Page 5 of Knot What I Expected

The fire doesn’t care what I am.

It comes for everything.

So do I.

And when my Wolf needs violence?

I give him something useful to fight.

Fire.

Trees exploding around us.

Smoke thick enough to choke a man unconscious.

Heat hot enough to blister skin.

Danger that sends sane men running the other way.

I run toward it.

Because fire doesn’t bleed when I hurt it.

Fire doesn’t scream my name.

Fire doesn’t look at me with terror in its eyes.

My radio crackles against my shoulder.

“Havoc.”

I glance toward the blackened stretch of forest.

“Yeah?” I reply out loud because my team doesn’t need radios to hear me.

Monsters all.

“You planning on standing there all fucking night?” Wreck barks.

A grin tugs at my mouth.

Asshole.

“I’m contemplating the decline of civilization.”

Silence.

Then he answers.

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

I snort.

Yeah, that’s more like it.

I look over the remains of the campsite one more time.

The flames are handled.