22. Rune
Chapter 22
Rune
W ildfires.
They were an unfortunate reality of living on the West Coast, and as firefighters, we often got called in to help, even if we weren’t very close to the fire itself.
Wildfire shifts were different from other shifts—there was no set time on or off. You just worked until the fire was out because it was an ongoing emergency. So, when a fire broke out about three hours north of us, we got called in to support.
Thankfully, we didn’t have to go and stay there like a lot of firefighters, but we were still pulling more shifts than we normally would. The only silver lining was that we should get a little extra time off after the fire was put out to make up for the lack of rest we had during it.
For a solid week, it felt like I hardly got to see Sunny. We just returned to the firehouse to eat, shower, and sleep before going back out to the fire.
Walker stayed behind, since someone had to watch the station. He wasn’t lounging around eating candy, though. He was helping coordinate the wildfire efforts. Ensuring we had enough firefighters at the scene and back home was a delicate balancing act. I doubted he had much time with his newly bonded omega.
Her relationship with Walker was developing into something almost domestic. If she was around when he got a phone call—which was a lot—he would give her a quick kiss before leaving the room to take it, which she accepted happily. There was always food in the kitchen, usually on warming plates so we could grab it whenever. I had missed spending time with her in the kitchen, but we were all extremely thankful she had taken over the cooking, because usually when our schedules went haywire like this, we lived off take-out pizza and microwave Hot Pockets. Given that our jobs were physical in nature, having some good food to fuel us was a godsend.
The baked goods were the real winner, though. Every day, there was a new kind of cookie in the kitchen. Sometimes there were cupcakes. It was a little surprise I looked forward to every day. Sunny really was perfect. The firehouse felt so much warmer with her there, dancing around the kitchen, singing with Luka, his little giggles echoing throughout the place.
“Do you think Sunshine has cooked?” Blaze asked as we headed back to the station. We were exhausted. We were supposed to be helping one of the crews at the fire change over their equipment, which is why Walker had joined us. There had been a few ember fires, and we had been roped into helping put them out.
“I wouldn't get your hopes up. We've been gone for nearly twelve hours,” Walker said with a grimace. “I really shouldn't have said we wouldn’t be doing equipment turnover for long.”
“You jinxed it,” I said, leaning back and closing my eyes. It had barely been afternoon when we left the fire station, and now it was almost midnight. A deep bone-weary tiredness was taking over my body.
Walker nodded with a grimace. It was a well-known superstition in the emergency services to never say it was going to be a short call or a quiet shift. That was a surefire way to guarantee you were in for one hell of a night.
We all trudged into the firehouse quietly. It was quite the contrast to the way we used to go barreling in, laughing and joking at the top of our lungs. Now we were more concerned with making sure we didn't disturb Sunny or Luka.
When we finally sorted out a pack house, I had no idea how I was going to cope with not having them around all the time. It would be much nicer for her to have her own space, though.
Gil looked in the direction of the kitchen. “I smell food.”
I took a deep inhale. It was hard to smell anything through the thick odor of smoke that clung to us, but sure enough, something delicious was emanating from the kitchen.
Blaze clapped his hands happily. “In that case, I'm going to go get grub before I shower because if I don't eat soon, I'm going to waste away.”
I chuckled as he scampered toward the kitchen. “Drama queen,” I muttered.
“He's your pack mate.” Gil chuckled as we followed him.
“Sunshine!” Blaze’s voice gleefully boomed from the kitchen.
As I rounded the corner, I noticed Sunny sitting at the kitchen table, feet tucked under her. She had a book and her laptop in front of her.
“Hey, Cher,” I greeted warmly. “Studying?”
Sunny huffed, putting the book down. “I'm trying to. I'm falling so far behind.”
“It's late, you should be sleeping,” I said, striding over to her and kissing the top of her head. I wanted to pull her in for a hug or kiss her properly, but since I had just come from a large fire, I didn't want to get this smell all over her.
“Luka has been waking up every few hours. I think he's starting to cut a new tooth. Every time I try to go to sleep, he wakes up, so I thought I may as well do something productive with my time.”
Given the dark circles under her eyes and the sheer exhaustion clear as day on her features, was she really able to do anything productive with her time? I knew that, when I was exhausted, I was completely useless, but I wasn’t going to say that to her.
“Why didn't you tell us Luka isn’t sleeping well? One of us could have stayed behind and helped,” Walker said as he entered the kitchen, going to the counter and grabbing a bowl of what smelled like stew.
“There's no point. I would be getting up with him, anyway—he’s my baby. It's not that bad. He used to be a lot worse when he first started teething at six months old. I think I slept three hours in a week.” She laughed like it was a fond memory, but the stark reminder of how much she had to do alone made me frown.
“I can stay here tomorrow, if you want?” I offered, glancing at Walker. Technically, that wasn't an offer I could make until our captain signed off on it, but I knew he was also concerned about Sunny's well-being. My thoughts were confirmed a second later when he nodded appreciatively at me.
“Honestly, he's coming out of it now, and I will be able to get more rest soon, I promise. Don't put yourselves out for me. And go get yourself some food! When did you last eat?” she asked, her hands on her hips as she stood, glowering at me.
“Trust me, I am going to demolish a plate of food in a moment. I just wanted to see you first.” I grinned at her, enjoying the way her cheeks turned pink at my words.
“Sunshine, this is amazing!” Blaze shouted from his spot next to the counter, where he was shoveling stew into his mouth at a breakneck speed.
Her eyebrows rose. “Judging by how quickly he is consuming that food, I don't think I made enough.”
“I’m sure there’s plenty. Blaze is just being Blaze,” I assured her.
“Blaze, if you finish that food before all of your teammates have gotten some, then you won't get any of the cookies I'm making tomorrow,” she threatened, pointing at him with a glare.
Blaze stopped mid chew. “Cookies?” he asked, mouth still full of food.
Sunny nodded. “Yes, they’re cinnamon sugar swirl. I’ve already made the dough, and it’s chilling overnight. I'm even going to make a sweet vanilla icing to go on top.”
I bit back a laugh. Blaze looked utterly horrified at the prospect that he would miss out on cookies. Seriously, this omega was perfect. She had figured out every one of us so quickly and handled us like a complete pro. It was easy to forget that she was so much younger than us.
Yawning, Sunny ran a hand through her hair. “I think Luka has finally settled down for the night, so I'm going to try and get a few hours of sleep now you guys are home.” She smiled serenely.
Had she been waiting for us to get back safely?
My chest filled with some unnamed emotion that made me want to hug her close.
“Do you want us to watch the baby monitor?” Walker asked.
She shook her head, a few strands of hair falling from her messy bun. “No, I'm sleeping in the same room as him, there’s no need.”
We knew she was sleeping in the same room as him, but we still wanted to help. At the same time, we didn't want to overstep. Even though we weren’t vocalizing it, we were trying to find a middle ground between ensuring Sunny felt like she was still in control of her son's life and taking some responsibilities off her hands and making her life easier.
Not that we'd been around much lately to make her life easier. Hopefully having a safe place to stay was easing some of her stress.
“I would hug you, Cher, but I’m stinky,” I said, looking down at my dirty clothes.
“You can hug me goodnight tomorrow.” She smiled, padding over to me so she was inches away before standing on her tiptoes and placing a kiss on my cheek, her soft lips leaving a trail of fire in their wake.
“Where’s my kiss, sunshine?” Blaze cried, still eating his food.
Sunny raised a brow. “You have food all over your face.”
Gil was also tucking into a bowl of stew, but he snorted as Blaze pouted.
We were a mess, but fuck, if we weren’t an amazing little family.
I didn’t want anything to change.
Well, that was a lie. I wanted to be bonded to Sunny, but other than that, I didn't want anything to change.