A Burn To Bear (Fire Bear Shifters Book 3) (8 page)

Two days later, River awoke with a start to her phone ringing. Bleary eyed, she sat up and squinted at the glowing, green numbers on her alarm clock. It was 2:52 a.m. She saw Trevor’s name coming up on her caller I.D. and she sat up violently. There was only one reason Trevor would be calling her in the middle of the night.

Something had happened to Luke.

“Trevor?” River answered, her voice filled with dread. “What’s wrong? Is Luke okay?”

“He’s been…injured,” Trevor said, his voice barely more than a whisper. “Nothing that seemed too serious. A broken leg and a bump to the head. But he’s having some complications. Not exactly life-threatening, but definitely life-altering. You need to get to base, now.”

“What kind of complications?” River demanded, already jumping out of bed and searching in the darkness for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

“It’s hard to explain. Just get here as quickly as you can.”

“I will, but can’t you tell me anything else? You’re freaking me out.”

“Look, he’s not dying or anything like that. But there are some…issues. The crew doesn’t want to tell you. They want to keep you away from him, but I think he needs you. Just be quiet when you get here. I’ll be waiting out front for you, and I’ll explain everything.”

The line went dead, and Riley cursed into the darkness. She hit her toe as she was fumbling around for the light switch, and she cursed again.

“Damn it! What the fuck is going on?” she asked the empty apartment. She threw on the first shirt she could find, grabbing her keys and phone as she ran out the door and down the stairs to her Jeep. She tore out of the parking lot at breakneck speed, forgetting to even turn her headlights on until she was a half mile down the road. All she could think about was that she would never recover if anything happened to Luke.

She came screeching into the parking lot at the base, stopping the Jeep haphazardly in the middle of the parking lot and throwing it into park. She killed the engine and the lights, and jumped out at a running pace, heading for the front door of the hangar. Two strong arms caught her right before she opened it.

“Jesus, woman. Didn’t I tell you to be quiet? You’re going to have the whole clan down here, and they’re not going to be happy with me. Or with you.”

It was Trevor. He had a firm grip on River and wouldn’t let her reach the door.

“I don’t care who’s mad at me. I need to go see him.”

“Calm down, River! You’ll see him in a few minutes, but I need to explain something to you first. There’s something about Luke that he hasn’t shared with you yet, and it’s kind of a big deal. Have you ever heard of bear shifters?”

River gave Trevor a funny look. “Of course I’ve heard of bear shifters. I run the fantasy fiction book club at the library. I’d be happy to discuss a variety of bear shifter books with you sometime, but, right now, can we focus on Luke.”

Trevor let out an exasperated sigh. “I
am
focusing on Luke. River, Luke is a bear shifter.”

River stopped struggling against Trevor’s grasp and gave him an incredulous look. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Luke is a bear shifter. All of the guys on the crew are.”

River blinked up at Trevor. “Is this some kind of joke? Did you freak me out and get me to drive out here in the middle of the night to make fun of my book addiction or something? Because this shit is not funny. Is Luke in on this? I’m going to kill both of you!”

“It’s not a joke,” Trevor said quietly. “We’re bear shifters. Luke is a bear shifter. He had a bad landing when we jumped in for the mission we just finished. He broke his leg and hit his head, so we airlifted him out to a hospital. They put a cast on his leg and cleaned up the gash on his head, which seemed pretty minor. He didn’t even need stitches. But he must have done some sort of internal damage when he hit his head, because he’s lost his ability to control his shifting. We don’t know if it’s permanent or temporary.”

“You’re making this up,” River said. But her tone sounded more like a question than a statement. Trevor couldn’t possibly be telling her the truth, could he? Shifters were myths. Folklore. Confined to the Thursday night fantasy fiction book club.

“I wish I was making this up,” Trevor said. “I swear to god everything I’m telling you is the truth. Ian called in a woman who’s a medicine doctor of sorts. She’s an expert on shifting, and she thinks the problem is temporary, but that it’s going to take a while for Luke to recover control. The problem is that he has to remain calm in order for his brain to recover its ability to control shifting. And he’s anything but calm right now. That’s where you come in, River. I’ve seen him around you. You center him like no one else does. If anyone can soothe his nerves right now, it’s you.”

“Assuming everything you’re telling me is true, why is this some big secret? Why didn’t you want the rest of the crew to know you were calling me? And why hasn’t Luke told me he’s a shifter? That seems like a pretty big piece of information to forget to mention.”

“Luke didn’t tell you because he wanted to get to know you better before dropping that bombshell on you. It’s a lot for a human to take in, and he wanted to have some sort of baseline relationship before telling you, so you would understand he’s not a monster. I don’t know if that’s the best way to go about things, but I can tell you that it’s really hard to be a shifter and date a human. He was handling the situation the best way he knew how. As for the other guys, they’re pretty gun shy about telling humans who we really are. Zach, our second in command, is especially against it. He forbade anyone to tell you. Ian, our alpha—er, our boss—is too busy worrying about how to help Luke to really pay much attention to what Zach is doing.”

River stared in Trevor’s eyes, trying to see if he was telling the truth. He looked sincere, but the crew was notorious for pulling pranks on each other. Surely, this was just another prank. Bear shifters didn’t really exist. River crossed her arms.

“Okay, very funny. You almost got me. Probably because it’s three in the morning and I’m too tired to think clearly. But this is obviously a joke. Where’s Luke? Hiding around the corner of the building, laughing his ass off right now?”

River started walking toward the side of the hangar, and Trevor grabbed her arm again.

“River, please,” he pleaded. “You have to believe me. This isn’t a joke.”

River started to laugh, but just as she did she heard an awful roar coming from the bunkhouse. She stopped short and gave Trevor a questioning look. “What was that?”

“That was Luke,” Trevor said. “He must have just shifted again. It’s been happening two or three times a night.”

River furrowed her brow, still unsure of whether she was being tricked. Then she took off running in the direction of the bunkhouse.

“River, wait!” Trevor called out, and started chasing after her. But River wasn’t listening, and she was fast. Before Trevor could catch her, she had run into the bunkhouse. What she saw stopped her in her tracks, and Trevor ran smack into her back at full speed, pushing her forward and right into the side of the giant black bear that was swinging its head back and forth and roaring. The bear stopped mid-roar, and River screamed. Then, for what felt like an eternity, the room fell silent. Every face in the room, including the bear’s, had a shocked expression on it.

River looked around slowly and saw that the whole crew was there. Ian, Charlotte, Zach, Hunter, Riley, and Trevor—and a black bear that looked suspiciously like Luke.

“Oh my god, it’s true,” River said, as her brain registered the fact that the bear had the exact same eyes as Luke. The only ones in the room who would make eye contact with her were Riley and Zach. Riley had her hands over her mouth and a sorrowful expression on her face. Zach looked furious.

“What the hell is she doing here?” Zach asked. No one answered, and Zach threw a water bottle he had been holding across the room.

Trevor finally spoke. “I brought her here. Luke needs her.”

The next thing River knew, Zach lunged across the room and planted a punch squarely on Trevor’s jaw. She heard an awful cracking sound, and then a roar as the bear, or Luke, or whatever it was, became agitated.

“Boys, outside! You’re upsetting Luke!” Ian yelled. But Zach and Trevor were so embroiled in their fight that they didn’t seem to even hear their alpha’s yell. River stood watching, dumbfounded and unsure of what to do. And then, she was knocked over by what felt like a giant rush of wind.

When she sat up from where she had fallen on the floor, and looked up, Luke was standing in front of her in human form again. His leg looked red and swollen, and he wasn’t wearing a single article of clothing. River had no words. She just stared at him, and the rest of the room became a blur. She was vaguely aware of Trevor and Zach embroiled in a fist fight off to her left, with Ian trying to break them apart. And she knew Hunter, Riley, and Charlotte were standing to her right, watching this whole debacle unfold. But Luke was all she could see.

He didn’t seem the least bit fazed by the fact that he was naked. But he looked heartbroken as a single tear escaped from one of River’s eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” River asked. “You could have trusted me.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to add fuel to the idea that we had nothing in common. I thought if I gave our relationship some time to grow first, that you would be able to handle this better.”

“You told me you loved me. You let me fall in love with you. And yet you were hiding who you really were from me.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to hide. I was just trying to find a way to break the news gently. I screwed up. Again.”

“Yeah, you did,” River said. But her voice was more sad than angry.

“Look, River. I’m a total disaster at this relationship stuff. I’m bound to screw things up a lot. All I can tell you is that I’m trying. And if you’ll let me, I’ll keep trying until the day I die. I’m not perfect, but I’m committed to you.”

River dropped her eyes to the ground, unsure of how to react. Zach and Trevor had finally stopped their fistfight, and the room had fallen silent again.

“Guys, let’s give them a little privacy,” Hunter said, and nudged Riley toward the door. The clan filed out until River and Luke were alone in the room.

River looked at Luke for a long time without speaking. He waited patiently for her to process everything she had just seen and heard. Finally, she stood and walked up to him, planting a soft, sad kiss on his lips.

“I’m sorry. I just need some time to think through all of this,” she said. “I hope you can understand that.”

Then she turned to leave the room. Outside, she walked silently past the rest of the clan. Zach scowled at her, but she barely even saw his face. Her eyes were starting to swim, and she desperately wanted to make it to her vehicle before the tears started spilling over. As she climbed into the Jeep, she heard Trevor shouting after her.

“Damn it, River. He needs you.”

River’s only response was to turn the key and start the engine.

She had some big decisions to make, and she needed some time alone.

River spent twenty-four hours in her apartment without leaving. She called in sick to work, and she sat on her couch, staring at the bookshelf Luke had made her.

She felt awful for walking out on him, but she had felt overwhelmed and betrayed. She had opened her heart to him, and he had closed off a part of himself. How was that fair, or right? But after a day of moping and feeling sorry for herself, she realized that she didn’t care if Luke was a bear. She had a lot of questions about how the whole shifting thing worked, but she knew deep down that she loved Luke no matter what. He’d had good intentions in keeping his secret from her, even if his decision had been the wrong one.

And now, he needed her. If what Trevor said was true, and Luke needed to be calm to recover, then River would help Luke be calm. She called her boss Colleen at the library and asked to take her two weeks of vacation, starting immediately. She told Colleen she needed to deal with a personal emergency, and, for once, Colleen didn’t ask a thousand questions. Then River went through her stack of books, searching until she found five edgy science fiction reads. She put the books in a tote bag, and then packed herself an overnight bag that would last for several days. She grabbed the bags, then headed to her jeep to drive to the smokejumpers’ base.

When she got there, she marched to the corner of the bunkhouse where Luke was staying. He was sleeping peacefully at the moment, although the shreds of clothing and torn sheets made it clear that he had continued to have issues with shifting. A fresh cast had been put on his broken leg, although it was anyone’s guess as to how long this cast would remain in place before it was destroyed by Luke’s shifting.

Ian, Hunter, and Zach were in the room with Luke when River entered.

“What are you doing here?” Zach asked.

“I’m here to help Luke. Please get out and leave me alone with him.”

“Hell no,” Zach said. “You made him so upset when you left the other night that he shifted twice as much as normal. I think you’re the one who needs to get out.”

“Zach, let’s go,” Ian said quietly. “Give her a chance. Nothing we’re doing is making much difference anyway.”

Zach frowned and glared at River, but he didn’t challenge his alpha. The three men got up and left the room, leaving River alone with Luke. After another hour, he started stirring. He moaned fitfully as he tossed and turned, and eventually he opened his eyes and blinked a few times, staring at River in disbelief.

“Are you really here? Or am I hallucinating again.”

“I’m really here,” River said. “And I’m not leaving again until you’re better. I should have never left the other night. I was overwhelmed and confused, but I should have been there for you and I wasn’t. I’m sorry. But I’m here now, and I brought you a treat.”

River held up the bag of books that she had brought with her.

“What’s that?” Luke asked, eyeing the bag suspiciously.

“I brought you books.”

Luke started to protest, and River held up her hands to stop him.

“These aren’t your high school English teacher’s books,” River said. “These are fun, science fiction stories. There’s some outer space and time travel and stuff like that going on. I’m going to show you some of what you’ve been missing by avoiding books. You’re going to love these, and it’s going to help pass the time while you’re stuck here letting that leg heal.”

Luke made a face, but didn’t protest any more. River started reading aloud to him. She read through the first five books in the first week, and Luke was hooked. So River found five more books, and read them the next week. She spent her whole vacation reading to Luke, and helping him discover that he didn’t hate reading so much, after all.

When River ran out of vacation time, she returned to work. But she spent her free time at the base, reading to Luke and talking and laughing with him. He didn’t have another accidental shifting after she started spending time with him. Even Zach begrudgingly admitted that River was helping Luke heal.

Six weeks after River started spending time with Luke, the medicine woman came and checked on his leg. The New Year was days away, and the weather had finally cooled down to the point where the smokejumpers were getting a much needed break from fire fighting. The medicine woman was a little strange, but she was kind and River liked her. After doing a thorough checkup on Luke, and hearing that he had not had any more problems shifting without warning, she declared that he was fully recovered. After she left, and River and Luke were alone again, River threw her arms around Luke and started crying.

“This is such awesome news,” River said, burying her head into Luke’s shoulder. Luke had explained to her that if he couldn’t get his shifting under control, he wouldn’t be able to work anymore. And he wouldn’t be able to go out in public, for fear of accidentally exposing the clan.

“You did this, River. You sat with me and kept me calm. I couldn’t have recovered without you. I don’t know what I did to deserve someone as wonderful as you, but I’m so glad I have you.”

Luke wrapped his arms around River and kissed the top of her head. River squeezed Luke closer, and then giggled like a schoolgirl when she felt his erection pushing out at her from under his shorts.

“Feels like someone is pretty excited about being given a clean bill of health,” she teased.

Luke frowned, and pressed his pelvis against her. “What, are you complaining?” he asked.

“My only complaint is that your dick should be inside of me already, not hiding behind those shorts of yours.”

Luke didn’t have to be told twice. He pushed River down onto the bed and tore off the t-shirt and sweatpants she was wearing. He pushed his own shorts and underwear off as he put his lips on River’s lips, and started kissing her with urgency. Without breaking their kiss, he unhooked her bra and pushed it off to the side of the bed, then pulled off her underwear. River reached for his shirt and pulled it over his head, gasping for air as they momentarily pulled back from kissing for her to slide the shirt off.

“Luke, I know we’re in a back corner, but this bunkhouse is pretty open. What if someone walks in on us?”

“Then they can be jealous,” Luke said, and then went back to kissing River. It had been several long weeks since they’d had sex, and they both went at each other with an intense hunger. Once their clothes were off, Luke didn’t wait much longer before sliding his rock solid penis into River. She moaned as he filled her, slipping into her warm, ready wetness.

He thrust deep into her body, pushing his hips against her hips and letting out a growl of passion as the warmth and pressure built between them. River didn’t try to hold back as she felt the crescendo of ecstasy reach an unbearable level and then explode, sending wave after wave of tingling, hot muscles spasms across her body. She had missed this feeling so much, and she reveled in the sweet release. Luke came right after her, stiffening and letting out a passionate roar as he shot a warm stream into her.

They lay there panting and happy, feeling like everything was right with the world again. Then, from somewhere on the opposite side of the bunkhouse, they heard Trevor’s voice ringing out.

“Keep it down you guys. I could hear you.”

“Oh my god,” River whispered, her cheeks turning red with embarrassment. “I told you that was going to happen.”

Luke threw back his head and laughed. “He’s just jealous, River,” he yelled out in a voice loud enough for Trevor to hear.

River giggled and snuggled up closer to Luke. “I think it’s time you started visiting me at my apartment again.”

Luke kissed her face. “Let’s get dressed and go right now,” he said with a wink. “I want to pick out some more books to read.”

River grinned. It turned out that she and Luke had a few things in common, after all.