“Yeah, lemme jus’…Fuck, Trey’s not back from lunch. Fuck it, we’ll be there in two minutes.” He pulls away from the phone, already yelling for Xan and giving instructions to someone else.
I stop at the front desk long enough to let them know I will be out for the rest of the day, then I bolt out of the building and start jogging towards the fire station. Gabe and Xan know that I won’t just be sitting around waiting, and they can slow down enough for me to jump in the truck bed on their way.
I pull up Jacks’ number on my cell. I know he and Candice were waiting for the window repair guy today, and he won’t be coming with us, but I still need to keep him in the loop. He’ll probably feel the stress from Xan anyway, but it’s still important for him to know why. I stare down at my phone as it goes to voicemail, then hang up and try again.
Four rings later, I am leaving a message as I haul myself over the tailgate and slap the back window. I let Jacks know that we are all on our way to the fire station, we love him, and to keep Candice safe. Then I hang up, grab my gear, and hop on the firetruck as it’s pulling out of the station, sirens blaring.
It isn’t until the truck we’re on turns towards the east side of town, Candice’s side of town, and I see the column of smoke in the distance, that I start to get worried.
Jacks
Candice and I have been here all morning, we’re waiting for the guy that Xan set up to repair the window. But while we wait, I’m helping Candice pack. The idea is that after her heat she’ll move in with us on a permanent basis. She can sell her house eventually, if she wants to. She says it’ll help pay for renovations and her nest, but I’m not worried about that. It’s after noon, and I am just about to suggest a break for lunch. I packed us a picnic so we can share in her backyard, away from any stress she has from the last time she was here and the break-in.
“I’ll get it!” I hear her yell from the kitchen, must be the glass repair guy, so a good time to get out of the house…but it does mean I won’t be able to seduce her in the backyard while he’s here.
Oh well, maybe after he leaves.
“Hi, no, thanks for coming. Do I know you?”
The voice that replies is vaguely familiar. “No, you don’t know me; I’m here to fix the door, Seth Thompson, with Thompson Glass.” I can’t see him from here, that weird twistyfeeling in my mind is spinning like a tornado. Worrying that I’ll embarrass Candice if I step out now, I stay in the nest where I can keep an eye on her, but not be seen from the front door.
“Oh, sorry, Mr. Thompson, yes, please come in and I’ll show you the back door.” She has a fake customer service voice right now, like she’s trying to be overly polite, and that twisty feeling pulls tighter. I back away from the nest door, keeping Candice in my sight, she’s not looking at the man walking behind her, but she’s right, he is familiar. He has an ugly sneer pointed at her back, and a big bag of tools slung over one shoulder. Every alarm in my head is screaming at me to get my omega away from this fucker, and I don’t seem to have any control over my legs moving me to do just that.
I grab Candice’s tiny club from under the nest and step out of the door after he passes, I wait as he reaches into his tool bag. Candice is still turned away, talking about the back door and the glass, but as she turns back and sees me over his shoulder, the club raised high, her eyes widen. I don’t want to bludgeon this dude without cause, but my hesitation and her sharp intake of breath lose me the upper hand. He spins around, bringing some kind of big ass wrench with him, and hits me under my raised arm with it.
The sudden shock of pain causes me to drop my own weapon and Candice to scream. I curl inward, my body automatically trying to protect itself from the stabbing pain around my ribs, but I need to stay upright.
I need to get Candice out of here, and I need to keep her safe until help gets here. But I know that face now, I know that angry sneer…and oh fuck…this isn’t a glass repairman. He swivels his head between me and Candice, and I lower my arm on my injured side towards my pocket. If I can just press the panic button on her key, hopefully, they will send someone out.
“You fucking bitch!” He screams at Candice, and I can’t help the growl that erupts from my throat, dragging his attention away from her, even for a moment. “I finally get to meet you, in person, and what the fuck do I find? Some fucking piece of shit alpha inmyomegas house.”
He swings the wrench again, and I roll with the hit, getting clipped in the head and dropping to the floor but still conscious, my hand is in my pocket, slamming the panic button down over and over. The world spins, and Candice is screaming, as he raises that fucking wrench over his head. I try to kick out with my legs, knock him down with me since his center of gravity should be fucked with that heavy ass wrench so high.
I manage to clip his ankle, but it just throws his aim off and he brings it down in front of my face instead of on my head, throwing up tiny wood chips out of her floor. Candice has her hands around his arm, trying to pull him away from me, and he turns and knocks her away with the back of his fist. My growl sounds bubbly in my throat, and I wonder if there might be something wrong with my chest from that first hit.
Candice is screaming at him and lunges for his throat, her hands hooked into claws. But though she is fierce, my omegais still tiny. She can’t reach him before he swings again, and her head snaps back. She hits the floor, her skull smacking against the wood with a loud crack.
“Look what the fuck you made me do, stupid dim-witted son of a bitch. Fuck you, you fucking useless piece of shit.” Trey kicks me hard in the face, and everything goes black.
Chapter 34
Gabe and Xan are both losing their ever-loving shit as we pull up in front of Candice’s house. There are flames everywhere, and I still can’t get her or Jacks to answer their damned phones. Joseph is trying to get both my pack mates to settle down enough to put on their PPE so they can see if Jacks or Candice are in the house. Xan is screaming that he can’t feel anything, and Gabe is raging back and forth across the lawn.
Joseph’s brother, Samson, jumps off the back of the truck, already fully equipped, and heads towards the front door. Xan tries to rush past him, but Joseph hits him–hard enough to at least get him to stop screaming, and hopefully hard enough to stop panicking. I finish getting my own gear on and run towards the door. Because of my height, I am usually the last option to send in. However, my pack mates are not coherent enough to be useful, so I’m going to find our missing people.
I step into the burning house, smoke is everywhere, and I crouch down to try to see better. Something comes towards me through the smoke and I strain to make out Samson with a body draped over his shoulders. Judging by the size, I would guessmale, so hopefully Jacks. I turn left, scanning the floor as I go, but no one is in the office. Through the living room, and it’s boiling hot in here, trying to walk quickly in a crouch.
I yell through the radio asking Sam where he found the body, I can’t think too hard right now of it being more than a body. Static fills the line and I can just make out “li’ing…oom.” I head towards the nest, and there is nothing, her nest is on fire, but I don’t see anything resembling a person. It’s too hot and my vision is getting fuzzy, but I need to find her. I check the bathroom, but the adjoining closet is nothing but fire, boxes and clothes still hanging up, all in flames. I need to check, but I don’t think I can. I get down on my knees and crawl towards the closet, my hands blistering through the gloves as I kneel on the floor looking for anything that might be Candice. But the world is spinning and the black spots in my vision keep me from making any positive identification.
Yeah, I have totally fucked myself here, I try to stand and the world spins around me. Too much smoke, and I collapse against the wall, thankfully away from the closet. I try to use my radio to call for help, but my fingers feel like fat sausages and I can’t press the button down.
Then another body is there–Gabe, pulling on me, dragging me through the nest and out the back door, into the yard, and away from the burning house. The world is spinning as we get into the clean air, but my skin burns on both hands and down my back where I hit the wall. He pulls off my helmet, checking my eyes while he calls into the radio to get help in the back. Ihear a crack, and my brain pops up how pissed Candice is going to be that an alpha finally broke her fence.
“Shit!’ Says Gabe, loudly and with feeling, and I think he’s reacting to my uncontrolled giggles at the image of my Kitten ready to savage someone over her busted fence.
Joseph drops to the ground beside me, dragging a tank of oxygen, and swearing profusely. He pulls out three bottles of water, hands one to Gabe, and drops the other two on the ground by my head so he can put the oxygen mask over my face. My skin feels tight, and my face hurts, though I’m not sure if it’s burned, or I am grinning like a delirious lunatic thinking about angry Candice.
“Sam got Jacks out, he said he didn’t see anybody else. I’m gonna guess you didn’t either?” He looks between Gabe and me. Gabe shakes his head and they both stare at me.
