Chapter 6
Wreck
What the actual fuck was I thinking?
Okay.
So, maybe I wasn’t thinking.
At least, not with my big head.
Fuck.
Is it unfortunate every time I thought about the curvy little Dryad my cock tried to punch a hole in my fucking jeans?
Yeah.
Just a little bit.
So, okay, fine.
Not thinking was probably the fucking problem.
Because rational thought got real fucking difficult when the woman the Fates apparently handcrafted specifically to destroy my peace of mind was sitting six inches away from me, smelling like fresh rain and warm skin while looking at me with impossibly big, green eyes.
Mate.
The word still slammed through me every few seconds like a damn battering ram.
And instead of acting like a grown-ass male and discussing it?
Or running out of there like my heels were on fire.
I asked her out on a date.
Asked. Her. Out.
Like some awkward middle school kid with a crush.
Worse?
The second she said yes, my brain short-circuited completely.
I nodded once like a fucking idiot and practically fled her cabin before I did something insane like bend her over the side of the sofa and bury my face between her legs to taste the arousal I’d scented earlier.
Fuck. Me.
I meant that literally by the way.
Like, please, would you fuck me?
Gia was so damn beautiful.
Sexy too, with curves for days and a face carved by angels.
But I didn’t stay or do any of that.
I ran.
Like a moron.
And I forgot my coat.
My fire-resistant coat.
The one specifically designed for wildfire suppression.
Which was why I currently stood in the middle of a technical burn training exercise while Havoc screamed at me from fifty yards away.
“YOU CAN’T RUN THE COURSE WITHOUT YOUR GEAR, YOU FURRY FUCKHEAD!”
“Shut the fuck up, puppy,” Justin barked from atop a rocky incline. “You’re just afraid the Bear’s gonna keep his record without his fucking coat on.”
“I’m afraid his dumb ass is gonna ignite!”
The training field spread across a controlled section of mountain terrain behind our base camp—a brutal obstacle course designed specifically for Shifters with enhanced speed, strength, and instincts.
A-Feral Firefighters was an elite company for a fucking reason.
The private wildfire unit that we worked for was owned and operated by some need to know Shifter billionaire who owned ninety percent of the land here—inholdings purchased at the turn of the 20th Century.
That Shifters lived longer than humans meant it could actually be the original owner who’d hired us—but honestly, I didn’t care.
Not as long as I could do this work.
Live out here in the woods.
Keep the Bear steady.
Seriously, I didn’t give a flying fuck who owned it, but one thing I did know.
He was smart hiring us.
This area had an unusually high incident rate.
My Bear told me it was because of all the careless normals who came to this area to camp and party.
But there was more to it than that.
This place was special.
The mountains.
The forests.
They held magic deep within their hearts.
As for the fires?
Well, humans couldn’t survive half this shit.
Hell, most Shifters couldn’t either.
Controlled fire trenches burned through the rocky landscape while timed detonations simulated sudden flare-ups.
Steel towers dumped walls of water without warning.
Smoke machines thickened visibility down to near blindness while weighted rescue dummies—each over three hundred pounds—waited scattered across the terrain.
And because apparently we all had brain damage?
We turned it into a competition.
“Course starts in thirty!” Havoc shouted.
The Wolf stood shirtless beside the timing board, black hair damp with sweat, gray eyes glowing faintly beneath the afternoon sun.
Scars crisscrossed his chest and shoulders, old claw marks from a life he never talked about.
Justin leaned lazily against a supply crate nearby, dragon tattoos curling down both powerful arms like moving shadows beneath his skin.
“Try not to cry when I beat you again, mutt,” the Dragon drawled.
Havoc flipped him off.
“You only won last time because you cheated and the Bear didn’t compete!”
“You mean because I am literally fireproof, right?”
“That’s not firefighting, Spark! That’s some Dragon bullshit trait!”
I tuned them both out while tightening the straps on my tank harness.
My Bear was distracted.
Dangerously distracted.
Mate.
The instinct pulsed beneath my skin constantly now.
Gia’s scent still clung to me even after a shower and clean clothes.
Rainwater. Earth. Female warmth. Honey.
My Honey.
Every time I inhaled, the Bear surged with possessive satisfaction.
Mine.
No.
Absolutely fucking not.
This wasn’t happening.
I’d known the female for less than twenty-four hours.
She could still decide I was insane.
Or too rough.
Or just plain ugly.
Not to mention emotionally constipated.
All valid concerns.
“Wreck!”
I looked up.
Havoc grinned viciously.
“You done daydreaming about your mystery woman?”
“Eat shit, dog breath.”
“THAT’S a yes!” the Wolf shouted toward Justin.
The Dragon snorted.
“Oh, he’s gone.”
“I am not gone.”
“You forgot your fucking fire coat because a female smiled at you,” Justin deadpanned. “You’re gone.”
My jaw clenched.
The worst part?
They weren’t entirely wrong.
“Three… two… one… GO!”
I launched forward the second Havoc hit the timer.
The obstacle course exploded into chaos instantly.
Smoke cannons erupted around us while controlled fire lines surged higher across the terrain.
Justin vaulted clean over the first trench in one smooth motion, while Havoc bulldozed through a wall of debris like the feral psychopath he was.
I took the direct route.
Always.
My boots slammed across scorched dirt as heat blasted against my skin.
The Bear rose immediately, instincts sharpening every sound, every scent, every movement around me.
Fire to the left.
Gas leak simulation ahead.
Havoc was gaining ground uphill.
The first rescue dummy appeared through the smoke.
Three hundred pounds strapped beneath collapsed timber.
I grabbed the beam one-handed and ripped it free hard enough that the wood splintered apart.
“SHOW OFF!” Havoc roared somewhere behind me.
“GET FASTER!”
The Bear loved this part.
The challenge.
The violence.
The illusion of control over something deadly.
I hauled the dummy over my shoulder and sprinted through the smoke field while sirens screamed overhead.
Heat licked across my exposed arms from the nearby burn trenches, but it barely registered.
Nothing compared to the fire constantly burning beneath my skin lately.
Mate.
Mine.
Mine.
The bond was getting worse.
Or stronger.
Same fucking thing.
By the final obstacle, Havoc and Justin were neck and neck beside me, all three of us soaked in sweat and ash while explosions thundered around us.
“Last one buys dinner!” Havoc barked.
“You still owe me from last week!”
“That doesn’t count, and you know it!”
Justin suddenly spread his arms wide and launched himself over an entire burning trench instead of using the narrow bridge beside it.
“CHEATING!” Havoc screamed.
“I HAVE WINGS, YOU HAIRY BITCH!”
I hit the finish line first by half a second.
Havoc tackled me immediately afterward.
“Bullshit!”
We hit the dirt hard enough to shake the ground.
Justin stood over us, shaking his head.
“You two are actual children.”
“Fuck you,” Havoc and I said together.
The Dragon sighed heavily.
“See? Children.”