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“Don’t fucking mess with me. I’m Oliver’s mate! The guy who nearly did your head in, remember?”
Uziel clenched his teeth so hard that they seemed close to shattering. She opened the door to her apartment and went inside, holding the bear spray up like a cop with a gun.
He pointed at her through the glass. “This isn’t over!”
Lillian watched him storm away before getting onto the elevator, bending over with a large gasp as the doors dinged shut.
She texted Oliver immediately to let him know what happened. She didn’t want to let it interfere with her day, nor did she want it to ruffle Oliver’s feathers. But he needed to know.
He replied to her, saying that he was glad she bought the bear spray and to keep him updated. She thought about going to his place again, but she was flat-out exhausted. All that spectacular sex had drained her, albeit in a good way.
So Lillian went home after work and conked out early. She was awoken in the middle of the night by a call from her boss, who was frantically bawling over the phone.
“Lillian! Lillian!”
She sat up in bed. Her heart slammed in her chest when she was finally able to interpret what Berline was saying through hysterical tears … the gallery had been set on fire.
“Wait, Berline, I’ll come to you,” Lillian said, her head still foggy.
A second after getting off the phone, the alarm began to shriek in the hallway. Lillian ran to the door and tried to open it, but something was blocking her. Her heart crawled into her throat, and her ears began to ring when she spotted white smoke curling under the door with its guileful claws.
Someone had barricaded her in, and her apartment was on fire.
SIXTEEN
OLIVER
Oliver didn’t want to alarm Lillian, but he was bothered when he received the text that Uziel had shown up at her apartment. The man was one of those stubborn assholes who didn’t take no for an answer.
He knew that Lillian was a woman who could take care of herself. She had proactively bought the bear spray, which was impressive, but he felt she truly didn’t comprehend the mortal danger she was in when it came to a shifter with an obsession.
Men, in general, were dangerous to women, but male shifters were far more lethal than any human. Some shifter men became slaves to their wants and desires, whereas those like Oliver were tamer and understood that not everything in life was going to go swimmingly.
Oliver believed that shifters who were abusive toward women would have been abusive even if they were just human. It would be in their DNA, their blood, no matter what.
He had met many of Uziel’s type during his reign as alpha.
So, to avoid making Lillian feel like she was being babysat, he asked Quintin to take over his alpha duties for a few days while he snuck into the city to watch over her. She had a strong independent streak that made the idea of being fawned over feel like a violation. He wanted to respect that as much as he was able to.
Oliver figured he would deal with her disapproval once the problem with Uziel was resolved, but after he spotted the red and orange flames rising into the black sky over her apartment building, he was glad he had gone against her wishes.
Oliver had followed her home after work and was lingering nearby in a tiny cafe. He figured he could stay there until closing. Then, he could find a place to shift and wait for dawn while still keeping an eye on the front door. However, the horror of the fire had changed all that. He needed to get into the building, and he needed to get in fast.
He rushed over from the cafe against the flow of patrons streaming out, the alarm screeching into the frantic chaos of the night. Oliver knew which apartment was hers because he’d had Quintin look into it, apartment 616. He pushed past panicking people while the blare of a siren sounded, still at a distance that was way too far for Oliver’s liking.
Oliver’s heart was pounding in his chest as he made his way toward the stairwell. He could feel the rising heat of the flames as he hurried up six floors while other people whipped past with confusion. When he got to her floor, he sprinted like lightning down the hallway, his bear in full survival mode.
When he got to her door, he growled with rage, making the floor shake with impact. Someone had barricaded the door with a dresser and tucked a long piece of plywood beneath the door handle, blocking her from escaping.
The gray smoke was rising and sneaking into Oliver’s lungs. His eyes began to water and sting as he ripped past the dresser and the barricade, then finally kicked the door down. He went inside to find that the smoke had completely infiltrated her apartment. Lillian was lying on the floor of her living room, unconscious.
“Motherfucker,” Oliver hissed.
His anger had taken over, but that emotion often helped him focus. He would shelve the feeling of vengeance away for another time. At that moment, he needed to get Lillian out immediately, and he needed her safe. Smoke inhalation for humans was no fucking joke.
She was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and was wearing a backpack when he picked her up, her body flopping into his arms in an overwhelmingly distressing way. She had tried to get out, gathering up what she needed first. Oliver was proud of her, but his heart was torn by the sight of her lifeless form. He took the backpack, threw that over his shoulder, and then tossed Lillian gently over the other.
“I’m getting you out of here, baby, if it's the last thing I do."
