Free A Blaze To Bear (Fire Bear Shifters Book 1) by Sloane Meyers Page A

he had been holding. His heart still pounded wildly in his chest as he reached up for his steering toggles and did a control check to make sure the parachute was steering properly. To his right, he saw his main parachute floating away into the forest. He would have to see if he could retrieve it, but there would be time for that later. Right now, he had to quickly find a place to land.
    The time and altitude he had lost deploying his reserve canopy had left him too far from his planned landing site. He wouldn’t be able to fly that far, so he’d have to pick a new spot. He focused on a short, narrow clearing between two rock formations. It wasn’t ideal, but it would have to do. Then again, he couldn’t do much worse than his last landing, where he had ended up perched on top of a large pine tree.
    This time, he managed to steer his parachute skillfully to the exact spot he wanted to be. The tips he had learned from eavesdropping on Charlotte’s lessons had proved invaluable today. He pulled down on his steering toggles to flare his parachute and slow its descent. When his feet touched the ground softly, he looked around in disbelief.
    “I’m on solid ground,” he said to himself. “Holy shit, I’m on solid ground. I made it.”
    With shaking hands, he started gathering up the fabric of his parachute into neat folds. Everything came into sharp focus—the pine needles on the trees seemed to be a more vivid green than usual. The smoke hanging in the air felt thicker than ever. And the scuffing of his feet on the dirt beneath him sounded abnormally loud.
    Ian rarely felt true fear. After all, he hid a bear inside of him. He could handle a lot. But today, as he had watched the ground coming closer while his parachute spun wildly out of control, he had tasted terror.
    As he tried to orient himself and figure out which way he needed to walk to reach his crew, he heard crashing footsteps running toward him through the forest.
    “Ian! Ian, are you alright?” Zach’s voice carried through the trees and over the distant crackling of the forest fire. Moments later, Zach burst into the small clearing where Ian stood, still gathering up his parachute.
    “Oh my god, thank god you’re alright,” Zach said, pulling Ian into a big hug in an uncharacteristic display of affection. Ian patted his back weakly, unsure of what to say.
    Charlotte followed close behind Zach. She had stripped off her heavy gear and jumpsuit, and was wearing only her dark green flame retardant shirt and pants. Her disheveled hair hung in a frizzy disarray around her face, and streaks of dirty sweat were running down her cheeks. Ian thought she had never looked more beautiful. As the weight of what he had just experienced came crashing down on him, he realized that if he had died, he would have never had a chance to tell Charlotte who he really was. He would have never known whether her love for him ran deep enough to accept him, bear and all.
    “Charlotte,” Ian choked out, his voice heavy with emotion. Charlotte ran up to him and took his dirty face in her hands, planting a kiss squarely on his lips. Out of the corner of his eye, Ian saw Zach wince at Charlotte’s bold actions, but Ian didn’t care. Her kiss was a calming balm on his frazzled nerves.
    “That was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen,” Charlotte said. “I was still in the air, looking around to count everyone’s parachutes like I always do, when I saw you spinning. Then I saw you falling away from your main parachute. It felt like forever before your reserve opened.”
    “Trust me, it felt that way to me, too,” Ian said.
    “Trevor and Luke are going after your main parachute,” Zach said. “They think they saw where it landed.”
    Ian nodded. “That’s good news. Boise wouldn’t be happy with me if I had to order a new parachute. Those things are expensive.”
    “Well, better to need a new parachute than a new crew chief,” Charlotte said, reaching up to wipe a