Fire Princess

by Rachel Blake

  Autumn regretted the words as soon as she spoke. Not only did the woman lose her balance and fall out of the window, but it was not a two-year-old child she tossed down, but a snake! With a scream, she jumped back and let the reptile fall to the ground.

  "You said you would catch him! You promised," the panic-stricken woman yelled, paying no mind at all to the obvious deformity of her arm. "Catch him! Catch him before he gets away!"

  Autumn shivered as she watched the five-foot snake slither past her before it squeezed under the fence and disappeared. She turned to her partner.

  "Don't glare at me like that," Gwen chided. "I tried to warn you. Maybe next time you will listen."

  "Did you finally get sick of fighting with the snake lady?"

  Autumn looked at the chief. "When she started spitting and throwing dirt at us, we called another rig."

  "Good idea." His laughter forced her eyes to roll. "I saw that, sub."

  "Are you going to tattle?"

  "Nope. It will be more fun watching him try to break you of that nasty habit if I am not the reason you are getting your ass paddled."

  "I am going to paddle her ass!" a pissed-off firefighter roared as he stormed around the corner of the house.

  Autumn instinctively covered her butt. "Don't worry, girl, he isn't talking about you." Chief gave her shoulder a squeeze then jogged over to cut off the angered man and pull him behind a fire truck a few feet away. "Settle down."

  "What is she doing here? She doesn't work on this kind of story." He gestured toward the front of the house.

  The man pushed the face shield on his helmet back, revealing his face. Zander. Autumn smiled. She was right; he still loved her.

  "She's working this story," the chief calmly answered.

  "There is a maniac setting buildings on fire, and they send her? Why?"

  "That is none of your concern."

  Zander reared back as if he'd been smacked. "None of my concern? I'm her—"

  "You're her nothing," Autumn interrupted as she stormed up to the men. "You're. Her. Nothing."

  "Autumn," Kevin warned from behind her.

  "No, Chief, he needs to hear this, and you pussyfooting around the truth is only going to make matters worse." Autumn saw a brief look of shock on the man's face as she turned back to Zander. "You are nothing to her but an ex." The last word had venom dripping from it. "And you have no one but yourself to blame for that. You made that choice."

  "No, she did. I gave her a choice."

  "You gave her no choice! You made her choose! You gave her the ultimatum. You told her it was them or you. She thinks of them as family, and you tried to take that away from her."

  Zander sputtered for a few seconds before he realized the truth of her words. "Fuck!" Autumn shot an air of disdain in his direction then strutted away, happy with her small victory.

  "Leave it to a pissed off sub to tell you exactly how stupid you were." She smiled at Kevin's words.

  Gwen smirked when she climbed into the rig. "Finally get to tell Zander how much of a dumbass he is?"

  "Oh, yeah."

  Chapter 11

  A tap on the window caused both Gwen and Autumn to jump.

  Hand to her chest, Autumn turned to see a man standing outside her door. Rolling her window down just a crack, she addressed the man, "Can I help you, sir?"

  "There is some graffiti on your ambulance, miss."

  "What!" She jumped from the rig. Sure enough, a canvas of black spray paint with red lettering decorated the side of the white and blue vehicle. "Shit!"

  "Chief, we are going to need you and a couple of Hill City's finest over at the ambulance. We have an issue."

  "Ten-four, Gwen."

  'Flames engulf your fragile heart.'

  "He has left a poem at every fire he has started," an officer in an ill-fitting suit said as he, the chief, and Jensen joined the women.

  "I thought the only calling card was the letters Mason got before he set the fires?" The glower Kevin directed at the officer should have killed him on the spot. "You said you were telling us everything."

  "We did tell you everything you needed to know."

  Kevin took a threatening step forward. "This could be a direct threat to my men! We have a right to know about this!"

  "You have no right to know about any of our investigation! Your job is to put out the fire; that is it. The investigation is my job."

  "Not for much longer if I can help it." Kevin pulled his phone from his pocket and took a couple of steps away from the rest of them.

  "So, ladies, want to tell me how you let this happen to your rig?"

  "How we let this happen? You're kidding, right?" Autumn took a step toward the man, Gwen right beside her. "We have jobs like everyone else here does."

  "You mean catching snakes?"

  "I thought it was a child!" Autumn took another step in the direction of the infuriating man with every intention of socking him in his pasty, round face. An arm wrapped around her middle and lifted her off the ground. "Put me down. I'm going to—"

  Before she could finish her threat, a hand had clamped over her mouth and she felt warm breath against her ear. "Quiet, princess. We have his behavior on tape, but if you finish that threat, you will be in jail. You can lick my hand all you want, sub, but if you bite me, I will drag you into the back of the ambulance and paddle your ass." She let her lips cover her teeth once more. He knew her too well. "Good choice. Now, I am going to take my hand off your mouth. The only things I want to hear from your mouth are direct answers to his questions. Understood?"

  Her "yes, Sir" was hindered by his hand, but he must have understood because he removed his hand. While wiping it on his bunker pants, he nodded at the officer. "What was your question, officer?"

  "Actually, I am a detective, Detective Starling, and I advise that you address me correctly."

  Anger bubbled in Autumn's gut. She briefly glanced back at her partner for support, but the woman didn't look like she was having any easier time containing her rage. She was on her own. "Can you repeat your question, detective?"

  "How did you let this happen?"

  "We didn't let anything happen."

  "The reporter wants to interview you," another officer said as he joined them. "I will finish with these guys for you." As soon as the Detective Starling was out of earshot, the young officer talked. "Sorry about him. I promise some of us use the manners our mothers drilled into us. Let's try this again. I'm Officer Thomas. Can you tell me when was the last time you saw the ambulance without the new paint job?"

  "It was clean when we arrived on the scene of our original call, so about 0310, but I don't know the exact time without looking at the logged time."

  He nodded toward the rig. Autumn didn't give him the chance to change his mind and was pulling up the necessary information as she half listened to the questions he was now directing at Gwen.

  "I didn't see anything unusual." Gwen paused for a second. "But Autumn thought she saw someone come out of the alley behind the house probably five minutes before we called it in."

  She turned from the computer as realization dawned. "I saw the arsonist, didn't I?"

  "It is possible."

  "Why does she seem so excited about that possibility?" Leland looked like he was never going to let her go on a call without him again.

  "Do you know what time that was?"

  "I can tell you exactly the time. I had just started the paperwork; the program notes every time it's opened." She hit a few more keys. "We arrived on scene at 0308, and I saw the person come out of the alley at 0323."

  The officer flipped back a few pages in his notes. "You called in the fire six minutes after you saw the person. Any chance he stepped under a street lamp, and you have a description to give me? Yeah, I didn't think so."

  Chapter 12

  She looked ridiculous. Utterly and completely ridiculous.

  "Wow."

  "That's it? That is all you have to say? Liv, I look a
bsurd!" Autumn collapsed into a chair.

  "First, don't let any of the tops hear you say that. When we all get together, no sub is safe. They won't discipline you, but they will rat you out in a heartbeat, and speaking badly of yourself will be the fastest way to get any one of them to do just that. Second, my 'wow' was not intended to be negative. You look stunning, and he didn't make you wear heels?"

  She peered down her body, past the simple thigh-length black dress to her lime green high tops. "He didn't have much of a choice. I can't walk in those deathtraps." Her friend laughed. "No, really. I practiced all day yesterday, and I nearly broke my neck countless times."

  "It's true. The only thing forcing her to wear those shoes would have accomplished was a night spent in the emergency room," Leland shared as he sauntered into the room with Kevin right behind him.

  "Touch your toes." Liv instantly turned and bent at her waist; her ass facing her husband.

  "You, too, sub," Leland demanded as his gaze landed on Autumn. She sputtered for a few seconds before she took her place next to Liv and did as she was ordered. "Both of you look lovely tonight. As usual." He knelt behind her and gave her calves a squeeze before he ran his hands up her legs to the hem of her dress. "I wanted to make sure you did as you were told and skipped the panties, princess."

  The end of her skirt brushed against the swell of her ass as he slowly pulled the back of it up, bunching it at her waist to expose her naked behind. She was not sure if the quiver that ran through her was a result of the cold air meeting her heated pussy or his finger running over her dark pucker. It didn't matter; all that mattered at that moment was the groan of pleasure that rumbled from Leland's chest and his next words.

  "Good girl, princess." He patted her bare, lower lips with the flat of his hand before he pulled her dress back in place and helped her to stand. He kissed her hard on the mouth, chuckling when she buried her fingers in his hair. "We have to go play good host, baby. We do not have time for the kiss to go any deeper." He pried her fingers from his hair and smiled at her pout. "We will play later, promise, but right now, Sierra is waiting for you in the kitchen."

  She was attacked as soon as she stepped into the kitchen. "Where have you been? I have not seen you in weeks! Lee is stealing you away from me!"

  She wrapped her arms around Sierra, giving her a tight squeeze. "I just saw you at the last fire, only two days ago."

  "That was work. Work doesn't count."

  "Okay, I saw you last weekend at breakfast."

  Sierra stepped out of the hug so she could see her friend's face. "See what I mean? A whole week. He is taking up all your time. You have no idea what is going on in my life."

  She laughed as she took a cup out of the cupboard and filled it with water. "You are so dramatic. Fill me in on what is happening in your life."

  "Zander apologized."

  Autumn coughed, spitting water everywhere. "He said he was sorry? Like sincerely?" Her conversation with him at the fire came to mind as she dabbed her friend's face dry with a hand towel.

  "Seemed sincere to me."

  She took Sierra's face in her hands. "Tell me you did not take him back just because he said sorry."

  "Are you nuts?"

  "Good." The sigh of relief was out before she could stop it.

  "I love him. He is my Daddy and always will be, but I do not wish to put myself through that heartache again. Taking responsibility for the hurt he caused me was a huge step, but that was just the first step. He has like a trillion more to go, and they are all uphill. Besides, I'm kind of busy being with someone else."

  Autumn laughed, happy to see that her friend had stood up for herself and refused to let the man off the hook so easily. "I am proud of you, Sierra, but you have to tell me who this someone else is."

  "So you can run to my brother? Absolutely not."

  "I'm proud of her, too." The girls turned toward the back door.

  "Zander, a pleasure to see you again." If Sierra thought she was fooling anyone with her nonchalant attitude, she was sorely mistaken.

  The man chuckled. "I didn't mean to interrupt. I was just coming in to refill my glass."

  "Nope, nothing to interrupt here. If you will excuse me, I have to go find… someone." With that, Sierra flounced out of the kitchen with her head held high.

  "I am so damn proud of her. Don't look so surprised." He smiled as he watched Sierra through the patio doors. "She has grown so much since I fucked everything up. She is stronger and more sure of herself while somehow maintaining that innocent little quality about her."

  "You love her." It wasn't a question. Autumn could hear it in his words and see it in the way he stared at her.

  "I never stopped loving her." He turned to Autumn. "I saw Mason and Tabby as competition, and by letting my jealousy get the best of me, I took it out on her. I didn't see them for what they were until you pointed it out."

  "Your shortsightedness hurt her."

  "I know. Mason and Leland both made sure that I knew precisely how much I had hurt her."

  "I hope they got some good hits in when they kicked your ass."

  He rubbed his jaw as if it was still tender. "Your Dom has quite the right hook."

  "Yeah, his left arm has some significant power behind it, too, that is for sure." Without thinking, she reached back to rub her bottom. "So what are you going to do to fix your colossal mistake?"

  His smile showed off his white teeth. "I am going to let her go."

  "She loves you."

  "I know, but if my stepping away has gotten her to grow this much, I can't hinder that. She deserved to grow and evolve, and this mystery man has done just that, so I step away and let him take the lead."

  "She is still going to make you suffer." Autumn left the laughing man in the kitchen.

  "Is Zander going to tell me that you were rude to him, princess?"

  "I just stepped out onto the deck, Sir, so how could I have possibly misbehaved already?"

  "Can you blame me for my worrying, sub? The last time you talked to Zander, you told him in no uncertain terms exactly how much of an idiot he had been."

  "I told him the truth, which he needed to hear. Just like you did, Sir. The only difference is I didn't use my fists to relay the message."

  Leland threw his head back and laughed. "Told you about that, did he?"

  "Yes, Sir. We compared notes on the power of your swing."

  Autumn laughed so hard, she snorted. "You're kidding?"

  "Honest to God!" Liv raised her hands to the heavens and laughter exploded from the circle of women once more.

  "How does that happen?" Sierra asked as she wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes.

  Liv tried desperately to catch her breath. "I don't know. One minute, I was bent over the kitchen counter getting my ass spanked, and the next, I heard a groan of pain from Kevin. When I turned around to see what had happened, he was bent over in agony."

  "Olivia, are you sharing the forbidden story?" Kevin joined the group with a smirk playing on his lips, his presence fueling the women's laughter.

  "But, Sir, it's a funny story."

  He rolled his eyes then turned from his wife to the rest of the submissives who were trying so desperately to keep their giggle to themselves. "Go on, ask."

  Autumn looked around the circle. Everyone was trying to determine if this was a trap, and if it was, would the laugh be worth the possible consequence? With a deep breath, she threw caution to the wind as respectfully as possible, of course, and asked what everyone was itching to know. "How does that happen, Sir?"

  "You mean how did I manage, while punishing my sub, to miss her ass and, instead, hit myself in the groin?"

  Autumn bit her cheek to fight off the smile threatening to surface. "Yes, Sir. That is what we would like to know."

  "When you figure it out, let me know, because I have absolutely no idea how in the hell I managed to rack myself."

  Laughter rolled through the gathering, and she watched
as Kevin turned to his wife with an evil twinkle in his dark eyes. When she opened her mouth to warn her friend, a heavy hand landed on her shoulder. "Let them be, princess. He warned her what the telling of that story would cost her. She, alone, decided it was worth the price."

  "Sub." The one word was enough to get the attention of everyone in the small group, but Kevin only had eyes for his wife, who was now red-faced and looking at the ground, a smile playing on the corner of her lips.

  "Yes, Sir?"

  "Do you remember our agreement?"

  "Of course, I do, Sir."

  Without a word, Kevin gestured to the waist-high deck railing. Chewing her lip, Olivia walked to the designated area and bent over the rail. When he turned to the group once more, all eyes were on him. "Olivia and I had an agreement. She could tell people of my unfortunate episode, but for each person she told, they or their perspective Dom gets to take three swings at her beautiful ass."

  "Three! We agreed on one for each person I told!"

  "No, you demanded one. I wanted there to be a chance that my embarrassing story would be kept between the two of us, so we agreed on three. You and I both know that one swat from everyone would not be a deterrent for you at all. I can see in your eyes that you remember. If I had been thinking, I would have made the number of strikes higher, but we agreed to three, and three it shall be. Now, turn back around and bend over the rail, sub."

  As soon as Olivia was where he wanted her, he walked up behind her and lifted her skirt, exposing her creamy nates. "So, who heard the story of my misfortune from the lips of my girl, here?"

  Autumn watched as an alarming number of people stepped forward. The Doms were quick to rat out the unfortunate submissive, but on the other hand, hesitation showed on the faces of most every sub.

  "Princess?"

  "Look at how many people she told, and they all get to take a swing at her?"

  "Yes, and you were one of them."