by Amelia Jade
Three years ago Harley had come to town, looking to escape the world at large after several run-ins with the anti-shifter crowd that tended to crop up in larger cities. She had never met her father before, but he had turned out to be a kind man who had made some mistakes in his younger life.
The first little bit between them was fraught with tension and distrust, but she had soon come to love him, and had finally taken him up on his offer to become a member of the Bear Bluffs Fire Department. She was immensely proud of that, having aced all the requisite testing to prove that she could do the job.
Now Calan wanted to meet with her dad. Did they know each other? Why was her dad associating with big, muscular men like Calan Winters? She was so wrapped up in questions about what the hell had just happened that she almost drove by the stationhouse.
She pulled in, killing power to the Jeep as it coasted into her spot. A quick tap on the brakes and she slid out, not bothering to lock it behind her. There was no theft in Bear Bluffs because it was far too easy to use the scent of an animal to track down whoever had done it.
"Afternoon, Paul. Hello, Ben," she called to the two men wiping down one of the trucks as she walked in through the open vehicle door in the front. Because there was so much forest surrounding the town, the city actually had two fire trucks at its disposal. Thankfully they rarely needed them, but the few times they had, it had not been pretty.
The two-vehicle bay had high, lofty ceilings with arched windows at the top that let sunlight stream in. Off to the right was the equipment area filled with suits, special situation gear and spares for just about everything they could ever need. Her dad ran a tight ship and everything was kept in clean, serviceable order.
At the very back of the place was a set of stairs leading to the second-story loft. They were old and creaky, giving the place some character to match that of its inhabitants. The entire place was painted a stark white, a bland color, but one that was easily touched up if ever necessary. Which it was, once a year every year according to her father.
Reaching the stairs, she grabbed the railing and vaulted up two at a time to the second level. That was where the offices and common room were located. The only person up there was her father, whom she went to see.
"Hi, Dad, how's it looking today?"
"Good, sweetheart, no calls yet. If nothing comes up, please ensure that you and Sam get truck two cleaned before the end of your shift."
That was that with her dad. When he was on duty, it was all business, which suited Harley just fine. With a smile that he couldn't see with his head buried in reports, she walked over to the small table against the far wall and poured herself a coffee. Mixing in a shot of milk, she walked back to lean against the wooden frame of the door.
"Dad, do you know a Calan Winters? He was at the Quencher today"
"Calan? Ah, that old rogue, I wondered if we would ever see him around here again." He looked up from his reports, a smile beaming across his face.
"Say, do you think he'd take up Jamie's job?" The force was down to five at the moment, not including her father, after Jamie's retirement. It was ideal to have six people on staff in case someone ever fell sick or got injured.
Harley was shocked at the simple effect one name was having on her father. It was as if his best friend had walked into town, the one he had never mentioned. The same one that caused her panties to be soaked with warm honey.
Good lord, do I want this loser?!
She knew nothing would ever come of it. Nothing ever did with average-looking Harley the bear shifter. The way men looked at Sandra, the waitress at the Quencher, was not the way they looked at her. In fact, most men seemed to look at her almost like the way they did one of their friends, not a woman they would take home. She shoved those thoughts to the side, intent on learning more about this man.
"So you know him then?" She couldn't keep a sliver of anger from showing through.
"Absolutely! His parents, may they rest in peace, were good friends of mine. He grew up in town, though he left, oh, probably fifteen years ago. Told me he'd be back when he was ready. He's a good man, Harley, a good man."
"Well, he's likely to be coming by to say hello," she muttered, turning to leave her father alone, not wanting to think about Calan anymore.
She wandered down the stairs and out the doors, moving around to the side of the building. The adjoining small house, with its rooms for the firefighters to stay if they desired, effectively cut her off from view of the street.
"You shouldn't be out here alone," the deep, gravelly voice sounded from behind her.
She jumped in surprise, her face going red with embarrassment at how badly he had snuck up on her. Her bear was already hovering near the surface, urging her to relent, to let him get close. Harley wasn't listening though, pushing her bear aside and ignoring its desires.
"What the hell, Calan? Leave me alone, I can handle myself."
She tried to push past him, her little area of serenity melting with the heat from his presence. As she moved past him though, he grabbed her arm gently but firmly, pushing her up against the wall. She could feel his hard cock press into her stomach as he stepped close, a small whimper escaping from her as embers roared into flame between her thighs in response.
She wanted him, right here, right now. His muscular chest was inches away from her while his strong, gorgeous jaw and slight, stubbly beard were at perfect eye height. Just above that his beautiful plump lips made her want to reach out and kiss him. The flutter in her heart as his voice echoed in her ear almost made her climax on the spot.
"I'm not doing this because you can't. I'm doing this because I don't want to see you get hurt. I'm not sure I could handle that. So please, stop getting upset with me over it."
He let go of her arm then, stepping away from her, his presence leaving as swiftly as it came. She felt a brief, intense moment of abandonment before her senses came screaming back to her.
"Yeah, whatever," she brushed it off, moving away from him toward the front of the station. It was still early, but she may as well start her shift now. There was no better way to work off the tension than cleaning the truck from top to bottom.
She watched out of the corner of her eye as Calan ascended the stairs to go speak to her father. Anger building at his presumptive attitude toward protecting her, she turned that into elbow grease as she began cleaning the big tanker truck from top to bottom.
Soap suds flew as she angrily scrubbed into the crevices, taking off the big streaks of dirt along her sides. Even when she wasn't working herself into a fury, cleaning Matilda, as they had named her, brought her a sense of accomplishment. The roads around Bear Bluffs tended to get dusty, and that gunked up the fire trucks something fierce.
Before long, both she and the truck were covered in dirty water and soap. Breaking out the hose, she used the cool jet of water to clean both parties off as best she could. Job complete, she looked up at the office suspiciously. Neither Calan nor her father had come down in that time, despite it taking her the better part of an hour to do.
"You alright now?" Sam's voice came from behind her cautiously. He was normally quite jovial, which meant she had been showing her anger just a little too clearly while cleaning. With a sigh, she wiped her arms dry on the towel and turned to face him.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine now, Sam, thank you for asking. Just been an unexpectedly stressful day so far."
"Understood, I heard about Dusty, what a dick."
Sometimes it still shocked Harley to realize how quickly word managed to travel in such a small town. Barely five hundred people lived in and around Bear Bluffs, and yet in less than two hours it seemed they likely all knew about her encounter with Dusty at the Quencher. She hoped he didn't mention, or know about Calan.
"So who's this new guy anyway?"
So much for that hope.
"I'm not sure, Sam. My dad seems to know who he is. Says he used to live here up until about fifteen years ago. I've never heard of hi
m though. His name is Calan."
"Calan? Calan Winters?”
"Wait? How the hell do you know him as well? Does everyone but me know who this guy is?" Her anger was back, her bear roaring at the situation as well. Sam backed away from her, keeping some room so that he could escape as necessary.
"Hey, calm down, Harley."
Sam was a shifter, and he knew how ill-tempered some of them got, so he was doing the smart thing and giving her some space to breathe. Still, he didn't deserve that, least of all from her. Sam had a heart of gold, willing to help just about anyone.
"Sorry, it just feels like I'm in the dark about him, while everyone else knows who he is." She rolled her shoulders, letting the tension bleed off. Going around freaking out on anyone who mentioned his name would get awkward really quickly. Harley knew she would have to contain her emotions, because it seemed like he wasn't going anywhere fast.
"He lived here with his parents until they passed away. Good kid." Sam didn't say any more, for he was distracted by the phone ringing. Moving away to answer it, he left Harley with a moment to consider everything.
Pushing open the rear door, she leaned against the faded red brick wall and sank to her knees. Sure, she thought, he might be nice and chivalrous. But if his parents died here, there's no way he's come back to stay. He's probably just in town to grieve for an anniversary before he packs up again.
She had seen the markings on him, various tattoos, likely indicating some sort of gang allegiance or something. He was definitely not the type for her, not at all. Like her dad had said, he was a rogue. Those types were by the very definition roamers and unlikely to settle in any one place.
Least of all with me.
A man like that would want a skinny, big-titted bimbo on their arm, someone who screamed sex with piercings and tattoos of her own. Although Harley had a marking of her own, carefully hidden where only a few would ever see, she did not qualify in that department. Nor would she ever be considered a sex symbol to a man like that, who could have any woman he wanted with his rugged good looks.
Her self-loathing was interrupted by the fire alarm bell ringing. With a jolt she was up and inside the door before she realized she was moving.
"What's the word?" she called to Sam as they suited up with their ready suits.
"Nothing major by the sounds of it, just another campfire that shouldn't be."
"Stupid city idiots," she muttered under her breath, hopping into the passenger's seat as they fired up the sirens and headed out.
The past month had seen a spate of minor forest fires due to campers at the nearby campground ignoring the laws on when and where fires were allowed. One day it was going to get out of hand if they didn't smarten up.
There was nothing to do until they arrived, so Harley sat back in her seat and closed her eyes. Without thinking about it, her brain conjured up images of Calan on top of her, their naked flesh pressed together as he slid his rock hard cock into her wet and waiting canal. Her nipples pebbled against the thick fabric of her fire suit and the furnace between her legs reignited once more.
Opening her eyes in frustration, she focused on the road, desperate to drive the image of his naked body pressing down on hers from her brain.
***
Chapter Three
Calan
You idiot!
He was still berating himself about the way he had handled Harley earlier. Both at the bar and just recently outside the firehouse. He was supposed to be protecting her and treating her like a lady, not scaring her half to death. The startled look in her eyes, when he had come upon her outside had hurt him, even if she hadn't meant it. He needed to keep the fear away from her, not be the one bringing it.
Things would have to change, he would have to show her who he really was, and tell her how he felt. She must see the connection between them, he knew it. Calan had not been hallucinating when he heard her whimper with desire at his touch earlier. That was real, and he hadn't even kissed her yet!
What he needed now was a way to show her he wasn't going to leave her, which is what she expected. If he could figure out what had happened in her past, perhaps he could find a way to calm her fears about his transient history, to show her he was serious this time.
The stairs creaked and groaned under his weight as he slowly walked up them, but they held without giving way. Everything was in good repair around here, which was nice to see considering the sad state it had been in when he was last in town. Approaching the door that bore the simple label of 'Chief', he rapped smartly on the pane glass twice. The loud noise was clearly audible in the office.
"Come in," came the call, tinged with confusion. It seemed likely that most people simply opened the door to talk to the man behind. Calan had too much respect for him to do that, however, so he waited until he was given leave to enter before doing so.
The grin that split the aging face of the man behind the desk was contagious as he rose and came around it. His glasses were ill-fitting, and his shoulders had developed a slight slump, but there was still a powerful frame underneath it all. The hair was completely gone on his head now, and a small scar traced its way down the left side of his face, from just below the eye all the way to his jaw. The intelligence in the brilliant blue eyes had not faded an ounce since the last time they had met.
"My, my, Calan Winters. It's so good to see you, son, here, have a seat!"
"Thank you, sir."
The two of them exchanged firm handshakes before he took a seat, glancing around the sparsely furnished office. The big metal desk in front of him was covered in paperwork, the minor exception being the computer and a framed photograph that was facing away from him.
The room was the same white as the rest of the station. On the wall behind the chief's desk was the B.B.F.D emblem, a roaring bear wielding a hose. It could have looked so comical, but the artist had managed to create enough anger in the bears face to make it look fierce and majestic.
There were some filing cabinets and a low couch against the wall to his right while the left was full of windows that overlooked the vehicle bays below. It fit the man he remembered as Jack Hammond, even if he looked the fifteen years older than the last time he had seen him.
"So, what brings you back this way Calan? We haven't seen you in what, a decade and a half?"
"About that. The long and short of it, Jack, is that I'm here to claim my parents’ land, settle down and find a mate." He didn't see any point in hiding his intentions with Jack, he had nothing to fear from him. Jack was a bear shifter, too, and a genuine good soul. He had befriended Calan when his parents had passed away until he had left town.
"You? Settle down? Well, if I hadn't heard it all, I have now." Jack stopped chuckling as he looked over, seeing the seriousness in Calan's eyes.
"You're not joking, are you, son?"
"No, sir. I've done my wandering. I'm ready for the next step." Part of him crumpled and a bit of the truth came out. "Honestly, sir, I'm lonely as all hell and the Bluffs is the only place I've ever called home."
Jack took a second to mull over this, his eyes reflecting the thoughts that were running through his brain. Calan could see that he was mulling something over, but couldn't quite decide on whether to say it or not.
"Just spit it out, Jack. It's not going to change anything." He crossed his arms and sat back in the chair, content to wait while the older man gave it one last minute to percolate in his brain.
"Do you have a job yet?"
"Not yet, sir."
"Well, as it so happens, I have a job open here at the Fire Department, if you think you're up for it."
"I don't know, sir." Calan wasn't sure if spending every day working with Harley was something he would be able to endure. His body still hadn't fully calmed down from their prior interactions. Every time he even glimpsed Harley, his cock strained against the fabric of his jeans. The ability to see to her safety was very appealing, however, even if she was not willing to accept it yet.
"How well do you know your employee, Harley?" he asked as a lead in. The reaction from Jack was not at all what he had expected. The older man looked at him in surprise for a moment, before bursting out into deep belly laughter.
"Wait a minute. You think Harley is your mate?" He continued to guffaw loudly. Calan wasn't entirely sure how he had made that connection, unless things were more obvious than he thought. Still, the man had been around for longer than he had, so perhaps he could pick up on things that others couldn't.
"Is that a problem sir? She isn't marked."
"Oh, no, no problem at all."
"What is it you're keeping from me then, Jack?" Calan was starting to get frustrated with the chief.
"Sorry, sorry. She's my daughter, you had best know that up front."
For the second time in as many minutes, Calan's jaw dropped open.
Shit!
He had picked the daughter of his only friend in town as his mate! All the various scenarios of how things could go wrong began to play in his head. The look of alarm must have been obvious on his face because Jack reached out a calming hand toward.
"Hold on there, son. I'm not mad. In fact, I think you two would make a great pair. It's not me you have to worry about, however, it's Harley herself that's going to be your toughest obstacle."
They were interrupted by the large phone on his desk buzzing. Jack snatched it up, listened intently, asked several questions, and then hung up abruptly. He was already halfway out the door before he remembered his conversation with Calan.
"Sorry, son, we're going to have to continue this later. Some idiots are about to burn the campgrounds down. In the meantime, there's a room in the adjacent house you can have. Here are the keys." He grabbed a lanyard that was hanging next to the door and tossed it over.
With that, he was gone. Moving to the window, Calan watched as his future mate put on her uniform swiftly. His entire body screamed at him to go down there and protect her, not to let her head into harm's way. Even when the truck pulled out of the station, his bear would not relent.
