A Blaze To Bear (Fire Bear Shifters Book 1) Read Free

knows how to speak. Maybe you can give a few pointers to the others.”
    With that, Charlotte scooted past Zach and headed back to the bunkhouse. She’d had about all she could take of this group for one day.

Chapter Three
    Ian scowled at the bonfire while his men talked and joked around him. His mood had only spiraled further downward after his call with Jessica, who didn’t seem to grasp the problem with having a lone female working in a group of bear shifters. Typical human, thought Ian. They all thought bonding and mating was some big game.
    Ian poked at the bonfire with a stick as Luke and Trevor erupted into laughter over some joke Zach was telling. Ian wasn’t in the mood for jokes right now. An hour ago, he had received the call giving them their first assignment of the season. A small fire burned on a remote ridge of Oregon’s Black Canyon wilderness, and his crew was being called in to contain it before it grew any larger. Normally, Ian would have been excited about the assignment and the chance to see a little action. But, right now, all he could think about was the fact that tomorrow he had to spend hours cramped into a plane with Charlotte.
    The crew had their gear checked and packed, ready for the Twin Otter aircraft that would pick them up at four a.m. sharp the next morning. Ian had managed to handle being around Charlotte just long enough to give the crew a briefing, and that had been torture. He had no idea how he was going to handle working with her in the wilderness. She had sat with her arms crossed and her gorgeous head tilted to one side as she listened to him, clearly still angry about the less than stellar reception she had received at the base. Ian felt guilty, but trying to apologize to her would only make things worse. When she came within fifty feet of him, it set off all kinds of cravings in his body. Cravings he shouldn’t and couldn’t give in to.
    Ian poked the fire again and tried to change the subject in his head. He glanced around at his men, trying to pick up something in the conversation that interested him enough to get his mind off of Charlotte. But they were talking about video games now, and Ian hated the stupid, noisy things. His men loved them, though. Luke sloshed some of his coke out of the can as he emphatically gushed about some level he had finally achieved on some stupid game. Everyone drank soda tonight. Ian strictly forbade any beer the night before they knew they were heading out on a mission, despite protests from his crew that just one wouldn’t hurt. Ian had no interest in dealing with a bunch of hungover smokejumpers tomorrow morning.
    Several yards away, Hunter flipped burgers on a gas grill. The smell made Ian’s mouth water, and he stood to walk over and check on Hunter’s progress. All Ian wanted to do right now was stuff his face and then collapse into bed. He was hungry, tired, and exceptionally grumpy after a day of dealing with bureaucratic shenanigans.
    “Looking good, Hunter,” Ian said as he surveyed the rows of sizzling burgers.
    Hunter grinned. “Thanks, boss. Gotta enjoy some good food while we can. Tomorrow we’re gonna be stuck with the good old meal replacements and Spam. Yum, yum.”
    Ian grimaced. “I don’t know how you eat Spam. That stuff is disgusting.”
    “Better than that sawdust powder you eat and call a meal replacement bar. How those things even pass off for food is beyond me,” Hunter said, giving his boss a playful shove in the arm.
    Ian laughed, but then his face froze as he felt the hair on the back of his neck standing at attention. He felt a warm rush of desire pass through his body, and he knew without even turning around that Charlotte was there. The men fell silent as she walked up to their group, grabbed a paper plate, and headed for the grill. She grabbed the metal spatula from Hunter and used it to pile three burgers onto her plate before handing it back to him.
    “I was hungry,” she said in explanation as she