Bear The Flame (Firebear Brides 2) by Anya Nowlan Page B

that it didn’t interest her as much as she’d hoped, anyway.
    Truthfully, she felt like a bit of a mess. A disappointment to herself and others, especially now that she had to rely on the kindness of her friends to dodge a clingy ex who would not take no for an answer.
    “What do you have in mind?” she asked, curious enough to hear anyone’s take on what she could be doing to untangle herself from her current mess.
    Kari grinned mischievously, plucking Rose’s phone off the table. “Hey!” Rose protested, but Kari had already unlocked the screen and was skimming through her apps.
    She pulled up SassyDate, and what had just been a bit of a flush on Rose’s cheeks earlier had now turned her lobster-red with embarrassment.
    “Kari! What are you doing!”
    “Hold your horses, girl. No shame in liking this thing. You don’t think I figured that your ex had to be a shifter? I knew you had a thing for the big burly types that could rip a guy’s throat out if need be,” Kari chuckled. “I’m just showing you one that I think you’d like. Maybe he’d even be a solution to your current problem!”
    In a moment, Kari turned the phone back around on Rose and showed her the profile of a tall, handsome, blond-haired man with the most striking blue eyes. He had a cocky grin and an easy charm, with a black leather jacket hung over his shoulders like a second skin. She could tell that he was hiding tattoos underneath. He was just the kind of guy who would.
    “He’s in Los Angeles. And even if he weren’t, how’s getting another man in my life going to untangle the crap I’m in?” she asked, grinning at Kari’s mischievous smile.
    She didn’t really see how any of this would help her but damn did she enjoy Kari’s flavor of problem solving. Throwing a hot guy into the mix would have usually been the kind of thinking Rose would have happily applauded.
    “But he’s not, you see. He’s in Idaho now. And he needs a bride. And you need a man to drive away your ex, so what’s not to love, huh? It’s perfect!”
    “He needs a what?!” Rose asked, incredulous.
    “A bride! It’s the latest thing. These sexy beasts move out of the city, to get closer to their ancestors or whatever, and then they find that there are no women out in bumfuck wherever. They have to resort to flying them in like some twisted mail-order bride scene from the eighteen hundreds! I love it. It’s just insane enough to be completely awesome,” Kari laughed, handing the phone back to Rose.
    “It’s insane all right,” Rose said, but her eyes kept wandering back to the cute guy grinning back at her from the ad.
    “He’s not even looking for a forever wife. Ad said he needs some sort of a temporary arrangement. And hey, Idaho has mountains and forests and whatever, right? Sounds too good to be true,” Kari said, snickering as she stood up to get more wine.
    “Maybe,” Rose said, shutting the app down.
    But she made a point of remembering the guy’s name beforehand. Kari was by her side in a second, filling her glass up again.
    “Well, in any case. You gotta drink up and tell me all the dirty little deets about your time as a stripper! I feel like I’ve known you since first semester and I always thought you were this sweet, nice girl, and now it comes out you’re some sort of vixen!”
    Rose groaned good-naturedly, taking a long swig from her wine. This was going to be a long night. But maybe with enough wine, she’d get a good enough idea to fix the jam she was currently in.
    Hell, maybe that idea could even include a sexy-as-sin werebear in Idaho…
 

CHAPTER TWO
    Redmond
     
    The burnt tree trunk weighed heavily on his back as Redmond dragged it across what used to be a long stretch of pristine wilderness. Now it was a charred mess, the mere remnant of a wild sanctuary that he’d known for only a short while before he lost it. The low hum of a chainsaw in the near distance caught his ears as he shrugged the log off his