19. Harper
NINETEEN
HARPER
The inferno was consuming everything beautiful they'd spent days creating.
Harper's emerald gown, once pristine for dancing, now clung to her sweat-dampened skin as acrid smoke burned her lungs with each desperate breath.
The twinkling lights Dorian had so carefully strung now sparked and fell like dying stars, igniting the formal wear of pack members who stumbled past her in blind panic.
This is hell on earth.
Through the chaos, she caught glimpses of Dorian's massive black wolf disappearing through the exit with Marty and the other enforcers, their combined howls cutting through the screams like battle cries.
Every instinct screamed at her to follow him, to stay by his side where she belonged, but his alpha command echoed in her mind.
"Get to Lila now."
He's going to sacrifice himself if it means we survive, she realized with crystalline terror. Well, so will I.
The thought should have paralyzed her. Instead, it sharpened her focus to a razor's edge. She'd spent her entire life managing crisis situations. Tonight, every skill she'd ever developed would be tested.
Harper pushed through the crowd, her heels abandoned somewhere in the wreckage, her bare feet finding purchase on debris-strewn floors. The smoke thickened with each passing second, turning the elegant town hall into a suffocating maze where familiar faces became ghostly shapes in the haze.
"Lila!" she called, her voice hoarse already from the toxic air.
She found them near the shattered windows—Lila and Tobias working together to help an elderly pack member climb through the jagged opening. The young man's formal shirt was torn and bloodied from broken glass, but his hands remained gentle as he supported the older woman's weight.
"Harper!" Lila's face was streaked with soot and tears, her blue-gray eyes wide with terror that threatened to drag her back into the trauma that had nearly destroyed her months ago. "The whole building's going to collapse!"
"I know, sweetheart." Harper reached them, immediately assessing the situation with clinical precision.
The support beams near the back wall were already groaning ominously, and the fire was spreading fast. "We have maybe ten minutes before this whole structure comes down, and the smoke's getting toxic quick. "
For a heartbeat, she watched Lila's face crumple—the brave, healing girl Harper had come to love like a sister threatening to disappear back into the broken, terrified victim she'd been after the attack. The sight made Harper's chest tighten with protective fury.
No. Not tonight. I won't let her go backward.
But then something miraculous happened. Lila's chin lifted with a defiance that made Harper's heart soar, her voice cutting through the chaos with surprising strength.
"I'm not leaving this building until everyone is safely out."
"Lila, no," Harper started, even as pride flooded through her at the girl's courage. "You need to get to safety. Dorian wants you out of here—"
"I don't care what Dorian wants right now." Lila's voice carried an edge of steel Harper had never heard before. "I'm not going to let anyone die today. I will do whatever needs to be done so no one has to suffer like I did."
God, she's magnificent.
Harper's throat tightened with emotion even as urgency drove her forward. This was the Lila she'd glimpsed in their counseling sessions—the strong, compassionate young woman who'd been buried under months of fear and trauma. But they didn't have time for celebration.
"Then we do this together," Harper said firmly, grabbing Tobias's arm as he helped another pack member through the window. "All three of us. Move fast, work smart."
They fell into a rhythm born of desperation and determination. Harper's crisis training kicked in fully as she assessed each situation, prioritizing the most vulnerable while Lila and Tobias provided the physical strength needed to move debris and support injured pack members.
Two minutes. Harper mentally tracked their progress as they worked. Maybe three if we're lucky.
That's when she heard it—a sharp crack followed by a child's terrified scream from across the burning hall.
Harper's head snapped toward the sound, her heart stopping as she spotted the source.
A massive support beam had collapsed near the far wall, pinning someone beneath the wreckage.
Then through the smoke and flames, she could make out Evelyn's silver hair as the matriarch fought to reach a small form trapped behind the fallen timber.
A child. There's a child trapped.
"Grandma!" Lila's scream cut through the chaos as she spotted her grandmother disappearing into the wall of fire and smoke without hesitation. "No!"
Harper watched in horror as Evelyn reached the child—a little girl who couldn't be more than six—but the beam shifted as she tried to lift it.
The matriarch's leg disappeared beneath the heavy timber with a sickening crack, trapping them both in a pocket of space that was rapidly filling with smoke and flame.
They're going to die.
Harper met Lila's eyes across the chaos, seeing her own desperate determination reflected in the girl's face. Neither of them spoke—there wasn't time for words or plans or rational thought.
They simply ran.
Harper's bare feet slipped on the debris-strewn floor as she sprinted toward the collapsed section, Lila matching her stride for stride.
The heat intensified with each step, turning the air into something that burned her lungs and made her eyes stream.
Through their mate bond, she felt Dorian's fury and determination as he battled outside, his focus absolute even as some part of him sensed her danger.
Stay alive, she projected toward him, hoping he could feel her love through their connection. I need you to stay alive.
They reached Evelyn and the child just as another section of ceiling crashed down nearby, sending sparks and burning debris raining around them. The little girl was conscious but sobbing with terror as she pressed against Evelyn's protective embrace.
"The beam's got my leg," Evelyn said through gritted teeth, her face pale with pain but her voice steady. "I can't lift it alone."
Harper didn't hesitate. She grabbed one end of the massive timber while Lila took the other, both of them straining against its weight. The wood was already burning in places, the heat searing their palms, but they held on.
"On three," Harper commanded, falling back on her crisis training. "One... two... three!"
They lifted together, their combined strength barely enough to raise the beam the few inches needed. Evelyn immediately pulled her injured leg free, her face contorting with pain as she gathered the sobbing child in her arms.
"Lila, take the girl and get out," Harper ordered, already moving to support Evelyn's weight. "Now!"
Lila didn't argue. She scooped the little girl into her arms and ran toward the nearest exit—the main door that Dorian's battle had finally cleared of Ronan's wolves.
Harper wrapped her arm around Evelyn's waist, taking most of the older woman's weight as they stumbled toward safety. The matriarch's leg was clearly broken, her formal dress torn and bloodied, but her grip remained strong as she leaned into Harper's support.
"You're going to be fine," Harper promised, even as the building groaned ominously around them. "We're all going to be fine."
Through the smoke and chaos, she could see the exit—and beyond it, the clear night air that meant survival.
Seconds later, fresh mountain air struck Harper's lungs like salvation as she and Evelyn finally stumbled free from the inferno consuming the town hall.
The contrast between the toxic smoke they'd escaped and the crisp night breeze was so stark it made her dizzy with relief.
Behind them, the building groaned and crackled, flames reaching toward the star-filled sky like desperate fingers.
But the momentary peace shattered as the sounds of brutal combat reached her ears—snarls, howls, and the wet impact of flesh against flesh that made her stomach clench with terror.
Dorian.
Through the mate bond, Harper felt his fury blazing like a second fire, but underneath that ran something that made her blood freeze. Pain. He was injured. Not critically, but enough that every protective instinct she'd developed screamed at her to get to his side.
The battlefield stretched before them in the flickering orange glow of the burning building—a chaos of massive wolf forms locked in deadly combat. Harper's eyes immediately found Dorian's distinctive black coat with its silver threading, and her heart nearly stopped at the sight of him.
Blood matted his fur along his shoulder and flank, dark stains that caught the firelight as he circled with Marty and several other pack wolves against what had to be Ronan's forces. But even injured, he moved with lethal grace, every muscle coiled for the kill.
"Thomas!" Harper called to a pack member she recognized from the dance preparation, her voice hoarse from smoke inhalation. "Take Evelyn to get medical attention now. Her leg's broken."
The burly man rushed over without hesitation, carefully lifting the pack matriarch into his arms despite her protests that she was fine. Harper squeezed Evelyn's hand once before letting her go.
"Be careful, dear," Evelyn managed, her blue eyes full of concern. "My grandson needs you whole."
Harper nodded, already moving toward the side of the building where she could hear voices calling for help. She found Lila there, her formal dress torn and soot-stained but her face set with determination as she helped evacuate the last stragglers through the shattered windows.
Look at her, Harper thought with fierce pride, watching the girl she'd come to love coordinate the rescue efforts with natural leadership. She's not the broken victim anymore. She's a fighter.
"How many more inside?" Harper asked, immediately falling into step beside Lila.