To celebrate Pride Month, I decided to take requests from readers for bonus chapters for my stories. I posted about it on my message board but if anyone reading this has a request, feel free to drop a suggestion in a comment on this chapter! (I will try to get to any requests that aren't something I intend to cover in spinoffs/sequels or that don't fit my vision for the character although I may have to extend Pride Month a bit to get to them all)

This is a bonus chapter written based on the following request from @pixelmum:

A cute tourist girl gets seasick while whale-watching and Mikk dumps her on Ina to take care of her and they have a little romance

***

The coast of Western Greenland, Present Day (post werebear mayhem)

"It's almost time to get back on the boat, are you ready, miss?"

Hell no! I'm not ready. I'm not going to be ready. Ever. I, Katarzyna Wolodarzyk, have just sworn to myself not to step foot on a fucking boat again for the rest of my life. Not when I've just just lost my breakfast in a cliff crevasse. Not when the world still wobbles beneath my feet despite having been off the damn vessel for about an hour now, as we've stopped for a break during the whale safari tour.

"Are you crazy?" I ask, taking a sip of water to keep the persistent nausea at bay.

"I don't think I am..." the man mutters. "I mean... we kind of have to go back. We can't stay on this cliff forever."

"Well, I'm not taking any boat back." I glare at the poor whale safari guide. I can recognize that he's kind of hot, in a Luke-from-Gilmore-Girls-if-he-was-Inuit kind of way with his backward hat and plaid flannel shirt although he's not really my type. Regardless, the glittering gold ring on his finger tells me he's already taken anyway.

The guide, who has the name Mikk embroidered on his fleece jacket, sighs deeply. "We're in the middle of nowhere, miss," he explains. "There is no way back to Nuuk except by boat. It would take hours for anyone to get here."

"I can wait." Decisively, I sit down on a rock. Its jagged edge cuts into my buttocks but I'm not about to get up now that I've made my stand.

"I can't just leave people in the wilderness," Mikk protests. "It goes against both company policy and common sense. This is Greenland. There could be a polar bear lurking around any corner."

I look around, hoping to spot one of those promised bears. I'm disappointed. "I don't see any bears," I conclude with a shrug. If a polar bear does show up, I figure it would be a good photo opportunity. I am after all a nature photographer. Surely, it would be more scared of me than I would be of it anyway.

"Believe me, there are bears," the man insists annoyingly. "And I'm not leaving you to fight them alone."

"Well, you can stay with me then."

"Unfortunately, I've promised my wife I will be home in time for dinner tonight." Mikk smiles, clearly smitten by his Lorelai Gilmore back home. Hopefully one day, someone will be as taken by me. Someone who is my type. "She's attempting one of my mom's recipes and I'm not about to miss that. It may be a disaster but I'm going to be there for it."

"I'm not setting foot on that boat again, regardless of what you say. Unless you want to carry me on board." I flap my arms out as if challenging the man to pick her up. Mikk doesn't accept the challenge but instead just shakes his head in exasperation.

"Let me see what I can do," he says, starting to type on his phone.

"Who are you contacting?" I ask.

"The Greenlandic mafia," Mikk replies without looking up from the screen.

I'm not sure whether he is joking or not. Maybe there is an infamous Greenlandic mafia. Maybe the guy in front of me moonlights as a mob boss. Maybe this whole whale safari business is just a front for more nefarious dealings.

"My mom," Mikk clarifies, probably seeing my puzzled face. "She basically has the connections of a mob boss. She knows what everyone does at all times, so she'll know if someone is in the vicinity."

Perhaps Greenland and Poland aren't that different after all. "Sounds a lot like my mom..." I mumble, shuddering at the thought of my mom's constant meddling. That's part of the reason I jumped at the opportunity of a month-long trip to these frozen shores to take pictures for a wildlife calendar. Hopefully here, where the air is clear and free of maternal nagging, I will be able to breathe and explore sides of myself I can't back home.

"Moms will be moms." Mikk sighs. The air here is apparently not clear of nagging for him. A buzz brings his eyes toward the phone screen again. "Although, this time, she's coming in handy. Apparently, my cousin Ina is out this way. She's a police officer, although off-duty today, so she's also keen on tourists not getting eaten by bears."

"Are there people here who are pro bears eating tourists?" I ask.

"I mean... some tourists don't really seem to know their own best." Mikk gives me a pointed look. "But it's bad for business if too many get eaten." He laughs but once again I'm not sure if he's joking.

As Mikk walks back toward the boat to talk to his colleague—probably insulting me in some way when he explains that they can't leave until my ride has arrived—I move from the uncomfortable rock to a less pokey one, pulling up my phone from my pocket. To the surprise of no one, I have no connection out here, but luckily I have several Kindle books downloaded already. Time to dive into a romantic tale of handsome knights and roaring dragons.

Just as I've engulfed myself in the story, ignoring the glares from the fellow tourists who are eager to leave this barren rock, a roar fills the air. I jump up, thinking a bear may be charging at me. But the sound doesn't emanate from a four-legged animal but rather from a four-wheeled vehicle, approaching at high speed with a cloud of dust behind it.

Soon, the four-wheeler rolls in right beside me. The leather gear-clad driver elegantly jumps off, appearing like one of those knights I just read about in their full-body leather gear and face-covering helmet. Although this savior barely stands five feet above the ground, she exudes an aura of respect. When my knight in shining armor pulls off her helmet to reveal short dark hair, glistening like the skin of an orca in the sunlight, and mud-streaked cheeks, I can't help but admire her unique brand of beauty. An enticing smile shines beneath the layers of dirt.

"Are you the tourist in need of help?" she asks, pulling off a glove to take my hand.

I nod. "That's me," I say, taking the warm hand in mine. "I'm Katarzyna."

A look of befuddlement flies across the woman's face upon hearing the unfamiliar syllables. "Kata," I offer, remembering that this nickname is usually easier for foreign ears. "You can call me Kata. That's probably easier."

"Nice to meet you, Kata." The woman smiles, probably relieved not to have to try to say my full name. "I'm Ina." She turns toward her four-wheeler, waving to her cousin on the boat in the same movement to signal that he can leave now. "So, you wanna get on this thing? You can sit behind me, although you need to hold on tight."

Hell yes, I do. I want to get the hell away from that boat but most of all, I want to hug Ina's curvy hips as I hold on for dear life. I want to breathe the free Greenlandic air as we race across the cliffs together.

I'm not super happy with how this chapter turned out as I struggled to get into the first-person present tense narration after having mostly written third-person past tense lately, but hopefully, it works as a cute little bonus tale. I may remove it after Pride Month if I start feeling ashamed about it though. I do want to write a story for Ina eventually though so this could be a prelude to that.