Chapter 42
Maisie’s terror pumped through me. The bond was screaming from both sides, Paul’s twisted glee slamming against the wall I had put up between us.
The ear-blistering wail of a smoke detector stabbed my ears.
Colt ripped open the studio door. “They lit the house on fucking fire. We have to get out of here.”
My own fear crashed up against Maisie’s.
I dragged Paisley and Nora into my arms, Colt reaching for Cody.
Wyatt took Nora from me, and Carter grabbed my arm.
We tromped down the stairs to the second level, ferocious black smoke billowing up from the main floor.
All three children were wailing, desperate panicked cries that squeezed my heart until I could barely breathe.
Water rained down from sprinklers in the ceiling. How had I never noticed those before? The falling water fought a vicious battle with the burning accelerant. It had to be mixed with something to turn the smoke that black. My eyes stung.
Wyatt’s sharp whistle summoned the dogs from their hiding spots.
I couldn’t really see between the hazy air and the sprinklers, but the dogs knew this place like the back of their paws.
Carter hooked his hand into Tango’s collar, the dogs leading us outside.
We sprinted all the way to the stable, shoving the kids into one of the empty stalls.
Maisie was still alive, still fighting. Paul was flickering in and out.
“Stay with the kids,” I ordered. I didn’t know how far away they were, but I wasn’t going to let them take her.
“You can’t go out there.” Carter held tight to my arm. “You’re soaking wet. You’ll freeze.”
“Stay here.” I extracted myself from his grip. “They need you. Maisie is my bondmate. Promise me you’ll keep the children safe so I can fulfill my duty to her.”
Wyatt pulled Carter into the stall with the kids. “We’ve got them. Go.”
I took off at a run, hearing Colt behind me. “Find Maisie.”
I thought for a second he was talking to me, but then Foxtrot blazed ahead of me. The winter air bit into me as soon as I left the stable, gravel stabbing through my socks, but I couldn’t stop running. If I’d been remotely prepared, I’d have put on shoes first, but we hadn’t had time.
Maisie was a whirlpool of vicious chaos in the bond, her rage, grief, and fear choking me. Paul gave one last violent flicker before disappearing altogether.
I followed Foxtrot until two sets of red tail lights became visible as we crested a small hill. Maisie was on the ground, someone towering over her, pinning her down. Her screams sliced through me, calling for her children.
I heard him call her daughter. Her father was the reason all of this had happened to her. He could’ve intervened, could’ve let her go, but instead he handed her over to a monster. All the suffering she had endured had begun with him turning his back on his child.
The thread tethering me to reason snapped. Foxtrot surged ahead, diving at Maisie’s father. He threw Foxy aside but she landed on her feet.
“Maisie!”
I barreled straight into her father, crashing our combined weight against the road.
Adrenaline and instinct coursed through my veins.
My omega was in danger, my children and pack were threatened, and everyone involved was going to understand what it meant to come for my family.
I shoved my fist into his face, a sharp burn reverberating up my arm.
His nose crunched under the impact. He howled, flinging me off.
I skidded against the gravel, throwing myself at him again the second I found my footing.
He was standing between Maisie and safety, and I was going to take him down.
He threw me aside again. I grabbed a fistful of the icy gravel, whipping it at his face, one bunch after another until he was backing up toward the ditch, his hands protecting his face, his body twisting away.
One last fistful left my frozen fingers and I threw myself into his side, tumbling us both backward.
Our weight crashed through the ice covering the ditch water.
I caught his flailing arms, wrenching them backward and locking them in place, bracing my knees between his shoulder blades. His face was submerged so his fight didn’t last long. My heart crashed like a bass drum against my ribs, my lungs struggling.
I climbed off him, my adrenaline draining so sharply I struggled to crawl over to Maisie. Foxtrot was lying half on her, licking her cheeks, trying to wake her up.
“Maisie,” I croaked. I collapsed next to her, drawing her closer, offering what little warmth I could.
She whimpered, turning her face toward me. Her energy immediately went to crying. “You’re alive?”
“Sure am.” I laughed breathlessly, inhaling her peach blossom scent despite how tainted with distress it was. My heart pounded so hard each beat hurt. “We all are.”
“My babies?”
“They’re safe. Everyone got out of the house.”
Her relief in the bond almost knocked me flat out. She tumbled into full racking sobs, clinging to my chest.
“We need to get you an ambulance. Where’s Paul?”
“Dead.”
I turned enough to see another truck in the ditch. “Accident?”
Maisie shook her head. “I killed him.”
I shivered, holding her tighter. “I think I killed your father.”
She let out a hysterical laugh. “Good. I already tried.”
Well, at least it was a relief she wouldn’t be angry with me over it.
We lay there shaking on the road, my body numb. I couldn’t tell if it was from the cold or the aftereffects of taking my first life. Either way I had no strength to move.
Foxtrot whined next to us.
“Foxy,” I croaked out, “Get help.”
She took off down the road, back the way we had come. If she got us out of this, I would let her herd me without complaint for the rest of her life.
The lone truck on the road was tempting, the headlights a beacon. Every inch of me ached but if I could get us inside, we would at least have heat. I sat up slowly, my head spinning. I wasn’t sure how long I had laid there, holding completely still.
“Can you walk?” I asked Maisie when the world stopped tilting.
I helped her sit up, and she turned, spilling the contents of her stomach on the ground.
She whimpered, groaning. “Nope.”
Sirens had never sounded so beautiful. They filled the air as headlights barreled down the road from the opposite direction. The vehicle skidded to a stop, figures sprinting toward us. They converged on us at the same time as people from behind.
Wyatt’s face came into clarity. “We’re here.”
“She needs—” I winced, pain searing through me as I sat up. “She needs help.”
More faces appeared in the glow of headlights. Colt, police officers, and paramedics.
The paramedics separated Maisie and I, her surge of panic only assuaged when Wyatt took her hand, bending to whisper in her ear. Colt parked himself between us, taking one hand from each of us. I held on to it like a lifeline while the paramedics checked me over.
The strobing lights made me even dizzier and the world faded in and out.
“Okay, sir, we’re going to get you onto the gurney,” one of the paramedics said. I looked over to find Maisie already on one.
My pack was talking to the police, but I couldn’t hear what was being said. The paramedics loaded Maisie and I into the two ambulances that had come.
I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, it was to bright fluorescent lights. I faded out again.