Fire Bear Shifters: The Complete Series

by Sloane Meyers

  Zach hesitated. “Are you sure? I don’t want to put pressure on you, or make you feel like I was expecting anything more than a fun dinner with you tonight.”

  Mindy almost rolled her eyes at Zach’s nervousness. “My place, now. That’s an order.”

  Zach laughed. “Okay, okay. Yes ma’am.”

  Mindy grinned as Zach turned to head toward her townhome. When they arrived, she unlocked the door and started to turn to ask Zach what kind of wine he wanted, but before she could get any words out he had slammed the front door behind them and covered her mouth with his. Mindy dropped her keys and purse on the floor and wrapped her arms around Zach, returning his kiss as he grabbed handfuls of her thick, red curls in his hands. Mindy stepped slowly backward toward the couch, pulling Zach down with her when she reached it. She could already feel his erection, stiff and throbbing against the confines of his jeans.

  “Are you sure about this?” Zach asked. “I want you so badly, but I mean it when I say I don’t want to pressure you.”

  “I’m sure. But let me make one thing clear: I care very deeply about you, and I’m not going to hurt you or treat your heart carelessly the way others have. If we’re going to be together, you have to promise to respect me and trust me. Don’t lash out at me because you’re afraid. If you ever feel like something’s bothering you, just tell me, okay?”

  Zach nodded. “Okay,” he said, looking deep into Mindy’s eyes. Mindy felt herself melting into his deep, blue gaze.

  “Okay, then. Now that we’ve got that settled, what are you waiting for? Kiss me, you fool.”

  Zach grinned, and did as he was told. Mindy fell backward onto the couch, and Zach straddled her on top. Everything became a blur of cotton, denim, and lace. Zach pushed the skirt of Mindy’s dress up over her hips and then over her head, leaving her wearing just a lacy black bra that matched her lacy black panties.

  Mindy could feel the moisture growing in her panties as her body begged for Zach to fill her. He continued kissing her, slipping his tongue deep into her mouth and tracing delicious circles around the roof of her mouth. His touch sent tingles through her body, and she moaned as he moved from kissing her mouth to kissing her neck. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been craving this until this moment, when he was satisfying that craving. She reached up and started unbuttoning his shirt. She wanted to see his amazing abs again.

  After pushing his shirt off, she reached down and started unbuckling his belt, followed quickly by undoing the button on his jeans. He continued to kiss her neck the whole time, alternating between gentle kisses and rough nibbles. She moaned as he took a quick nibble at her ear as well. The tingling shock waves of pressure that he was sending through her body intensified. As she reached down to attempt to push his jeans down off his body, she could feel his erection begging to be set free.

  In the process of trying to get his jeans off, they both accidentally rolled off the couch and onto the floor.

  “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, are you okay?” Zach asked, pausing his kissing to check on Mindy.

  Mindy giggled. “I’m fine. You can knock me off the couch any day if it’s because you’re trying to get your pants off.”

  Zach growled and went after Mindy’s ear again, nibbling it fervently while reaching back behind Mindy’s back to unclasp her bra. She reached down to push his underwear off at the same time, and they became an awkward, wriggling mess of kissing and clothing.

  Zach laughed as Mindy bent over further, trying to reach far enough to push off his briefs. “Do you want to get back on the couch?” he asked.

  Mindy shook her head. “I’m quite comfortable right here. There’s something sexy about making love on the floor, anyway.”

  The pair was sprawled out on a plush oriental rug, between Mindy’s couch and coffee table. Zach grinned and finished pulling off Mindy’s bra. He tossed it aside and moved his attention from her ears down to her full breasts. As he nibbled one nipple, and then the other, Mindy closed her eyes and drank in the sensation of being touched by a man who cared about her. It had been so long since she’d felt any kind of tenderness from a man, and she had begun to think that she was never going to find that kind of connection again.

  Zach took his time. He drew circles around her erect nipples with his tongue, and then slid his hands down into the fabric of her panties as he continued tickling her breasts with his mouth. He used his index finger to massage her clitoris, causing Mindy to arch her back under the tantalizing tingling his finger built in her body. She moaned as he slid his finger fully into her, applying a firm pressure against her sex as he drew circles inside of her. Mindy tried to hold back, but she couldn’t stop the tsunami of ecstasy crashing over her. She gave in and let the waves of her orgasm overtake her, and her internal muscles clenched around Zach’s fingers as her nipples throbbed against the touch of his mouth.

  She lay, panting and happy, as the aftershocks rushed through her. She suddenly became aware that she felt sweaty, and that her hair was likely a tangled mess of frizzy, fiery red curls. But this only seemed to turn Zach on more.

  “You’re so sexy with your hair all wild like that. Like a lioness,” he said.

  Mindy grinned happily, and Zach let out a low growl before reaching down and pulling off her panties, which were now soaking wet in the juices of her desire.

  Zach moved his lips back to Mindy’s mouth, kissing her gently at first, then with a growing sense of urgency. His tongue once again danced against hers as he hovered his huge, steel rod of a dick over her dripping wet entrance.

  Mindy felt a warmth spreading through her as Zach pressed the oozing tip of his penis against her, and then groaned as he slid into her in one smooth, impossibly passionate movement. He filled her completely, pressing into her and warming her from the inside. He paused for a moment, letting her feel the fullness of his erection inside of her, and then started sliding back and forth. He thrust into her, his hips moving rhythmically against hers as the fire in Mindy’s body grew. He moved from kissing her mouth to once again nibbling her ear lobe, and her whole body became a giant mass of tingling, hot pressure. She couldn’t believe it, but she was about to come again. She’d never had a man make her come twice in a row, but Zach was effortlessly bringing her to the edge of ecstasy once again.

  Mindy squeezed her eyes shut and yelled out Zach’s name just as the second earthquake of passion rippled through her. The waves of delicious, tingling muscles spasms kept going, overtaking her whole body as Zach let out a roar of his own before finding his own release, stiffening for a moment and then shooting a hot stream into her.

  After a few moments, he relaxed, and gently rolled over onto his back, pulling Mindy with him so that he never disconnected his body from hers. She lay on top of him as he sank his back into her rug, smiling and wrapping his arms around her. They lay there together for a long time, not speaking, until Zach’s erection subsided and he slowly, naturally slid out of Mindy.

  He gave her a quick kiss on her sweaty, glowing face, and grinned at her.

  “I believe I was promised a glass of wine, my dear,” he said.

  Mindy grinned back and rolled off of him. She stood, and sauntered off to the kitchen, swaying her curvy, naked ass seductively as she did.

  “Coming right up, my dear,” she said.

  And he was her dear. It had been a strange journey to get there, but when she finally gave in to the deep desires she had for him, she realized that he was exactly what she’d been missing in her life.

  Chapter Sixteen

  In late May, Sophia turned five. She had a Dalmatian themed party at the base, and the crew all wore their smokejumper gear to her party to play up the firedog aspect of Sophia’s favorite type of canine. Sophia’s beloved stuffed Dalmatian, Frog, was the guest of honor next to Sophia, and she made sure to “feed” him generous slices of her birthday cake. By the early evening, the birthday princess had collapsed into an exhausted, sugar-induced sleep. Zach carried her to her bed in the
bunkhouse, admiring how innocent and perfect her face looked while she slept. After tucking Sophia in, Zach found Mindy, who was cleaning up the piles of paper plates and half eaten cake from the picnic table.

  “Leave all that for a minute. I have something I want to show you,” he said.

  Mindy paused, and set down the plates she was holding. “Okay,” she said, and took Zach’s offered hand. He led her to the upstairs loft of the bunkhouse, that dark, dusty room where he had gone so many times to review the box that held records of his fruitless searches for his daughter. Now, he directed Mindy to sit next to the large windows that overlooked the runway.

  “This view is beautiful,” Mindy said, gazing out at the runway lights as they glowed in the dusky light of the early evening.

  “It is beautiful,” Zach said. “But that’s not what I wanted to show you.”

  He started to undress, and Mindy gave him a coy look. “Oh, is that what you wanted to show me? Well, I’ve already seen the goods, but I’ll happily look at them all day,” she said.

  Zach smiled. “I’m glad to hear that, but I’m actually just taking off my clothes right now because I don’t want to ruin them,” he said.

  Mindy gave him a questioning look, but before she could say anything, he filled the room with a rush of powerful energy as he shifted into a giant black bear. He hadn’t shown Mindy his bear yet, and he wanted to make sure she understood what she was getting into before he asked her his next question.

  Mindy’s eyes widened at the sight of Zach’s bear. He sat on his haunches, and waited patiently for her to take in his large, furry form. She slowly walked over to him, and stroked his soft snout, then traced the outline of his round bear ears. Zach gave her an encouraging nuzzle with his cold, black nose, and she walked in a large circle around him, inspecting his bear from every angle.

  “Wow,” she said, stroking his back gently as she walked. When she came to stand back in front of him, and he was satisfied that she had seen her fill of his bear, he shifted back into human form, knocking her over with the power surge from his shift.

  “Sorry,” he said, as he grabbed her hand to help her up. “Shifting takes a lot of energy.”

  She nodded, and sat back on the windowsill as Zach dressed. She didn’t say much, and Zach bit his lower lip, hoping he hadn’t scared her off.

  “So, now you’ve seen my bear,” he said. “As you can see, I can control it completely. Sophia will eventually reach that point. She’s already made amazing progress in the last month, and I’m sure by the end of the summer she’ll be in control of her little bear.”

  Mindy nodded. She seemed to take the whole thing in stride, probably because she’d already been exposed to shifting through Sophia.

  “It’s pretty crazy,” Mindy said. “But also kind of cool.”

  “I’m glad you think so,” Zach said, pulling his shirt back on so that he was fully dressed again. “I wanted you to see it and be fully aware of what you’re getting into if you say yes to my next question.”

  Mindy’s eyes widened at Zach’s words, and she covered her mouth with her hands as Zach knelt in front of her.

  “Zach? What are you doing?”

  “I’m asking you to officially become a part of my family. You’re already Mom to Sophia. You’re the love of my life. And I know without a doubt that you’re my fated lifemate, which is the bear shifter version of a soulmate. Before I met you, I thought all humans were trouble, because a human ruined my life. But then, I met you, and a human saved my life. You brought me back to my Sophia, and you brought the color and happiness back into my life. You saved me from the bitter shell of a man that I had become, and I can’t imagine my life without you anymore.”

  Zach pulled out the black velvet ring box that he had put in the pocket of his jeans, and opened it to reveal a bright, sparkling diamond to Mindy. Even in the dim light of the bunkhouse loft, the stone glittered brilliantly.

  “Mindy, will you be my lifemate, my wife? No matter what, you’ll always be Sophia’s mom. You’ll always be family to her. But I hope you’ll agree to be my family, too. Marry me?”

  Zach held his breath as Mindy looked down at the ring with her hands over her mouth. After what felt to him like an eternity, she nodded. Tears spilled over her eyelids as she threw her arms around him.

  “Yes! Yes, of course! Nothing would make me happier,” she said.

  Zach felt relief flood through him, and he lifted Mindy off the ground and spun her around before putting the ring on her finger. As Mindy looked down and admired the diamond, Zach went to lift the taped-up box of records from all his fruitless searches for his daughter.

  “Come on, I want to go throw this box in the bonfire and burn it,” Zach said, heading for the stairs.

  “Why? What is it?” Mindy asked.

  “Records of all my searches for my family. I don’t need them anymore. I’m done searching.”

  Zach carried the box to the bonfire that the rest of the crew had started outside the hangar, and he used a pocket knife to cut through the tape to open the box. Then, with a whoop, he started throwing the papers into the flames. He looked over and Mindy and grinned as she started helping him to throw the papers into the fire. They stood there together, watching the last traces of Zach’s bitterness and pain going up in smoke.

  BEARY AND BRIGHT

  Chapter One

  Clara Walsh squinted through the darkness and heavy rain, trying to keep her car in the correct lane as the storm around her grew stronger. She’d been hoping to make it all the way down to Monterey tonight, but she was still north of San Francisco, and visibility was nearing absolute zero. She should have pulled off the highway for a while to find somewhere to eat dinner and wait out the storm. But despite her better judgment, Clara continued driving. She wasn’t all that hungry, and she didn’t feel like being around other people right now.

  Clara wasn’t in a hurry, necessarily. She was driving to Los Angeles to start over, and it didn’t matter much whether it took her ten days or two to get there. She’d left Anchorage, Alaska exactly seven days ago, and had been driving as quickly as possible for no other reason than she only had the goal of arriving to keep her occupied. She’d been driving between nine and ten hours a day, stopping late in the evenings to grab a quick bite to eat and hole up in the cheapest motel she could find. She’d slept in her car twice, when she was too far out in the middle of nowhere to find lodging. She’d actually enjoyed those nights, staring up at the bright sky of stars through her car’s windows. The early fall nights were cold, but not unbearably so. With a thick blanket spread across the backseat, Clara had actually been quite cozy sleeping in her vehicle. And she hadn’t minded saving the cost of a motel, either. With a quickly dwindling balance in her checking account, Clara was already crossing her fingers that finding a job when she got to Los Angeles wouldn’t be too difficult. Maybe she was an idiot for thinking that she could make it in a city that had chewed up and spit out so many others, but Clara figured it couldn’t be much worse than how she’d been living in Alaska. Besides, if she failed, all she had to do was pack up her car and move on to the next destination. No big deal.

  Clara had spent the last two years floundering around in Anchorage, trying to blend into the crowds of Alaska’s most populous city. She’d taken a job as a package handler at the large FedEx hub in town, and saved up a small nest egg. Small was the key word there—her savings only amounted to about one month’s worth of living expenses, if she was estimating generously. But she’d decided that it was enough, and had set off to find a new home. Los Angeles had been a random choice, inspired by her fascination with the celebrity tabloids that always tempted her from the displays in the grocery store’s checkout lines. And she’d lived in the colds of Alaska her whole life, so she was curious to see what it would be like to live somewhere that wasn’t covered in ice and snow for the majority of the year. On September first, she’d left Anchorage in her rearview mirror and started her journey south.r />
  The drive had been relatively smooth until tonight. Clara couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of her car, and she finally gave in to the nagging voice of responsibility in her head that said stopping for the night would be the only responsible thing to do. She clicked on her turn signal and started taking an exit for a town called Red Valley. Billboards along the highway promised gas, lodging, and food, so hopefully she would be able to find all three there. As she pulled up to the stoplight at the end of the exit ramp, she squinted through the rain and saw a blinking neon motel sign to her right. The vacancy light flickered on and off, beckoning travelers to come in and get a room. Perfect. She turned to her right, happy to see an option so close. She was ready to get off the road and into a dry room. But as she pulled into the motel parking lot, her happiness quickly faded. A loud popping sound started underneath the hood of her car, and before she had even made it to a parking spot, her engine was making an awful screeching sound. Just as she put the car in park, the motor sputtered and died.

  “Great. Just great,” Clara said. She turned the key on the engine to test it out, but nothing happened. Clara let her head fall against the steering wheel. She should have known this was going to happen. Her car, while well-maintained, was almost ten years old. In her typical reckless style, she hadn’t taken into account what she would do on this trip if the car broke down.

  Clara lifted her head and let out a deep sigh. There wasn’t much she could do about it tonight. She should be thankful that the car had chosen to die here, in a motel parking lot, rather than on the highway in the middle of a rainstorm. She quickly jumped up from her car and ran through the pouring rain into the front office. Even though the quick run took less than five seconds, Clara was soaked by the time she made it to the front door.