A Burn To Bear (Fire Bear Shifters Book 3) Read Online Free

tried to deny the intensity of River’s hold on him, but his bear would not be silenced. After years of successfully avoiding women, Luke was being drawn in deep and fast. His heart beat faster at the possibility that he might finally find love again.
    In the distance, Luke saw smoke rising from the forest fire that the crew had come to fight. The fire was growing quickly, but it had started out small. The clan should be able to get it under control within a day, and then Luke could head back to town to see River. Luke steered his parachute toward a small opening in the tree line, hoping to land without getting caught in one of the giant Sequoias that filled the forest. He could see Charlotte and Zach, already on the ground and folding up their parachutes, with Hunter and Trevor not too far behind. Luke carefully guided his parachute between the trees, managing to avoid the large branches stretching out into the clearing. He landed with a soft thud a few feet away from Trevor, losing his balance and tumbling forward as his feet hit the earth.
    “Nice one,” Trevor said, laughing at Luke’s expense.
    Luke slowly stood up—not an easy feat when loaded down with nearly a hundred pounds of gear. “At least I missed the trees,” Luke said, brushing off the dried leaves and dirt that had attached to his jumpsuit during his clumsy landing. He immediately started unpacking his gear and stepping out of his jumpsuit.
    “Wow, someone’s eager to get to work,” Hunter said. Hunter was still folding up his parachute.
    “More like eager to finish work,” Trevor said. “Rumor has it that Luke has a new lady friend back in Red Valley that he’s eager to see.”
    “Shut up, Trevor,” Luke said, not looking up from the cargo bag of tools he was unloading. He pulled out a portable chain saw that was folded down into two pieces, and started attaching the blade and body of the saw together.
    Hunter narrowed his eyes in Luke’s direction. “Wait, a lady friend? Is this the gal from the pie shop that Riley told me about? She said she thought you had a thing for one of her customers. Do you have a new girlfriend you’re not telling me about?”
    Luke yanked the safety guard off of the chainsaw’s blade. “I’m not sure whether I have a new girlfriend, and I won’t know until this job is over and I get a chance to talk to her. So, if you boys will excuse me, I’ve got some work to do.”
    Luke walked over to the thick forest edge and revved up his chainsaw. Without another backward glance at the rest of the crew, he started to clear away the dry shrubs and undergrowth to make a fire break. The smokejumpers would clear a fuel-free zone and set a backfire that would meet up with the wildfire. The two fires would burn each other out, and then the crew could hike out and head home. Luke wasn’t wasting any time on this job, now that he finally had a reason to look forward to going home.
     
    * * *
     
    Several hundred miles away, River was fuming. She had arrived early for her shift at the library, and she was putting away returned books with gusto. As she returned each book to its proper place on the shelves, she slammed it in with unnecessary force. The library didn’t open for another thirty minutes, so River and her manager, Colleen, were the only two people in the building. After about the tenth loud bang, Colleen came to find River. In the middle of the self-help section, River slammed a book titled Happiness Ever After back into its proper place.
    “Hey, hey, hey. Easy there, River. What did that book ever do to you?”
    “Happiness ever after?” River asked with disgust. “What a joke. This book promises to help you find happiness with yourself, which supposedly attracts the right man into your life. I’m pretty happy with myself, but apparently my man magnet is broken, because I seem to only attract the assholes.”
    “Uh-oh. Having boy trouble?” Colleen asked.
    “I guess. Although I shouldn’t be surprised. I