Bearing the Whiteout (Ice Bear Shifters Book 2) by Sloane Meyers Page B

standing right in front of you. I’m here, willing to stand by your side and help the clan. I will help you keep your shifter secrets from the rest of the humans. I will protect you from anyone who wants to start a bear hunt. And, although I’m not physically very strong, I’m smart. I’ll do whatever I can to help you push back the threat of the Blizzards. I’m not here to cause trouble. I’m here to help. Your fight is my fight. Your clan is my clan. Let me stand with you. I promise you will not regret it.”
    The room was completely silent. Delaney held her breath as Neal stared at her with agitated eyes. After several moments, he crossed his arms, and sat down on his box again, looking contemplative. Finally, he spoke.
    “In all my time as alpha, I’ve never had a woman stand up to me like that. I should be furious, and I sort of am. But I’m also impressed with your gumption. And you’re right. I’m being too hard on Eric, and potentially passing up the opportunity for an amazing new clan member. Clearly, you have what it takes to manage a bear.”
    Delaney felt her breath returning to normal, and her wildly beating heart slowly settling down. She had just stood up to the alpha of a clan of bear shifters, and she was still standing here unharmed. Eric still stood with his mouth agape, hardly able to believe that he had just witnessed his girlfriend standing up to his alpha like that.
    Neal morphed his paw back into a human hand, then looked over at Eric and smiled. “Eric, you’re right. I should have given Delaney a chance. I’m impressed with her loyalty to you, and we could use more of her kind of tenacity in our clan. I give you my blessing to make her your life mate.”
    Eric let out a whoop and ran to Delaney, nearly knocking her over with his enthusiasm as he scooped her up into his arms. Cheers rang out from the rest of the clan, and Kenzie ran up to Delaney to join in on the hug.
    “I’m so excited!” Kenzie squealed. “It’s going to be so awesome having you around!”
    As the cheers died down, Neal called his clan to order again.
    “Congratulations, Eric. And Delaney, welcome to the clan. Now that we’ve settled that issue, I have another pressing matter that we need to think about. As we can see from the recent Blizzard attack on Eric, the Blizzards are still here, despite the warming weather. I’m not sure how long they’ll stay. I’m hoping that with the temperature continuing to rise, we’ll have a break from them soon. But, there are no guarantees.”
    Neal looked around at his clan members. Their faces were all somber as they waited for him to continue.
    “All of the recent Blizzard attacks have occurred when a bear has been alone, or when the Blizzards have at least thought the bear was alone. If we stick together, the Blizzards are much less likely to attack. With that in mind, I came up with the idea of moving us all to the outskirts of town, where Ryker’s cabin is located. There’s a lot of land out there, and it can be bought up pretty cheaply. We could use clan funds to do that, and to build several more cabins close to each other. It would be a slight inconvenience to those with jobs in town, but I think the extra protection of having the clan together would be worth it. And, quite honestly, I think having more bears around to protect Kenzie will be a good thing. It won’t be too much longer before it’s obvious that she’s expecting a bear cub, and I don’t want the Blizzards to feel like they have an opening to attack her. I know asking everyone to build a new cabin and move is a lot, but I think it will go a long way toward curbing Blizzard attacks. I’d like to hear your thoughts on the plan.”
    “I think it sounds fantastic,” Ryker said. “I’d love to have the clan out there near my cabin.”
    “I’m fine with the idea,” Tyler said. “Of course, it will make my commute to work a little bit longer. But it still won’t be that bad. Glacier Point is