Chapter Seven
“Hey, did you notice that those weird fires stopped?” Jeremy said before stuffing a bite of lasagna into his mouth.
They were having dinner, and like always, they had to be quick about it.
The alarm could ring at any moment, and there was nothing worse than having to abandon a plate of lasagna for who knew how long.
Austin and West exchanged a glance over the table. Austin wasn’t surprised that someone had finally noticed something had changed. There hadn’t been any big shop fires after the community center, and while everyone had been busy, Jeremy seemed to have finally noticed.
“What weird fires?” Taylor asked.
“You know, in all those shops. Didn’t you have someone look into it?”
Taylor cleaned his mouth with his napkin. “I did. They confirmed it was arson, but as far as I know, they don’t have any suspects.”
“Well, at least whoever did it stopped.”
Austin focused on his lasagna, but it tasted weird now. It had taken him weeks to stop feeling like he could taste Tate’s blood on his tongue, but right now, he felt like it was right back there.
He tried to hide his shudder. He didn’t want anyone to think he was behaving strangely, but he wished Jeremy hadn’t brought it up.
He never wanted to think or talk about Tate ever again.
Tate was the first and only person Austin had killed, and while he didn’t regret it exactly, it still made him feel weird to think about it.
Tate had threatened Caleb. He would’ve hurt him if Austin and West hadn’t interrupted him. Austin had acted on instinct when Tate had reached for Caleb again. It had felt natural to defend Caleb, and Austin would do it again if he had to. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to eat anyone else.
He looked up to find that Jeremy, Lisa, and Taylor were staring at him. He glanced at West, but West appeared as puzzled as he was about what was happening. It was like their team was waiting for something, but Austin couldn’t tell what that something was.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, it’s been what, two months since the fire at the community center?” he asked. “I guess that means that whoever was behind the fires left town.”
He took a sip of water, just to give himself something to do. The three were still staring at him, which made him want to scream.
Jeremy slowly nodded. “I sure wish we knew more about it.”
“Yeah, me too, but does it matter who the arsonist was? Since they stopped, I mean.”
“I guess not, although I would’ve liked that person to pay for what they did. If someone knows something, they should tell us.”
Austin’s mouth went dry. What was Jeremy implying? Did he know something? He couldn’t. There was no way the three of them could suspect that Austin was involved with Tate’s vanishing act.
“We’re family,” Lisa said. “No one here should have any fear of telling the rest of us their secrets. We’ll keep them.”
Austin had no idea what to say to that, but he still needed to say something. He opened his mouth, but a new voice interrupted him.
“Hello?” a man called out.
Austin was so relieved he could have kissed him. He was out of his chair in seconds, rushing toward where the voice came from between the engine and the ambulance. A man stood there, carrying a bag over his shoulder. He blinked and smiled at Austin, but his smile quickly dropped.
“Shit,” he said. “You’re a shifter.”
Austin’s step faltered. If the man knew that Austin was a shifter, it meant that he was a shifter, too, and Austin got confirmation of that when he got close enough.
He nodded. “You’re the third dragon shifter here.”
The man’s eyes widened. “Third?”
“Who is it?” Taylor asked from where he’d stayed with the others at the table.
“How can I help you?” Austin asked the newcomer.
“Well, I was told this was my new station.”
Austin smiled, delighted. “You’re the probie.”
“I guess I am,” the man said as he rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s going to take some time for me to get used to that.”
“When did you finish the academy?”
“Recently. This is my first assignment.”
Austin couldn’t believe it. What were the odds that they’d get another dragon firefighter?
“Austin?” Taylor called out again.
Austin gestured at the guy to follow him. “That’s Taylor, our captain. No one here knows that West and I are dragon shifters, so maybe don’t tell anyone, okay?”
The probity nodded eagerly. “Of course not.”
“I’m Austin, by the way.”
“Eli. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Austin grinned. “I’d wait to say that if I were you. It might not stay a pleasure for long.”
Eli was cute in a puppy kind of way. He bounced on his feet as he followed Austin, his bag sliding from his shoulder a few times. He didn’t even pause as he pulled it back up. His blond curls moved as he walked, and his eyes were eager as he took everything in.
“Everyone, this is Eli, our new probie,” Austin called out once they reached the dining table. “Eli, this is everyone. You’ll have time to get to know all of us, don’t worry.”
Eli waved. God, he really was a puppy. “It’s good to meet all of you,” he said. He grinned at Taylor. “Captain. Thank you for the opportunity.”
Austin frowned. “What does that mean?”
“Just that I asked him to choose our station over the others who’d made him an offer,” Taylor explained as he got up to grab an extra plate. “Eli here graduated top of his class. We’re lucky to have him.”
“So you talked to him and asked him to come here?” West asked, sounding as confused as Austin felt.
It wasn’t unheard of for a captain to do something like that. In fact, Austin wasn’t surprised that Taylor had. It just seemed a bit weird that Taylor had asked someone who was probably the only dragon shifter at the academy this year to become a member of their team.
There was a twinkle in Taylor’s eyes as he filled the plate with lasagna and gestured at Eli to sit down. He kept looking from Austin to West, and Austin was convinced that he knew something more than ever. Knowing his luck, Jeremy and Lisa did, too.
He glanced around the room at the other firefighters present. Did they know? Hell, Austin wasn’t even sure what Taylor knew.
“I did,” Taylor confirmed. “I thought he’d be a good fit in our team.”
“I guess we’ll see,” Jeremy said with a shit-eating grin.
“Don’t listen to him,” Lisa said as she leaned over the table. “You’ll do just fine. This is the best station you could have ended up at, I promise.”
Eli glanced at Austin. “I think it might be.”
Austin almost groaned. Eli was going to out them to the team, wasn’t he?
There was no way he wouldn’t say or do something that would reveal what he was, which meant that Austin and West needed to make a decision.
Would they tell the rest of the team what they were?
Or would they let Eli be the only one to come out to them as a shifter?
Austin was still afraid they’d look at him differently, but they seemed to know something already, and they were behaving like normal.
Well, they were a bit weirder than usual, but it was still normal as far as Austin was concerned.
He looked at West, who arched a brow. He’d wanted to tell their team about their scaly secret almost since the beginning.
Austin was the one who’d slowed things down, but it looked like he might not have a choice anymore.
Eli was new, but from the looks of it, he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Austin didn’t have it in him to play babysitter and ensure that Eli didn’t reveal their secret to anyone, on purpose or by accident.
It looked like the decision had been taken out of his hands, and it might not be a bad thing because if it was up to him, he’d have hesitated until the end of time.
Eli grabbed his fork to dig into his plate of lasagna, only to drop it when the alarm rang. Austin put down his fork with a sigh. It was time to see how the new probie behaved on calls.