Stella turned in the doorway and faced out toward the corridor. The wolf stopped beside her. Behind her, Siren’s voice was low and steady. She was moving around the room, checking each woman, asking quiet questions. Stella heard her ask one of them when they’d last had water. She heard her tell another that medics were coming. The screaming stopped. Someone started to cry, quietly.
Hunter came up the corridor behind them and stopped at the door. “Building’s almost clear. Dom’s at the south door with Andre. Medics are staged outside.”
“Copy,” Siren called back from inside the room.
Hunter turned and went back the way he’d come. Stella held the doorway. The wolf held it with her. The corridor in front of her was empty. The doors along it were open or broken. Moments later, Stella heard voices coming down the corridor. Dom led a group of medics and Portland PD toward the holding room.
Stella and Blaze stepped back from the door so they could get past. The medics went in two at a time, stretchers folded under their arms. Siren met them in the doorway and started briefing them.
The first medic crouched in front of the women and asked their names. Asked if they could walk. When they brought the first woman past Stella in the doorway, the young woman’s eyes lifted. She looked at the bear for one long beat. Her hand reached out, and Stella lowered her head. The young woman’s fingers brushed Stella’s muzzle before the medics helped her down the corridor. When the holding room was empty, Siren came out last. She stopped in the doorway in front of Stella.
“You did good.” Siren reached out and put her hand flat on Stella’s shoulder. Then she dropped it and walked past them down the corridor, following the medics out.
Stella turned her head and looked at Blaze and they shifted back together. In moments, both of them were human again, naked and bruised, his arms around her. The medics had left blankets in the holding cell. They pulled them around their shoulders and made their way through the building to the parking lot.
Red and blue lights rotated across the cinderblock walls of the building from the Portland PD vehicles. There were five ambulances. A van for victim services. And dozens of paramedics moving across the asphalt.
Siren sat on the bumper of an ambulance beside one of the survivors. The next one was being checked by a paramedic inside. The others were in blankets, being walked to another ambulance. Pierce was in the back of a squad car, looking like a man who had just lost everything.
Officer Andre Holt stood with two Portland PD officers. He saw Stella and nodded. She nodded back. They’d finally found them.
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
Shane and Lily’shouse was a single-story craftsman up on the hillside above the village with a wide front porch and a stone path through the front yard. The sun had dropped behind the ridge, and the porch light was on. Theo’s car was in the driveway with a car seat visible through the back window. Stella sat in the passenger seat of Blaze’s truck. “Ready?”
“I hope so,” Blaze said.
She opened the door, got out of the truck, and walked up the porch steps. Blaze was a half-step behind her with his hand at the small of her back. She opened the front door and walked inside. The Keenan house smelled like roasted pork with something fennel-and-citrus going on.
The hallway opened into the living room. There was a stone fireplace at the far wall with a low fire going. Serena was on the rug, dark hair in a loose knot, and her shoes were off. Arlo sat between her crossed legs in aMILK BANDITonesie and one sock, gnawing on a wooden spoon with the focus of a small scientist. He looked up when the door closed, saw Stella, and banged the spoon against Serena’s knee with both hands.
Serena lifted her chin. Her eyes found Blaze and stayed there, staring at him as if to ask, “Who the heck is that?”
“Hi, Serena. Can you bring Arlo into the kitchen? I want to introduce everyone to my guest.”
Stella’s stomach flipped as she walked down the hall and into the kitchen. Lily was at the island with a wineglass in her hand. Shane was at the stove in his Father’s Day apron, working a pan. Theo was at the kitchen counter, dicing shallots. Serena came in behind them with the baby in her arms.
When Lily saw her, she set down her wineglass and crossed the kitchen. “Stella, what happened?” She touched the bruise on Stella’s face, then Lily’s eyes went to Blaze. “And who is this?”
Stella took Blaze’s hand. “Everyone. This is Blaze Mercer. My mate.”
Lily’s hand went to her mouth. Shane hadn’t moved from the stove, but his eyes were on Blaze. He knew exactly who he was looking at. “When did you get matched with a member of Savage Steel MC?”
“It’s a long story, Dad. I’d rather share it over dinner.”
Shane looked at her. He looked at Blaze. He looked at the bruise on her neck.
“All right,” he said, his voice incredulous. He turned back to the stove, lifted the pan off the back burner, and set it on the island.
Lily lowered her hand from her mouth. “Theo. Help me set the table.”
Moments later, the dining room table was covered with an array of dishes. Shane and Lily sat at the heads. Theo and Serenasat on one side, with Arlo’s highchair between them. Stella and Blaze sat on the opposite side.
Theo dished up a serving of roasted Brussels sprouts. Shane passed the pork platter to Stella. Lily passed the rolls to Serena.
“Honey. Tell us how you got matched,” Lily finally said after everyone had a full plate. “And what happened to your face?”
