Ranger Bear (Rogue Bear Series 1) by Meredith Clarke, Ally Summers

team.
    Kyle led his team forward with Jax and his men on their heels. They depended on him. He had to forget Whitney or no one was going to make it out of here alive.

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    Whitney

    T here were still a few boxes in the living room. She surveyed what she had accomplished in the house. The house would be on the market next week. There was only one more place to tackle. The damn barn.
    She hadn’t been in there in weeks. She had avoided it. Sometimes she considered burning it down, but that would be rash and insane. Although understandable considering the shape her heart was in.
    She lifted a handful of flattened boxes under her arm and trudged across the yard. Most of the things in the barn she could sell in an auction. She didn’t have any need for the table saws or the tractor. But there were things in the apartment that needed to be boxed up. And she knew one day she’d appreciate having a few of her father and brother’s tools.
    She eyed the wall that Kyle had pinned her against as she closed the door behind her. It had been the best night of her life. She sighed and made her way to the workbench.
    She had replayed it a hundred times. Would she have done things differently if she had known he was leaving? Would she have handed him her body the way she did? Would she let him devour her? She wondered if he had known and took her because it was the last night. He wouldn’t have to face her again.
    She reached for a silver hammer and dropped it in a box. She made one box for trash. One to donate. One to sell, and the last for herself.
    The morning passed quickly. She looked up when she heard the rain pelt the roof. The workbench was clear. She examined the tractor and decided to let the auctioneer give her a price.
    Then out of the corner of her eye she saw something she hadn’t noticed in the barn before. She walked toward the sheet. She lifted it with one hand and her heart almost stopped when she pulled it away.
    It was a bench. A beautiful, smooth bench made of teak. Her hands trailed over the back. Her initials were carved into the wood.
    “He made this for me?” she whispered.
    It didn’t seem possible. All those nights she had heard him in the barn, the saw going, the lights blaring. This was the project. Her fingers dug into the deep grooves where the W and C entwined.
    She turned to sit on it. The anger had been there, pushing her to keep going. It was almost tangible. The rage made her feel alive. It made her stay focused. But sitting on the bench, this beautiful art he had made for her, something else broke free.
    The anger ebbed and the tears started. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders. Behind the anger was something stronger. Fear. What if Kyle didn’t make it back? What if he ended up the same way Sam did?
    Whitney let the tears fall, until she didn’t think there were any left.

17

Kyle
    H is eyes were blurry . His head pounded. Everything was dark, but he could hear screams in the distance. He tried to stand but his leg was pinned under a concrete block. The explosion. It started coming back to him.
    The entire mission had been a trap. It was bad intel, served to them to lead them into an ambush. The building was on fire and if he didn’t get out, he would be a part of the next blast.
    He shoved the beam off his leg, growling with the effort. He stood, looking for his team.
    “Brake!” He heard the scream over the hiss of the flames. He leapt over the rubble searching for the voice.
    He threw bricks and beams, until he uncovered the trapped Ranger. He stared at Shep, the team communication specialist. He carried the radio equipment in his pack, but Kyle knew it had been smashed into a million pieces. They wouldn’t be able to call for help.
    He stared into the man’s eyes. They were wide with panic. The blood trickled along his temple. It started coming back to him. This was exactly how he found Sam. Trapped and surrounded by fire. Kyle felt the anger well up in him. He couldn’t let