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My insides writhed as I found the threshold to the kitchen wreathed in fire. Through the flickering flames, I could barely make out a small, crumpled form on the soot-streaked white tiles.
“Allie!” I choked on her name, smoke clogging my lungs.
I surged through the fire, scenting singed leather as my jacket caught the worst of the damage. I didn’t have room in my mind to think, to fear. Not for myself. The terror that clamped my heart was for her. My Allie.
Her copper hair shone in the firelight, spilling around her pale face to fan through the pool of blood on the tiles beneath her head. Her eyes were closed, and I didn’t have time to check for her pulse.
My soul screamed at the possibility that I was too late to save the woman I loved. I shoved the agony aside and stripped off my jacket, bundling the protective leather around her as best I could. I scooped her up and held her close to my chest, rushing for the door. The flames licked at my exposed forearms as I burst from the fiery kitchen into the living room, but I didn’t feel my flesh burning. Fear for Allie consumed all my senses, and I raced through smoke until fresh oxygen rushed into my lungs.
“Allie,” I rasped, my voice sore in my ravaged throat. I choked on a cough, and my knees buckled.
I held her close to my chest even as I hit the hard pavement, cradling her in my burned arms. For a horrific moment, all I could see was the sticky crimson mask that completely obscured the freckles on her right cheek. Then I heard the rattle of her labored breathing through her parted lips.
Alive. She’s alive.
A shudder wracked my entire body, and I clutched her to me more tightly. Someone was at my side, shouting at me. I ignored them until they tried to take her from me.
An animal snarl slipped between my bared teeth, and I allowed the monstrous mask to twist my ruined face. The paramedic paled and shifted back slightly before his tanned features firmed with determination.
“Let me help her.”
I was dimly aware of flashing lights and the blast of a firehose. I saw the waiting stretcher and got to my feet, laying her achingly delicate frame on it. She looked so fragile, bloody and dusted with dark ash.
The paramedic pushed me aside and went to work. My knees shook, and I locked them to prevent myself from falling again. My head spun, and nauseating waves of heat rolled just beneath the surface of my skin. I couldn’t seem to draw in enough air, despite the fact that I’d escaped the smoke.
Someone guided me to sit down, and an oxygen mask was pressed close to my face. I tried to shake it off, desperate to keep Allie in my sight.
The second paramedic ordered me to be still, and I only complied because she shifted aside far enough so that I could see Allie. But within seconds, they were loading the stretcher into an ambulance. I surged to my feet and followed, pushing my way inside with her.
The paramedics eyed me up and down for a few heartbeats, then seemed to decide that I needed to go to the hospital too. I didn’t give a fuck about going to the hospital for treatment. They weren’t taking Allie anywhere without me.
Her chest convulsed, and she coughed beneath the oxygen mask. Her eyes fluttered open, slightly unfocused. She wasn’t looking at me. I needed to look into her peridot eyes and assure myself that she was truly alive.
My hands fisted at my sides as the male paramedic placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. I was so focused on her that I didn’t notice the female paramedic tending to the burns on my forearms.
My heart leapt into my throat when Allie coughed again, and I barely managed to force down the urge to tear my way through the people helping us so that I could get to her side.
After a few horrible minutes when she struggled to breathe, the man asked, “Can you tell me your name?”
“Allie…Fitzgerald,” she wheezed, fighting for each word.
The man’s eyes widened, and he sat back for a moment to study her face. Recognition dawned on his tanned features. “You’re the mayor’s daughter?”
She cringed and gasped for air. “Don’t tell…”
“Stay calm, Allie,” he soothed in a firm tone. “We’ll need to notify your family.”
She shook her head, then stilled with a groan.
“She doesn’t want you to call her father,” I growled, allowing my menace to fill the cramped space.
The man glanced at me, flinched, then dropped his gaze back to Allie.
But she wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes finally caught mine, and all the air whooshed out of my chest.
Alive. My Allie was alive. She was injured, but I hadn’t lost her forever.
“Max,” she croaked.
