by Sadie Moss
“They’ll be okay, Scrubs.” Noah wrapped his arms around me from behind, preventing me from running after the two men. He dipped his head, speaking into my ear. “These people need us.”
That settled my whirling thoughts, giving them somewhere to focus. He was right. I couldn’t stop West and Rhys, so the next best thing I could do was make sure they had all the support they could get. We needed to get the fire under control before it spread any farther.
“Blankets. Water. Buckets,” I gasped, stepping out of Noah’s embrace to face the others.
Sariah bobbled her head up and down. She knew where we could get all those things.
Val still looked shell-shocked, and she blinked several times before nodding slowly, as if her brain had finally processed what I’d said. “Yes. The laundry facilities.”
I shook my head. “That’s a start, but we need more. Send some of these people to the laundry building to get all the sheets and buckets they can carry. Those with buckets should go right to the stream, fill up, and come back. Do we have any other large containers?”
She swallowed. “There are some bins in one of the storage buildings.”
“Good. Send more people to get those. Have them fill the bins with as much water as they can carry and bring them back here. The four of us will go to the nearest barracks and gather more blankets.”
I felt Noah’s hand on my back, silently offering support and encouragement. I let it bolster me but didn’t lean into it. If I stopped talking, stopped moving, I would start thinking—and true panic would set in.
Already, I could feel my wolf scratching at my rib cage, urging me to flee into the woods, to get as far away from this fiery monstrosity as I could. My muscles rippled slightly, the shift trying to take over my body, but I gritted my teeth and shoved my wolf back down.
Val, the warrior, the woman I’d looked up to with awe since the day I’d first met her, stared at me in terror before nodding once and setting off to carry out my orders.
I turned to Jackson, Noah, and Sariah. “Will you come with me?”
“Fuck yes.” Jackson’s amber eyes burned like fire themselves in the flickering light.
Nearly all the gathered shifters had scattered to carry out their tasks; only those still in wolf form remained, howling plaintively as they backed farther away from the burning building. The four of us raced to a nearby barracks, bursting inside the rooms and tearing sheets and blankets off beds. I grabbed as many as I could, stacking them so high I could barely see over the piles of fabric, nearly tripping on the trailing corners as we ran back toward the fire.
In the time it had taken us to gather our supplies, the other shifters Val had recruited had brought back theirs. More blankets and sheets joined the pile, and not long after, several shifters ran awkwardly toward us, water sloshing out of the buckets of water they carried.
I dipped a sheet in the first bucket, letting it soak up water before passing it off to a terrified looking woman—Tara, I realized as I caught sight of her features in the firelight.
“Use it to beat the flames back. It’s too late to stop these buildings from burning, but don’t let the fire spread.”
I mimed a swinging motion with the blanket, showing her what I meant. She nodded, her eyes wide and unblinking. I could sense the wolf in her begging to escape, but having a job to do seemed to help quell her wild terror. I wet another blanket, trying to keep my stinging eyes focused on my task. They kept darting toward the burning barracks, searching for any sign of my two mates.
It’s been too long. Why are they still in there?
Had they gotten trapped inside just like Alpha Elijah and the Elders had? Would none of them come out alive? And how long could we wait before my other mates rushed in after them?
As buckets emptied, their contents soaked up by sheets and blankets, new shifters grabbed them, running back toward the woods to refill our supplies. My gaze dragged toward the flaming building, and a flicker of hope flared in my gut.
It was working.
There was no way we’d be able to quench the fire entirely, no way to stop it from destroying the building. But we could keep it contained. And maybe give those inside a fighting chance.
Val had recovered from her initial shock and worked tirelessly alongside the rest of the pack, sweat popping out on her brow as she brought her blanket down on the flames over and over. I joined her, raising my arm to swing my own wet sheet when movement near the side of the building caught my eye.
I looked over, and my heart stopped.
Alpha Elijah and Rhys rounded the corner, supporting a middle-aged man with a lean frame and salt-and-pepper hair between them.
Relief so strong it choked off my breath barreled through me. He’s alive. He didn’t die.
All three men were covered in soot and grime, and the Elder—Simon—had a bad burn across his shoulder. He was naked, and I’d bet anything he’d shifted into wolf form in panic when the fire started. A trickle of blood ran down the side of Elijah’s face from his hairline, but he looked otherwise unharmed.
They veered right, handing off their charge to several Lost Pack members who darted forward to help. My gaze flicked back to where they’d come into view, searching wildly as my heart thrashed in my chest.
Finally, West came, his arm wrapped around the bare shoulders of Joelle, Simon’s mate. Her coppery hair was tangled and blackened with soot, and she had several angry red marks on her skin that were either burns or bruises. More pack members rushed up to take her from West, and before I could even register what I was doing, my feet were moving.
The sheet fell from my limp fingers as I sprinted toward my mate, barely feeling the heat of the fire as it consumed the building beside me. He’d barely finished passing Joelle off before I launched myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his body. I didn’t weigh all that much, but he staggered back a few steps from the force of our collision, his strong arms holding me just as tight as I held him.
I buried my face in his neck, clinging to him, my relief momentarily drowned out by all the fear I hadn’t allowed myself to feel until this moment.
“I thought you had… I didn’t… I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”
“It’s okay, Scrubs. We’re okay.”
His voice was rough and choked, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the smoke or emotion. I couldn’t smell the comforting, earthy scent of him through the stench of soot and burned wood that assaulted my senses.
But he was here.
He was alive.
They all were.
With more reluctance than I’d ever felt in my life, I finally unwound my legs from West’s waist, letting him set me gently back on the ground. Someone else had picked up my discarded sheet, and a pang of guilt stabbed me. This wasn’t over yet. We joined Rhys, grabbing new sheets and helping beat the fire back.
Alpha Elijah held a hand to his head, a grimace of pain contorting his features, but he’d already taken charge again. His booming voice called out orders, directing groups of shifters to areas where the fire threatened to rage out of control again.
The feelings of chaos and panic in the air had faded, replaced by grim determination. A few of the wolves lingering nearby shifted to human form, taming their fear as they ventured forward to help their pack mates.
My arms were sore and exhausted from swinging the sheet over and over, but we kept up our efforts until the fire began to die out, sated by the bones of the building it had consumed. Alpha Elijah dismissed the weaker members of the pack to their quarters, telling them to get some rest, but those who were able stayed through the night.
By the time pink sunlight warmed the horizon, the barracks and old mess hall were smoking, burnt out shells. Small embers still flickered, shining brightly in the blackened husks, but as long as we kept watch, they wouldn’t spread to other buildings.
“Okay, Scrubs. Okay. We’re done.”
Noah caught my arm on the downswing, tugging
the warm, singed sheet out of my hands and tossing it aside. I looked up at him, blinking in surprise. I’d stopped thinking a while ago, stopped feeling—had fallen into the tireless monotony of beating my makeshift weapon against the embers.
My arms tingled, and my shoulders ached as I rolled them. Noah’s face was covered with streaks of soot, his blond hair blackened with it. But his gray-blue eyes were soft as he pulled me into his arms. “It’s done.”
An exhausted sigh fell from my lips, and I nodded.
Shifters were stumbling around, gathering destroyed pieces of fabric and piling them up. My mates and I joined their efforts.
As I walked toward the far side of the smoking mess hall, I caught sight of Walker and Marcus pouring the remainder of a bucket of water on a small ember. It sizzled as it went out, and Marcus took the empty bucket toward the growing pile where the other shifters had congregated.
I was about to wave to Walker when he ducked his head and disappeared quickly around the side of the building.
My brow furrowed. What’s he doing?
Some instinct I couldn’t name made me wait a few heartbeats before following him, padding softly on my bare feet. I slipped around the same corner he’d vanished behind, just catching sight of him as he headed toward the west side of the military base. I trailed in his wake, leaving a large distance between us and peering around corners so he wouldn’t see me if he glanced back.
Finally, after following a path between two large buildings for several yards, he stopped. I peeked out from my hiding spot just long enough to see him crouch near one of the structures, digging at the soft earth with his hands. I pulled my head back, brows knitting together as my mind raced.
Walker’s soft footsteps sounded a few minutes later as he retraced his steps, and I tucked myself into a nook in the building’s facade so he wouldn’t see me.
When I was sure he was past, I crept out slowly, heading for the place where I’d seen him digging.
What in the fuck was he after?
He’d done a good job of disguising the spot; I had to look closely to find the small patch of disturbed earth. I squatted next to it, glancing over my shoulder guiltily as I did. My fingers sifted through the dirt, re-excavating the hole he’d dug, until they struck something cool and smooth.
I pulled it out, blinking stupidly down at the small metal rectangle as my mouth went suddenly dry. My stomach roiled with unsettled nerves.
I knew exactly what it was. I’d seen Jackson flip open a similar object with glee before setting that van on fire back in Vegas.
It was a lighter.
Chapter Thirteen
“What the fuck?”
“Keep your voice down, Jackson,” Noah chided.
“What the actual fuck?”
Jackson lowered his volume but raised his pitch, so the end result was pretty much the same.
I stared down at the lighter resting in my open palm. It was one of those metal ones with the flip-up top—a Zippo, I thought they were called—and specks of dirt gathered in the seam where the top met the base. Its brass surface caught the lantern light that flickered in our bedroom, and it looked so plain, so harmless.
But then, so had the tracking chip Val had dug out of my back, and that had irrevocably changed my life.
A shiver trickled down my spine, and I closed my fingers around the lighter, encasing it in my fist. “I don’t know. I don’t understand it.”
The six of us—Rhys had refused to let Sariah go back to her room alone—had retreated to our quarters after the cleanup from the fire had wrapped up. I had helped gather the last remaining sheets and blankets, the Zippo burning a hole in my pocket the entire time. Walker and Marcus had helped until Elijah dismissed them and the other remaining pack members, and every time Walker had passed by me, I’d tensed—certain he could sense the object stashed in my pocket.
As soon as Rhys had closed the bedroom door behind us, I’d told them all what I had seen.
“Do you think he started the fire?” Noah asked softly, brows drawn together over his cloud-gray eyes.
My cheeks puffed as I blew out a breath. “I don’t know.”
“Are you fucking kidding?” Jackson swung his head back and forth between the two of us. “Of course he did! Why the hell else would he hide that shit? He was afraid he’d be caught with it red-handed!”
I bit my bottom lip, worrying it between my teeth. “Or he was afraid if someone found out he had a lighter, they’d jump to the exact same conclusion we all did. Let’s face it, Alpha Elijah can say what he wants, but he hasn’t exactly made the newcomers feel welcome.”
“So he just doesn’t want to be blamed for something he didn’t do?” West shook his head. “That’s hard to swallow.”
My stomach twisted, and I squeezed the lighter harder. “I know.”
“Why would he want to burn down those buildings, though?” Noah rubbed a hand across his chin, leaving a smear of soot across his strong jaw. “Was he trying to destroy the whole base? Hoping the fire would spread?”
“I don’t know,” I repeated, feeling like a broken record.
“It would’ve. If we hadn’t moved fast, it would’ve taken out more buildings for sure.” Rhys scowled, glancing up at us.
He squatted next to Sariah where she sat on the edge of the mattress, and his fingers worked deftly to re-wrap her bandage. The old one had gotten singed by a lick of fire as we battled the blaze. She winced when he pulled too hard, and his gaze snapped to her, his touch softening immediately.
“Fuck.” Jackson scrubbed a hand through his dirty hair. “What do we do? Should we tell Elijah?”
“No.”
My voice was soft but firm, and everyone—even Sariah—turned to look at me in surprise.
“Scrubs,” Noah said carefully. “If this guy deliberately set fire to two buildings, he’s a threat. We can’t just ignore that.”
I swallowed, shoving the Zippo back in my pocket, wishing I could smash the damn thing and make all of this go away. Undo the damage, the fear and panic.
“I don’t have any real evidence. I have a lighter that he buried in a secret spot. That’s it.”
“Well, that makes him look pretty damn guilty as far as I can see,” Jackson said, shaking his head in disgust.
“Exactly.” I padded over to where he stood by the door, looking like a bouncer with his soot-streaked arms crossed over his bare chest. “It makes him look guilty. But it doesn’t prove anything. If we tell Alpha Elijah what I found, though, proof won’t matter. He won’t wait to find it. He probably won’t even look for it. He’ll presume Walker is guilty, convict Marcus by association, and kick them both out—or kill them.”
Jackson’s face fell. “Fuck.”
“Goddamn it. He’s so vindictive and paranoid, there’s a good chance he’d kick all the Salt Lake shifters out too, just to be sure.” West’s eyes were dark, heavy with exhaustion from more than just the previous night.
I nodded. That was exactly what I was afraid of. “Which is why I don’t want to start throwing around accusations until we know what’s going on. Elijah’s been on edge since we arrived, and this would push him right over the line. More people than just Walker and Marcus would pay for it.”
“We still have to do something!” Jackson insisted. “There’s definitely something messed up going on.”
“Agreed,” Rhys growled, rising to his feet.
“So what do we do?” Noah settled onto the end of the bed next to Sariah, ruffling her hair like Rhys often did.
She ducked her head, slipping away from his touch. All the men were so sweet with her, but they sometimes seemed to forget she’d aged six years since they’d last seen her. She wasn’t a twelve-year-old kid anymore.
“What do you think, Scrubs?” West cut his dark brown eyes in my direction, and I suddenly realized they were all waiting for me to weigh in. A flash of pride surged through me that I’d gone from being a disoriented, helpless tag-along in this little p
ack to an equal, valued member.
That thought was immediately followed by the urge to barf my guts up.
Lives were at stake here, and if I made the wrong call, real people would suffer.
“I think… we should watch Walker and Marcus,” I said slowly, swallowing down the acidic taste in my mouth. “If we tell Elijah now, they’ll either be exiled or dead before the day is up. But if we wait and keep an eye on them, maybe we can find out what the hell is going on—what they’re after.”
West nodded slowly, his tongue darting out to wet his lips as he considered my words. We were all in rough shape, beaten up, exhausted, and dirty from the night’s activities. “It’s a solid plan. But we need eyes on them at all times. I won’t risk something like this happening again. It won’t be easy to watch them that closely.”
“Can we get Val in on this?” Jackson asked hopefully. “Recruit her for help?”
“No.” Rhys shook his head. “She’d tell Alpha Elijah.”
“Do you think so?” I furrowed my brows. “Half the time, it seems like she takes our side over his.”
“Doesn’t matter. He’s the leader of the pack. She’s his beta. She’s enough wolf for that to mean something; she wouldn’t deliberately betray or disobey her alpha.”
I thought about the tug I felt whenever Elijah spoke, the almost instinctual desire to obey him. Alphas wielded a kind of power that went beyond logical thought, touching on something primal in other wolves. “Yeah. I don’t think we can ask anyone for help. We need to keep this quiet.”
“So one of us watches them at all times.” Noah nodded decisively. “Or better yet, two. I don’t like the idea of splitting up that much, or of any of us being outnumbered.”
“Fuck, this is gonna be hard. Watching them nonstop without drawing attention?” Jackson grimaced, dropping his head back against the door. Then he lifted it quickly. “Oh, you know what though? The room across the hall from both of theirs in the barracks is empty. That’s where Val got the extra mattress from. We can sneak in there to keep an eye on them at night. Make sure they don’t burn the whole damn place down.”