Tristan
Recently Tristan had been bored out of his mind.
His brothers, Roman and Derek, had both found their mates, which had left him hanging out with all the other bachelors. That was okay. He still had Jameson and the rest of his brothers, but he was closest to Roman and Derek and always had been.
When Roman had finally pulled his head from the sand and joined the rest of the world by letting the pack move down south to Anchorage, Tristan had been happy.
The pack was happy too. Even Roman could admit that it had been the right decision to finally leave their ancestral land behind and move.
Once they were settled, Tristan had needed something to do, so he looked through a list of all the classes offered at the local college, and computer science was the one that interested him the most. From that course, he picked cybersecurity.
He took a few classes at the college, and he got the certification. He had a natural knack for it, but Jameson turned out to be better at it. Not only did they need a secure network for the pack, but they needed someone who could teach the older pack members how to use the internet. Jameson even learned how to install surveillance cameras so they could keep an eye on the perimeter of their property. They put Jameson in charge of their security and Tristan finally found his calling in firefighting.
Several of the pack members were firefighters, but Tristan wanted more.
That’s when he found smoke jumping.
He loved his new career, and he was good at it. Wolf shifters were not immune to fire. But they were a lot more immune than humans were. They could heal faster from burns, and they didn't suffer as quickly from smoke inhalation, so in some ways it was a perfect fit for him.
Wolf shifters were also less likely to get trapped or burned because they were stronger and faster than humans. If they were inside a building that was structurally unsound, they were more likely to be able to get out quickly.
Smoke jumping also required skills that he enjoyed using. He got to save human lives as well. Occasionally, he got to save shifters too. He knew all too well that a shifter could be killed in a forest fire, just as his old Alpha had. He had never taken their survival for granted. From the time he was seventeen years old, he had understood the risks.
So now he had a purpose.He didn't have a mate or a family, so smoke jumping was his calling.
He’d had a mate. For just a fraction of the time he’d lived, he’d understood what all the fuss was about. He hadn’t seen her in seven years, but the pain of losing her never faded.
Violet had been lost to him forever. After his initial depression over her disappearing act, he had gone out looking for her. But he had not found her.
He felt the loss of her every single day. He had considered dating again, and his pack had encouraged him to try it, but in the end it just felt wrong. He couldn’t bring himself to be with another female, or even a human woman.
The smoke jumping, and the special training, and the skills he needed, kept his mind and body occupied. He hadn't even known smoke jumpers existed until the Alaska Fire Service, part of the Bureau of Land Management, put out an ad saying they needed help.
Tristan wasn't really needed by the pack, and his mate had no use for him, but the people of Alaska needed him. And that would have to be enough for now.