Chapter Twelve
Brent
“Alpha?” I rolled over and patted the bed.
Where had he gone? “Theo?” I’d been lost in a dream when something woke me.
Unsure what it had been, I sat up and went to the bathroom, expecting to find the door closed and have to wait my turn, but the door was open and nobody was inside.
A quick pad through the house found no sign of him, but when I arrived in the kitchen, I smelled it.
Smoke. Fire. Rushing to the window, I saw an orange glow through the trees.
“Theo!” I shouted one more time, but if he was in here somewhere, I should have seen him.
Then I remembered his job. A firefighter.
He wouldn’t try to fight a wildfire all on his own, would he?
He’d be too well trained to do something so foolish.
No doubt he’d call for backup right away.
But what if he’d gone out there for some reason and got caught in it?
I’d die if something happened to him.
Which was why I found myself almost to the tree line, naked, barefoot, and screaming for my alpha. Where was he? Smoke billowed from the woods, making it hard to see, though I craned my neck this way and that. My mate was in there somewhere. I knew it. But where?
Part of me wanted to go back in the house and call for help, but every moment felt critical. If he was there, if he’d been running away from the flames and fallen, a few seconds might make the difference between life and death.
Death. Don’t think death.
He’ll be okay.
Theo!”
The fire was not very far away, and it was terrifying. The smell alone overwhelmed me. Evoked my fight-or-flight instinct, but a voice from deep inside me demanded I find him, save our mate from the fire.
That life would not be worth living if he didn’t make it.
The voice got louder, yowled. Find him!
I’m trying.
I had no idea who I might even be talking to. What part of me was suddenly so insistent. But I had a feeling it was the part falling in love with this male. The one I didn’t want to have a relationship with. But whose well-being was not center to mine.
I had to find him. Taking a few more steps, the smoke surrounded me, and I staggered back. Please don’t let him be in that. It would be the worst possible scenario.
Even moving away, I was still inhaling far too much smoke and in danger of passing out. And therefore unable to help him. “Theo! Alpha!” I choked out. “If you’re here, say something so I can find you.”
No reply. Just the crackling and low roar of a forest fire.
I’d never been in one but had seen footage in documentaries, and it sounded just like this.
Holding my breath with some vague idea that it would keep me from getting too much smoke in my lungs, I narrowed my eyes with the same intent of protecting them.
The smoke swirled around me, hot and acrid, and holding my breath wasn’t working. I had to breathe.
Despair crawled up my spine. If I was wearing anything, I could have pulled it up over my nose and mouth…
if I’d been smart enough to pull on clothes when I got out of bed.
The only thing I could do was go back and call for help.
Whatever time I’d thought I’d save by not doing that had been completely foolish.
But it seemed I’d also waited too long for that. My vision was limited to a few inches in any direction, giving me no idea in what direction to run. The outcome of this night seemed clear, and I could only hope my alpha was somewhere on the other side of the forest and only I would die.
And then I saw him. The winds cleared the whirling gray clouds to my left, and there he stood. Naked, streaked with ash, and magnificent. Arms above his head, outstretched.
“Alpha!” I ran toward him, coughing and choking, eyes streaming. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
But what happened next stopped me a few feet away.
Where the man had stood, a dragon rose, emerald wings outstretched.
The flames rose in a wall before him. I’d inhaled too many toxins, but it seemed as if he inhaled deeply and sucked the fire into his body, leaving only smoke and charred trees and undergrowth.
What the? “Alpha!”
The dragon’s head turned toward me, golden eyes spearing me, and then he crashed to the forest floor and lay still.
I had to save him. Whoever, whatever he was, he’d somehow put out the fire.
Impossible. But it had been too much for the creature.
Please don’t be dead! When I was a foot or two away, I fell to the ground.
My body strained, fire shooting through muscles and bone, shrinking, contracting. I couldn’t speak.
And I stood on four paws.
The smoke must be more poisonous than I thought because I was seeing dragons and imagining I had furry paws and no ability to speak. The imaginary dragon seemed much larger now, but when I pushed my face into his, I could hear the whoosh of breath. Alive.
And that seemed to be enough for whatever had taken over me. We—how was I a we?—lay down next to him, curled against the emerald scales, and passed out. The last thing I heard was a voice, the part of me I’d noticed earlier, saying Mate.