Bear The Flame (Firebear Brides 2) (6 page)

He must have looked like a demon, all black and burnt. Well, he knew he did—he could look at the other guys around him and make that easy assumption. As they were walking over to the trucks to grab some water to drink, another car drove up along the road and stopped behind their long convoy. The tall man that jumped out looked oddly familiar, and he walked with purpose, head held high.

“Who is that?” Redmond asked Royce with a quiet voice, sharing a truck after what had been done to Redmond’s rental.

“Him? That’s Ares Goldplains. Of Gold Dragon fame,” Royce said with a chuckle, probably laughing at the face that Redmond was making.

One didn’t exactly expect to see a world-class rock star wandering around Shifter Grove, Idaho. Yet there he was, in the flesh, reaching out a hand to Redmond and then Royce and shaking firmly.

“Gentlemen! I hear you two are the ones to thank for taking care of the fire,” he said, grinning easily.

“We do what we can,” Royce commented mildly.

“You’re selling yourself short, man. I heard about the fire last week and how you got your girl out. Tough stuff. And I don’t think we would have put out the last two so easily without you guys leading the charge.”

“These are not the only fires in the area lately,” Redmond said, wiping his forehead.

Ares’s expression grew more serious and he nodded grimly, looking from one brother to the other.

“I know. Now, some people are still hoping it’s some freak accident and a coincidence, but I’ve been around fire all my life. Things don’t go up in flames for no reason. I don’t care how bad the drought is.”

Truth be told, the drought was pretty bad, the worst that the area had seen in decades, at least. It didn’t take a firebear to realize that the forest was a substantial fire hazard at the moment and the smallest accident could spell doom. But Redmond was sure at this point that it wasn’t just a series of unfortunate coincidences that kept sending the woods up in smoke every few days. No, someone was doing this on purpose. He just didn’t know who, or why.

“I won’t argue with that,” Redmond said, nodding. “You got an idea?”

“Now that you mention it, I do. I don’t think we’ve formally met. I’m Ares Goldplains. I own the gold mine up in Lying Dragon Peak. But I also happen to be a dragon, and I understand the hazards of poor fire management. A little birdie told me that you two might be settling down at Hamilton House for good, so I have a proposition for you if you’re interested in hearing me out.”

Redmond and Royce shared a quick look and after Redmond nodded tentatively, Royce motioned for Ares to continue. The tall, lean, but muscular man looked a lot like the guys Redmond would hang out with back in Los Angeles. He had a certain surfer vibe to him, a free spirit. It was surprising to find another one like him so far in the periphery of society. Perhaps he liked the quiet too, who knew.

“I’ve got the money, you’ve got the know-how, and the town needs it. How about I fund starting up a fire station in Shifter Grove? Voluntary, or paid, or a combination of the two. I think the latter would work best. Obviously we don’t have any shortage of able-bodied men willing to help out. I’ve also talked to the Dean brothers,” Ares said, pointing at the werebear twins covered in ash that Redmond couldn’t name before. “They’re in on it too. Between the three of us, I think money won’t be a problem. And the town will pitch in too if need be—I confirmed that with Warren.”

“So what you’re saying is that you’ll front whatever we need to set up a working fire department here and we just need to do the work of setting it up?” Royce confirmed, a wide grin appearing on his lips.

“Yup! I’m not being a good Samaritan here. I probably need it more than anyone else. I’m always one bad sneeze away from sending the state up in flames,” Ares said with a chuckle.

Redmond wasn’t sure what surprised him more: the fact that he was having a conversation with a real-life dragon, or that said dragon had a sense of humor about things. Well, the “whole willingness to put money toward a reasonable goal” thing sort of threw him for a loop as well, but that one seemed to be less prevalent in the list of stuff currently throwing him off.

Damn. Shifter Grove’s full of surprises.

“So, what do you say? Are you game?” Ares asked.

“We’re game,” Redmond said before Royce could reply. “We’ll get things moving and we can talk details later. Deal?”

“Hell yes! And you better be down at Austin’s Texas tomorrow evening! A fire’s not something that should be celebrated, but putting one out definitely is. We’re having a few rounds down at the bar, and we can’t do it without the heroes.”

Ares tossed both of them a grin and then a lazy salute, before turning around on his heel and heading toward the Dean brothers to talk things over. Redmond shook his head slightly as he watched the man leave, turning his attention to his brother.

“I can’t believe this town man,” he said, flabbergasted.

First, a gorgeous woman essentially falls in his lap, and then a benevolent dragon of all things essentially suggests to move his whole entire career over to Idaho. And not only that, but he could set it up exactly like he’d want it! If he’d known that, Redmond would have packed his damn bags and said his goodbyes before he ever got on the plane to Idaho to begin with.

“It has a certain charm to it,” Redmond agreed with a chuckle.

Invigorated, Redmond grabbed a bottle of water and washed off some of the soot from his hands and face and dried off with a towel, urging his brother to do the same.

“What’s the hurry?” Royce asked, following his lead.

“I need to get to my girl,” Redmond said, and the sly grin on Royce’s lips was completely obvious to him. “And I think we need to call Ragnar now.”

“You can say that again,” Royce agreed.

Within minutes, they’d left the local guys with some additional warnings and words of wisdom before jumping in the truck and speeding off. Redmond wanted to get Rose back in his arms as fast as he possibly could, and there was a lot to do between now and the party the following night. At the very least, he wanted to have some sort of a preliminary plan put together on what they would need to set up a decent fire station in Shifter Grove. It needed to cover all the needs the little town might have, along with the sprawling wilderness that stretched around them, almost unreachable in a lot of cases without air support.

It wouldn’t be an easy area to control, but Redmond had always loved a good challenge. Little did he know that the fire situation wouldn’t be the only devil on his back.
 

CHAPTER SEVEN

Rose

Saying that Rose was getting nervous was an understatement. She’d spent a lovely day chatting with Tiana and Dahlia, the wife of Austin who owned the only legitimate bar in town. But in the back of her head, she constantly felt watched. It was ridiculous to think that, especially with the bar only sparsely populated by Shifter Grove inhabitants due to the fire relief efforts, but still, there it was.

When she excused herself at one point to go to the bathroom, the reason for her nervousness became all the more clearer. Cole was unmistakable with his jet black hair and beady gray eyes, the kind that always looked like they were watering. Conrad wasn’t much better, though he was built stronger and wider than Cole. They came as a pair, Rose knew, and she’d always figured that Cole was the brains and Conrad the brawn. Though neither one of them had ever struck her as too bright.

They were waiting for her in the small hallway that led to the bathrooms. In a moment of panic, she wondered if they would jump her, tie her up, and drag her out of there kicking and screaming for the world to see. She glanced behind her and made a move to run back, but Conrad caught her by the wrist and kept her still.

“Hey, relax, Rosey! We’re not here to hurt you,” Cole was quick to soothe her, though his words sounded anything but reassuring. “Kenner wanted to send you a message and we figured it would be best if we gave it to you in person, seeing as you seem to have lost his phone number,” Cole said with a smarmy grin.

Rose bared her teeth reflexively, a reaction of disgust more than anything else. She yanked her arm away from Conrad, who let her do it easily enough, as she glared daggers at him.

“What do you two lowlifes want? I can’t believe you followed me all the way to Idaho,” she said, flabbergasted.

“That makes three of us,” Conrad mumbled, bored, slouching against the wall with about as much enthusiasm as a kid at a history museum.

His eyes tracked her without any obvious emotion other than sheer and undiluted indifference. It was somehow soothing, really, knowing that the chase and stalking game was as annoying for them as it was for her.

“Kenner said that if you’re a good girl and pack your car tonight and get back to Philly, then he won’t have to come and get you personally. But if you don’t behave, then, well… we can do a lot worse than the truck, Rosey, you know that.”

Cole, however, was
really
enjoying the whole thing. His eyes gleamed with glee and she could clearly imagine the image of a raccoon pushing its grubby little fingers together in expectation of something going down. Her stomach twisted. Yes, she knew they could do worse. Conrad had once beaten up a guy just for looking at her, and Kenner had somehow gotten two of her friends evicted when she sought refuge with them. Not to mention the stuff she’d heard about Kenner doing to some of the rowdier patrons at the club she used to dance at. The fox didn’t have a good sense of humor and nobody needed to tell Rose that.

“I’ll think about it,” she said blandly, hoping that it would be enough to placate them.

“You do that, Rosey. We’ve seen that boyfriend of yours. I don’t think Kenner would like knowing that you’re shoving your tongue down the throat of some grimy bear. Nuh-uh, don’t think he’d like that at all,” Cole said as she whipped around and walked back toward the booth where Tiana and Dahlia were conversing.

Since Austin was out helping with the fire, it was just Dahlia who was running the whole show, so she kept coming and going from the booth whenever someone needed a drink or a snack. Rose caught one of the moments where Dahlia had just excused herself to return to the table, and the look on Tiana’s face told her that she wasn’t doing a very good job of acting calm.

“What’s wrong?” she asked immediately, looking at Rose and then toward where she’d come from.

“Nothing,” she said, trying to laugh it off.

“Don’t ‘nothing’ me, missy. You look like you saw a ghost. Did you see someone? Oh my God, are those the two guys?” Tiana asked, tracking the exit of Cole and Conrad.

Rose groaned softly.

I can’t seem to keep everyone out of my problems! Dammit, Rose, you shouldn’t have come here and gotten them mixed up in this too,
she thought to herself, chewing on her lower lip.

“They are, aren’t they?” Tiana demanded, grabbing Rose’s hand over the table.

Rose nodded meekly as Royce and Redmond strolled in a split second after the raccoons left. Tiana jumped up immediately to greet her betrothed and Rose tried to put on a brave face for Redmond, but he could see right through her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, pulling her up by her hand.

“Those bastards who messed with your truck were just here,” Tiana said, before Rose could spin a convincing excuse.

“Is that true?” he asked, giving her a firm look. “Did they hurt you? Are you okay?”

The questions shot off like a cannon firing at Rose. She nodded quickly, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

“I’m fine, I really am,” she said, her mind working frantically to try and figure out what to do next. “They didn’t do anything to me. Can we get back to the house? I don’t want to discuss this here, if that’s okay,” she said softly.

Redmond gave her a long look before agreeing with a sigh, and putting a hand around her waist.

“Sure, baby, we can go,” he said, keeping his voice lower while Tiana grilled Royce about what happened at the fire site. “But you have to promise me that you’ll tell me everything that happened when we get home. All right?”

“Okay,” she agreed with a smile.

How damn lucky had she gotten to run into a sweet, caring guy like Redmond? Even covered in black soot and almost unrecognizable, he was still the hottest and most lovable man she’d had the privilege of meeting. Just being around him made her stomach flutter with butterflies, which was especially surprising considering the sort of trouble she constantly found herself in.