An Ember To Bear (Fire Bear Shifters 5)

by Sloane Meyers

  Mindy sat staring at Bailey with her mouth slightly open. “Trevor is a smokejumper?” she said. “That’s really random, because I met a smokejumper two nights ago. I wonder if they know each other.”

  Bailey narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “You’re kidding me,” she said. “The smokejumper wasn’t named Zach by chance, was he?”

  “He was,” Mindy said. “I’m guessing that means that you do know him.”

  “Yeah, I do know him, unfortunately,” Bailey said. “He’s on Trevor’s crew of smokejumpers. There are six of them—five guys and one girl. Zach is the only one who I don’t like. He’s a total jerk. He’s got some issues over some bad breakup or something that happened years ago. I don’t really know the full story, but it seems like this girl hurt him pretty badly. I guess he can’t let it go, and he doesn’t want to see anyone else happy. He’s really mad at Trevor for dating me. The other night, when you met him, he had just stormed off from a barbecue the smokejumping crew was having. He was so mad that I was at the barbecue that he literally left in the middle to go to a bar by himself.”

  “Wow,” Mindy said. “He sounds like a total charmer. When I met him, I thought he seemed a little unstable, but I had no idea he was at the bar because he was angry about a friend dating someone. That’s ridiculous. He was so upset that he drank more shots of whiskey than I can count, and I ended up driving his drunk ass home. Not only that, but I had a tire blowout on the way to the hangar where he lives, and I had to change it by myself in the rain. He was too drunk to do anything but wander around the car and tell me how beautiful I was. Then, to top it all off, the next day he showed up at the hospital looking for me. He was so blackout drunk the night before that he couldn’t even remember which bar he had left his truck at. I guess the only thing he could remember was meeting me, and that I worked at the hospital. He tracked me down so I could help him find his truck. He struck me as a first-rate douche bag, but you just confirmed it for me. I mean, if he’s been hurt by a woman, then I guess I understand being a little gun shy about dating someone new himself. But he shouldn’t begrudge his friends their happiness.”

  “Exactly!” Bailey said, slamming her palm on the table. “What kind of asshole can’t be happy for his friends when they find happiness? Especially when the whole awful breakup or whatever it was happened so long ago.”

  “I’m surprised he still has friends, if that’s the way he’s acting,” Mindy said.

  Bailey gave Mindy a strange look. “Yeah,” Bailey said slowly. “Zach and Trevor and the rest of the crew just go way back. And they have a lot in common.”

  “Well, still, it seems like an awful way to treat your friends—and a good way to lose them,” Mindy said.

  “Yeah,” Bailey said with a shrug. “He’s definitely not the favorite person of anyone on the crew. But they tolerate him. I’m actually worried that if I do hire an assistant to help me with my jewelry business, that Zach is going to flip out about that. I’m running the business operations from a small corner of the hangar where the crew lives. So, if I hire someone, they’ll probably have to do a lot of work out there. Zach hates strangers. He can’t stand having anyone around that’s new. I’m going to have to warn my poor assistant that Zach isn’t exactly the most welcoming person on the planet.”

  “Wait a minute,” Mindy said. “How serious are you about hiring an assistant?”

  “Pretty serious,” Bailey said. “Actually, I probably should have already hired someone given the amount of orders that I’ve had come in. But I’ve been so busy working that I haven’t had time to look for someone to help me work. Ironic isn’t it?”

  “Would the hours be flexible?” Mindy asked.

  “Sure,” Bailey said. “I mean, jewelry can be made pretty much any time of the day or night. I don’t really care when my assistant does it, as long as they do a good job and get it done.”

  “Hmm,” Mindy said, and got a thoughtful look in her eyes.

  Bailey narrowed her eyes. “Wait a minute,” Bailey said. “Are you asking because you want the job? I thought you were really busy at the hospital the majority of the time.”

  “Well, I am pretty busy there. But I’ve had a situation come up where I need to make some extra money on the side. The only problem is that my schedule at the nursing job makes it difficult to take a second job. But if I had a flexible schedule, with work that could be done at any time, that would be perfect. How much help do you think you need?”

  “I’m not sure,” Bailey said. “It’s hard to say at this early stage. My best guess would be ten to twenty hours a week. If you want to take the job and see how it works out for you, then you’re definitely hired. I can always hire a second assistant if the hours are too much for you by yourself. And you’ve helped me out so much and been such a great friend to me, that I would love the chance to do whatever I can to help you.”

  “Oh my word,” Mindy said. “That would be amazing. I promise I’ll work hard to learn how to make the jewelry well. I really need to boost my income, but I’ve had no idea how to go about doing that. I need about forty thousand more dollars in my savings than I have right now.”

  Bailey almost spit out her coffee. “Forty thousand dollars? First of all, I will give you as much work as I possibly have to give you, but I can tell you it’s not going to be forty thousand dollars’ worth. But second of all, how in the world did you find yourself in a situation where you need forty thousand dollars?”

  Mindy sighed as she looked across the table at Bailey. She hadn’t told any of her other friends about her struggle to convince Mr. Stewart to let her adopt from the orphanage. She didn’t think they would understand. They would probably tell her that Mr. Stewart was doing her a favor, and that she needed to focus on having fun and enjoying herself during the last years of her twenties. Mindy didn’t want to have to defend such a personal choice, so she just kept her mouth shut about it. But Bailey seemed somehow different from her other friends—more calm and levelheaded. And since Bailey had just been through a pretty big life-altering experience herself, maybe she understood what it felt like to want to take action on your dreams right away.

  Mindy looked over at Bailey, who was patiently waiting for Mindy to explain her predicament. Mindy decided that if she could trust anyone with her secret, then Bailey was that person. It would feel good to have someone to unload all of these frustrations on, anyway. Mindy took a deep breath, and decided to tell Bailey everything.

  “This might sound crazy,” Mindy said. “But I want to adopt a child. I had ovarian cancer a few years ago, so I can’t have one of my own. At first, I was really upset about that. But then I realized that not being able to have a biological child didn’t prevent me from having children in my life. I got involved with Red Valley Orphanage as a volunteer. At first, I didn’t intend for my volunteer work to be anything more than a weekly commitment. But the more I was around those kids, the more I came to love them. I decided that I wanted to adopt. The only problem, and it’s a big problem, is that the director of the orphanage thinks that a single woman can’t handle being a mom. He thinks I need a man in my life to be able to properly take care of a child. I don’t have a man in my life, and I don’t have any promising prospects, either. But, yesterday, I convinced him to agree to let me adopt. The only catch is that he said I have to have fifty thousand dollars in my savings account. I’m about forty thousand dollars short right now. I know he only agreed to this because he thinks that I can’t get the money together. But I’m determined to prove him wrong. I don’t care how hard I have to work. I will make this happen. I think a flexible, part-time job helping you make jewelry would be a good place to start.”

  Bailey looked across the table at Mindy with wide eyes. “Wow,” she said. “You’re very dedicated. I think that’s a really awesome thing that you’re trying to do. And what a jerk that guy is, for denying you the chance to adopt. He’s also denying one of those kids the chance to have a permanent home.”

  “
I know,” Mindy said. “It breaks my heart. But he’s the director, and his decision on things is pretty much final.”

  “Consider yourself hired,” Bailey said. “I’ll give you as much work as I possibly can. That jerk should be ashamed of himself, and I’ll do whatever I can to help you make an adoption a reality.”

  Mindy felt tears stinging at the back of her eyelids. Even if she only made a little bit of money working for Bailey, the expression of support and solidarity Bailey was making meant the world to Mindy.

  “Speaking of jerks,” Bailey said, “Another bonus of your working for me will be that Zach has to see you all the time. He’ll be mortified to have you hanging around all the time, since you saw him drunk as a skunk.”

  Bailey laughed, and Mindy joined in with her. But no matter how hard she tried to stop it, and how silly she told herself it was, she couldn’t keep from feeling a rush of nervousness at the thought of seeing Zach again.

  Chapter Seven

  A little over a week later, Zach stood in the middle of the large hangar, with his parachute spread across the ground. The huge, back doors of the hangar stood open. The large doors, sized for an airplane to fit through, were unnecessary since the crew didn’t have its own aircraft. But Zach loved to open them when the weather was nice.

  And the weather today was perfect. Zach breathed in deeply and smiled at the fresh, earthy scent of spring that hung in the air. He loved this time of year. The seasons weren’t as pronounced in northern California as they were in other parts of the country, so the changes in the weather weren’t that dramatic. But Zach had still missed the freshness in the air that spring brought, and he indulged in another deep breath before buckling down to work.

  He needed to inspect his parachute in preparation for the upcoming smokejumping season. The crew members all repaired their own parachutes, and were responsible for doing safety checks to make sure their gear remained in good condition. Zach carefully went over the thick fabric of the parachute, trying to find any holes or tears. Then he started inspecting the lines that connected the parachute to the container, which was the backpack-esque contraption used to secure the parachute to Zach’s body during a jump.

  Zach started humming some lines from a recent country music hit, and lost himself in his work. He didn’t know what the rest of the crew was up to right now, but he was enjoying having the hangar to himself. Ever since he had stormed away from the barbecue, a noticeable strain had hung in the air between him and the other clan members. He knew they were upset with his attitude, but he refused to apologize. If they didn’t like the way he acted, they could just stay the hell out of his way. Which, it seemed, was exactly what they were doing today. Fine by him.

  Zach kept humming as he started repacking his parachute. He hadn’t found any problems with the gear, so he was ready for the next job assignment. He would probably be waiting another month for an assignment, but, now that the weather was beginning to heat up again, it was best to be prepared at all times.

  Zach’s happy solitude was interrupted a few minutes later by the sound of women laughing. He frowned as he heard their voices getting closer, and he tried to quickly finish packing his gear up so that he could leave the hangar. He couldn’t complete the task fast enough, however. As he yanked the flaps of his parachute rig closed, he saw Bailey round the corner of the hangar. She was holding a large, clear plastic container, and was looking over her shoulder to talk to someone behind her.

  “We can set these supplies up for now, and then go back to get more if we need to. But I think this should give us a really good start.”

  Zach rolled his eyes. Not only had Ian let Bailey, yet another human, move out to base to live with the crew, but he had also given her permission to run her jewelry business out of the hangar. Zach didn’t think that an airplane hangar was a good place to do arts and crafts, but Ian had stood firm, saying that they had plenty of room and there was no reason for Bailey to have to spend the money to rent office space in town.

  Zach felt a pang of sadness hit him as he realized that it had been a long time since he and Ian had engaged in a conversation that didn’t end in an argument. Zach missed the good old days, when Ian was his best friend and they would spend hours hanging out, drinking beers, and just enjoying life. They both still referred to each other as best friends, but their arguments had been outshining any sense of camaraderie for the last year, at least.

  “Good morning, Zach,” Bailey said brightly.

  Zach grunted in response, picking up his gear to put it away and get away from the hangar as fast as he could. As he turned to put the parachute on its rack, however, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

  “Good morning, Zach.”

  Zach froze. That couldn’t possibly be who he thought it was, could it? He sniffed the air, and her scent hit him in full force. Slowly, he turned around, and found himself face to face with Mindy. An unexpected rush of conflicting emotions ran through him. He felt the warmth of desire creeping through his veins as his bear roared within him at the sight of Mindy. He felt embarrassment at having to face her again after the ungentlemanly way he had left her the last time he saw her. And he felt anger at himself, for being attracted to a human and caring about what that human thought of him.

  “What are you doing here?” he snarled at her. She didn’t flinch or back away. Instead, she gave him the same sort of sickly sweet smile he had given her at the hospital right before flipping her off.

  “Working,” she said. “I’m going to be helping Bailey with her jewelry business, so I’ll be hanging around here a lot. We’ll get to see each other all the time. Isn’t that fabulous?”

  Zach snarled again, and turned on his heel to leave the hangar.

  “Ian approved it, so don’t even try going to complain to him about it,” Bailey called after him.

  Zach felt his stomach lurch at Bailey’s words. He felt like he didn’t even know who Ian was anymore. Just a year ago, Ian had been similarly opposed to having any humans around the hangar. But ever since Ian had taken a human lifemate, he’d gone soft and forgotten the danger that humans could pose to shifters.

  As soon as Zach made it around the corner of the hangar, where Bailey and Mindy couldn’t see him anymore, he gave the grassy earth a giant, frustrated kick. For the first time, he let the thought of leaving his clan seriously cross his mind. Even a week ago, he would have never dreamed of considering such a thing. But he felt like he didn’t fit in anymore, and everything around here made him unhappy. The crew tolerated him, but only out of a sense of duty. He knew they all hated his attitude and thought he was out of line most of the time. And, honestly, he was starting to feel like he didn’t like anyone on the crew anymore. Not even Ian.

  Zach felt miserable, but he couldn’t tell anyone why. He was trapped in this web of secrets, and the only way out was to put the whole clan at risk. He knew he could never do that, no matter how tense things had become. Worrying him more than anything, though, was the way he felt when Mindy was around.

  He could never be with her, because she was human. And yet, his bear insisted on feeling all sorts of things when she was around that he’d never felt before. The rush of excitement was familiar—that satisfying sensation of desire that a potential new love interest sent coursing through your veins whenever they were around. Zach had felt that before, for sure. But he felt something in addition to that, something deeper. Whenever Mindy was nearby, he felt like the atoms of his body were being literally drawn to her. She had some sort of magnetic pull on him, drawing him in as though she had an actual physical connection to him.

  Zach covered his face as he realized in horror what that magnetic pull was: the lifemate bond.

  “No,” he roared, and took off running toward the bunkhouse. This had to be some sort of mistake. He didn’t trust humans. He didn’t want them around. He couldn’t possibly become bonded to one. There’s no way that he was actually fated to be lifemates with a human. Was there? What kind of sick,
cosmic joke would that be?

  Zach suddenly felt trapped, like he needed to get out of here now. What was the point in staying, anyway? Sure, he liked his job. But the crew didn’t like being around him, and he didn’t particularly enjoy being around them, since it meant being around their human lifemates all the time. Every day around here had become a painful reminder of how he would never be able to look in a human’s eyes with trust ever again. And, speaking of humans, he didn’t want to be around Mindy for another second. Every moment he spent around her was a moment spent fighting off traitorous feelings of desire. How could his bear be so attracted to a human when it knew how Traci had betrayed him?

  There was only one answer to this situation: he needed to leave. He needed to get out of here without telling anyone, and go somewhere where he could truly be alone and have time to think. He would get a duffel bag, throw in some clothes and a few personal items, and go somewhere far, far away. He didn’t see any other option.

  As he burst through the front door of the bunkhouse, he ran smack into Ian.

  “What the hell, Zach,” Ian said, rubbing his forehead where Zach had just collided with him. “Slow down.”

  “What the hell?” Zach said. “You’re really going to stand there and ask me ‘what the hell?’ How about I ask you ‘what the hell, now not only are human lifemates allowed to hang around base but you’re letting them bring their human friends out here, too.’ What kind of alpha are you? You’re putting everything at risk.”

  Ian sighed. “I’m assuming this is about Bailey’s friend?”

  “Yes, it is. It’s about Bailey’s friend. Who, in case you haven’t noticed, is the human friend of a human lifemate. And now she’s apparently allowed to just waltz around the hangar. What are you thinking, Ian? When are you going to step up and act like an alpha? It’s your job to protect the crew. You have to stop turning a blind eye to the fact that humans can’t be trusted.”