26. Nelly
Nelly
Ican't get back to sleep.
Lightning flashes through the apartment windows, turning everything white before darkness crashes back down. Wind rattles the building. Rain pounds against the glass so hard it sounds like gravel. My heart drops straight into my stomach.
I can't help but think about the house.
When I realize I'm not going back to sleep anytime soon, I throw the blankets off me. I stumble out of the nest, trying to get my bearings as I turn in the general direction of Nash's bedroom.
I don't like that he's not here.
"Nelly?"
I barely hear Beau's voice as I make it to the hallway. My feet slap against the floor as I hurry down it. The blinds tangle around my hands while I yank them open, pulling a whimper of frustration from the back of my throat.
Only to be met with rain coming down in sheets across the world outside.
"Oh my god," I whisper as I try to peer through it all.
The house is barely visible through the downpour. The tarp Ford and Knox fought so hard to secure is whipping violently in the wind. One corner is completely loose, like it's taunting me. Like it's showing me who's really the boss around here.
My stomach twists. "No."
A hand settles against the middle of my back. It's warm, and steady. Familiar in a grounding sort of way.
My nostrils flare. "Look at her, Beau."
"It's okay," he says quietly as he steps up beside me.
I shake my head. "No, it's not. The floors alone…"
"The floors alone… what?"
My pulse pounds in my ears. "If water got inside, and I'm sure it has, the floors are ruined.
The drywall. The insulation. The subflooring.
The electrical. All of it is either going to have to be dried out or gutted.
" Each possibility hits harder than the last. "I didn't close the hole in that kitchen.
" My throat tightens. "The bathroom still had exposed sections.
" Tears line my eyes. "The guest room wasn't sealed completely. "
Beau wraps his arm around my waist. "Nelly, take a breath."
"Th—the crawlspace." The word breaks as my breath hitches. "If water got into the crawlspace—"
Beau's voice is firmer this time. "Nelly."
His hand slides slowly up and down my back, and while the movement helps a little bit, my legs are already itching.
Already revving.
Already priming for work.
A groan sounds behind me. "Why's everybody awake and in here?"
I don't turn around when I hear Levi's voice. I just keep staring outside. It's like I can't turn away from the house. Not when it's being beaten within an inch of its life by this storm.
I just can't leave her to suffer by herself.
"It's going to be so bad," I whisper to myself.
"We'll crunch numbers and figure things out," Beau says as Levi comes to stand at my other side.
"Damn," Levi says.
My shoulders tighten. "That's not helpful."
"I know," he says as his hand slips into mine.
I squeeze it tightly as the three of us stand there, watching the house through the water pouring from the sky. I feel so helpless. It's one of the worst feelings in the world, and there's nothing I can do about how badly this house is going to be hit.
"Is Nash back?" I ask softly.
"Not yet," Beau says as he keeps rubbing my back.
I snicker as lightning cuts across the sky. "Can't believe you guys just let him leave like that."
Levi huffs a laugh. "We don't have jurisdiction over the sheriff, sweet girl."
"But it's dangerous out there. Look at it."
I don't even know why I'm worried. I know Nash can take care of himself. He's the sheriff of the whole damn town, after all. He's trained for scenarios just like this one so he can help. He's probably safer than most people out there.
Right?
"Nelly," Levi says as he interlocks our fingers, "Nash is just fine. He'll be back before you know it. And Beau and I? We aren't leaving anytime—"
Movement catches my eye and I nod to the window. "Look."
A pair of headlights cuts through the rain, briefly shining right through the window. The three of us shield our eyes until…
"Uh oh," Beau says.
Levi leans toward the window. "They're moving too fast."
My stomach drops as another car comes into view. One of the vehicles hits standing water, fishtailing toward the curb. The driver overcorrects as the second car swerves, and instead of missing one another, metal crunches and creaks as the two cars—
"I'm calling 911," Beau says.
"I'm texting Nash, maybe he's close," Levi says.
The impact of the two cars echoes toward us through the storm. I stand there, completely shell-shocked, as I watch one of the vehicles flip. It tumbles down the road like a damn tumbleweed, skidding through the front yard of my renovation house.
But for once, I'm not thinking about the house.
I'm thinking about the sound of glass shattering.
Of metal crunching together. I didn't know metal could scream like that.
Beau's voice falls to the background, as if he's moving farther away from me even though he's still standing right there.
Levi's fingers fly a million miles a second over the screen of his phone. I keep my eyes on those cars, though.
I don't see anyone trying to get out of them.
My body moves before my brain does.
"Nelly!" Beau exclaims.
"Oh, for fuck's—Nels!" Levi bellows.
Everything is sort of a blur. Somehow, I manage to get my work boots on and race out the door.
I don't even bother with the elevator. I slam my shoulder into the door for the stairs and take them two at a time.
Air is sawing in and out of my lungs as I lunge for the exit door, shoving it open and tearing across the parking lot.
The storm hits me like a wall.
Good thing I'm a wrecking ball.
Wind tears at my clothes as I wobble through my exhaustion. Thunder shakes the sky, but I don't flinch. None of it matters. The town is in turmoil with this storm and I can't just sit on my ass and watch it struggle.
Gone are thoughts of the house as I approach the crash site.
"Hello!?" I call out as I tear through the torn-up front yard. "Can anyone hear me!?"
Then, I hear a sound that stops me in my tracks. It's faint beneath the humming of the rain and the rolling of thunder, but it's there.
Crying.
The sound isn't adult, either.
"Oh my god," I say breathlessly as I practically leap toward the overturned vehicle in the yard.
"Nelly!" Beau exclaims.
"Stop! We've got people coming!" Levi shouts.
"There's a child in the car!" I shriek at them as I bend down, trying to peer through the broken windows of the vehicle.
The car is in awful shape. One side is crushed. The windows are all obliterated. Steam hisses from somewhere beneath the hood, and I've seen enough movies to know that shit isn't good, either. The crying continues, a constant drone beneath the heaviness of the storm.
"Keep making sound, I hear you!" I call out as I circle the car, trying to figure out where the hell this child is.
"Help us," a ragged voice chokes out. "Please. My… my son."
"I hear your son!" I call out. "But I can't see him!"
"Oh, no," the voice says before the woman's crying mounts.
I turn my attention briefly toward the side where the driver is. The woman is hanging upside down with blood on her face. And even though she looks a mess, I don't recognize her.
"You from out of town?!" I call out.
Her lower lip quivers. "Y—yeah. It's—storm's not this bad in Holland."
Holland. That's forty-five minutes outside of town. The fuck is this woman doing, driving around with her kid in the middle of the night during one of the worst storms Appalachia has ever seen?
"My baby," she blubbers.
A hand wraps around my arm and yanks me up. "What the—"
"Nelly!" Beau exclaims. "Stop!"
It takes me a moment to get my bearings as Levi skids to a stop beside him. "There's a kid somewhere, but he's not in the car."
Beau's gaze darts in between me and the car. "You shouldn't be out here. We can't—"
"Heeeey, Mama," Levi says as he bends down, talking to the panicked woman. "How ya holding up down there?"
She blubbers. "My baby. Please, find my son. His… his name is Arken."
That's the only part that registers, and I cry out. "Arkeeeeen!"
Beau lets go of my arm but doesn't stray far. "Arken, can you make some noise for us!?"
"We're gonna find him, Mama," Levi says, trying to keep the mother in the car calm. "Just take deep breaths for us, yeah? We've got 911 called and everything. Shouldn't be too long now."
"Arkeeeen!" I call out as I start walking away from the car.
"Nelly," Beau says.
I shrug him off and point. "Go check on that other car. If anyone's okay in there and can help, get them out here to help us."
Beau studies me for a moment. "Don't you dare go far."
"I've got my eye on her," Levi says, still belly to the ground.
I roll my eyes and turn my attention back to the yard. "Arken! I need you to make some noise for me, buddy!"
It's utter chaos as my attention span whittles itself down to nothing but that small cry. I look back at the car long enough to realize the windshield isn't busted out… but the back one is.
"Nelly!" Levi exclaims.
I whip around. "What!?"
Levi stands and jogs toward me. "There's a car seat base in the back of that car. We're looking for a baby."
My world tilts.
I've never been so frantic in all my life. "It's good that we hear crying. Help me."
"You go back to the mother," Levi says as he tries to guide me toward the car. "She needs the presence of another woman. I'll find the baby."
"No, we have to—"
Beau steps in front of me. "Nelly, listen to him. You're in no condition to be—"
The cry of that child rips through the tension and I turn in the direction it came from. But when I try to pursue it, Beau grabs my arm.
"Let me go," I snarl as I'm whipped toward him.
Beau stands firm. "No."
I glare at him, but he doesn't budge. And then, something overtakes his face.
Something almost like worry.
"What?" I ask breathlessly. "Are the people in the other car okay?"
Sirens wail in the distance. "They're banged up, but fine."
"Then why do you look like that?"
His nostrils flare. "Your scent."
"What about it?"
"Found the baby!" Levi exclaims.
I gasp and whip around, only to find Levi jogging back to us with a perfectly intact car seat in his hands. The little boy, Arken, is shivering up a storm and his face is red as hell from crying, but he's alive.
I blubber out a smile. "Hey, little guy. You gave us all a scare."
"Arken!?" the mother in the car wails out.
But Levi's nostrils flare. "Beau?"
"Yeah?"
"Get her inside," Levi says as he turns toward the car. "It's not safe for her out here any longer."
"Like it was before," Beau mutters as he moves with me.
I yank out of his grasp. "Tell me what's going on right now."
Beau gets a look on his face as he grabs my arm and yanks me flush against his body.
"Penelope, even I can smell it," he says, using my full name in a way he never does. "You're no longer safe out here. You have to stop being so stubborn. Now, come with me."
The sirens grow louder.
My stomach drops.
"No," I say breathlessly as Beau leads me back to the apartment complex.
"Nelly, whether you like it or not—"
"No," I whimper.
My heat can't be here. Not now. Not while people need help. Not while that child is still crying. God, the crying rakes at something inside of me I've never once acknowledged. The little one just needs cuddles. Cuddles, and a bottle, and a warm blanket.
Everything blurs together. Beau sweeps me past the other vehicle, but I smell something strong.
My nostrils flare.
Fuck, I smell gasoline.
That's all it takes for me to wrench out of Beau's grasp again.
"Goddamn it, Nelly! Come on!" he calls out.
"Don't you smell it!?" I exclaim. "We have to get them out of this car! It's leaking gas!"
The vehicle is slick beneath my hands. The doors are jammed up so much from the crash that I can't yank them open. There's a driver and a passenger, and both of them look much too banged up to really understand what's happening.
I'm pretty sure the passenger is out cold.
"Come… on," I grunt as I try to yank the door open.
A hissing sound drones nearby. The smell of gas gets stronger. Smoke rises from beneath the hood, and I know I don't have a lot of time.
"Someone help me! Please!" I exclaim. "We have to get them out!"
Then, a hand clamps down around the back of my neck.
The grip is strong. Immovable. My entire body freezes at the familiar touch before I'm guided backward.
Away from the vehicle.
Away from the bleeding passengers.
And straight into a solid chest with a familiar scent that wraps around me like a cocoon. Cedarwood and leather.
"Oh," I whisper as I sink back into his strength.
Nash.
It was Nash behind those sirens.
His arm bands around my midsection, keeping me firmly against him.
He whistles and points, his orders nothing but a blur as I'm pulled away from the car.
Paramedics rush the vehicle. Lightning flashes like strobes, illuminating the chaos around us.
Yet somehow, with Nash here, none of it feels quite as overwhelming as before.
"Alpha," I whisper ever so softly.
His voice lands heavy against my ear. "You did so well, Omega. Let us handle it from here."
He's not… angry? "There's… a baby. Arken. He was—"
"I've got my men on it," he says as he turns me away from the carnage. "Let's get you back inside. I'm here now, and everything's going to be okay."
My knees nearly give out. His grip tightens around me and I'm scooped off my feet in moments.
"I've got you, little one," he says.
His voice rumbles through his chest, making its way straight to my heart. The Alpha certainty in his voice rolls through me like a physical force, and I whimper as I curl against him. Everything scatters beneath it, including the frantic energy under my skin.
Nash.
He's here.
He's safe.
For once, my body stops. Instead of fighting, I let him carry me wherever he wishes. I let him take control, my instincts understanding that I'm safe so long as he's around.
I yield to his presence, and the realization hits hard enough to steal my breath from my lungs. But Beau's face from earlier pops into my mind. My scent. Even Beau could pick up on the strength of it.
I don't have much longer before I'm out of my pre-heat.
And this storm shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.