Bear The Fire (Firebear Brides 4) (3 page)

“I’m still here. I remember. What do you need?” she asked, her strong voice merely a squeak.

She’d proven herself wrong. The day could, in fact, get worse.
 

CHAPTER THREE

Rhodes

“I’m not entirely sure why you felt the need to take two different trucks, but whatever floats your boat, buddy,” Rhodes said, giving Ragnar a critical look as they sat on the tailgate of Redmond’s newest truck.

Rhodes was sure that thing was either going to get burned down, roll off a cliff, or get vandalized within a few days. It seemed to be the only way Redmond knew how to keep vehicles, after all.

“Royce will come get his later,” Ragnar said indifferently, leaning back on his elbows and watching the blue sky.

The sun was up high and beating down, scorching everything around them. It was the most vicious summer in Idaho in decades and that could only spell trouble. Rhodes knew what that meant. It meant
fun
. It meant great jumps and Hotshot crews whizzing around and mayhem. Everything he needed to keep his mind off of things he didn’t want to think about.

Yet here he was, ready to get on a plane and make his way to Mississippi, armed with nothing but one duffel bag worth of personal belongings that were little more than clothes and a change of boots. He traveled light. All his baggage was internal.

“There’s the damn thing,” Rhodes said with a sigh, catching a glimpse of the rinky-dink airplane that kept Shifter Grove in contact with the rest of civilization.

It had been an awkward exit from Hamilton House, one that left Rhodes somewhat confused and more eager to leave. It seemed that no one in the house actually believed that he
would
leave. Abigail had this big grin on her lips that he’d learned spelled trouble, though her sassy mouth hadn’t said a thing, which too was surprising. Tiana had given him a light hug and told him to behave himself, and Rose had tears in her eyes, but they weren’t of sadness.

Were they
happy
to see him go? No, that couldn’t be it.

Shaking his head, Rhodes brought himself back into the moment as the plane came nearer and nearer, ready to drop on the tarmac.

“Is this where we say our brotherly goodbyes?” he asked, knowing he was the only passenger that day looking to leave.

“I think we have time,” Ragnar said, the same impassiveness in his voice.

Rhodes frowned, but shrugged. Okay. Time.

The fact that he was leaving pricked at the back of his mind. Getting in the truck and driving away from Hamilton House was one of the hardest things he had done recently. It felt like tearing himself away from something that was entirely right, while he himself was entirely… well, wrong. It was clichéd, but that was how he felt. Best not to think about it.

Nothing whiskey couldn’t fix,
he reminded himself again, a notion he chose not to share with Ragnar.

“I’m surprised Royce and Redmond didn’t come to send me off,” he commented lazily as the plane dropped down and slowed.

“We figured one of us was enough,” Ragnar noted, getting up into a seated position.

Suddenly, the air changed around Ragnar. A tension rose in his shoulders that had been hiding underneath all along. Frowning, Rhodes looked at his brother, an inquisitive look on his face.

“Something you want to tell me?” Rhodes asked, quirking a brow.

“Yeah, actually.” Ragnar scowled, looking at the airplane and then at Rhodes. “How do I say this… try to keep a clear head, will you? Don’t overreact?”

“What would I overreact to?” Rhodes asked as the plane ground to a halt and the back door was kicked open, the ladder lowering quickly after.

But Ragnar never took the chance to answer. With his hand clapping Rhodes on the shoulder, Ragnar pointed at the airplane and Rhodes’s eyes moved to look. When he saw who was walking down the steps, his heart stopped in his chest and the universe that he’d so carefully spun into place for himself collapsed in a pile of fire and brimstone.

“You motherfucker,” Rhodes whispered, though there wasn’t any real emotion in his voice other than surprise as he looked at Ragnar.

Ragnar kept his mask of calm like he always did, looking like the damn executioner at a dinner party.

“Warned you,” he said.

With that, he jumped up and climbed into the cab of his own truck. On his way past Redmond’s, Ragnar opened the door and pulled out Rhodes’s duffel. Before Rhodes could react, Ragnar was already stepping on the gas.

“Bring her to the house when you two are done killing or fucking each other to death, all right?” he called, pulling out of the makeshift parking lot.

Rhodes pushed himself off the tailgate. His knees felt wonky. Standing there in the middle of the runway stood the one woman who could spin his mind into a mess and then untangle it within seconds, only to fuck it up again. Kali Jameson. The most beautiful creature on God’s green earth.

And the one woman he couldn’t be around anymore. Ever.

She was holding onto a little red suitcase, with Slate, the pilot, bringing another much bigger one and her guitar case to her as well. The guitar case was still the old ratty thing Rhodes had bought her years ago, stickers plastered all over the fraying sides. Rhodes gulped.

Her green eyes were like beacons that called to him, a siren’s song that he couldn’t deny. Of their own volition, his legs carried him to her and he only stopped when he was a few feet away. She looked like a doe in headlights for a moment, so sweet and innocent. The perfect picture of the woman he’d been willing to die for years ago. Scratch that. Was
still
ready to die for. Would forever be ready to die for.

Her nose crinkled into a cute little snarl and that innocence was wiped from her eyes in a second. What was left was pure, unbridled rage. It looked so fucking good on her.

“You,” she hissed.

“You,” he shot back, trying to keep himself from at least visibly shaking, though he was tied up in a million knots inside.

“Bet you didn’t expect to see me here,” Kali said after a pregnant pause.

“Nope,” he admitted, grabbing her suitcase and her guitar case and turning around on his heel, heading toward the truck.

“Where the hell do you think you’re taking those?”

“To the truck.”

“Why?” she asked, half-walking, half-running after him.

“Because we’re going to kill each other in about two minutes and I figured Slate doesn’t want to scrub blood off his tarmac,” Rhodes shot, giving her a dirty look over his shoulder.

She scoffed, tucking a lock of her long hair behind her ear and driving Rhodes up the wall with that tiny little movement.

Fuck. She’s perfect.

No shit. She’d always been perfect. To him, anyway.

Rhodes threw the things in the back and climbed into the cab, not bothering to pretend to be a gentleman. He wasn’t and he assumed he’d never hear the end of it if he was suddenly overcome with the desire to masquerade as one. Kali sat in the passenger seat and her scent filled his nostrils, his bear flashing so close to the surface that he knew his eyes were flicking between blue and brown like he was having some sort of a shifter seizure.

He cranked the truck into gear and pulled out onto the road, his mind completely vacant of any intelligent thoughts. Kali was here.
Kali
. His Kali. After everything that had happened…

“What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean? Didn’t Ragnar tell you?” she asked, looking out of the window and clearly avoiding his gaze.

They hit the highway just then, a small stretch of decent road before they’d pull off and hit the near-impenetrable mountain roads that would eventually take them to Shifter Grove and Hamilton House.

“Tell me what?” Rhodes asked after a small pause, putting the puzzle together and kicking himself for not realizing that his family obviously had something planned.

No way Redmond would have let him go without one brotherly football game, or at least a very long and thorough joshing about moving to Mississippi of all places. And Rose with her tears… had everybody known?

Of course they did. Those bastards.

He fought the urge to smack his forehead. Stupid. If there was one thing to know about families, then it was that they’d never,
ever
stop meddling in your life. Even if you ran across the country to get away from it. Even if you disappeared. They would find you, they would drag you back, love you, and meddle the heck into your otherwise peaceful existence.

The Hamiltons were clearly no different. If anything, being werebears just made them more tenacious.

He could feel Kali’s green eyes boring into him and damn if it didn’t take every modicum of restraint within him to keep from snapping her face closer and kissing her on those full, lush lips of hers. She hadn’t lost a bit of those curves that he loved so dearly, her wide hips and delicious breasts still as inviting as ever. Her skin glowed, her mixed heritage making her look effervescent. He bet she would still look like a gem even when they were old and withered.

Snap out of it. She’s not your mate. You can’t have her.

Yeah, try telling that to the bear. It had almost killed him to leave last time and now she was here. He couldn’t be held responsible for what he would do.

But Ragnar could. Glowering, he kept his eyes on the road, pulling onto the narrower mountain and forest paths now.

“You mean to tell me he didn’t tell you about the deal?”

“What deal?”

“He called in his favor,” she said, her voice dropping.

That made Ragnar look up, meeting her gaze. He should have been surprised, but he really wasn’t. That sounded like Ragnar all right. Success at all costs. Rhodes had to guess that this time,
he
was the mission.

“He had no right to do that. I’m the one who owes him, not you.”

“Bullshit, it’s me as much as you. And it’s not like you’d say no to anything he needed anyway. He’s your brother.”

“Yeah? Right now it doesn’t much feel like it,” Rhodes snorted, feeling his muscles tense up.

Kali was
so close
. Her scent permeated his pores and his whole body beat in tune with hers. He could hear her heartbeat, and every breath she took drove him straight toward heaven and hell at equal speeds.

There was another pause, during which he strictly kept his eyes away from her. Rhodes wasn’t sure why he was driving her to the house. Spirits above, the longer she stayed, the harder it would be to leave again. And he knew he had to leave. There could be no happily ever after for them. No kids, picket fences, or romantic nights. No nothing. That had gone out the window when…

Fuck.

“What does he need you to do?” he asked again, forcing some firmness into his voice to make her talk.

“It’s what
you
need me to do,” she said, and he could hear the smirk on her lips.

That maddening smirk could only be brushed away if he bit her lower lip and made her moan. Grinding his teeth together, Rhodes willed his erection to stop fucking around. He couldn’t get tied up in this woman again.

“What do
I
need you to do, then?”

“You need me to marry you. And I will.”

Okay, that was it. Rhodes’s official limit for bullshit had been reached. He slammed down on the brakes so hard that Kali lurched forward and instinctively, he put a hand out to catch her. His reaction speed was faster than the seatbelt and he pressed her back into the seat, undoing the buckle on his own and turning to face her, fire in his eyes.

Heat traveled up his hand, burning him all over. He pulled his hand away like he’d just gotten bitten, but the warmth stayed, milling around him like a waiting predator.