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

her stomach did flip flops every time she stood in the open door of the aircraft. She knew her parachuting equipment was top notch. The odds of dying in a jump accident were much lower than the odds of dying down on the ground while fighting the fire. But, still, the act of willingly hurling yourself out of an airplane seemed so unnatural. Charlotte still hadn’t been able to completely trick her mind into believing it was no big deal.
    “Two minutes,” the pilot called back to the crew, letting them know that they were approaching the drop site.
    Ian grabbed the colorful crepe streamers that helped the crew determine wind direction and speed, and he and Zach stuck their head in the doorway as the pilot made his first pass over the drop site. The streamers fluttered to the earth as the two men watched carefully to see where they floated.
    “Alright, we’ve got our spot,” Zach said. “Let’s roll.”
    The crew started moving into the doorway in their predetermined jump order. Zach would jump first, followed by Luke, Trevor, Hunter, and then Charlotte. Ian would be the last out of the plane. The wind rushing by the open door provided a calming white noise for Charlotte, and she tried to relax as she did her final pre-jump check of her parachute rig. Chest strap, secure. Both leg straps, secure. Main parachute pull handle clear and accessible. Reserve parachute handle clear and accessible. Helmet, secure.
    Charlotte shuffled closer to the door as the crew started disappearing into the open air below them. One of the most startling moments of any skydive was watching the person in front of you jump. As soon as they left that door, they flew away from the plane at a speed of ninety miles an hour. The visual effect made it look like a huge vacuum had suddenly sucked them away. In an instant, they went from a life-sized human being standing right next to you, to a tiny speck rocketing toward the earth. Zach, Luke, and Trevor jumped, and then Ian stopped Hunter before he could jump.
    “We’re too far out,” he said. Then he yelled over at the pilot, “Let’s do a second pass.”
    “Roger that,” the pilot called back, then turned the plane around to loop back. Below them, Charlotte saw the parachutes of the crew members who had already jumped billowing open.
    “Good chute, good chute, good chute,” she whispered under her breath, counting out three open, fully inflated parachutes. The men all had uneventful openings, but the hardest task of their jump still lay ahead of them—landing in the middle of the thick trees took some serious skill. When they came back around to their spot, Hunter scooted into the door. He launched himself forward and into the smoky air below him, and then it was Charlotte’s turn.
    Ian quickly double checked her gear for her as he had for the other crew members, making sure the chest and leg straps were secure. Any sense of awkwardness disappeared for the moment as he became all business. After he gave her an affirmative nod, Charlotte stepped into the door. She took a deep breath, and then hurled herself out into the open air. The roar of the wind became the only sound she could hear as the sound of the plane’s engine quickly faded away.
    From there, muscle memory took over, and she performed her task the same way she had hundreds of times before. She arched her back and spread her arms and legs to stabilize her body against the wall of air rushing at her. As soon as she stabilized on her stomach, she reached back for her pull handle. A flash of white and blue material appeared above her head, and jerked her freefall to a sudden halt. The noise of the rushing wind stopped abruptly. All she could hear were the faint shouts from the crew members who had already landed, and the crackling sound coming from the wildfire in the distance. She grabbed her steering toggles and did a quick check to make sure her parachute was steering correctly, then she glanced around to locate Hunter and Ian.