by Kim Fox
Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Epilogue
SMOKEJUMPERS
Werebear
Part 2
Amanda And Beckett
By KIM FOX
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This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Contains explicit love scenes and adult language.
18+
Copyright © 2015 by Kim Fox
one
Beckett paced around camp tilting his head up to the sky every thirty seconds, looking for her.
“Sit down boss,” Keene said. “I’ve never seen you so nervous before. It’s just a pilot.”
“He’s not nervous,” Matteo said, like his word was the law. He stood up and walked over to his alpha. “What’s going on boss?” he whispered.
Beckett took a deep breath. “Nothing. I just want to make sure that the pilot will be adequate. That’s all.” Beckett’s inner bear rumbled. The other members of the Hudson Crew turned their heads and stared at him. They weren’t used to hearing his bear agitated. Beckett was their alpha and he always had his bear under control.
Until lately. Ever since he saw that picture of Amanda Pike two weeks ago, his bear had been running wild, struggling to get loose. His bear wanted her as a mate and Beckett was trying desperately to keep his bear in check, and to keep himself together.
Beckett had seen the picture of Amanda when he was looking for a new pilot to fly his smokejumping crew to forest fires. His crew, the Hudson Crew, were bear-shifting smokejumpers and their pilot had recently quit. Beckett had called Amanda to offer her the job before he even read her qualifications. His bear had bonded strongly to the gorgeous, curvy blond in the photo and even Beckett himself was rendered speechless. He had to meet her.
“What does your bear want?” Matteo asked, grabbing his arm.
“Nothing,” Beckett said, wrenching his arm away.
Finch walked out of his cabin with his hair styled up high and to the side like a member of a boy band.
“What is that?” Keene asked laughing. “Finch put that hair away there are people here for God’s sake.”
Beckett sighed in relief at the welcome distraction.
“When are you going to act your age?” Sander laughed. “That’s a sixteen year old’s haircut. You’re almost an elder.”
“I’m in my thirties,” he said.
“You’re thirty eight,” Sander replied.
“I’m only eight years older than you,” he said, spreading his lanky arms to the side.
“Exactly. An elder.”
“What did you ask the hairdresser for?” Ellis asked. “The One Hundred Direction?” His mate, Alexi, clung to his arm and laughed.
“I hope you got your five bucks back,” Quint laughed, stroking his long beard.
“At least I got my haircut,” Finch said turning on Quint. “Your chin looks like a Sasquatch’s balls. There are birds living in that thing. And why are you wearing a scarf? It’s hot as shit out here. You can fry an egg on that rock.”
“Everyone wears scarves now,” Quint said defensively.
“Yeah everyone in fucking Antarctica,” Keene said laughing.
Finch sighed in relief now that the attention was off his hair. Being in camp with these ball busters was like playing hot potato. You always had to be ready to pass the attention off to the next guy.
Beckett slipped out and walked to the dirt runway. He looked up to the blue sky and listened for the hum of an airplane. There was nothing but silence.
His bear tossed around inside. Maybe this was a bad idea. Would he be able to control his bear once she arrived?
The crew burst out laughing as it was Sander’s turn to become the butt of the jokes.
A soft buzzing, as light as a humming bird, sounded in the distance. Beckett searched the sky and found a small plane far off in the distance. His pulse quickened as it grew larger. It’s her.
His bear was thrashing about inside, fighting to be released. A growl rumbled from his chest so loud that it stopped the conversation by the campfire. Beckett could hear the boys from all the way out there with his enhanced shifter hearing.
“Either that pilot is a female or Sander’s hamburgers aren’t sitting well with the boss,” Keene said.
“There’s nothing wrong with my hamburgers,” Sander said, clearly offended. The boys were always teasing him about his cooking. He hated it.
“Mine had a pine cone in it,” Ellis said.
Sander looked at him with a serious face. “That was for your bear. Bears love pine cones.”
“Maybe. But they’re hard to eat with human teeth,” Ellis replied.
“I thought your hamburgers were delicious,” Alexi said. Sander’s face broke out into a big grin.
Matteo jogged over to Beckett on the runway. “Are you sure you’re okay boss?”
Beckett turned away from him and looked up at the approaching plane. It would be landing in just a few minutes.
“Is the pilot a female?” he asked.
No point in lying to him. He’ll find out in a minute.
Beckett nodded.
“Did your bear…” Matteo couldn’t finish the thought.
“No, no,” Beckett replied, shaking his head. “Not at all.”
“Good because you know that a mate will make an alpha soft right?”
Beckett swallowed hard. He had seen first hand what happens when the alpha of a crew took on a mate. He loved his crew of brothers. They worked great together as a cohesive unit and had a blast around camp. Their days and nights were filled with fun and laughter but that could all go south pretty quickly without a stable alpha to guide them. Laughter could turn to violence. He had seen it before. He didn’t want to put his crew through that, especially over a girl.
This was a bad idea. His bear got more and more worked up inside him as the plane got closer, to the point where he had to concentrate hard to keep him from bursting out. What an impression that would make on Amanda.
The plane flew over the runway, an old two seat Cessna, and the stunning woman from the picture in his back pocket was there in real life waving at him through the window.
Beckett was frozen to the dirt. He looked up with his mouth open and his hands glued in his pockets. He could only see her head but she was the most beautiful thing that he had ever seen. An angel from above.
Matteo pulled him by the arm. “I don’t think she can land with us standing on the runway.”
A lightness filled Beckett’s chest as the plane turned and started the descent.
Amanda banked her plane and lined the nose with the runway, preparing it for the landing. She checked her airspeed and altitude as she hit the flaps open on the wings. The plane jerked forward and slowed down. The dirt runway got bigger as she floated towards it. She bounced her head to Rhianna and Eminem rapping in her ears. There wasn’t a control tower anywhere near here so she plugged her headset into her iPod.
It had been a long trip and she was as bored as a kid in church.
Who is that? There were two gorgeous guys on the side of the runway watching her. The bigger one was sexy as hell. He looked like he was in charge. Just the way he carried himself and the subservient body language of the other one suggested that he was the boss.
Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. Amanda had applied to a bunch of places after she got fired from her job of giving scenic tours of Yellowstone National Park, and this was the only one that called her back. He had hired her without even asking a single question, which was perfect because she didn’t want to have to explain why she got fired.
It still gave her chills when she thought of the sexy, raspy voice on the other end of the line. Is that him?
She gently pulled the yoke all the way back as the wheels hit the dirt and the handsome strangers disappeared from view over the nose of her plane.
The stall horn went off as the front wheel touched down. She applied the breaks and the plane skidded to a stop in a cloud of dust. She did her safety checks and shut down the engine. She massaged her neck and sighed as she took off her headset. She had been flying for three hours with it squeezing her head and it felt heavenly to take the heavy, clunky thing off.
She unbuckled her seatbelt and froze when she saw the two men on the side of the runway. They were in a heated argument. The mean-looking one with the goatee and lazy eye was red in the face and thrusting his chest out. He was pointing his finger at the other one and yelling something at him. Amanda couldn’t make out the words from inside the plane. The hot one just stood there, listening, never loosing his cool.
Five men and a woman stood up from around a campfire and started to walk over when the calm one, who looked like the boss, put his hand up and shook his head. They returned to their seats and watched intently as they wrung their hands together or bit their nails.
Well this is awkward. Amanda looked down at her cell phone and pretended to be busy as the two men argued. It was finally over when the intense man with the goatee stormed off.
The hot one shook his head as he stared at the ground. He was big and muscular with round shoulders and a massive chest. He had a quiet, authoritative way about him that intrigued Amanda. The way that all of those people obeyed his command. One simple hand gesture sent them all back to their seats.
“Hi!” Amanda said, stepping out of the plane, holding her flight bag.
He looked at her and a wide grin appeared on his handsome face. His jaw was big and squared but he had a really nice smile. A smile that you would find on the hot kid next door. The one that all of the girls on the street knew his name and scribbled onto the inside of their notebooks.
“Hi Amanda,” he said, walking forward with his hand extended. “I’m Beckett. We spoke on the phone.”
“I remember,” she said smiling. She took his hand in hers and a warm, comforting feeling flowed into her palm and up her arm. If felt like an electric shock if an electric shock felt wonderful. It stirred every nerve ending in her.
He took back his hand and Amanda stepped towards him, erasing the cruel space between them. “Are you going to be my boss?” she asked, glancing at his wavy black hair. She bit her bottom lip, imaging running her hands through it as she straddled his powerful body. Amanda loved bosses. Well it wouldn’t be the first boss that I seduced.
He shifted on his feet, turning towards her. It was subtle but it was there. Amanda was an expert at reading body language and she could tell that he was into her.
“I am the alpha of the crew here. So yes, I will be your boss.”
Alpha of the crew? She grew up in Montana, far from any city, but she never heard anyone speak like that before. Maybe he’s a shifter. That would be so hot.
“Let me take that,” he said, reaching for her bag. He threw the strap over his athletic shoulder and motioned for her to follow him. “I’ll give you the tour, however there’s not much to see, and I’ll introduce you to the crew.”
Their fingers grazed each other as they walked to the hangar. “Sorry,” he mumbled as his neck turned red.
“This place is really…secluded,” she said, looking around. The guys and girl around the campfire were all watching her. She gave them a little wave and smiles broke out across each one of their faces.
“We don’t get a lot of people passing through,” he said. “But there’s a town about a twenty minute drive from here. A nice diner, a couple of shops.”
Great. How long until I get bored? She glanced at his muscled back, showing definition through his tight t-shirt. I’ll find something or someone to do that’s fun.
Beckett slid open the large, rusty door of the hangar and a large Casa 212 airplane sat inside like a sleepy giant. “Wow,” Amanda muttered under her breath. She loved airplanes, ever since she was a little girl, but she had never flown one so big before.
“I should have asked you more questions on the phone,” Beckett said. “But I had a feeling that you were the right person for the job. You’re qualified to fly a turboprop-powered STOL right?”
“Yup,” she lied, staring up at the plane. Amanda had been called ‘gifted’ and ‘a natural’ by her flight instructors. She was convinced that she could fly anything.
She walked towards it and ran her palm along the cool metal, feeling every crevice and bolt. “Can I try her out?”
Beckett’s brown eyes sparkled as he chuckled. “Looks like my instincts were right. You two look great together.”
She pressed her curvy body against the white metal and kissed it. She stared him in the eyes as she seductively rubbed the side of the plane. “My new girlfriend.”
A low growling sound echoed in the hangar. “What was that?” she said jumping away from the plane. Amanda was born and raised in Montana and she was taught from an early age to be on the look out for wolves, bears and other wild animals.
Beckett cursed under his breath. “It’s…nothing. Don’t worry.” She watched him curiously as he walked around the plane. She glanced out the door to make sure there wasn’t a pack of wolves waiting for them.
“Finch is our maintenance man and mechanic. He is the tall, lanky one. You’ll meet him later.”
Amanda pointed to a piece of cardboard, duct taped over the fuel cap. “Is that his handy work?” she asked.
Beckett laughed. “It may not be pretty but it works. He’s the best in the area. Actually he’s the only one in the area.”
Amanda slid a crate over and stepped on it. She ripped the cardboard off and tossed it onto the ground. “This is my girl now. She’s going to be treated properly.”
Beckett had his hands in his pockets smiling at her as she inspected the plane.
“That tire needs to be patched,” she mumbled to herself. “Aileron needs to be greased. What the hell is that?” Amanda reached under the fuselage where the front wheel was supposed to retract into. It stunk like roadkill frying in the sun. She held her shirt over her nose and reached up. There was something wrapped around the gear. Something furry and slimy. She jerked her hand back. “You guys actually fly in this?”
Beckett nodded, looking embarrassed.
Amanda opened the door and climbed into the cockpit. What the hell is all this? The altitude indicator was missing, replaced with a picture of a topless girl.
“The carb heat nob is a screwdriver.” She reached out the window and grabbed a string that was tied to the door and trailed under the wing. “What is this?” she asked in horror.
“That’s to..” Beckett coughed. “That’s to open the flaps.”
Amanda’s mouth dropped. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“It doesn’t work in the rain or when it’s windy,” he said, wincing.
“No. No. No,” she said, climbing out of the plane. She slammed the door and it bounced back open.
Beckett grimaced. “You have to jiggle the handle as you close it.”
Amanda shook her head and exhaled slowly. The one thing that was hear
tbreaking to her was a broken down airplane.
“I’ll fix everything tomorrow,” she said. “She should be ready to fly by the afternoon.”
Beckett stood there with a smile on his face. “Looks like I hired the right person for the job.”
“I’ve only pointed out what anyone with half a brain could’ve,” she said with a smirk. “You haven’t seen me fly yet.”
She bent over and fiddled with a loose bolt on the undercarriage. She arched her back giving him a view of her ass in her tight jeans. She had curvy hips but her curvy hips also came with big breasts and none of the guys seemed to complain. Guys always seemed to fall for her.
A loud growl filled the hangar again and Amanda sprang up. “Was that you?” she asked. She had heard a similar growl like that from her friend’s cousin when she was younger. An inhuman growl.
Beckett’s face flushed red. His eyes darted around as he rubbed the back of his neck and mumbled something.
“Wait,” she said, her eyes narrowing on him. “Are you a shifter?”
His mouth dropped open as he gawked at her. “You know about shifters?”
“I was raised in Montana. Of course I do.” He was breathing heavily and clearly uncomfortable. “You are.”
He shook his head with a panicked look on his face. “No. That was a…” He was a terrible liar.
“Wow,” she said, her pulse quickening. She stepped towards him and touched his thick, hard arm. “That’s so sexy.”
His eyes widened and his cheeks turned even redder.
“Wolf?” she asked.
He was holding his breath. “Bear,” he said as low as a whisper.
She leaned in until their faces were only inches apart. Her heart thumped as she stroked his arm. “Can you show me?” She bit her bottom lip and stared into his steamy brown eyes.
He glanced down at her lips and swallowed hard.
“Dinner is ready,” a stern voice called out from the entrance of the hangar. Amanda jumped away from Beckett and gasped. Her heart was pounding.
