A Spark to Bear (Fire Bear Shifters Book 2) by Sloane Meyers

went to sleep early. Riley had been hoping for another late night of talking under the stars, but Hunter didn’t seem to be in a particularly talkative mood.
    He did agree to share the sleeping bag with her tonight. They opened it up so it would be wider, and they spread it like a blanket over both of them. Riley snuggled up to Hunter as he drifted off to sleep. She watched his chest rising and falling peacefully for a long time before she finally closed her eyes and joined him in dream world.
    This time, when she dreamed she was chasing the tall, muscular man across the field, she caught him. And when the man turned around, she clearly saw Hunter’s deep green eyes staring back at her.
    Maybe Hunter was right. He was her destiny.

Chapter Six
    The next day, Hunter opened his eyes before the sun had risen above the horizon. In the gray light of early dawn, he glanced over at Riley, who was still sleeping soundly beside him. He studied the outline of her face, marveling at how unguarded and peaceful it looked while she slept.
    He reached for her hand under the sleeping bag that they were using as a blanket. She stirred slightly when he laced his fingers with hers, but quickly settled back into the steady breathing of sleep. He furrowed his brow, trying to decide how, exactly, he was going to break the news to her that he was a bear shifter.
    She had wanted to mate with him last night. He had seen the passion in her eyes, and smelled the desire seeping from her pores. He had been so close to giving in to the craving that had flooded through him. He wanted her, too. But he couldn’t mate with her until he told her who he was. He had seen his alpha, Ian, struggle with the frustration of sleeping with a woman before revealing his shifter secret. Things had worked out between Ian and Charlotte in the end, but not before Charlotte had nearly given up on Ian, angry that he hadn’t come clean with her from the beginning. After seeing how that relationship played out, Hunter had vowed never to sleep with a woman he loved until she knew he was a shifter.
    And he was pretty sure he loved Riley.
    Everything about her captivated him. Her smile, her laugh, the easy way a conversation with her flowed. She fit him. And no wonder, since he was surer than ever that she was destined to be his lifemate. He had suspected as much, when he smelled her in danger on the day he rescued her from the wildfire. But he knew with certainty after she shared her dream with him. Humans’ dreaming of their lifemates was a rare occurrence. It only happened when the human was unusually tuned in to the supernatural elements around them, or when the lifemate bond was exceptionally strong. Hunter didn’t think Riley was the particularly spiritual type, and so he suspected that they had a rare, extra strong bond. He knew that the moment he mated with her, his soul would be permanently bonded with her.
    She stirred again, and he looked over at her. He had to tell her today, even though he was terrified that she wouldn’t want anything to do with him once she knew he hid a bear within him. She deserved to know the truth, before she decided whether to invest any more of her heart into him.
    Hunter sat up and slid out from under the blanket, tucking it around Riley as he left. He started packing up his gear, pulling out two protein bars to serve as breakfast. His food supply was getting a little low, but he wasn’t worried about it. Sometime tomorrow they should make it to the visitor center, where a truck would pick them up and carry them out of this burnt up wilderness.
    After wolfing down one of the protein bars, Hunter grabbed his radio and wandered a little ways away to contact Ian.
    “Ian, this is Hunter, are you there?”
    “I’m here. How are you progressing?”
    “We’re making okay time. We didn’t make too much progress yesterday afternoon, because the heat up here borders on unbearable. But we’re just about ready to get going, now. I’m going