Chapter 14 Larkin
FOURTEEN
LARKIN
Percy called at seven in the morning, and I knew from his first breath that something was wrong.
“Briggs saw my truck.” He spoke in a monotone. I knew my mate well enough to understand he was just keeping it together. “As he was driving home from his sister’s, he said it was parked outside your building.”
I sat on the edge of my bed and closed my eyes. “When?”
“Last night. He texted, and I tried to brush it off, but he told Hallie, and by this morning they'd put it together.” I cringed as I imagined their reaction. “I told them everything, Larkin. That we’re in a relationship and I’m pregnant.”
Oh, this wasn’t good, though we were done hiding.
“How bad is it?”
“Briggs won't look at me, and Hallie asked how she's supposed to trust anything I've said. The captain benched me and sent me home.” His voice cracked on the last word.
“And that was fair, I suppose.” His voice wobbling suggested Percy was having a hard time with that decision.
“But the others, ummm, their reaction hurt, and I walked out with no one saying anything.”
When Percy walked into a room, all eyes turned to him. He was the guy who made everyone laugh, and yet when he left the station, he was so alone. No one clapped him on the back or told him they’d get over it eventually.
“I’m telling my crew today.”
“Larkin, the gossip might beat you there.”
Damn, I’d better move fast.
I convinced myself that the knot in my stomach would vanish once I’d let everyone know. I'd walked into burning buildings, so telling my crew I'd lied to them… oh gods, I’d lied, and now I had to take what was coming.
But gossip had a head start.
Janice was leaning against the engine with her arms folded, and the expression on her face had me considering how I’d ever make this right.
“So, a guy from Station 9. The one who beat us in the hose drag and the ladder climb. That's who you've been sneaking off with.”
Colin was sitting on the bumper, studying his boots, while Ken was in the driver's seat with the door open, pretending to check something on the dashboard. Neither of them looked at me.
“Yes.” There’d be no more lies. “His name is Percy, we’re in a committed relationship, and he's pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” Janice’s voice was a screech level 10. “How long has this been going on?”
This information would be harder for them to swallow. “Since the kickoff barbecue.”
Colin looked up. “That was six weeks ago. You've been lying to us all that time.”
Janice muttered that six weeks was short for a person to commit to someone else, but she didn’t know or understand about shifter dynamics.
I nodded.
“You brought us donuts.” Colin shook his head. “I thought you were being nice. Turns out you were guilt-eating.”
“Guilt-buying, technically.”
Nobody laughed. I wasn’t as suave as my mate at telling jokes.
Ken climbed out of the engine. “Did you share our event strategy with him?”
“Never. I wouldn’t do that. Percy won those events because he's good, not because I gave him an advantage.”
“How are we supposed to believe that?” The pain and hurt in Janice’s voice was worse than anger. “You're our lieutenant. We follow you into buildings and trust your judgment with our lives. And you couldn't trust us with this?”
I’d messed up badly. Trust in a fire crew wasn't a nice-to-have. It was the foundation, and I’d taken a hammer to it and smashed it.
“I was wrong, and I should have told you. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn't make it all better,” Colin muttered.
Arnold opened his door. He’d obviously been listening because my disagreement with the crew wasn’t subtle.
“Lieutenant. A word.”
He closed the door behind me and sat on the edge of his desk instead of behind it, suggesting this was a conversation and not a disciplinary meeting.
“I’m not going to lecture you. You already know what you did wrong because your crew just told you.”
It was more like they’d thrown it in my face, but I deserved it and had to take the hits.
“The cup final is this weekend. Can you show up and focus on your team and not on your opponents?”
“I can.”
Percy wouldn’t be participating, but that was irrelevant.
“Excellent. I've met Station 9's Captain Reynolds. If his firefighter is anything like him, you picked well.”
He hadn’t cursed me out, so that was a plus.
The days before the cup final were uncomfortable. My crew did what was expected of them, but the easy banter was gone. Colin spoke only when necessary, and Janice was cool. Ken ignored me.
I'd earned everything they sent my way. At night, I should have taken comfort that Percy and I could now be together and he was beside me. But I couldn’t sleep, thinking of how I had a personal relationship I treasured but I’d damaged the one with my crew.
“They'll come around,” Percy whispered in the dark. He was dealing with his own version of the cold shoulder with polite but distant texts from Briggs and silence from Hallie. “We broke their trust.”
“They might not.” I prided myself on doing the right thing, and I’d fucked up so badly.
“We have each other and a baby who's going to need parents who aren't going over their mistakes and wondering what they could have done differently.” He poked my ribs. “We're not bad people, but we handled a complicated situation badly.”
I buried my nose in his hair and hoped he was right.
Both stations arrived at the training facility and set up on opposite sides of the lot. The energy was subdued, and the tension between the stations had shifted from competitive to awkward.
Percy was here sitting near his station’s truck, even though he was benched. He refused to hide at home while his crew competed, even if they weren't speaking to him. That was my Percy. Slinking away would have been easier.
I caught his eye and gave him a small nod.
Station 9 went first. Without Percy, their team was slower. They emerged with both rescue dummies in a respectable time.
I pulled on my mask. Colin was beside me, along with Ken and Dustin. We entered the building, and the smoke swallowed us.
Visibility was nil, and I crouched low with one hand on the wall, working the search pattern we'd drilled. My dragon was alert, because his senses were sharper than mine in the darkness.
We found the first dummy on the ground floor. Ken and Dustin carried it out while Colin and I headed upstairs.
The smoke on the second floor was so dense that crouching didn't help.
We worked down a corridor, checking rooms, and I was reaching for the next doorframe when there was a metallic groan and a crack.
My foot fell through the floor, and it sagged.
My boot caught on something. I fell forward, and the floor gave way.
My leg dropped through the gap up to my thigh. I was stuck with one leg through the floor and the other on solid ground with smoke pressing in.
“Mayday.” I hit the radio. “Second floor. I'm pinned.”
I’ll shift. I’m not going to let us die because humans think dragons don’t exist.
They’ll get me out. That’s what they’re trained to do. It wasn’t just a dragon that would freak everyone out. It was shifters in general!
Colin was beside me pulling at the debris, but I was wedged in, and my air was draining faster under the exertion.
But for the first time in my career, I wasn't the one running the rescue. I was the one who needed rescuing.
“Percy, no!” someone shouted from outside.
A figure emerged from the smoke, low to the ground, wearing turnout gear that was too big. The mask was fogged, but my dragon and I would know him anywhere. His scent cut through the smoke.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“Funny way to say thank you.” He was already on his knees and pulling the broken flooring away piece by piece.
"You're pregnant," I hissed.
“And you're stuck in the floor. We both have problems.” He yanked a chunk free, and my leg moved. “Colin, pull him back on three.”
Colin grabbed under my arms.
“Three!”
Colin hauled, and my leg came free with pain from knee to hip.
Percy was already heading for the stairs, and we followed. I was in pain, but without shifting, I’d have to bear it. My mate led us down, navigating through the smoke with the same confidence he'd shown on the ladder.
We burst through the front door, and Percy pulled off his mask and sucked in clean air. I pulled off mine and leaned on Colin, keeping weight off my throbbing leg.
Everyone shouted at once, and Janice appeared with a medical bag. But I only had eyes for my mate. The borrowed coat overwhelmed him, and his hair was plastered to his forehead.
Hallie handed Percy a water bottle, and Briggs told him he was a fool but put a hand on his shoulder. Colin shared a glance with me and gave me a subtle nod, while Janice grumbled and told me to hold still.
Nobody said anything about the competition or asked about the time or the score. Percy’s heroic effort didn’t dismiss the hurt, but it had gone some way to erasing it.
Percy wandered over to me and grabbed me, and I planted kisses on his cheeks. He leaned in close and whispered, “Now if we really wanted to create a scene, we could take our scales.”
Can we? My dragon was desperate to fly after inhaling smoke.
Not now.
“Don’t give our beasts any ideas.”