Chapter 35
Hailey
“Well, if it isn’t Little Miss All Packed Up!” Freddie grinned as I walked up to the rig, laughing. My shifts had been spotty the last few weeks due to being sick, but I wanted back desperately.
I couldn’t help but do a little twirl. It felt good to have my uniform back on. “It’s good to be back!”
“Well, hold that thought. Guess where we are being stationed today.”
My smile dropped, and I froze, arms falling to my sides. “I don’t like your tone… Where?”
Freddie cocked his head. “One of the evacuation outposts.”
“Wonderful.” I groaned, rolling my eyes. “They’re throwing me right back into the deep end, I see.”
Whenever the wildfires, which were pretty much constant, were getting a little out of hand, more areas had to be evacuated, and naturally, there were extra injuries.
So, whenever an evacuation was in place, a few ambulances were often stationed in outposts that had been set up near the scenes.
“Come on, I’ll get the coffee.”
I held up a hand, smiling to keep myself on the level. “Actually, I’ll just have tea. I’m trying to cut back on caffeine.”
Freddie gave me a weird look, but didn’t say anything as we did our pre-shift checks.
“So, how’s your love life?” I asked as we made our way to our post.
Freddie sighed dramatically. “It could be better. I met this really cute guy on a dating app, and it seemed like it was going somewhere, but he just gave me bad vibes when we actually met in person.”
“How come?” I asked.
“He was generally just a bit of a dick. He was rude to the waitstaff. Very entitled…”
I nodded with a groan. “Say no more. Being rude to the server is a huge red flag.”
“Though I don't know why we're talking about my love life when, all of a sudden, you’re bonded to the hottest firefighter of Station Sixteen.”
I snorted, rolling my eyes again. “Don't let Blaze hear you say that. You'll break his heart.”
Publicly I was only admitting to the bond with Merrick, thankfully most of my marks were hidden by my uniform.
“He's got an omega who could kiss it better.” Freddie shrugged. “Stop avoiding my question, Hailey.
A nervous chuckle escaped. “I'm not avoiding, it was all really sudden. Probably a little rushed, but I'm excited.”
“Are you going to give me the dirty details?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Not yet. Things are still unfolding. Oh, look!” I pointed to a fire truck parked on the side of the road near where we were headed. “It’s Station Seventeen.”
Distraction working, Freddie pulled off to the side, and we were quick to get out and head over to make conversation.
I smiled when I saw one of my friend’s alphas. “Elliot, it's always good to see you. How’s Melody doing?”
A grin broke out on the alpha's face at the thought of his omega. “She’s doing amazing, working nonstop at the shelter. We have to remind her every day to eat and sleep, but she's never been happier.”
“I need to come see the place now that you've fixed it all up again.” I thought of when I’d last seen her. “How’s her hand?”
“A little red, but other than that, it looks like nothing even happened. There's not going to be any scarring, I don't think.”
“Great!” I gestured around us, the air in this area smoky and thick. “Are you guys here on wildfire duty?”
“We're just coming to consult on the plan of action.”
I nodded. It was typical to have a bunch of people around, determining what the best course of action was. Fires like these, because they were so unwieldy and temperamental, needed as many heads on the case as possible.
“Ooh, lookie, lookie. It looks like they've got the hot convicts out.” Freddie laughed.
Everything stopped. My heart hammered as I turned to see the familiar orange jumpsuits of the convict firefighters.
Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit.
Was Preston in there? We couldn’t run into each other. Too much to explain and not the people we wanted to explain it to.
I lightly slapped Freddie on the chest, hoping to go anywhere else. “Stop ogling, and let's get to work.”
Reluctantly, Freddie followed along, and we headed to the tent that was set up for us to do our work. Our first patient just so happened to be one of the firefighters from Station Three.
“Hey, my captain wants me to come see you guys,” he said. He was wearing his turnouts and a gray T-shirt and was covered head to toe in muck and soot.
“I'm guessing he wants you to see us because you've hurt yourself. Care to tell us how?” I raked my stare over him, looking for familiar clues.
He waved off my concern. “It's nothing.”
“You know what? Why don't you humor us and sit on this gurney? For me?” I asked sweetly, batting my eyelashes, and the guy blushed just a hair.
“Don't look at her like that. She's a taken woman,” Freddie teased, and I rolled my eyes.
“I'll still do whatever she tells me.” The guy laughed, sitting down as I had instructed. “I kind of fell down a big hill and crashed into a few trees.”
“Well, that doesn't sound like nothing. Does anything hurt?”
“My leg, maybe?” he said, looking down at himself.
While Freddie took his vitals, I knelt down and started checking out his leg. Sure enough, it only took me a few seconds to notice what the problem was.
“If you can clear me, I'll get back to work,” the firefighter said, trying to bat Freddie away as he placed an oxygen mask on him.
“No can do, firefighter. You've got a giant twig sticking out of your calf.”
Sure enough, it was embedded a good few inches into the muscle. He’d probably done it while rolling down the hill and hadn't even realized it.
“Oh damn!” He laughed, his hand going to the back of his head. “Well, shit.”
Taking a pair of medical scissors, I cut away his turnouts. Usually, if we could simply remove them, we would because they weren't exactly cheap for the department, but considering that twig was jammed through it, I needed better access.
“You know when you call it a twig, that makes it seem small,” Freddie said, cocking his head to the side.
“What would you call it?” I asked innocently as I took a bottle of distilled water and started rinsing the area. “You know what? I’m going to give you a painkiller, but I think this is deep enough that the professionals are going to have to take this out.”
“Really?” he groaned. “That’ll take ages.”
“Yes, but we’d rather you get taken care of properly. Otherwise, you could get an infection, and then you would be off work for weeks.”
The firefighter thought about it for a moment. “Fine.” He sighed.
“Come on, we’re giving you a ride.” I laughed, clapping a hand on his shoulder playfully.
As Freddie was loading him in, something tingled through my spine, forcing me to stop. I couldn’t fight it, finding myself turning around. To my left, there was a group of orange-jumpsuit-wearing firefighters cutting back some foliage.
And there, looking right at me, was Preston.
His gaze was so intense, boring into mine. There was an unmistakable hunger in them.
I thought the bond between us had weakened, but one glance at him, and my stomach was doing somersaults. My omega whined pathetically to go to him, throw myself into his arms, stick my face into his neck and smell that scent again.
Only, I couldn’t.
Now that I knew the nature of his work, knew he was there undercover, there was no way I could risk him being discovered.
All we could do was look at each other for those few seconds, every instinct telling me to move while the sounds around me faded into the background.
I had to shake myself back into focus.
As we loaded the firefighter into the ambulance, my stomach twisted in knots. The heat spikes had faded after bonding with Nolan and Wilder, but that didn’t stop my omega from being a horny bitch and demanding to spend time with one of her alphas.
Before I knew it, the door to the rig slammed shut, and I jumped, quickly going to the front of the cab and hopping into the back.
“You’re quiet,” Freddie commented as we drove to the hospital.
“Just distracted making sure this guy’s leg doesn’t fall off.” I laughed, but it sounded weak.
“My leg’s not going to fall off for real, is it?” The firefighter’s brows rose in surprise.
“I don't know. An amputation may be necessary,” I said lightly.
“Hailey, stop trying to traumatize the poor guy. Dude, you've gotta scratch, you'll be fine.”
The firefighter sighed in relief. “Girl, you scared me.”
I smirked back at him. “What can I say? Sometimes I like causing chaos.”
“Your alpha is a lucky guy…or unlucky. I’m not quite sure.”
“Oh, he’s lucky, Hailey’s awesome. But if he’s smart, he’ll never step out of line. My girl here is far too skilled with needles.”
I rolled my eyes. “I threatened to stab someone with a hypodermic once. Once.”
“Yeah, in my book, that's one time too many.” Freddie laughed.
Before I could retort, the radio crackled to life, and Freddie was distracted, answering the dispatcher.
“Saved by the radio,” I muttered.
“I think he’s a brave guy.” The firefighter chuckled.
“Hush you, or you’ll be stabbed with a needle too.” I didn’t mention it was a needle full of pain relief, but it still counted.
He saluted at me. “Yes, ma’am!”
By the time we dropped off the firefighter, I was starting to feel lightheaded. As Freddie wheeled him through the corridors, I trailed behind.
Once it was just us again, he stopped me in the hall. “Hey, what's going on?”
“Just feeling a little woozy,” I admitted.
“Do you need to go have a Merrick cuddle?” He laughed as we stopped by one of those crappy coffee vending machines.
“No… I don’t—" The scent of the coffee hit me, and before I could even think about it, my stomach was turning violently, and I had to run to the nearest trash can to be sick.
“Crap. Are you okay?” Freddy asked, running over to help me.
“Yeah, I'm fine,” I said, waving off his concern. “It's probably just the morning sickness.”
Freddie, who had been lightly rubbing my back, stilled.
“I’m sorry. Morning sickness?” he asked.
I was too busy throwing up in the trash to be cool. “Yeah, it's kind of a long story, but I'm pregnant. Quite far along, actually.”
“How far along is quite far along?”
“I'm nearing four months now, but I don’t have much of a bump.” I frowned.
He took a step back, staring at my stomach as I straightened. “You look a little bloated, that's all. You're telling me you’re four months along? Girl!”
“I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner, but I was just trying to wrap my head around it.”
“You know you'll have to take maternity leave soon. Hell, why aren't you taking it now? You know we have to take it early due to the nature of our jobs. Smoke isn’t good for growing babies.”
“Because you've been riding with students for weeks, ’cause I've been sick, and I wanted to give you at least a few shifts without an incompetent partner.”
“I appreciate that, but I can make do with the students. If it's for your own health and well-being. You should be at home having your feet rubbed by your handsome firefighter.”
I stood up, wiping my mouth on my sleeve. “My handsome firefighter is currently fighting fires. Remember?”
Freddie was quiet for a moment. Slowly, a smile spread across his face. “I'm going to be the best uncle!” he declared, and all I could do was laugh.
“Well, you can start now by getting me a mint.”
Chuckling, Freddie strolled down to the nurses’ station while I tried to catch my breath.
What the hell was that about?