Northland (North #2) Read online

  Northland

  Copyright © 2015 by Cara Dee

  Edited by Lisa A. Hollett

  Disclaimer: This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with others, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. All references to ancient or historical events, persons living or dead, locations, and places are used in a fictional manner. Any other names, characters, incidents, and places are derived from the author’s own imagination. Similarities to persons living or dead, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of any wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction.

  Warning: This story contains scenes of an explicit, erotic nature between two men and is intended for adults, 18+. Characters portrayed in sexual situations are 18 or older.

  Chapter 1

  Opening the shed behind the house, Kyle rummaged through his stores of food and selected dinners for the next week to be brought inside. Wolf, his two-year-old Husky, barked and wagged his tail, reminding Kyle of his presence—as if Kyle would forget.

  "You hungry?" Kyle grinned behind his face mask at his gray-and-white-coated companion, then located a treat from today's catch that was only half-frozen. "Savor it." He tossed the fish to Wolf, who started gnawing and chewing happily. "No food tomorrow." He was flying down to Nome with Wolf then, and the pup tended to get sick. Less food helped on travel days. "You need to fatten up a bit if you're gonna survive outside." Wolf was miserable in the house and only lived indoors when it hit forty below.

  With his selection of caribou, whale, and fish in his arms, Kyle headed back inside the small house he shared with his father and ten-year-old niece and stripped down to camos and his hoodie.

  As he stuffed the freezer and fridge with food, he listened to his dad talk about the weather. Lately, it was all the man did. This time there was a traffic warning for ice fog. Common enough.

  "That’s fascinating, Dad. Soon you'll tell me it's gonna snow, too." The new year had just started, which meant his hometown was covered in snow and blanketed in constant darkness. It'd be weeks before Barrow saw the sun again.

  "You giving your old man attitude?" his dad muttered gruffly from the living room.

  "Every day," Kyle agreed. "Where's Lani? I thought we could get tacos. Oh, I stocked the kitchen, by the way. You're set for a week, and then Roger will drop by when the water tank gets refilled. He'll take out the honey bucket too, and help you with firewood."

  Dad snorted and ignored the last part of what Kyle had said. "If you think you can bribe that girl with Taco Tuesday, you don’t know her very well. She can hold a grudge. Takes after your brother—God rest his soul."

  Kyle sighed. It was like this every time he took off for work outside of Barrow. Lani would ask to come with him, he'd say no, she'd get pissed.

  Just then, both men heard a vicious shriek from Lani's room. "You can take your stupid tacos and shove 'em, Uncle Kyle!"

  Kyle winced.

  "Don’t let her talk to you that way, son," Dad told him. "I won't be around forever, you know. Some day you'll be her guardian."

  "Stop being so fucking morbid. You broke your hip. You're not dying." Kyle shook his head and walked to Lani's room. Dad was still right. Kyle had to talk to Lani about her tantrums. It had been five years now since Kyle's brother and sister-in-law had died, and Lani had exchanged grief for guilt cards and excuses a long time ago.

  "I'm coming in." Kyle knocked on Lani's door before opening it. He found her lying on her stomach on her bed, face pressed into her pillow. "What have we said about being polite in this house, Ilannaq?"

  Using her full name usually got her attention.

  "That it's overrated?" she quipped sullenly.

  There was a reason Kyle was uncomfortable and didn’t like kids. He adored his niece—loved her beyond words, really—but he wasn’t cut out to be a parent.

  "Try again." Kyle sat down on the edge of her bed and rolled her over, only to see her eyes filled with both tears and venom. "Looks can't kill, so quit it. Why're you crying?"

  It was only a matter of time before Kyle's façade broke. Lani had the same black hair and silvery eye color as the rest of the Shaw men. But unlike their fair skin and Caucasian looks, Lani had inherited her mother's beautiful Inupiat features. It was her expressive eyes that were her biggest weapons when she wanted something.

  Her bottom lip trembled, and she looked away dramatically. "I'm just gonna be so alone, Uncle Kyle." Sniffle, sniffle. "I'll be up here with Gramps in the darkness…no Wolf, either…while you're working at an exciting adventure retreat with your friends."

  Talk about glorifying the coming three months.

  Kyle was looking forward to going back to the O'Connor Adventure Retreat. It had become one of his favorite places in Alaska because there was always something to do. Plenty of rivers nearby for fishing, lots of wildlife, work, and good company.

  The Retreat was pure luxury, too. Everything from solar panels and generators to firewood and battery packs kept the place running. It had in-fucking-door plumbing, a swimming pool, bathrooms with heated floors, a barbecue area, sauna and steam room, and other amenities Kyle never took for granted.

  He worked all over Alaska, but the Retreat near the Bering Land Bridge Preserve took the prize. Surrounded by a miniscule, man-made forest, the O'Connors hosted backpackers in a large, two-story cabin with bunk beds, shower room, kitchen, and common room. In the three-story lodge across the yard, the staff lived comfortably in their own bedrooms and shared bathrooms and kitchen. Then in the third building, which faced the yard in the middle, they ran a bed-and-breakfast for those who had more dough than backpackers. There was also a restaurant, bar, a fucking spa, the indoor swimming pool, and a wraparound porch on the two first floors. And in the past two years, they'd added ten small cabins to accommodate the rich folk who wanted more privacy.

  It was crazy.

  The guests flying in from the Lower 48 probably didn’t know how luxurious it was, what with the weather conditions and remoteness making everything so much harder in Alaska.

  All that said, though? It was hard work. To maintain those high standards, the O'Connors were constantly expanding, and everything had to be done both perfectly and quickly. The shifty weather was as unreliable as always, and shipping labor and supplies back and forth cost a fortune.

  This year would be even harder, to boot. They'd travel on snowmachines every morning from the Retreat to their dock by the ocean. There, they'd restore a lodge and an activity center after a storm had damaged both the exteriors and interiors.

  Nobody wanted to do construction work in the dead of winter in Alaska. For several reasons. But they had no choice.

  "Will you forget me?" Lani asked tearfully.

  Kyle nearly rolled his eyes. "Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you?"

  She shrugged dejectedly. "I'm used to losing people in my life…"

  For the love of God.

  Sniffle, sniffle.

  "Lani," Kyle groaned in frustration.

  Sniffle, sniffle. Those Bambi eyes…

  "Fine!" he snapped and stood up. "Pack your damn bags!"

  It was crazy how fast Lani went from saddest little thing to jumping on her bed. "Woot! I love you, Uncle Kyle!"

  Kyle's dad thought it was hilarious and called him out on being whipped.

  *

  Logan had been worried about this trip for weeks for Justin's sake.

  He should've known better. Once they'd landed in Anchorage, Justin's eyes had grown large at the sight of the snowy mountains. Then they'd continued up to Nome where Justin had touched snow for the first time. And the kid was over the moon. He rolled around in it, squealed in delight when Quinn helped him build a snowman, and screamed in protest when they had to go inside and check in to the motel.

  They met up after and went out to get some lunch, and Justin was plastered to his favorite uncles. Quinn, particularly, who was working the perfect angle to make Logan move up here permanently.

  Justin was on board. Logan wasn’t.

  "You wanna sit with me and Uncle Declan, buddy?" Quinn asked Justin as they walked into a diner.

  "Yes, please." Justin took in each sight the way only a four-year-old could—with wonder and amazement and a completely open mind.

  To Logan, it was just freezing. "I'm starting to regret Skyping with you guys so often," he muttered, sitting down at a round table between Quinn and Declan. "Justin likes you too much."

  "Pretty sure that's Quinn's agenda," Declan chuckled. As if he wasn’t bad himself. Facing Justin, Declan told him about all the cool stuff they could do at the Retreat—from dog sledding and ice fishing to swimming in the pool and making their own snow cones with the cleanest snow in the whole world.

  "Wow," Justin whispered as Quinn helped him with his jacket and hat.

  Logan smiled in spite of himself. Seeing his son enjoying himself meant a shit ton, and Logan had to admit it was nice with a change of scenery. The past two years had been filled with so much work and so many adjustments that when Quinn had called and, without fucking around, said they really needed extra help this year, Logan hadn't hesitated.

  Pam and Hank were a godsend, but it didn’t feel awesome for a thirty-one-year-old man to live with his pseudo parents.

  "I h
ave to take this," Declan said, bringing out his buzzing phone. "Order for me." He kissed Quinn before heading out.

  A waitress walked over shortly after that, so they placed their orders, and Logan tried not to balk at the Alaskan prices.

  "I know, dude. I know." Quinn could apparently read his mind. "Don’t get me started on groceries. Makes me miss Publix."

  Logan laughed under his breath and looked around them. "I don’t get how locals can afford living here."

  "We make more money." Quinn smirked.

  We, he'd said. Logan shook his head, smiling. "You're one of the locals now, huh?"

  Quinn shrugged. "It's home."

  Logan wanted to feel that connected to a place someday, too. Unable to help himself, he tried to picture a life here. The week he'd spent at the Retreat a year and a half ago had been hysterical; they'd had a great time together in the wilderness, but Logan wasn’t sure he could pull off living like that.

  Okay, enough. Logan pushed away those thoughts and changed the topic. "So who's coming this year? I'm guessing John and Alex."

  Quinn nodded. "They're already at the Retreat with Kiery. Patrick's staying, too. The storm really destroyed the dock. Oh, and Kyle. He's flying down from Barrow today." He checked his watch. "Actually, he's probably landed now."

  Logan nodded and looked down, irritated with the images that popped up in his mind. He'd confessed to Quinn almost two years ago that he was confused about certain things, but it hadn't been too difficult to ignore. That was, until he met Kyle Shaw that May in Anchorage. Logan felt unnerved by the guy, and the week up at the Retreat had only made it worse. Whether Kyle was covered from head to toe or showing off his toned body full of ink in the indoor swimming pool, Logan got flustered and aroused.

  It hadn't helped when he'd learned from Quinn that Kyle was bisexual. If anything, it had made it more difficult for Logan to keep his shower fantasies about women.

  He clearly needed to get laid. It had been ages. Living with Hank and Pam, working, taking care of Justin…he didn’t have a whole lot of time left for a social life. And now he was gonna spend three months with a bunch of dudes? Christ.

  "Here we go, guys." The waitress returned with their food. "If there's anything else, just holler."

  Logan put his salmon sandwich away for now and offered to help Justin cut up his hamburger.

  "No, it's okay. I've got this," Quinn assured him. "Justin and I are gonna be best friends this winter. Ain't that right, buddy?"

  "Yeah," Justin laughed and munched on a fry.

  Logan tried to relax. What Quinn had said was true. He'd turned out to be a decent handyman—which Logan was only a little surprised about—but a lot of the work this year required more than that. So Quinn would take on lighter tasks while watching Justin.

  "Eat. Unclench," Quinn told Logan pointedly. Then he looked at something behind Logan, and it turned out to be Declan. "You don’t look happy."

  "No." Declan sat down and sighed heavily. "One of our orders won't go through in Anchorage, and I can't fly down to check it out. I have three more shipments to approve here, and Pat can't leave the Retreat."

  "What kind of shipment is it?" Logan asked.

  Declan picked up his burger, though he didn’t appear very hungry. "Heaters and timber."

  "I can do it," Logan offered with a shrug. Quinn was one of the few people he was comfortable enough leaving Justin with, and it sounded like a quick trip. He could fly there now and then be on the first flight back tomorrow morning. "Unless you wanna send Valium boy over there." He jerked his chin at Quinn.

  "My middle finger. Picture it," Quinn said flatly. "And when're people gonna learn it's only the bush planes I don’t like? Y'all don’t see me bitching when we go from here to Anchorage. So excuse me if I indulge in the barest amount of magical medication when we fly with Mitch."

  "Easy, baby," Declan chuckled. "You're in luck. Mitch's son is flying us up later, and his plane is bigger. Otherwise, we wouldn’t fit the cargo." Next, he slid his gaze to Logan. "I'd really appreciate if you could go with Kyle."

  Hold the fuck up. "Kyle?" It suddenly felt like Logan had a noose around his neck.

  Declan nodded. "I texted him. The heaters are kinda his area, so he's gonna check those—make sure it'll be warm enough in the lodge to work full time, but not so warm the heaters expand the timber or take up too much fuel." Yeah, one of the reasons construction was a bad fucking idea in the winter. The materials shrank and expanded with the weather. "He's not as experienced with the timber, though. And it's a temperature issue there, too. Our guy in Anchorage isn't sure the wood is cold enough because it just arrived from the Lower 48. So if there's any risk of expansion, we gotta let the timber be outside for a few days before we can get started. Time we don’t have."

  "All right." Logan got it. They weren't problems a construction worker ran into in Florida, but he got it. "Want me to measure it?"

  Quinn burst out in laughter, to which Logan and Declan looked at him strangely.

  "Oh, come on!" Quinn laughed. "Warm wood, cold wood, growing wood, measuring wood?"

  Declan groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, though he was grinning, too.

  Logan chuckled. "What are you, fourteen?"

  "Yes." Quinn smirked, glee in his eyes.

  Shaking his head, Logan took a bite of his sandwich. Declan leaned over Justin to whisper something in Quinn's ear, and judging by the flush on his cheeks, Logan didn’t wanna know. But it did remind him of how badly he needed to get laid, and maybe he could go to a bar tonight in Anchorage to deal with that issue.

  Chapter 2

  "Thanks. If it could make it on the next plane back to Barrow, that would be great." Kyle signed the release form and then brought out his phone to text his dad.

  As soon as they had landed in Nome, Kyle had run into an old friend—a pilot. And what with the insanely strict alcohol laws in Barrow, there was nothing like making a little extra money on some good old-fashioned bootlegging. But it had to be done with a pilot who didn’t care about the cargo.

  "No problems. Will your old man pick it up?" Erik asked. "Been a while since I saw him."

  "He'll probably send our neighbor—Roger," Kyle answered. "Dad broke his hip on a fishing trip."

  "That sucks, man." Erik winced. "Well, you take care. I think your niece is itching to get out of here."

  Kyle peered behind him and saw Lani and Wolf sitting on the concrete floor between two bush planes, and they were looking toward the exit of the garage bay.

  "It's been at least a year since she saw the outside of Barrow," Kyle chuckled. For the first time, he was genuinely glad he'd let her tag along. Last time she went with him anywhere, it was to his place in Pinnuaq Bay. "Okay, I'll see you around, Erik."

  "Take care, bud."

  Kyle walked over to Lani and Wolf and picked up their luggage—one big backpack, two duffels, and one crate. "We ready?"

  "I was born ready," Lani said cheekily. "Should I put Wolf's leash on?"

  "Nah." Kyle had trained his pup better than that. Wolf obeyed every command, regardless of how many people were around to distract him. "Let's check in at the motel, and then we can meet up with Declan and Quinn and get some chow."

  Compared to Barrow, Nome was not only brighter, but also warmer. It was midday, which gave them a few hours of daylight, and both Shaws were dressed like it was spring. Thermals, camo pants, boots, and hoodies. Five, ten degrees was nice.

  They got to the motel and checked in without issues, and on the way out again, Kyle texted Declan, finding out which diner they were at. They'd already messaged each other a little—about a trip to sign off on a shipment in Anchorage.

  The entire walk over to the diner, Lani was like a pig in shit. She looked incredibly happy.

  "I'm glad you're here, miki." Kyle winked at her when she looked up with a bright smile.

  "Me, too."

  Kicking some snow off his boots, Kyle opened the door to the diner so Lani could head inside. Then he pulled out Wolf's leash from one of the side pockets in his pants and tied the dog to a lamppost. There were already two other dogs near the entrance.

  "I'll bring you back a treat." He patted Wolf's head before entering the establishment. He spotted Declan and Quinn and…huh. He recognized Quinn's friend from Florida, but the little child was new.