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25
Tasha
Wake up.
My wolf jolts me awake, my senses struggling to make sense of my surroundings. Something smells off. Smokey. As if something is…
“Paxton!” I shoot up in the bed and slap my hand down on his chest to get his attention. He startles awake, blinking rapidly to get his bearings. He’s out of the bed faster than I am, leaving me tangled in covers from an apparently restless night’s sleep.
“Is that fire?” His voice is hoarse as he helps yank the covers away from my legs.
“Look.” My hand shakes as I point toward the window. We can see red embers flaming from the yard. I stare at the view with a sick feeling as Paxton fumbles with his phone.
“There’s a fire.” He hesitates. “I don’t know, it’s close. Hurry, we need them to come help save the books.”
Oh my Goddess.
I rush out of the room toward the library. The second my feet hit the hallway, I stall. The entire front of the house is lit up from the fire, and it looks like the flames are already licking the exterior of the house. I can feel the heat working its way through the house.
I have to save the books.
My time with the Sovereign Pack was good for one thing, at least. I was trained on the proper way to save the books in the event of an emergency. The house was prepared for this, and so was I. I take a deep breath as I reach the library and start turning the shelves.
“What are you doing? We should get these into boxes or something.” I glance back at Paxton to see him wild-eyed in the doorway. There’s a barely visible layer of smoke starting to curl around him.
“No, the house is designed around this. Come help me.” I beckon him over desperately. “Reach around the wood framing. The actual shelves are metal, and you can grab the corner to turn it.” I show him how to do it, rotating the shelf so that the books face inward. Safely enclosing them in a fireproof case.
He mumbles something like, “This is fucking genius,” under his breath as we work in tandem to protect the most valuable assets in this house. If the whole place goes down, at least history will be preserved.
I’m turning the last shelf in on itself when we hear it. The splintering of wood and the collapsing of something heavy from inside the house. The smoke starts to pour in much faster.
I can hear people shouting in the distance, but I can’t make out what they’re saying. I can only assume it’s a bad sign that no one is rushing in to check on us… assuming those are Dominic’s guards.
“We need to get the hell out of here,” Paxton growls.
I nod, already heading for the doorway. He manages to maneuver protectively in front of me the moment before we step out into the hall. There, we both stop short. Smoke pours into the house, but it’s impossible to tell where it’s coming from.
“I could see fire at the front of the house, but the heat feels like it’s coming from the back!” I shout at him, my voice high-pitched with panic.
There are sounds of groaning and creaking coming from all over the house. And even though we can’t see the source—or sources—of fire, we can hear the roaring flames picking up strength as they eat away at the wooden structure around us. I knew when I was chosen as Luna Sovereign that it meant dying in this house… but not like this.
“What are we going to do?” My voice is low, but his head whips toward me as if he’s heard. He leans in to speak close to my ear.
“We need to move. The longer we stand here, the more likely it is that the ceiling will collapse on us.” He wraps his hand around my wrist as if he’s worried he’ll lose me if he doesn’t keep hold of me.
“Cross the hall to the bedroom! The fire hadn’t reached there yet; we can go out the window.”
Paxton grimaces, and it’s the last thing I can see before he disappears into the smoke, dragging me along behind him with no visibility and only a vague sense of what’s happening around us.
The smoke has grown thick too quickly. I don’t know much about fire, but it seems safe to assume this is a very bad sign.
I run into Paxton’s back when he stops suddenly. “This won’t work!” he shouts. “The fire is spreading too fast. It’s already reached the bedroom.” He turns, using his grip on my wrist to make me turn with him, and ushers me forward until he can move around me. I can feel him even though I can’t really see him.
We stumble blindly through the smoke.
I’m starting to cough, and I know soon the only choice we’ll have is to crawl. Already, my back hunches to try to protect my face from the onslaught of smoke careening toward us.
“This is fucking insane! How the hell is it coming at us from every direction?” Paxton releases a piercing growl.
