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hardly contain his excitement. Ian had given him permission to leave whenever he was ready. Fire season was all but over, and Ian knew that Chance was eager to get home.
    Chance grabbed the two bags of items to donate and carried them out to his truck. He might as well get these down to the Goodwill in Red Valley so that he didn’t have anything left to take care of. The Burning Claws Crew would be having a goodbye barbecue for him two days from now, and the day after that Chance would be on a flight back to Alaska. After his commercial flight landed in Alaska, Sawyer would pick him up in one of their private planes from the tour company. From there, Chance would be taken straight back to Frost Peak. Chance grinned as he thought about how soon he would be able to hug the necks of his Alaskan clan members. Even though he was sad to leave the smokejumpers, he was ready to be home. Alaska was calling to him.
    Chance did have a few fleeting thoughts about Emily, but he pushed them away. He’d given up trying to convince himself that he wasn’t attracted to her, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. Her life was here, and she had a boyfriend here. He was just going to have to file her away under the list of ones that got away and leave it at that. Easier said than done, but Chance didn’t have much of a choice.
    Chance rolled his windows down as he turned his truck in the direction of Red Valley. He breathed in deeply, enjoying the warm autumn air and thinking about how much he was going to miss the milder climate here. The temperatures in Frost Peak would have already plummeted to below fifty degrees Fahrenheit by now. And by December, the highs would only be about twenty degrees Fahrenheit. Not a big deal for his Grizzly, but his human side much preferred the warmth of California.
    Chance breathed in again, then reached for the dial on his radio to turn up the country song that was playing. Just before he changed the volume, though, his cell phone rang. Chance grabbed it and glanced at the caller I.D., frowning at the unfamiliar number. It was a local area code, but no one he knew.
    “Hello?” Chance answered, rolling up his window to reduce the noise of the wind in the background.
    “Hello, is this Chance Ayers?” a man’s voice asked.
    “That’s me. Who is this?” Chance asked. The voice sounded strangely familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.
    “This is Steve. I’m the owner of the corner store in Red Valley where your friend Emily comes in sometimes. You asked me to call you if I thought she was in trouble.”
    Chance felt his pulse increase as his heart dropped in his chest. “That’s right. Is she okay? Is something wrong?”
    “She just came in, and she didn’t look too great. She had a big gash on the side of her face, and her arms had big bruises on them. So did her neck. It looks almost like someone had her in a chokehold. I don’t know. Something just didn’t look right. I think you should maybe check on her.”
    Chance felt anger rising up from deep within his core, sending hot flames through his whole body. He knew what had happened to Emily. That scumbag excuse for a man that she called her boyfriend had hurt her again. If he got his hands on him, he was going to tear that asshole to pieces. “Do you know where she is?” Chance asked. “I haven’t known her very long, so I’m actually not sure what her address is or anything.”
    “Yeah. She just came in to buy some snacks and beer, and she left her driver’s license behind. I’m not sure if the address on it is current, but I can give it to you.”
    “Yes, please,” Chance said. “I want to go make sure she’s okay.”
    Chance pulled over to the side of the road so he could write down the address the man repeated to him, and then he programmed it into his GPS. As soon as the directions on the screen populated, he started driving like a bat out of hell toward Red Valley. He felt his face burning red hot with anger, and