Read Online Bear The Fire (Firebear Brides 4) by Anya Nowlan - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Anya Nowlan
Tags: Fiction, Suspense, Romance, Contemporary, Paranormal, Adult, supernatural, firefighter, Erotic, Interracial, Brothers, Bachelor, BBW, Shifter, werebear, Violence, Mate, Protection, Idaho, second chances, Forever Love, Single Woman, coffee shop, dark past, Mail-Order Bride, Firebear Brides, One Year, Scheming Relatives, Shifter Grove, Family Homestead, Uncle's Will
Ads: Link
welcoming curves and allowing his hand to sneak underneath her top.
She stopped its travels along the softness of her belly by laying a hand on his, and gripping it tightly.
“None of that either. Nurse’s orders,” she said with a giggle. “Soon, though. Give it a few days.”
“But I don’t want to give it a few days,” he whined, feeling like a kid being denied dessert. Yes, he felt like he’d been put through a meat grinder—and it wasn’t entirely untrue—and yes he was exhausted, but Kali’s sweet curvy body was completely worth enduring a few extra days of recovery for.
In an obvious attempt to distract him, Kali changed the subject, though her hand remained where it was despite Rhodes’s probing kisses along her hairline.
“You did good, baby. The line held until your brothers got there and with Sear there to help as well, they had it contained by the time the volunteers arrived.”
“Sear?” Rhodes asked, his brow furrowing. “Sear Hassleback?”
“Yeah. Don’t you remember? He came in when you were fighting Slade. I’m not saying you would have lost without his help, but you would have definitely taken more of a beating. He got Slade off of you and… well… anyway, he’s a Hotshot. Did you know that? Used to be in the service but quit a year ago when their mother died and it was just him and Slade left. He moved back,” Kali recounted.
It wasn’t lost on Rhodes that she was trying to distract him from something. He swallowed hard, remembering the images of Slade’s fearsome jaws tearing into his flesh and how he fought back, exhausted from digging and bringing down trees and creating the damn safety line. The fucker had caught Rhodes off-guard and if Kali hadn’t been there, he would have been dead for sure, never having had the time to shift otherwise.
“What happened?” he asked sternly, catching Kali’s green eyes. “Tell me everything.”
“You don’t need to hear this, baby. Not now,” she said, trying to wiggle out of his grasp.
“You said truth only. So talk. I’m a big boy, I can take it.”
She paled, but nodded eventually. Good girl.
“Sear took Slade off of you. He pushed him back into the fire until… I couldn’t hear them anymore over the flames, or see them. They were gone for a while. Slade fucked Sear up good, but he came out. Slade didn’t. They found his body later, burned to a crisp.”
“Just like Jonathan,” Rhodes said blankly. “And my father. And Eric Hassleback. Damn.”
His gut knotted and bile wanted to rise up in his throat. He’d seen firefighters get caught in the blaze and never come back, but that was different. He’d stood in the middle of a fireball, watching it go up around a lifeless body on the ground, and the mental image still haunted him every day. It had been the right thing to do, he knew. Jonathan was a lone wolf; there was no one to avenge him, not to Rhodes’s knowledge. But the way it had happened struck far too close to him.
And now Slade, going the way of Eric Hassleback and their father Holden Hamilton? Brutal.
There was sadness in Kali’s eyes and her teeth grazed her lower lip. She huddled closer to him and he squeezed her tight, relief blossoming in him. It was all over now. Plenty of horrible things had happened, but they would have to put it past them now. Life was too fucking precious and love even more so to waste any time.
He’d fouled things up once by running from Kali, thinking he would save her by putting himself out of her life. But she’d stayed in a cocoon, as broken by what had happened as he had—as if stuck in a bubble until he could pop it. He would have to go find Sear Hassleback as soon as he could and thank the man for saving his life, though that was a conversation that was going to be awkward as hell.
How was he going to thank a man who killed his own twin for him? An Alpha twin who sacrificed for someone else’s well-being, destroying his own future in the process. Rhodes
She stopped its travels along the softness of her belly by laying a hand on his, and gripping it tightly.
“None of that either. Nurse’s orders,” she said with a giggle. “Soon, though. Give it a few days.”
“But I don’t want to give it a few days,” he whined, feeling like a kid being denied dessert. Yes, he felt like he’d been put through a meat grinder—and it wasn’t entirely untrue—and yes he was exhausted, but Kali’s sweet curvy body was completely worth enduring a few extra days of recovery for.
In an obvious attempt to distract him, Kali changed the subject, though her hand remained where it was despite Rhodes’s probing kisses along her hairline.
“You did good, baby. The line held until your brothers got there and with Sear there to help as well, they had it contained by the time the volunteers arrived.”
“Sear?” Rhodes asked, his brow furrowing. “Sear Hassleback?”
“Yeah. Don’t you remember? He came in when you were fighting Slade. I’m not saying you would have lost without his help, but you would have definitely taken more of a beating. He got Slade off of you and… well… anyway, he’s a Hotshot. Did you know that? Used to be in the service but quit a year ago when their mother died and it was just him and Slade left. He moved back,” Kali recounted.
It wasn’t lost on Rhodes that she was trying to distract him from something. He swallowed hard, remembering the images of Slade’s fearsome jaws tearing into his flesh and how he fought back, exhausted from digging and bringing down trees and creating the damn safety line. The fucker had caught Rhodes off-guard and if Kali hadn’t been there, he would have been dead for sure, never having had the time to shift otherwise.
“What happened?” he asked sternly, catching Kali’s green eyes. “Tell me everything.”
“You don’t need to hear this, baby. Not now,” she said, trying to wiggle out of his grasp.
“You said truth only. So talk. I’m a big boy, I can take it.”
She paled, but nodded eventually. Good girl.
“Sear took Slade off of you. He pushed him back into the fire until… I couldn’t hear them anymore over the flames, or see them. They were gone for a while. Slade fucked Sear up good, but he came out. Slade didn’t. They found his body later, burned to a crisp.”
“Just like Jonathan,” Rhodes said blankly. “And my father. And Eric Hassleback. Damn.”
His gut knotted and bile wanted to rise up in his throat. He’d seen firefighters get caught in the blaze and never come back, but that was different. He’d stood in the middle of a fireball, watching it go up around a lifeless body on the ground, and the mental image still haunted him every day. It had been the right thing to do, he knew. Jonathan was a lone wolf; there was no one to avenge him, not to Rhodes’s knowledge. But the way it had happened struck far too close to him.
And now Slade, going the way of Eric Hassleback and their father Holden Hamilton? Brutal.
There was sadness in Kali’s eyes and her teeth grazed her lower lip. She huddled closer to him and he squeezed her tight, relief blossoming in him. It was all over now. Plenty of horrible things had happened, but they would have to put it past them now. Life was too fucking precious and love even more so to waste any time.
He’d fouled things up once by running from Kali, thinking he would save her by putting himself out of her life. But she’d stayed in a cocoon, as broken by what had happened as he had—as if stuck in a bubble until he could pop it. He would have to go find Sear Hassleback as soon as he could and thank the man for saving his life, though that was a conversation that was going to be awkward as hell.
How was he going to thank a man who killed his own twin for him? An Alpha twin who sacrificed for someone else’s well-being, destroying his own future in the process. Rhodes
Similar Books
