Hunter looked over at Riley. “Are you in okay condition to hike?” he asked. “It’s probably a two or three day trek.”
“Well I’m fine, physically. I can definitely hike. But I lost all my food and water.”
“I’ve got stuff,” Hunter said, then returned to the radio. “We can hike, Ian.”
“Alright. Keep me posted on your progress. I’m assuming the girl is human?”
“Yup,” Hunter said, looking uncomfortable.
“Stay out of trouble,” Ian said.
“I’ll try,” Hunter replied, and then signed off.
Riley raised an eyebrow at him. “That was an interesting conversation.”
“Yeah, uh, my boss is a funny one,” Hunter said, avoiding eye contact with Riley. He started putting on his jumpsuit. “We should at least get down off the rock and to the forest floor before it’s completely dark. It’ll be softer for sleeping. I’ve got some food and water, as well as a water filtration canteen. So if we can find the big river that runs through this forest, we can easily replenish our water supply.”
Hunter finished strapping on his gear, and then started heading for the edge of the rock. “Let’s go,” he said.
Riley followed him as he made the steep trek down the rocks and to the forest. When he reached the bottom, he found a spot he liked and started taking off his gear again. It seemed like a lot of work to put everything on and take it off for a short walk, but Riley surmised that wearing the gear must have been easier than carrying everything. As he wordlessly started getting out water and what looked like protein bars, Riley suddenly realized that she hadn’t even thanked him for saving her life. She had been so overcome by the moment that she hadn’t even taken a moment to express gratitude to her rescuer.
“Hunter, listen, I don’t even know what to say, exactly, because words seem so trivial. But thank you. You saved my life. I was minutes away from being burned alive, and you saved me.”
Hunter looked up at her, and Riley could have sworn that his green eyes were churning like an ocean. But it could have just been the fading daylight playing tricks on her.
“It was nothing,” Hunter said. “I didn’t have a choice. I was drawn to you, and I had to come rescue you.”
“Well from what your boss says, it sounds like your crew was all escaping and you chose to stay behind to help me. What happened?”
“Here. Come sit and have a protein bar, and I’ll tell you the story. Then you can tell me a little more about yourself, Miss Riley Hughes.”
Riley grinned and moved over to where Hunter was sitting. She loved the musical way he said her name, and she definitely wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to sit a little closer to the sexy firefighter who had just saved her life.
Chapter Four
Hunter stared into the light of the solar powered lantern he had set up. He had to avoid making eye contact with Riley for a moment, because the sight of her, combined with her scent, was driving his bear wild. They had been talking for hours, which maybe wasn’t the best idea since they had to get up early tomorrow for a long day of hiking. But the conversation had been so easy and natural, like they were two old friends catching up.
He had told her about his work as a smokejumper, and about the failed mission yesterday that forced the crew to head to the safety zone. He told her he knew she was out there and needed help, but that no one on the crew believed him, so he jumped away from the rescue helicopter at the last minute. He dodged her questions about how he had known, simply telling her that he just knew. Trying to explain to her that he had a bear’s sense of smell didn’t seem like the best idea at the moment. She’d already had quite enough excitement for one day.
After he finished telling her his story, he asked her about herself. She seemed reluctant to talk at first, but, once she got going, the words came out like a flood. He got the feeling that she had been starving for someone to listen to her stories. She told him about losing her longtime job and boyfriend at the same time. Then she told him about her decision to come camping and hiking on her own, admitting rather sheepishly that perhaps her solo trip hadn’t been the smartest idea. Hunter listened without passing judgment. He couldn’t blame her for being hotheaded and wanting to do things on her own. After all, she’d lost everyone she thought she could trust in a very short span of time.
As she finished her story, she confided in him that she didn’t know what to do next. She had dreams of opening her own bakery, but thought the idea seemed too farfetched. Hunter didn’t offer advice, since he didn’t know much about bakeries or business ownership. He just listened, and this seemed to satisfy her. The heavy shadows that had been clouding her eyes since the moment he met her slowly lifted.
She was beautiful. Her hair was the darkest shade of brown he had ever seen, and her eyes sported the same color. Even though her face was grimy and covered in soot and sweat, he could tell that she had smooth, soft skin. Her long, lean legs drove him crazy as she innocently crossed and uncrossed her ankles during the course of their conversation. When she finally laughed, the sound warmed his heart like a cascade of warm, summer raindrops.
A desire to make things better for her overcame Hunter. He didn’t know how, but he would find a way to help her find a new path for her life that fulfilled her, and kept that sparkle in her eyes and that laugh on her lips. He could listen to that laugh for hours.
She fell silent as she finished listing out all the reasons that she knew a business of her own would never work, and they both stared at the lantern together for a few moments.
“I think you should go for it,” Hunter finally said.
“Really? Why?”
Hunter shrugged. “It’s what you really want to do. You can find a way. And what better time than now, when you don’t have another job demanding your attention? You seem like a really sweet, good person, and I firmly believe that things work out for good people in the end. Sometimes it’s a long road to get there, but things will work out the way they’re supposed to.”
Riley didn’t look convinced by his little speech, but she rewarded him with a smile anyway. “Thanks. I appreciate the vote of confidence.”
Hunter felt himself warming at her smile, and he quickly changed the subject. “We should get some rest. We’ve got a long day of hiking ahead of us tomorrow.”
Riley nodded, and Hunter thought he saw a shiver pass through her body. She was only wearing cotton shorts and a t-shirt, and the nights out here could get pretty cool.
“Do you want to borrow some of my flame retardant clothes?” he asked. “I have a few sets with me. They all look like this sexy dark green pants and shirt set I’m wearing. Not the most fashionable outfit ever, but the long sleeves and pants will keep you warmer overnight.”
Riley smiled at him again. “That would be awesome, actually. I’m freezing. And I was wondering what was up with the dark green long underwear.”
Hunter laughed. “Make fun of it all you want, but the heat resistance on these babies is amazing.”
Hunter got her an extra set of the flame retardant clothing, and then pulled out a small sleeping bag. “Here, take this as well. I only have one, and you should use it.”
Riley started to protest, but Hunter held up his hands to stop here. “I’m used to going without creature comforts, trust me. You should take it.”
Riley acquiesced with a grateful look on her face. After everything Riley had been through today, Hunter knew she would appreciate a softer spot to sleep. He turned around to give her privacy while she changed clothes, brushing away as much soot as possible from a nearby spot on the ground. He set up one of his gear bags to use as a pillow. When Riley called out that she had finished changing, he turned off the lantern and then lay down to try to sleep.
“Night, Riley,” he said.
“Goodnight, Hunter. Thanks again for everything.”
He grunted in response, and closed his eyes. The exhaustion he felt should have made sleep come quickly, but his swirling
thoughts kept him awake for quite some time. He still couldn’t believe that he had let go of that helicopter rope. Ian was going to let him have it when he got back to base. Zach would probably jump in, eager to have the chance to give one of the crew members a hard time. But Hunter didn’t care. The woman sleeping a few feet away from him had been worth whatever grief his alpha was going to give him. Hunter shuddered when he thought about what would have happened to her if he hadn’t gone back to save her. The fire had been moving quickly, and it had burned hotter than any wildfire Hunter had seen before. He hadn’t said anything to Riley, because he didn’t want to freak her out, but he had even wondered briefly whether the fire shelter would be enough to keep them alive in the intense heat.
They had survived, though, and now he had two or three days to spend hiking with her. He had been secretly overjoyed when Ian told him that Boise didn’t want to send a rescue helicopter for them. Hiking out of here meant more time with Riley, and more time to show her why they were meant to be together. Since she was fully human, he couldn’t just outright tell her he thought they were fated to be lifemates. He had to use more subtle tactics, and romance her the old-fashioned way. Three days to do that in the middle of a forest of ashes might not be the easiest task in the world, but Hunter was determined to try. If nothing else, he had saved her life. That had to count for at least a few brownie points, right?
After tossing and turning on the charred ground for the better part of an hour, Hunter finally drifted off to sleep. Visions of Riley in his arms danced in his head as he drifted off into dreamland.
* * *
Early the next morning, Riley felt herself being shaken awake by two very strong hands.
“Riley! Riley, wake up,” came a vaguely familiar voice, cutting through her dreams.
Riley grunted and rolled over, trying to shake off whoever it was that was trying to wake her up from the delicious dream she’d been having. The dream was a recurring one, where she ran through a green field, barefoot, chasing a tall, muscular man with no shirt on. His back muscles had rippled while he ran, and she wanted to see his face. But he was so fast that it was hard to even keep up with him. This time, she had almost caught him in the dream when an insistent voice from beyond her dream world had brought her out of the green meadow with a sharp jolt. She opened her eyes, annoyed, and saw a group of black tree trunks towering above her. The smell of burnt wood greeted her nose, and the events of the past day came flooding back to her as she saw Hunter’s face hovering over her’s.
“Wow, you are not a morning person, are you?” he said. It was more of a statement than a question.
“Too loud,” she croaked out. How did he have so much energy right now? When she sat up and looked over to her right, she saw that he had almost completely packed up his bags already. He had left the zipper on one of the bags open, probably so he could replace the sleeping bag she was currently using.
“Sorry for waking you up, but we should get moving. I want to take advantage of the early morning daylight hours as much as we can. Once the sun comes up, the heat is going to be brutal. Especially since all of the shade in the forest has been burned away.
The last thing Riley felt like doing right now was hiking, but she couldn’t really argue with Hunter’s logic. Besides, he had saved her life, so the least she could do in return was make the hike out as pleasant as possible for him.
“Alright, alright. I’m up,” she said, groggily rubbing the sleep away from her eyes. Hunger pangs hit her stomach sharply, and she looked hopefully at Hunter’s knapsack. He saw the direction of her eyes, and figured out what she wanted before she could even ask for a snack.
“You must be hungry, huh?” he said. “I’ve got protein bars or Spam. Take your pick.”
“Ugh, I’ll take a protein bar. I don’t know how anyone can eat Spam. That stuff is disgusting.”
“It’s not that bad,” Hunter said, tossing a protein bar at Riley. “It’s especially good when you pour a little Gatorade in the can and let the fruity saltiness of the Gatorade mix in with the meaty saltiness of the Spam. So delicious.”
Riley looked at Hunter like he had lost his mind. “You’re going to make me barf,” she said. He shrugged and started stepping into his jumpsuit.
“You should try it sometime before passing judgment. It’s very good, I promise. Do you wanna pack the flame retardant clothing you’re wearing? It’s gonna get pretty hot soon, so you might be more comfortable in just the shorts and t-shirt you were wearing yesterday.”
“Oh, yeah,” Riley said, shoving a huge bite of the protein bar into her mouth. “Why are you wearing all that gear? Doesn’t it make more sense to just leave it and replace it later? It can’t be that expensive, can it?”
“It’s all very expensive, and the jumpsuits are custom made. So if I lose this one, it takes a while to get a new one. Besides, I’m already in enough trouble for the stunt I pulled yesterday, jumping off the rescue helicopter. If I lose my gear that might push Ian over the edge.”
“He sounds mean,” Riley said, motioning to Hunter to turn around so she could change in privacy. She actually didn’t care that much if he saw her in her bra and panties, but he had seemed so careful to respect her privacy last night that she thought he might think it was weird if she just changed in front of him.
“Ian’s not mean,” Hunter said, his voice slightly muffled since his face was turned away from Riley. “He’s a pretty awesome guy, and a super nice alpha—I mean, a super nice chief. But I really went against protocol by jumping off that helicopter. I could have died, and Ian would have had to explain what happened to the higher ups. That would have been really unfair to him.”
“Makes sense,” Riley said. “Although I do have to say that I’m quite glad you bucked protocol, because I’d be burnt to a crisp right now if you hadn’t. Alright, I’m done changing. You can turn back around.”
Hunter turned around and reached over to take the fire retardant clothing as Riley handed it back to him. As she passed it off to his waiting hands, their fingers brushed against each other. Riley’s eyes flew up to Hunter’s as she felt a shock that felt like hot electricity during the moment they touched. He held her gaze for a few beats before turning his attention to putting the clothes back into his gear bag, and Riley could have sworn she saw a flicker of desire in his eyes. But the moment ended almost as soon as it started, and Hunter abruptly zipped his bag of gear closed.
“Alright, let’s get moving,” he said, turning to start their hike.
They walked for a few hours, making small talk and discussing little bits and pieces of their backgrounds or hobbies. Riley learned that Hunter had spent time in the army, and that he was something of a cheese connoisseur—which the rest of his crew members liked to tease him about.
“They all say cheese plates are too girly,” he said. “But I love a good cheese and olive plate. Besides, I can’t take the rest of the crew’s teasing too seriously. I’m the youngest guy on the crew, and they think that gives them license to give me a hard time about anything and everything.”
As the morning wore on, the sun rose higher and higher until it was directly overhead. Riley was sweating little rivers, and she wasn’t even wearing a heavy jumpsuit or carrying bags of gear like Hunter. She felt a little guilty, watching him lug everything around. But he seemed to do it so effortlessly, while she could barely keep moving when she only had her own body weight to worry about. At one point, she made a token offer to help carry something, and he brushed her off. No doubt, he realized that he was doing a far better job of hauling everything than she possibly could.
Just after noon, they came across another rocky area, and Hunter decided to stop there for lunch. The rocks offered a bit of shade, and Hunter wanted to wait out the hottest part of the day before continuing on their way. He stripped off his gear and jumpsuit, and Riley could see that his green flame retardant uniform was soaked in sweat. He must have been burning up for most of the hike, but she hadn’t h
eard a word of complaint come out of his mouth. If that had been her, she was pretty sure she would have been whining nonstop.
He found a canteen of water, and, even though he probably needed to quench his thirst more than she did, he offered it to her initially. When she tried to push it back for him to drink before her, he insisted that she take it first. He was such a gentleman.
She drank thirstily, but paced herself. The canteen was large, but she didn’t know if this was the only water he had, and she wanted to make sure she left some for him. He drank after her, and then started looking for food.
“Same menu as this morning,” he said. “Protein bars or Spam. Gatorade optional.”
“Um, protein bar. Of course.”
Hunter shook his head. “Still missing out on the really good stuff.”
“You know what? Screw it. Let me try the Spam and Gatorade,” Riley said. “Then you can’t tell me I would like it if I just tried it, because I’ll have firsthand knowledge that it’s disgusting.”
Hunter grinned. “Yes! You’re going to love this. Do you want Citrus Cooler or Rain Berry flavored Gatorade?”
“Citrus Cooler flavor sounds slightly less gross. I’ll go with that.”
“Coming right up,” Hunter said. He popped open a can of Spam, and poured the Gatorade straight into the can. He handed her the can along with a small utility fork intended for camping, and watched patiently while Riley took a bite.
Riley braced herself for the moment that the Spam and Gatorade mixture hit her tongue, and told herself to swallow it no matter what. She didn’t want to waste food out here. But, to her shock, the flavor mixture didn’t make her want to vomit. In fact, the fruitiness did mix well with the Spam, just as Hunter had said. Hunter watched her face carefully, and grinned when he saw that she wasn’t scrunching up her brow in disgust anymore.
“See! What did I tell you? So good, right?”
“Yeah, it’s actually not that bad,” Riley admitted, taking a second bite. “It does beat the cardboard flavor of the protein bars. But how did you ever manage to come up with the idea for such a weird mixture?”
A Spark to Bear (Fire Bear Shifters Book 2) Page 3