25. Blaze
Chapter 25
Blaze
I t was officially operation getting Sunny rested .
Unfortunately, Walker needed to tie up some loose ends, so he was doing that and also running to the grocery store to get a bunch of healthy groceries for feeding Sunny. Rune was on baby duty, which meant he was taking Luka through the trucks, showing him all the fancy fire engines.
That left me on Sunshine duty. I had already made the den cozy before she had fainted, but now I was going extra . I had pulled the duvets off all the empty bunks and made a makeshift nest on the sofa bed in the den.
Walker’s bunk probably wasn’t comfortable enough on its own for her.
I may have also added in sheets and duvets from mine and Rune’s beds.
What could I say? Her scent was amazing.
“This is overboard,” Sunny muttered as Walker carried her into the den, adding her to the little makeshift nest. “I can walk.” She gave him a disgruntled look, but it was adorable.
“Nope,” Walker said simply. “Rest.”
“No point fighting him, sunshine. He’s stubborn.” I smirked at her adorable little frown.
“I need to look after Luka,” she said weakly.
I shook my head, keeping a grin plastered on my face. “Luka is having a great time with Papa Rune and the fire engines. For the next few hours, you’re mine, sunshine.”
As I spoke, I pulled one of the blankets over her. Despite her protests, she snuggled down into them, getting comfortable.
“So, the question is, what do you want to do with me? I am your manservant for the day!”
Sunny gave me a curious glance. “Manservant, you say?”
I gasped, a fake, overdramatic sound. “Sunshine! I am a pure and innocent soul, that look on your face suggests dirty things…”
Sunny snorted lightly before shifting so she was next to me, wrapping an arm around my waist and snuggling into my side. We both lay on the sofa bed, lulled into a quiet peace.
Everything was lemony and delicious smelling, and despite my declarations of being innocent, I had a boner that was harder than steel.
I didn’t have to worry about that for long, though, because mere minutes later, Sunny was snoring lightly, wrapped around me like an adorable little koala. As much as I had been looking forward to a day of video games and chatter with our stunning new pack mate, snuggling with her was pretty fucking fantastic.
Walker appeared in the doorway, as he had every hour almost on the dot since this morning, gazing at the omega curled up in my arms in a deep sleep.
“How is she doing?”
“Still sleeping. A regular sleeping beauty, this one. I’m almost tempted to kiss her and wake her up.”
Even though I was smiling and joking, a deep, painful feeling of guilt was gnawing at me. How had we been so blind to Sunny’s health declining? No matter how much I was beating myself up about it, I knew Walker would be taking it a hundred times worse. He was the leader of our pack and our captain; he took our health and well-being seriously. Missing that his bonded omega was struggling? That had to hit extra hard.
Walker nodded. “She needs to sleep for as long as possible. Rune is with Luka. We shouldn’t get any calls in the next few hours before the extra men get here.”
“Do you know who the extra men are going to be?” I asked.
“Elliot and Samson. Considering Elliot is working with us on the arson investigation on Sunny’s building, anyway, and Samson is his pack mate, it seemed like a good option. Their station is overstaffed at the moment, so they won’t miss them.”
Elliot was a good man. A little bristly at times, but he cared about his men. His pack mate just so happened to be my cousin, Fitz.
“Good, do you think that’ll be enough?”
Walker grimaced. “If it was up to me, I would have six extra men here. That way, all three of us could take some extended time off to focus on her.”
“We’ll have to make do, one of us with her at all times.”
Walker nodded. “I’ve got to go finish some emails—you okay there? I hate to leave…”
I beamed at him. “I’m going nowhere. I assume we are all off wildfire watch?”
Walker nodded. “Yeah, we need to be able to take care of things here first before we assist there. Station Three has it pretty well handled.”
“Good!”
There was no way in hell I was going to stop having sleepy snuggle times with our omega unless I was pulled away against my will.
Said omega had her nose pressed into my neck, her arm wrapped around me and her leg thrown over mine. Tugging another blanket over us, I pulled out my phone and opened a book I had been reading during my downtime. Usually I would watch some TV, but I didn’t want any noise to disturb my sunshine.
The time passed quickly, between my book and basking in the warm snuggles. The sun had already started to set when Sunny finally stirred.
“How long have I been asleep?” she asked groggily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“A little over six hours,” I replied, putting my phone down without disturbing her.
Her head popped up, her hair mussed in that cute way I loved. All sleepy and rumpled was the best look, in my opinion. “You’re still here?” she asked in surprise.
“You wrapped yourself around me, I didn’t exactly have much choice.” I chuckled as her eyes widened.
“Luka!” she gasped.
“Is doing fine. He spent some time with Rune looking at the trucks, had a nap, then Walker had him on his lap while he worked at his desk. Luka is quite the budding artist, you know? He left some rather impressive crayon drawings all over Walker’s paperwork. Oh, don’t frown, sunshine. Walker loved it. I’m pretty sure he’s put an acquisition form that he doodled all over up on the fridge.”
“I should be looking after him,” she said, trying to clamber out of the bed.
Thinking fast, I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close to me again. “Nope. You are on bed rest, sunshine. If you want to see the little one, then we will bring him here for a snuggle, but I repeat, you need to rest.”
Sunny glowered at me but laid back down. “Fine,” she huffed. “The least you can do is feed me.”
“I’m sure Rune is already on that. How about I go grab whatever he’s making and get a progress report of Luka’s artistic antics? You have to stay put, though.”
“I’m not an invalid!”
“Temporarily, you are,” Rune said as he walked into the room, sitting on the edge of the sofa bed and cupping the back of Sunny’s head. “You worried us for a moment there,” he said softly.
Sunny melted under his sincere gaze. Leaning in, he placed a kiss on her forehead before pulling back and smiling down at her.
“Rune, you’re on Sunshine watch, I need to go pee!” I shouted before diving out of the bed and hightailing it out of the room, the sound of their laughter following me.
After a quick trip to relieve myself, I poked my head into the office, where Walker was happily working away with Luka on his lap.
“All good?” I mouthed from the door. His only answer was a thumbs-up.
Next stop was the kitchen. There were several prepped meals, so I gathered a hot bowl of gumbo, rice, and a salad, and an extra side of crispy green beans, piling them onto a large tray. Checking the fridge, I retrieved the chocolate cake and cheesecake I’d found at a nearby bakery. They weren’t nearly as good as Sunny’s baking, but they would have to do. I cut a large slice of each.
A few bottles of water, and I was wobbling back to the den with my haul.
“I bring sustenance!” I declared as I entered the room. Sunny was sitting up, the blankets pooling around her waist as Rune sat where I had been moments before. Her hair was now braided, hanging over her shoulder.
She gaped at the tray in my hands. “That’s not all for me, is it?” she asked in disbelief.
“I thought choices would be nice. After all, you need to keep your blood sugar up.” I placed the tray on the sofa bed. “Luka is still happily snuggled up with Walker. I didn’t have the heart to separate them.”
She glanced over the choices before picking up the salad. I grimaced. Sure, the salad was nutritious, but it wasn’t the most calorically dense. Although, I had added extra chicken and a few of those health things Rune sprinkled on salads—hemp hearts, chia seeds, nuts—those sorts of things. Would that be enough?
“I also meal prepped some smoothies with protein powder in them for later,” Rune said, like he was reading my mind. “I made chocolate, strawberry, and peanut butter banana.”
Beaming, I sank onto the sofa that hadn’t been converted into a bed while Sunny nibbled at her food. “So, what do you want to do with your evening, sunshine?”
Sunny chewed her food thoughtfully for a moment. “What are my options?”
I cocked my head to the side. “What did you used to do to relax?”
“After Luka? Not much. Before him, I used to bake. I also used to jog a lot, and I was a big reader. I love audiobooks.”
Well, jogging was out of the question. She was already exhausted. The same went for baking—that involved too much standing, mixing, and general moving around.
“I haven’t seen you reading, sunshine! You should have said. Actually, I was reading a riveting book on the history of fire hydrants while you slept.”
Sunny grimaced but then giggled. “I’m surprised you didn’t fall asleep reading about that.”
Beaming, I leaned forward, resting my chin in my open palm. “What kind of books do you like, then?”
“Romance, fantasy—wasn’t it you who said you guys were big fans of dragons?”
Rune nodded. “I’m more of a watcher than a reader, though,” he admitted, opening a bottle of water and handing it to her to sip on between bites.
“I was in the middle of reading this huge fantasy series, it’s like ten books long. I scored them all in paperback at a thrift shop a while back. With the fire…” Sunny hesitated, her eyes downcast. “Well, you know. Anyway, it’ll be a while before I’ll be able to replace them.”
Sometimes I forgot just how much she had lost. If she liked reading, I could buy her a library, and I would do it in a heartbeat if it would make her happy.
“Hey, Blaze, didn’t your mama get you a fancy new e-reader last year that you never used?” Rune asked, raising his eyebrows as he smirked at me.
“Oh yeah!” I shouted as I shot up. “It’s been in my drawer for months. I’ll be right back!” I was out the door and ignoring Sunny’s protests.
Grabbing the box and the envelope my mother gave me with it, I practically ran back to the den.
“So, fun fact about me, sunshine. I read on my phone, but personally, I hate e-readers. I’ve never been able to get along with them. There’s something about the screen I can’t deal with.”
She cocked her head to the side as adorable confusion overtook her face. “But you don’t mind your phone screen?”
“At this point, I’ve been Stockholm syndromed by my phone screen. I’ve been stuck with it so long, I’ve formed an emotional connection.” I shrugged. “But this is something I refuse to bow to,” I declared, holding up the e-reader box.
“That is some interesting logic,” she said, giggling.
“So, if you can make use of this, you totally should!”
“Well…” Sunny bit her lip. “If you’re not going to use it. I swear you guys hoard nice things and never use them.” Her look was almost accusatory.
“That thing has been doing nothing but gathering dust,” Rune said. “Really, you’re saving it from a slow and painful death of nonuse.”
Chuckling, she held out her hand. “Thank you.”
“There are also some gift cards in there for the e-book store. Courtesy of my mother.”
Sunny pulled out the gift cards and paled. “Blaze! This is five hundred dollars’ worth of gift cards! I can’t accept this!”
I shrugged. “They go with that devil device, so there’s no way I’m going to use them. Buy your book series.”
Was I being purposely obtuse? Yes. I could use those gift cards for books on my phone, but I was going to play ignorant if it got Sunshine to accept them.
Sunny sighed, rubbing her temple with one hand, holding the e-reader and gift cards in the other.
“I know, Cher, he frustrates us all,” Rune soothed. “He’s a pain, but he’s our pain.”
She glared playfully at Rune. “Coming from the man who was going to let a gift card with a thousand dollars on it expire?”
A rush of excitement filled my chest, and there was no hiding my dopey grin as she agreed to the our part. Did that mean she saw me as her pain?
I would happily be her court jester.
Providing giggles in the day and orgasms in the night.