could afford to – which was basically paradise. I grew up in a palace, surrounded by opulence and money. I got whatever I wanted. Servants were around me at all times, waiting to do my bidding. It’s a miracle I didn’t grow up to be a self-obsessed glutton.

  It was a good life. I was beautiful, rich and living among the most famous Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece. I wasn’t one of them, but I wasn’t far off. I was probably richer than a lot of them.

  You may have heard of Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt. Well, she was my best friend. And would have been my lover, if she hadn’t taken a misguided vow to remain a virgin. She was stunning. Green eyes that sparkled when the sunlight hit them, long smooth hair that she bound back when she went on a hunt, an athletic but feminine body. She was magnificent and every day, I asked myself how I deserved to be her friend. Her best friend.

  I didn’t have a job or responsibilities at Court, so I spent my days hunting with Artemis, and then celebrating the spoils of the hunt all through the night. There were several of us, all women, all virgins just like the Goddess of the Hunt, but I believe I was Artemis’ favourite. We did everything together.

  But of course, nothing good ever lasts. My beauty became my downfall.

  Zeus, the most dick-controlled God in the universe, set his eyes on me. He may have had his brain in his balls, but he nonetheless managed to trick me. Let’s not go into detail, it’s too embarrassing, but basically, I ended up pregnant. Of course, Artemis was furious. I had not only broken my vow of celibacy, I had also slept with the husband of one of her other female friends, Hera.

  Artemis was a passionate woman. Passionate in friendship, but also passionate in hate.

  The love we had for each other turned into something dark and twisted. In her anger, she turned me into a bear. Yes, I know that sounds like a fairy tale, but trust me, it wasn’t. It was painful. I was in agony for weeks, if not months. My limbs felt wrong, my body didn’t do what my head wanted it to, and I starved myself because the sight of raw meat made me throw up.

  Nobody wanted anything to do with me. Least of all Zeus, who had got me into that predicament, and whose child I was carrying. I left the place I had grown up in and disappeared into the mountains. My life became lonely. Hard. Sometimes I got close to death. But I couldn’t give up.

  Because inside of me, a baby was growing. A cub. The first bear shifter.

  When Arcas was born, I thought everything was going to be alright. It was only me and him, but that was enough. We lived together in the foothills of the mountains I had fled to, a perfect nursery for a little cub. Food was plentiful there and by then, I knew how to hunt.

  My son was a bear cub at first, but when he was three years old, he turned human for the first time. It was a shock. Then, it gave me hope. He might be able to live in normal society. He wouldn’t have to stay out in the woods forever. He would be able to have a real life.

  I was so hopeful.

  What a fool I was.

  When Arcas was sixteen, I sent him away to my father’s palace in the hope that he would be able to be welcomed there like the Prince he was. I didn’t hear from him for two years. But when he did return, he brought along his teacher, Raoul. A man as radiant as the sun. I immediately fell in love with him. And it was true love, not what I had felt for Zeus when he’d seduced me.

  After a few weeks, my son left again, going back to his new life among humans and Gods. Raoul stayed. He was a human, but he didn’t mind me being a bear. He saw beyond my fur and bulky body. He saw the real Callisto.

  I began to think that maybe the curse on me wasn’t so bad. That I wouldn’t have found Raoul otherwise.

  Pah. The Fates are bitches and they shot me in the back. Quite literally. Although it was Artemis who wielded the arrow. To this day, I don’t know if she was hunting bears or me.

  The result was the same. I died in Raoul’s arms.

  But why are you not dead, I hear you asking? Blame Zeus. He was in the hunting party and recognised me. Maybe it was a bout of guilt, maybe it was just to show the others what an amazing God he was. In any case, he turned me into a spirit. I’m not sure if he intended to do the same to Raoul or if that was an accident.

  Instead of dying as a bear, I wa
s ripped out of my body and became… something. I’m a soul, I suppose, or a ghost.

  A spirit who has been without a body for a long time.

  Until Isla came along.

  One

  I’m cuddled up between warm bodies, my arms hugging two of them. Without even looking, I know that all four bears are with me. My awareness has increased dramatically over the past few days; I can even hear their heartbeats now. And I’m pretty sure that even without hearing them, I’d be able to sense them. Through our bond, I can feel their emotions. It’s all contentment and sleepiness, just the way I’m feeling right now.

  We’re still on the living room floor which we got to know very well last night. The bed isn’t big enough for all five of us, sadly. I explored all their bodies and they mine. We became one, the lines blurred between our minds for just a moment, but the echo of it is still vivid in my memory. I want to feel that again, even if I have to chain them all to my bed. That actually sounds like a pretty good idea.

  I concur, Alis adds with a laugh. Keep them close, they’re worth the effort and heartache.

  I smile at that, remembering how the last bit of anger at Torben dissolved when he moved in me. Several times. I almost wish I’d feel a little sore after all our activity, but my shifter healing must have kicked in. So did my stamina. I lost count at how often I took them inside me. We had fun, that’s for sure.

  I stretch and hug the closest bear, enjoying the feel of my naked warm skin against his. I sniff. Húnn. He blinks open one eye and smiles when he sees me looking at him.

  “Good morning, little one.”

  “Good morning,” I whisper back. “I have a feeling something exciting is going to happen today.”

  He chuckles. “More exciting than yesterday?”

  I nod. “I’ve got a tingling all over. Call it premonition. Maybe it’s nothing, but I feel like something is going to change.”

  Now he frowns. “Good or bad change?”

  I shrug. “I’m not a soothsayer.”

  What you’re feeling is because of me. My connection to the Fates is trembling. They’re up to something. Húnn is asking a valid question. With the Fates you never know if it’s going to be good or bad.

  The Fates? What are they?

  Seriously? Where has all the knowledge gone? They weave the thread of life and control all our destinies. Their strings aren’t rigid as people think, they give us leeway to make our own decisions, but that also means that sometimes, a thread gets so loose that it forms a knot. There are even tales of people ripping their own thread out of the fabric, taking their destiny into their own hands, but that may just be a story to make people think that they have a choice. The Fates sent me here to deal with one of the knots. I believe it’s why the bear shifters have been disappearing. They made a mistake and now we have to deal with it.

  So what I’m feeling now, this tingling... it means they’re changing a thread?

  Yes, or preparing to add a new one. The Fates like to amuse themselves from time to time. It must be boring to watch us all live our lives happily - so they add a bit of chaos once in a while. They’re not malicious, just bored.

  So the bear shifters are disappearing because some random women are bored?!

  Don’t insult the Fates, you never know if they’re listening... but yes. Pretty much.

  “Talking to your bear?” Húnn asks, pulling a loose strand of hair out of my face. His hand stays on my cheek, his thumb drawing small circles on my skin. I smile at this gentle gesture. I need to spend more time with Húnn. More time with all of them, alone. Usually they’re all together, but to get to know them properly, we need some one-on-one time. Maybe I should come up with a schedule. A bear a day...

  “Yes, she’s telling me about the Fates.”

  “Oh.” He’s quiet for a moment. “I didn’t think that old belief was still around. I’ve only come across it in books, but my bear says he knows more about them than what I’ve read. I wonder why he hasn’t spoken of them before.”

  “Ask him?”

  “He’s a little annoyed at me right now,” Húnn mumbles. “I shut him out last night and now he’s jealous.”

  I laugh. “Luckily Alis disappeared without me having to force her to.”

  You wouldn’t be able to force me.

  A knock against the door makes me sit up. A chorus of yawns signal that the other bears have awoken. I smile at their slightly grumpy faces. Winter is almost over, but they’re still in hibernation mode.

  “The trading ship has arrived!” Arnold shouts from the hallway. “We’re about to head to the beach, are you coming with us?”

  I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Ever since the Drowning and moving to Salvation Island, the only new people I’ve met have been men from other islands coming to join ours, and the six men in this house. Excitement grips me and I jump up, not caring that my bears are seeing me naked. They all know my body inside out by now. No reason to be embarrassed.

  “We’re coming, just give us a moment to get dressed!” I shout, already rummaging through the pile of clothes that we discarded on the sofa.

  “Do you have to get dressed?” Torben complains, staring at me hungrily.

  I give him a stern glance. “Get up, I want to see this ship. Or stay if you want, but I’m going.”

  With groans of protest, they all get dressed eventually. Instead of running as bears, we’re walking to the beach where Bertrand spotted the ship. These people are humans and we don’t want them to know that we’re shifters.

  Strange, how I’m already seeing them as different. I was a human a few days ago, but now I’m a new Isla. And I somehow acquired a bear spirit in the process.

  Not a spirit, Alis protests but I ignore her. I’m too excited by the large ship that’s anchored in the distance. It’s massive, bigger even than the cruise liners I remember seeing as a child before the Drowning. There must be thousands of people living on board.

  “What are you going to trade with them?”

  Arnold smiles sheepishly and points at his large backpack. “Batteries. There used to be a factory nearby and we managed to acquire a large stockpile when it closed. It’s been our trading currency for years. We used to trade with antibiotics, but we’re now keeping the rest of them for emergencies. I think we’ve got enough batteries for another few years, and then we’ll have to find something else.”

  “Where did you get antibiotics from?” I ask in wonder. They’d been one of our most valuable possessions back on Salvation Island and we ran out years ago. Instead, we’d had to turn to herbal medicine, which was rarely as effective, if it had any effect at all.

  “We used to work in a lab together,” Arnold explains. “When it became clear that the world was going to change, we... ehm... took some of them.”

  “Good for you.” He smiles in relief that I’m not judging them for stealing. It was chaos back then and I’m sure the drugs would never have reached the pharmacies anyway.

  We watch as a small boat is let into the water and is rowed towards the beach where we’re waiting. It’s not very big, but there’s at least six people on it. One of them is a woman with fiery red hair waving in the wind like a flag. I once knew someone with hair like that and the memory stifles my mood a little. Julie, my best friend who was one of the few who fled the island. If she actually managed to leave and didn’t drown in the sea. I wonder what happened to her... I try to tell myself that she’s living happily on some island with friends and maybe a partner, even children. But in today’s world, that’s unlikely.

  Finally, the boat is almost here and two of the men jump out to pull it further up onto the beach.

  “Good to see ya,” one of them calls and waves at Bertrand and Arnold. “See ya’ve got new people on Inchbrach?”

  “Yes, relatives from the South!” Arnold calls back and I wonder why he’s calling us his relatives. Is it because we’re bear shifters like him or because he doesn’t want the traders to know that we’re just random
strangers they took in?

  The two men approach while the others climb out of the boat and wade the last remaining steps to the beach. Four men and two women, including the girl with the flaming hair. Now that she’s coming closer, it’s evident that she’s a lot younger than I first thought. Maybe fifteen, sixteen? But something is off about her. She looks young but also… not. Her eyes are old, like they’ve seen more than any fifteen-year-old ever should. She sniffs the air and looks straight at me. Weird.

  She’s not what she seems, Alis warns me, but I don’t need her to tell me that.

  “What do you have for us today, Ben?” Bertrand asks the man who first greeted us. He’s large and it’s not just muscle, it’s a lot of belly fat as well. I haven’t seen someone overweight in a long time. Not since the Drowning. Resources are scarce everywhere and there’s not enough to eat in most places.

  I eye the other men and women. They all look like they’ve been well fed. So different from the people on Salvation Island where the seamstress was constantly busy tightening clothes.

  “The usual,” Ben responds and signals the guys behind him to collect supplies from their boat. While they start heaving boxes and metal chests onto the beach, Ben takes out a list and reads it out loud.

  It’s mainly tinned food, dried goods like sugar and flour, some spices and tea. Arnold’s eyes light up when Ben mentions jasmine tea while Bertie mumbles something about not getting Earl Grey. Those two are so cute.