Read Online Bear The Fire (Firebear Brides 4) by Anya Nowlan - Free Book Online

the fight, the black-marked bear driving Rhodes back toward the fire inch by inch. Soon, they were so close that Kali was sure the fire had to be scorching Rhodes’s back. She reached for her phone, desperate for any help, but there was no reception. No surprises there.
    Rhodes charged at the other bear, his jaws locking around the thick, beefy neck of the beast, and they went tumbling to the ground. Growling and roaring, they sparred like two wrestlers looking for an upper hand to grant them victory. Kali’s blood froze as she saw a gush of blood burst from Rhodes’s shoulder as the other bear bit down, tearing flesh and fur.
    Rhodes let out a pained moan but struggled out from underneath, visibly limping now. He met the other bear again, snarling, but getting ahold of his side and biting into it, marring the bear’s coat with dark red. The fight seemed to go on forever and the fire was so damn close that even the river didn’t seem like a safe place to hide anymore.
    Kali stumbled backward, watching as the two great beasts went for one another time and time again, tireless, although their strength was starting to wane.
    Why isn’t anyone else here yet!?
    Desperation bloomed in her ribcage. She gasped as the dark-coated beast managed to ram Rhodes in a way that Rhodes stumbled back, his foot getting caught behind a root and he fell over, his stomach exposed. For a second, Kali was sure it was all over. She would watch the love of her life die right in front of her very eyes without being able to do a damn thing about it.
    But just then, with the flames lapping over their heads, another bear appeared, roaring so loud that the mountain quaked. He too had a dark coat and no marking, but he charged the other dark bear with full force, slamming him toward the fire. He did it again and again, jaws and teeth snapping with rage, catching the other bear by surprise.
    Rhodes got to his feet, though he was swaying as he stood, looking like he would fall over at any moment. Throwing caution to the wind, Kali slogged through the river and to his side, wet to the hips when she finally got her hands around his bloodied neck.
    “Baby, you can’t help,” she whispered frantically, desperate to have him snap out of it and move before the flames caught both of them. “We have to go,” she said.
    The growls and groans of the two dark-coated bears were lost in the fire now. Rhodes looked shell-shocked, staring at the disappearing bodies of the two large, dark-coated bears. She ushered him away from the fire, putting enough distance between them and the danger that she felt safe stopping.
    “Snap out of it,” she said, taking his torn muzzle in her hands and looking him deep in the eyes. “Please, for me.”
    His dark brown eyes were worn, tired. She could see his body quaking with exhaustion and she could smell the burning on him. The fire had licked at his coat, scorching the ends. His shoulder wound was still gushing blood and so were the other various cuts and bruises on him. Rhodes collapsed right into her arms, the shift taking him as he hit the warm, welcoming ground.
    He changed, the thick coat of the bear retreating and the body morphing into the toned, strong form of the man she loved. The wounds looked even uglier when he was shifted; the burns on his back and thighs had scorched his torn jump suit. Tears welled in her eyes, but at least he was alive.
    Looking up, her heart strangled in her throat. She saw one of the large, dark bears marching through the fire, smoke rising up on him and the smell of burning flesh and fur scarring her nose. He came right up to them, sniffing at Rhodes and for one insane moment, Kali wasn’t sure which bear she was looking at. The one who had come to their aid, or the one who had attacked them?
    But then, he shifted, groaning painfully as the protective coat of the bear disappeared from around him and the heightened pain tolerance of the beast floated into the recesses of his mind. She