Firefighter Bear (Silvertip Shifters Book 6) Read online

  Firefighter Bear: Slade

  Silvertip Shifters

  J.K. Harper

  Contents

  FIREFIGHTER BEAR

  Stay in Touch!

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Sneak Peek! Christmas Night Bear

  Read More by J.K. Harper

  About J.K.

  FIREFIGHTER BEAR

  Copyright © 2019 by J.K. Harper

  First electronic publication: July 2019

  First print publication: July 2019

  J.K. Harper

  www.jkharper.com

  Cover design by Jacqueline Sweet

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the copyright owner except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Published in the United States of America

  A woman trapped by the stigma of the past…

  Fox shifter Everly always ends up cornered and cowering. Growing up shunned by more dominant shifter species taught her there's no such thing as real community—or true love. But she's always secretly longed for the sexiest, most dominant bear shifter around…even though he almost destroyed her family.

  A bear shifter who can't forgive himself…

  Wildland firefighter Slade Walker battles mountain flames for a living and throws punches on the fight circuit for a release. Despite his easygoing, joke-cracking ways, this wounded bear is still plagued by a terrible decision he once made—a decision that also ruined any chance he had with foxy, fascinating Everly. Yet he can't imagine life without the sweetly sensual vixen by his side.

  A shifter town on the brink of change.

  But when the sins of the past rise up to threaten Everly, neither her hidden courage nor Slade's powerful defense can keep her safe. The wild heart and bold hope of an entire town of shifters must rally together for the protection of all, and to allow two battered hearts to finally dare claim what they need most: each other.

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  1

  Everly Vos flicked her cleaning rag over the polished bar top, then took a step back to assess the gleaming wood. Deciding it was as good as it could get, she turned back to the drying rack where fresh sets of clean glasses waited to be transferred to their usual spot. With a rattle and clank, she hefted the rack of beer mugs and slid them into place beneath the bar, ready to be pulled out as needed. Just another night at The Tank. Easy, predictable, secure, and it kept her from thinking about anything that was important.

  Such as everything else in her life.

  In the back corner, a burst of laughter indicated her sole remaining table was still happy. The late afternoon time after lunch but before happy hour was generally slower than cold molasses. It was the time of day that Everly had to clean and prep for the evening rush. During the summer months, business always picked up. She expected a steady crowd tonight.

  "Ever!" The dark note in her brother's voice as he called out from the office made Everly's right cheek twitch with the occasional tic that had developed two years ago. Forcing her tone to stay light, she said, "Yes?"

  "I can't find the spreadsheets from last month. Where did you file them?"

  Rather than reply, Everly headed for the small room tucked around the corner behind the bar. With only one occupied table in the entire place, she could step away from her post in the front. She and her brother were the only employees here right now. The dinner crew servers wouldn't be here for another half hour. Nobody would mind if she abandoned her post anyway. Being as The Tank's owners were her and Tobias, she was the boss lady. Besides, in tiny shifter town Deep Hollow, one could be a lot more trusting than in a city. No one here was going to rob the cash register during the two minutes she disappeared from behind the counter. Not even from a fox shifter-owned business.

  Her older brother, Tobias, sat in front of the office computer. A frown slashed across his face. The sight didn't particularly alarm her. It had become his daily expression ever since two summers ago. Besides, she knew exactly which file he was looking for and where to find it. Everly's main official duty was floor manager, but she might as well be called “she who knows every single thing about this bar and then some.”

  Stepping up behind him, she reached over his shoulder to touch the screen. "No, not in there." She swiped at the screen, flipping from folder to folder. "It's in here, then over in this folder, then it'll say the month name. It's organized if you take a second to actually look at it." She lightly elbowed him.

  He just grunted back at her. "Thanks," he said, never once looking at her. Focused on the screen, he began tapping away.

  Everly didn't even bother to shrug as she headed back to the bar. She and Tobias had always been close while growing up. But two years ago, everything had changed. Tobias changed, their parents changed, the whole family changed. Everly's entire world had changed. Actually, it had been flipped upside down, stomped on, and left painfully exposed and raw.

  In other words, this was the new normal. There was nothing she could do to spin it back around to the old normal. She understood why a chasm of distance had grown between her and Tobias. It sucked, but she got it. Being close to someone they loved was scary now, because losing someone they loved had proven to be far too easy.

  As she began wiping down the next set of beer mugs drying in the rack, removing water spots and any other smudges, the front door opened, letting in a whoosh of air and the sharp scent of outside. Everly's arms goosebumped slightly. It might be summer, but summertime in the high Colorado mountains could still feel cool to her. The bar was set well back from the front door, but it didn't matter. Each time it opened, bracing air rushed inside and found her. For a fox shifter, someone whose genetic makeup should have rendered her less affected by outside temperatures, she was wimpy about anything resembling cold. Pathetic, but true.

  Without looking up, she called out in an automatically cheerful voice, "Hi, and welcome to The Tank. Take a seat anywhere and I'll be right with you."

  Not expecting a response, she jerked violently when a low, rumbling voice actually answered. "It's just me, Ever. I'm not staying."

  Everly trembled in a wild shiver of confusion and shock as the force of that voice seemed to radiate through her entire body.

  Only one man had that power over her.

  Her head practically snapped off her neck as she whipped it around to look at the gorgeous bear of a man who'd entered. His mere presence seemed to suck all the air out of the place. Or at least out of her. Everly's lungs warned her to breathe even as her mouth dried and her eyes widened at the sight of the one guy who rattled her world. The only one who ever had.

  Standing inside her bar stood Slade Walker, the danged sexiest bear shifter in at least a thousand
mile radius. Maybe a million mile radius. She knew her mouth was open as she stared at him. Oh, this man was sexy. Too hot for his own good. He'd been the object of her very secret fantasies since high school, fantasies she could never tell him about because it would have ruined their friendship.

  But despite having had an unrelenting crush on him for the past ten years, that wasn't the reason her pulse was banging out of control.

  It wasn't because he was big and built, stronger than a mountain, darker than a thunderstorm, more electrifying than lightning dancing on ridge tops.

  It wasn't even his dark chocolate brown eyes that flashed out above the equally dark beard bristling over the lower half of his face.

  Nor was it the unshakeable certainty etched into every line of his body that he could do any damn thing in the world he wanted to, and do it perfectly well.

  And it sure wasn't because some nights, Everly imagined his gorgeous lips touching every single centimeter of her body. Or because his voice echoed through her dreams, leaving her to awaken in the middle of the night in a restless sweat and sometimes the aftershocks of what she knew had been an orgasm in her sleep.

  No, it wasn't any of those things that had her staring at him in shock. Well, maybe a little. Slade and those eyes of his always managed to jumble her thoughts every time she ran into him.

  But not a one of those reasons was the real one.

  No. The main reason her heart stuttered a beat or two as he stepped into her bar was because Slade Walker was the last person to see her youngest brother alive, two years ago. Because Slade Walker was the last person to know why Jacob had done whatever it was he did to vanish off the face of the earth and shatter her family's life.

  "Hi.” Slade went quiet after he said that, just looking at her. She thought she could see his eyes brightening, like his bear was close to the surface. Her breath still caught in her throat, threatening to strangle her voice along with her reason. She couldn't quite read his expression, but it might have been…longing.

  Yeah, right.

  The hottest guy in Deep Hollow took a breath, shaking his head and making the brief moment between them vanish. “I'm not here to bug you, Ev."

  His casual shortening of her name—just like old times—and his stunning eyes captured her, melting her straight up stupid. She fervently prayed Tobias wouldn't hear Slade's voice and come roaring out of the office in a rage. “Okay,” she finally managed to say. Forcing herself to breathe again, she just looked back at Slade, super sexy Slade Walker, and waited.

  "I just need to talk to you for a minute. Actually," his voice going even deeper, his hand pulling something out of his back pocket, "I need to give you something. I just found it, Ev.” His voice went as quiet as the baritone allowed. "Believe me, I didn't know it existed before this morning."

  His hand, that huge, strong hand that Everly had envisioned running over her skin multiple nights in a row for multiple years in a row, stretched out toward her, a tattered white envelope clutched in his fingers. Automatically, she reached out for it. Their fingers brushed as he handed it to her, and Everly jumped.

  Funny thing was, she could swear she saw him flinch too at that tiniest bit of contact.

  "What is—" she started, but Slade shook his head.

  "Look at it, Ever. He left it for you. I don't know what it says, it's sealed.” He paused, as if he might say more. Then he shook his head, turning and heading for the door. “I'll see you around," he threw over his broad shoulder.

  "Wait," Everly began, but then she looked down at the envelope. Her voice died in her throat at the sight of the familiar handwriting on it. The words. She barely registered the door closing behind Slade's imposing frame as her hand began to shake uncontrollably. Her fox chittered inside her with alarm.

  The world's best sister scrolled across the top of the envelope in even penmanship. The ink was smudged with dirt and smeared from contact with some sort of long-dried wetness, but the words were clear. It was Jacob's handwriting. A ghost come to life, delivered by the man who turned Everly's world upside down in more ways than one.

  Slade Walker, the man who'd stolen not only her brother, but her heart. And he'd never given either one of them back.

  2

  Slade didn't even wait for his opponent's cocky grin to finish spreading over his face. He just straight up launched a hard jab with his left fist. Bam! Direct hit on the chin, knocking the other guy's head back.

  The crowd let out a roar, some of the voices sympathetic winces but most of them excited yells that urged the fight on. Slade had already leapt back out of striking range as he let his body flow into what would be the next move. His bear rumbled inside him, just as caught up in the no-holds-barred fight. He danced slightly from foot to foot, doing a mental fist pump. He could almost taste his win. The purse riding on tonight's special fight was big, and he'd been working his ass off training for it.

  With an impressive swiftness, his opponent abruptly jabbed forward, landing a solid blow on Slade's shoulder. Slade briefly swiveled off balance before he stormed toward the guy, fist swinging. Hell, yeah! This right here was living. This right here was what made Slade one happy fucking bear. He loved fighting wildland fires as part of a kickass firefighter hotshot crew, and he loved tearing shit up with shifters on the fight circuit. Life was fucking grand, for just this one moment.

  He shoved away the sudden image of pretty, slightly wary hazel eyes, curls of golden-red hair, luscious lips turned up in a smile just for him. Nope. Not going there. Couldn't. All he could think about right now was this fight. Winning it. Slade had his eye on a sweet new truck. If he won this round, the third out of three, he'd win tonight's substantial purse. Then he'd finally have enough for a down payment.

  So no thinking about the cutest little fox shifter in Deep Hollow. Even if he did think about her every damned day of his life.

  Focus, he ordered himself. His bear growled inside him. Narrowing his eyes at his opponent, he loosed a taunt designed to bring the other guy in for the kill. “Whatsamatter, puddy tat? You too scared of a big, bad bear to keep comin' for me?”

  The tiger shifter he faced in the ring let out an enraged bellow that ended in the odd huffing roar of his kind. His cat lurked right below the surface of his eyes, which were brightening to yellow. “All the better to rip out your fucking cowardly guts, bear,” the guy snarled back at him.

  Letting his lip curl, Slade sneered in response. “Ooh, I'm so scared.” He pretended to shudder. His bear roared and rumbled inside him, snarls dripping with blood-lust.

  Slade wasn't a taunting asshole by nature. Far from it. But here, in the shifters-only fight ring? Hell, yeah, he was. This was where he let it rip. All of it. After giving that shockingly unexpected letter from Jacob to Everly, he needed actual blood to pour out.

  His own blood, though not a soul here would ever know that was the penance he sought.

  The referee let out a high-pitched warning whistle, audible even above the equally manic roar of the bloodthirsty crowd. Being a raptor shifter, the ref could make her whistle zing loud enough so the two fighters could hear it. She was warning them to keep to the rules.

  This was a special shifter fight night. It was sanctioned, but this one had way looser requirements than the usual fights. The main rule tonight was to not actually kill one another. Just about anything else went. He and his opponent were allowed to partially shift during the fights, which usually was strictly forbidden. So no, the pumped-up crowd didn't care about sneering words they couldn't hear between the fighters.

  What this crowd wanted was his and his opponent's blood. Lots of it.

  In a split second, Slade gave them exactly what both they and he craved. He lunged at the tiger, letting himself partially shift on the way. His deadly bear teeth snapped out, his fingers curved into lethal claws, and his legs thickened into the heft and strength of a grizzly bear's, giving him greater power.

  Naturally, the tiger did the same, allowing his own fearsome
fangs to drop down as his lips peeled back in a fierce snarl. His hands shifted into full tiger paws, razor-sharp claws glinting from the lights above. They met in the middle of the ring with an enormous crash, framed by the howls and shrieks of the crowd.

  Fuckin' maniacs. Just the way Slade wanted it.

  He sliced his teeth into the big cat's face, drawing blood and a yowling shriek at the same time. The tiger returned the favor by slicing his claws across Slade's chest and into the thigh of his leg. Fuck! Slade roared at the burning fire left behind by the tiger's raking claws. No way was he going to lose his dream truck because of this ass-cat, though. Rearing back, he abruptly lunged forward and head-butted jerkface with such force the guy's nose broke instantly, spewing blood all over them. In an instinctive reaction, snarly ole Tigger swung his clawed fist up at Slade's face, smashing it in with a roared glee that brought an echoing roar from the crowd.

  Between his and Slade's crunched noses, an absolute ocean of blood poured down onto the ring floor. The encouraging roar of the crowd amped up to a volume that would split the eardrums of any human present. Good thing this was a shifter-only deal.

  But in the meantime, fuck that striped bastard and his kitty claws. Slade saw red as he went for the kill-not-kill.