Snowfall (Arctic Station Bears Book 3) by Amelie Hunt, Maeve Morrick

C hapter O ne - O liver
    Oliver sat on the floor of the lab, bleeding from wounds received by Calder. The metal wall was cold against his back. His breath came in ragged gasps. Finally , he thought. I’ve finally done something right. He leaned back and closed his eyes.
    “That’s not really true though, is it?” said a voice. Alanna!
    His eyes snapped open. There she was. Sitting on the table where he’d freed her from Calder not an hour before.
    “What? Why are you here? Where’s Calder?” he asked.
    “Gone,” she said. “In the Company man’s ride.”
    “And you came back for me?” Tears streamed down Ollie’s face.
    “Well, you came for me. I figured it would be nice to return the favor.”
    “I don’t deserve it,” he said. His voice cracked.
    “No,” she said. “You don’t. You’ve been greedy, Ollie.”
    Ollie lowered his face. He couldn’t bear to look at her. His chest was tight and there was a lump in his throat that he could not swallow. “It…wasn’t greed.”
    “Of course it was.” Oliver’s head jerked up again. Every muscle in his body went rigid. His veins were filled with ice water every bit as cold as what he could find outside.
    It was Calder. He sat alongside Alanna on the table. The same table that he’d strapped her to in order to inject her with the virus he’d concocted. His plan. And now here they were together.
    Ah, I see, Ollie thought. I’m hallucinating. He leaned back against the wall.
    “You showed me her photo and told me all about her the very first day I was thawed,” Calder said. “I didn’t even understand the words you said as you drew my blood, but I remembered them once I learned their meaning. When I suggested you adding her to the research team, you jumped at the chance. Because of greed.”
    Ollie leaned forward with a jerk. “It wasn’t like that!” Every wound on his body punished him for the sudden, violent moment. He exhaled fire from his lungs and took another ragged breath that hurt just as much. “I…just wanted what was best for her.”
    “You mean for yourself,” Alanna said. “How did I factor in exactly? You’d become famous when Calder released the virus through me? Then make a fortune with the cure?”
    “It wasn’t about greed,” Ollie sobbed. “You’re not listening! It wasn’t like that…at first.”
    “Of course it was, Ollie,” Calder said. “Admit it to yourself. Sure, you wanted what was best for our kind. To come out of the shadows. To suddenly be like everyone else. To be able to control our gift and celebrate it. But more than our day in the sun, you wanted your own.”
    Ollie’s body was wracked with sobs. He stared at Alanna with wild eyes. “I did it for us, Allie! All of it. I’ve never stopped thinking about you. I know you so well. But then I…saw you with Liam, and I knew , I…” Ollie hid his face in his hands as he wept. “I knew you were fated and it was really over.”
    “I don’t care about fame, Ollie,” Alanna said. “And I sure as hell don’t care about fortune. I care about love and loyalty. Liam has that to offer and more.” She shook her head. “You don’t know me as well as you thought. I don’t think you ever did.”
    Ollie’s hands fell to his sides. He blinked in the bright fluorescent light. The table was empty. Allie was gone. Calder was gone. He took one last breath. I’m glad we settled that, he thought.
    D onny
    “Ow, God! Where did you learn how to do this?” Donny said. He jerked the needle and thread out of his skin and Viktor’s hand, prompting the wound to bleed. Donny sutured his own shoulder with steady hands.
    “Sorry, Dr. Bragg,” Viktor said. “I’m still learning these things.”
    “Hopefully you won’t have to deal with digging too many silver bullets out of your arm in the future. But just remember that these things don’t heal immediately like a normal bullet or a cut or a broken bone. You’ve got to be able to stitch yourself up. It