Beary And Bright (Fire Bear Shifters 6) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Clara’s plastic cup, and soon all of the clan members were sitting around, happily munching on the best meal Clara had enjoyed since leaving Alaska.
    Soon, everyone was pressing Clara to tell her story. Most of the clan had caught bits and pieces of it from Ian or Riley, and they wanted to hear the whole tale from Clara herself. Clara ran through her history again, telling the whole Burning Claws Clan about her struggles in Alaska, and how she had been unfairly persecuted for the actions of a crazed alpha. Each of her new friends gave her sympathetic glances as they heard about the anguish through which she had lived. The more Clara talked, the more at peace she felt. She had a good feeling about this clan. They were welcoming and nonjudgmental, and, as Clara spent the evening with them, she started to actually believe that she might be able to truly start over fresh here.
    And Charlotte had been right—it didn’t take long to start sorting out the names of the clan members. By the time the pies came out for dessert, Clara had figured out who was who. More importantly, by the time the pies were sliced, Ian had offered Clara a place to stay.
    “We have plenty of room in the bunkhouse,” he said. “And once the expansion and remodel is done, it’ll be even better, with more private rooms and spaces. I think everyone here agrees that you’re a strong person, and my clan doesn’t like to look the other way when a fellow shifter needs help. The door is open for you to stay here for as long as you’d like.”
    Clara had managed to maintain her composure for most of the evening, but Ian’s generous offer pushed her over the edge. Two tears of gratitude escaped from her eyelids, spilling down her cheeks as she smiled over at the kindest alpha she had ever met.
    “I’d love that. Thank you.”
    Life in Red Valley was treating her pretty well, it seemed.

Chapter Six
     
    Carter opened his fridge and pulled out a beer can, then popped the tab open. He wasn’t fond of drinking alone, but it seemed to be his only option these days. He downed his first can of PBR while he heated up a microwave dinner, then grabbed a second can to take to the couch along with his food. He flipped mindlessly through the channels and sipped his second beer, slower this time. He couldn’t understand what he was doing so wrong.
    He’d been working hard for Zach and the crew of smokejumpers, pushing the limits of how fast he could build to get the expansion done on the bunkhouse. But, despite the fact that the crew had a barbecue every night, and Carter was almost always wrapping up his work to leave as they fired up the grill, he had never been invited to join them. Not once. Sure, Zach invited him to go for pie or to grab a coffee in town now and then. But he had never invited him to stay for a beer and a burger. Carter had thought it was a little strange, since he was on a first name basis with the whole group by now. Most of the time, when he found himself on a long job where he was around a group of people all day, he ended up eating lots of dinners and drinking lots of beers with them. He had thought that maybe the smokejumping crew just wasn’t the outgoing type, and didn’t like to invite strangers to their gatherings. He’d made his peace with that theory, until tonight.
    When he saw Clara walking up to the barbecue, and joining in like a longtime friend, he had felt his heart sink. He knew that Zach had just met Clara today, and, yet, here she was—invited to join in on the fun even though they barely knew her. Meanwhile, he packed up his tools and went home without so much as a goodbye wave from anyone.
    Maybe it was time for Carter to face the truth: the problem was obviously him. Something was wrong with him that made people not want to hang out with him. He had no idea what it was, because he thought he was a pretty decent guy. But since his ex-girlfriend had broken up with him two years ago, his group of friends had dwindled