Chapter 49 Hailey
Hailey
The nest smells wrong.
That was the first thought that jumped to mind when I started to stir after being fast asleep.
The further I got along in my pregnancy, the more I filled up my nest with anything and everything that smelled like my alphas.
I’d even gone so far as sneaking in a few dirty gym T-shirts because the sweat smelled that good.
I blamed the pregnancy hormones.
But whatever was funneling into my nostrils now wasn’t sweat or alphas or anything like that.
Usually, whenever I started to wake up, those slow, groggy moments of barely there consciousness, I’d be surrounded by that comforting sense of my pack around me, their smells a gentle welcome back to reality.
Except, this time, it was all wrong.
It wasn’t the smoky scent I was used to from Merrick because of his work, one that I’d grown accustomed to, even started to enjoy. It was more acidic, more acrid and bright.
Like actual smoke.
What?!
Turning over, I threw the blanket off me and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes as I willed my brain to wake up faster.
The room was dark, much darker than it usually was. My spine tingled, my heart rate speeding up. This didn’t feel right. I blinked and blinked, but it didn’t clear up, and then that smell hit me stronger, making me cough.
I still couldn’t see. Why couldn’t I see?
It hit me. I was seeing. It was just hazy and black. Because there was a thick layer of smoke inside the room.
Smoke. That means—Fire!
“Shit!” I hissed, sitting up straighter and looking around, suddenly wide awake.
I sank down to the floor, pulling my shirt over my nose to prevent some of the smoke from getting into my lungs. Crawling was already a problem, and I had to do it with one hand now, maneuvering myself toward the door with my massive belly getting in the way.
What the hell had happened? Where was Wilder? Something had to be wrong, since he hadn’t been by my side when I woke.
Renewed panic shot through me, and I tested the door handle before opening it, infinitely grateful that the fire wasn’t right beyond the door. As soon as I was in the hallway, however, that gratitude died.
Flames licked along the outside of the walls, visible through the windows. Someone had set a fire right near the house?
My gut tightened, somehow understanding what my mind didn’t want to believe.
No, someone had set the house on fire. With Wilder and me in it. There was no way in hell it was an accidental fire; Merrick had decked his house out in so many fire safety measures, thanks to his job. He didn’t even let anyone burn candles in the house.
“Shit, shit, shit.” I needed to find Wilder. Where the hell was he? “Wilder!” I shouted, but it was lost in the thick air.
Smoke was billowing through the house, rising to the ceiling, and I stayed low, squinting and padding around as I found the stairs and took them down to the main floor.
There was slightly less smoke there, but my eyes burned, watering constantly, which meant I could hardly see anything. Everything felt so hot, and I was sweating up a damn storm, the baby moving like crazy inside me as my adrenaline pumped.
Neither of us was enjoying this.
God, I needed to get out. I couldn’t let myself get stuck in here—pregnant, on top of everything else. I knew it would hurt the baby.
But where is Wilder?
I crawled towards the hallway, relying on my memory to guide me.
My inner omega was panicking, because he had to be in the house somewhere. I couldn’t leave him. There was no way Wilder would have left without me.
Something creaked to my left, something that distinctly sounded like a wall about to buckle, and I hurried away, closer to the front door in the living room, still crawling with one hand holding my shirt over my face.
Crash!
Glass shattered, making me scream and flinch, and I shot my attention to the windows on the far wall, which were now in hundreds of pieces. The fire on the outside of the building was getting worse, and I frantically looked around.
The hallway to the kitchen was glowing, flickering red and orange like I’d left a candle burning, but I knew I hadn’t. It had to be worse over there.
I had no idea how long it’d been, how long I’d been asleep before I noticed the smoke. Guilt raged inside me. Why had I decided to take an afternoon nap? If I had been awake—
No. This wasn’t my fault.
Who the hell would want to do something like this?
At the front door, I checked the knob again and then pulled it open, sticking my head out into the fresh air and sighing as clean oxygen flooded my lungs.
Everything inside me told me to get out and get as far away from the burning building as possible.
Except the one part that was saying I needed to find Wilder.
A cell phone was also a good idea. I needed to call dispatch and get fire engines here as soon as possible. In my panic, I had left mine buried in the nest.
I sucked in another breath, using it to steady myself as I wiped the tears from my eyes and looked back inside the living room. Determined, I left the door open behind me as I crawled back along the floor, searching in the dark for any sign of Wilder.
It was all so quiet, and it occurred to me that I hadn’t heard the fire alarms go off. I looked up at the ceiling, remembering where the smoke detector was. Sure enough, the thing had been ripped from the ceiling.
Well, that quickly rid me of the vague hope that the fire was a freak accident.
Whoever had set fire to the house wanted us to be trapped inside, didn’t want anything letting us know about the danger.
My stomach rolled, Baby Boy inside squirming, and I couldn’t stop myself from assuming the worst.
Oh God… Is Wilder…
I shook myself, not allowing myself to finish that thought as my eyes burned with renewed tears. No, he couldn’t be. I was going to find him. I just needed to think.
Come on, Hailey. Think.
Flickering along the hallway to the kitchen got my attention, and I cursed. Of course. Wilder was a snack fiend. He was always close to the kitchen.
I crouched even lower, nearly dragging myself across the floor toward the kitchen. The heat grew as I got closer, and I coughed several times as the pungent smell of smoke increased.
Whoosh!
Something loud and strange sounded from the kitchen, and I hurried toward it. As I got there, I saw Wilder on the floor as fire consumed the back wall. It was so bright and hot, I flinched back, terror pumping through my veins. He was unconscious… or, at least, I hoped he was only knocked out.
Oh God, oh God, oh God.
The light of the flames reflected off Wilder’s skin. It appeared as though he was still breathing, but I couldn’t be sure. There was no time for second-guessing, though. I needed to get him out of here. There was blood on his face, flowing from somewhere hidden by his hair.
I rushed to him and scooped my arms under Wilder’s shoulders, using all my strength to flip him over onto his back. Standing between his outstretched arms, I grabbed hold of his wrists and started pulling.
It took several seconds before I got him moving, and I knew once I did, I couldn’t stop. I needed to work with the momentum, but fuck. Wilder was a big guy, and I was heavily pregnant, almost eight months.
No. He’s my alpha, and I’m not letting him burn in here.
Screaming, I dug my heels into the floor and pulled. Inch by inch, foot by foot, I slid Wilder along the floor, so damn grateful it was wood and not carpet, and gradually made it toward the front door.
It was closed.
My stomach lurched again, and that prickling sensation of every warning in my body going off at once peaked. I knew I’d left it open. I knew I had. But it was so damn dark in here, everything turned up to ultra-high contrast. It was either a pitch-black shadow or a bright-orange glow.
There was no in-between.
“I can't let you escape.”
Wilder dropped unceremoniously to the floor as I jumped, spinning around on reflex. I stumbled, tripping over something I couldn’t see, which, for all I knew, could have been Wilder himself.
“Who the hell are you?!” I cried out at the shadowy figure, unable to see anything useful.
I backed up along the floor, coughing even harder as I inched toward the front door in a desperate attempt to get it open again.
“It doesn’t fucking matter now. All that matters is that you burn for this.”
“For fucking what?!”
The fury churned alongside the panic, making me nauseated, and I struggled to breathe, my mind going foggy. I shook it hard, trying to clear everything out because I had to.
A low growl roared through the air as the man across from me surged forward, heading right at me. I groped blindly in the dark for something I knew we’d put by the front door.
Come on, come on—Ah!
My fingers closed around the thinner grip of the baseball bat I’d brought with me from my apartment.
There was no way I was moving without it—mainly, I had brought it with me as a joke, to threaten Wider with when he got out of hand.
Holding it tight, I swung hard, focused on driving the thing right into the head of whoever the hell was charging me.
“Ugh! Bitch!”
All right, my aim hadn’t been great in the shitty lighting with eyes burning from smoke, but I swung again just as another burst of sound ricocheted out from the kitchen. A huge burst of fire shot down the hallway, illuminating the man in front of me from behind.
He was tall and broad, and I thought I could see the vague outline of a mask protecting his face. Ugh, of course.
I swung the bat again, using the light to my advantage, but the asshole was fast, grabbing hold of the end as he growled at me.
“You’ll pay for that. You and all your fucking pack.”
Shaking my head, I tensed my muscles as the guy held on to the bat, raising it higher.