Fire Shifter: A BBW Paranormal Romance: Alaska Fire Bears, #1

By Zola Bird

***STANDALONE ROMANCE - ENDS HAPPILY EVER AFTER - NO CLIFFHANGERS***

Jess Adams is done with love.

It hasn’t worked out for her and she isn’t about to go chasing it.

But when a wildfire sparks to life in the Alaskan wilderness, love comes looking for Jess.

Jake Smith is a grizzly shifter, a smokejumper, a maverick. He fights the wildfires that the other guys can’t handle. But when Jake parachutes into this particular fire, he gets more than he bargained for…

…Jess.

Jess recognizes the lean, chiseled firefighter immediately. He brings back memories of their past. But as far as Jess is concerned, they don’t have a future. Not after what Jake did.

Except fate has a funny way of reconnecting people.  And today’s fire seems to have happened for a reason. Can Jess ever learn to trust Jake again? And can Jake tame his demons long enough to claim his mate?

It’s going to take more than passion to forge a bond between these star-crossed lovers. It’s going to take heat. Join Jake and Jess as they light up the Alaskan wilderness tonight.

*A Note to the Reader: Fire Shifter is a story of hot, sexy Alpha love. In addition to steamy lovemaking, it contains some adult language. If sizzling shifters and their curvy BBW mates aren’t your thing, you may want to skip this book. But if you're a curvy girl who likes her leading men strong and her action scorching hot, enjoy!

**If you haven't already read my Wild Alpha Shifters or my Bear in a Billion books, be sure to check them out!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zola Bird
• Release date: Dec 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781519922373

Zola Bird

To be the first to hear about my new releases, you can join my mailing list. Just copy and paste this link into your browser: http://eepurl.com/behG25 I started writing sizzling sexy paranormal shifter romance after a bad break-up and I haven't stopped since. When I'm not curled up on the couch indulging in ice cream and one of my favorite books, I spend my time writing, writing, writing. I guess you could say I pretty much live and breathe hot Alpha shifters and their mates. Cubs? My own Alpha? I sure hope so. Until then I'll keep writing about sexy Alpha shifters and the beautiful curvy women they love. XOX, Zola

Book preview

Fire Shifter

An Alaskan Firebear Paranormal Shifter Romance

by

Zola Bird

Chapter One

JESS ADAMS PEERED OUT at the tall pines casting their shadows over the sun-dappled lake. It was late June now, and the ice had long since broken up, but the beauty of the Alaskan wilderness never ceased to inspire her. The landscape was so raw, so wild, that just staring out at the placid waters of the lake stirred her soul. Of course, Jess didn’t have forever to just stand around. She had work to do.

Jess worked as a guide at the King Kodiak Fishing Lodge. She liked the solitude and the peace that came with living in the wilderness and she thought herself well suited to the job. She had just turned twenty-six years old and she was of average height, with shoulder-length auburn hair and sparkling green eyes. Though Jess was a little heavier than a lot of women she knew, her curves were never something she was ashamed of. She was healthy, and as far as she was concerned, her body looked great the way it was, regardless of what the fashion magazines screamed.

Of course, it wasn’t like Jess got to see current issues of those magazines all that often. The lodge was fly-in access only, and so remote that they were the only place around for more than a hundred miles in any direction. Which wasn’t to say it was lonely there. King Kodiak got a lot of guests, especially in the busy summer season.

Jess looked up as the low drone of a float plane carried over the wind. After a few moments, the red-and-white plane landed with a roar on the still lake. The pilot shut down the engine and the aircraft quietly drifted into the dock.

Four guys. They made their booking last week, Marnie said.

Marnie was the chef at the lodge and a curvy girl just like Jess. The two of them had become close over the year that Jess had been working there. More than close. They’d practically become sisters.

Fish and Wildlife? Jess guessed.

Not them, but they are government of some kind, Marnie replied.

Great. I’m sure they’ll get along fine with Barry the billionaire. Jess glanced up at the patio as she said it.

Barry the billionaire and his new wife had been at the lodge for five days now. So far, they’d been a handful. Nothing was ever right or good enough for the billionaire and his skinny, cosmetically enhanced wife. No bed was soft enough, no dessert sweet enough. Not even the scenery met their expectations. In fact, Jess thought, the two of them seemed most content when they were staring at the screens of their smartphones.

Didn’t make a lot of sense, Jess thought. Fly into the most beautiful place in the world, a place with mountains and wildlife and the possibility for endless adventure, then stare at your phone the whole time. It wasn’t exactly a recipe for relaxation. As the float plane glided in, its propeller slowly spinning to a stop, Jess heard another low drone. She looked up at the sky.

Are we expecting anybody else? Jess asked.

No.

That’s weird. Who do you think it is?

Jumpers, Marnie said.

Who?

Smokejumpers. They parachute in to put the wildfires out. We’d better plan on a few more guests for dinner, Marnie said, a note of concern creeping into her voice. Somewhere out there, we’ve got ourselves a fire.

∞ ∞ ∞

Jake Smith glanced out the open door of the DC-3 aircraft with an appraising stare. A plume of smoke rose from the forest floor below. Jake was a big guy, and it was a long way down, but this wasn’t his first rodeo. The fire wasn’t too big yet, so there was a decent chance they could contain it.

What do you think? Jake said.

I think we get in, get out, get ’er done. his burly colleague Bud replied.

Exactly, Jake thought. Just another day at the office. He bumped fists with Bud.

You guys hear that? Bud said to the rest of the crew in the back of the plane.

We got ourselves a little smoker? a third member of the team asked.

Barely a barbecue, a fourth guy replied.

Jake was the crew leader of the Wild Grizzlies, a four-member smokejumping team, all of whom were bear shifters. Smokejumpers formed the elite forward firefighting force in the battle against Alaska’s wildfires, and Jake had enough experience under his belt to know what he was dealing with. He’d been fighting fires in the Alaskan bush for two years now. Smokejumpers parachuted into fires so remote it was difficult even for helicopters to reach them. Thanks to their fixed-wing aircraft, they could bring more equipment than could be carried in a helicopter and they could get to the blaze faster, allowing them to get the fire contained before it became a bigger problem.

Smokejumping was a natural fit for bear shifters. Being out in the wilderness gave the men a chance to exercise their bears and commune with the natural world they loved. Plus shifters were physically stronger than the average human. That strength and endurance came in handy as the job dragged on. After dropping into the hot zone, Jake’s crew transitioned to helicopter duty. That meant that after parachuting in, they stayed with the fire, running back and forth by helicopter until it was out. Firefighting, however, wasn’t foremost on Jake’s mind today. His thoughts kept drifting to another part of his life, a part of his past that he couldn’t quite shake…

…his ex.

Jake’s bear must have sensed that his ex-girlfriend was somewhere nearby, which shouldn’t have bothered him after all this time, but it did. Just the thought of her radiant green eyes made his heart skip a beat. Then there were her curves, her button nose, and that cute little smile. When he had lived in the city, Jake didn’t listen to his bear as much, but now that he lived in Alaska, it was different. Despite his best efforts, his thoughts kept returning to her. They had been so close. Closer than he had ever been with anyone before or since. Somehow his bear knew that his ex wasn’t just a failed relationship, she was, without a doubt, the mate who had gotten away.

We going to do this, boss? Bud asked.

Jake nodded, casually glancing out the open door of the aircraft to the cloud of smoke far below. Bear in the fire, Jake said. Then he jumped out the airplane.

Free fall.

No worries.

No concerns.

Just the cool air rushing past.

A second later, Jake felt his body jerk up. Back to reality. Jake knew it was his static line kicking in and opening up his parachute. The parachute halted his rate of decent exactly like the giant air brake it was. No more time to dream. He had work to do. In addition to being a thirty-one year old bear shifter, Jake was a ferocious worker, as were all his crew. He knew that each of his guys loved working up North for the fire season. Their job fighting wildfires was not only essential, it was rewarding, and the forested landscape gave their bears a chance to run. It also gave them the freedom to express who they were. After all, though they shared similarities with humans, bear shifters were, in many ways, different. They were bigger, stronger, and they tended to live much longer lives. And when they mated, they mated for life.

Mating. He was parachuting into a fire. Why had his mind gone straight to mating? Must be his bear, he thought, trying to drive his human to do what was right. Although nobody in his crew had mated yet, Jake figured he had come the closest by a long shot. Still, Jake could tell that the other guys were mulling over the idea of settling down, too. Especially Bud. Bud was a big teddy bear. So were Angel and McCourt, of course. Every one of his crew was a teddy bear when it came to matters of the heart and Jake loved them for it. They were tough as nails, but they were sensitive, too. Yup, Jake thought. There were other shifter smokejumpers out there, but Jake knew his team was the best.

Jake drifted down to earth, the smoke from the fire rising around him. The others would be above him, and the idea was that everyone would steer their chutes into a nice clearing. Then they would start cutting firebreaks to try to contain the flames. Of course, things didn’t always work out as planned, and it