Wildfire Shifters: Collection 1

by Zoe Chant

  “Attack?” Buck said sharply. “This wasn’t an accident?”

  “No,” Callum said. He caught Buck’s eye, holding his gaze. “One of Lupa’s men.”

  Lupa. The man who’d attacked her had mentioned that name. But…she hadn’t told Callum that yet. How had he known?

  He’s involved in some kind of gang warfare, Gertrude whispered. Organized crime. He’s wanted by the mob. And now they know you exist, they’ll hunt you and Beth to the ends of the earth. She’ll never be safe again—

  “Motherfucker,” Buck said—then grimaced, glancing at her apologetically. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to swear in front of the kid.”

  “She’s ten months old. It’s not like she can understand you.” Still, Diana appreciated the sentiment. “Who is this Lupa person? A gang leader?”

  Buck and Callum exchanged a brief glance. “Something like that,” Buck said. “We had some trouble with her lot earlier in the year, at the start of fire season.”

  “What sort of trouble?”

  “Arson,” Callum said, succinctly.

  She supposed that explained the fireball. No doubt an experienced arsonist knew all sorts of ways to improvise a flamethrower. And if Lupa’s gang burned things down for money—or even just for fun—she could see how they could end up clashing with a hotshot firefighting crew.

  Still…she had a feeling in her gut that there was more going on here. Everyone was just being too furtive. Even Callum was barely talking. She smelled a rat, and it made her nervous.

  “So those turd-eating dogs have been watching us,” Buck said to Callum. “You find the motherlover?”

  Callum shook his head. “Seren and Fenrir picked up his trail, but lost him at the road. They’re still searching. Rory is fl—” He checked himself, flashing the briefest glance at Diana. “Rory’s out looking too.”

  “Hmm. And you don’t…?” Buck left the sentence hanging.

  Callum shook his head again.

  Diana was starting to feel like she was missing half the conversation. Of course, people who worked closely together under difficult conditions did tend to have a lot of in-jokes and private references, but this was getting ridiculous.

  Buck was frowning again. “I can understand Lupa setting one of her hounds to keep an eye on us, but not why he’d blow his cover to chase after a random visitor. What in the seven bells were you doing all the way up here anyway, Diana? This is a working hotshot base, not a motherloving picnic spot.”

  “Um.” Diana’s face heated again. “I was looking for Callum, actually.”

  One of Buck’s eyebrows twitched upward. “You two an item?”

  “Not exactly,” Diana said, just as Callum said, “Yes.”

  Buck started to say something, then paused. He looked at Diana as if he was only truly seeing her for the first time. Then he switched his raking stare to Callum. His expression shifted into aggrieved disbelief.

  “Oh, for the love of fuzzy little squirrel balls,” Buck said in tones of deep disgust. “Another one?”

  Callum seemed mildly embarrassed. He avoided Buck’s eyes.

  “How is this my life?” Buck muttered, apparently to himself. “How does this keep happening?”

  Diana’s heart lurched. Of course someone as charismatic and charming as Callum would have women throwing themselves at him. And evidently she wasn’t the first casual fling to track him down to his base in the hope of more.

  She couldn’t help feeling a pang of jealousy at the thought. Which was utterly ridiculous and unfair of her. They’d only shared a single night, after all. It wasn’t like she had any claim to his heart.

  Though…why had he told Buck that they were an item?

  Buck let out a heavy sigh. “Well, at least it’s the end of fire season. Feel free to have all the emotional drama you want on your own time. Just don’t make me watch.”

  “Ah.” Callum fidgeted, shifting his weight from side to side. “Diana and Beth need to stay here for a while.”

  Buck gave him a level look. “What do you think I’m running here? A motherloving motel for lonely hearts?”

  “I’m not staying,” Diana said quickly. “Don’t worry, I understand this is a working facility. I won’t be bothering you again. I only came here in the first place so that Callum could meet Beth.”

  Buck’s brow furrowed. “Why would—?” He cut himself off, studying Beth more closely. Then he did the now familiar double-take, staring from Beth to Callum. “Wait. That’s your kid?”

  “Yes.” Callum spoke with odd emphasis, like he was expecting someone to contradict him. “She’s mine.”

  Buck contemplated this. When he next spoke, his tone was flat and cold as an arctic plain. “Callum Tiernach-West, the next words out of your mouth had better be ‘I didn’t know about her.’”

  “He didn’t know about her,” Diana put in. “Not until today.”

  “Good,” Buck said. “These are my best boots. I’d hate to have to extract them from an asshole’s butt. Now that you do know about your kid, Callum, I trust that you’ll do the right thing.”

  “Yes. Which is why Diana and Beth need to stay here.” Callum’s mouth set in a grim, flat line. “Because I’m not the only one who found out about them today.”

  Buck’s breath hissed between his teeth. “Lupa. Shit.”

  Callum nodded. “You see now.”

  Diana’s pulse picked up. She’d been trying to tell herself that she was overreacting, that her fears were just her anxiety disorder talking. But Callum and Buck were both clearly taking the threat seriously.

  She hugged Beth tighter. “You really think that your enemies will go after me and Beth again in order to get to you?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past them. They’re a nasty bunch.” Buck rubbed the back of his neck, thinking. “Where do you live, Diana? Are you local?”

  “No. Los Angeles.”

  Buck’s eyebrows rose a little. “Long way.” He glanced at Callum. “Maybe it would be far enough.”

  “Can’t risk it,” Callum replied. “The pack tracked Joe to Las Vegas, remember.”

  “Good point.” Buck blew out his breath. “What about taking her back to your home for the winter? Your folks are in Ireland, right?”

  “England. City of Brighton.” Callum’s lips thinned. “Not an option.”

  “I should say not!” Diana was getting irritated by the way the two men were talking over her head. “Stop trying to rearrange my entire life without even consulting me. I can’t just drop everything and fly overseas!”

  “This is the safest place for them,” Callum said to Buck. “Wystan’s here. Fenrir. The rest of the squad too, at least for a while. They’ll all help.”

  Buck let out another heavy sigh. “Motherloving shif—uh, shifty-eyed weasels. Fine. They can stay.”

  “No, we can’t!” Diana protested. “A firefighter base is no place for a baby.”

  “I’m in complete agreement with you there,” Buck muttered. “What are we going to do, stash her with the chainsaws?”

  “Diana.” Callum came forward, kneeling so that they were face-to-face. She found herself captured by the intense green of his eyes. “Please. I need to keep you and Beth safe. This is the best place.”

  This close, his charisma was overwhelming. The late afternoon light caught in his hair, revealing a hundred subtle shades of copper and auburn. She remembered what it had felt like to run her fingers through those short, soft curls as that sensuous mouth trailed kisses down her neck…

  She thrust down the memory. “But I can’t hide here forever. I have a life back in California.”

  “Not forever. Just until I’ve dealt with Lupa.” He leaned even closer. One of his hands lifted, then dropped, as if he’d started to reach out to her but then thought better of it. “Once you’re safe, we can come up with something more long term. Together.”

  She broke away from the hypnotic emerald depths of his eyes, looking down at Beth instead. She couldn’t let herself
be influenced by her own desires. She had to do what was best for her daughter.

  Still…if this Lupa woman was as dangerous as Callum and Buck seemed to think, perhaps this really was the best place to stay at the moment. An entire crew of muscular hotshots had to be a deterrent to even the boldest arsonist.

  And it would give her the opportunity to learn more about Callum. If he was going to be involved in Beth’s life, she needed to know everything about him.

  “All right,” she said. “Just for a while. Until we’ve figured things out.”

  “Then that’s settled.” Buck rubbed his forehead, looking like he was fighting a migraine. “Now where in the name of all that’s holy can we put a baby?”

  Chapter 6

  His cabin was a deathtrap.

  Callum had never before fully appreciated just how many ways there could be to injure a baby in three small rooms. He was starting to think it was a miracle that he’d managed to survive living here this long.

  “Bro, chill.” Joe switched off the vacuum cleaner he’d been running over the worn carpet. “You don’t have to obsess over every square inch of wall. It’ll be fine.”

  He didn’t stop his slow, methodical examination. “Have you seen that?”

  “You mean in a vision? No.” Joe shrugged. “But I haven’t seen it not being fine. I’m pretty sure I would have gotten a warning if your baby was going to choke on a stray splinter or something.”

  “Can’t take that risk.”

  Joe’s talent for scrying the future in water was useful, but it had its limits. There had been more than a few occasions in the past when the squad had run into difficulties that Joe hadn’t foreseen.

  His awareness flicked over the surroundings, touching each nearby life—BuckTannerJessicasquirrelmousemousemouseFenrir—before settling on one particular cabin, a little way off from his own. He could sense Diana and Beth inside, along with Blaise and Edith. The two women had offered to lend Diana some clothes from their own wardrobes, since most of her own things had been destroyed in the car fire.

  With an effort, Callum pulled his attention away from his mate. Much as he wanted to bask in the diamond sparkle of Diana’s energy, he had to finish baby-proofing the cabin before they got back.

  His searching fingertips found a rough spot on the planed log wall. He rubbed at it with his sandpaper until it was silky-smooth. “Here.”

  Joe sighed, but obligingly vacuumed up the scattering of sawdust. “Sometimes you can be just a little OCD, you know.”

  Callum did know. But given the choice of obsessively scheduling every minute of the day to make sure he didn’t miss anything, or wandering around in a distracted daze thanks to the life-forms all around, there was only one option.

  He still couldn’t believe that he’d forgotten to call Buck. He couldn’t afford to make any more mistakes.

  Finishing his slow circuit of the room, Callum pulled his notebook and a stub of pencil out of his pocket. He wished that he’d had more time to sit down and work through everything properly, but even a scrappy, hastily-scribbled plan was better than nothing.

  He ticked off Check walls, and consulted the next item. Block sockets.

  “Electrical sockets,” he said to Joe. “Did you bring the tape?”

  “Yep.” Joe dug into the bag he’d brought with him, emerging again with a roll of duct tape. “Here you go. Hey, what have you got there?”

  Callum reflexively hid the small notebook in his hand…and then hesitated. Normally he was careful not to let anyone witness his odder habits. Years of childhood teasing—mostly from his brothers—had taught him that lesson all too well.

  But Beth’s safety was more important than his pride. He handed Joe the book, swapping it for the duct tape. “To-do list. Can you check it for me?”

  “Mop bathroom floor…dry bathroom floor…put away mop and bucket…” Joe’s eyebrows ascended as his eyes moved down the list. “Wow, bro. This is, uh, thorough.”

  Callum tore off a wide strip of tape, and knelt to stick it over the nearest electrical socket. “Let me know if there’s anything missing.”

  Joe’s brow creased as he finished scanning the list. He looked up again. “You’ve forgotten the most important thing.”

  Now he was glad he’d asked for help. “What?”

  Joe handed the notebook back to him. “‘Tell Diana the truth.’ You know you have to.”

  “I will.” He shoved the notebook back into his pocket. “At the right moment.”

  Joe gave him a distinctly skeptical look. “And when will that be? As you’re ice-skating hand-in-hand through Satan’s Winter Wonderland?”

  “I will tell her,” he insisted. “Once…once she knows me. Trusts me.”

  Joe pinched the bridge of his nose as if he had a sudden headache. “Oh, Sea. Cal. I tried to hide the truth from my mate. And I was lucky Seren just whacked me over the head with a blunt object when she found out. How do you think Diana will react when she discovers you’ve been lying to her about something this important?”

  “I’m not lying.” Despite his words, a pang of guilt stabbed through his gut. “No matter what happened that night, I am Beth’s father. Or at least, I will be.”

  “You’ll be cooling in a shallow grave, if Diana has any self-respect. And I’ll happily pass her the shovel.” Joe dropped his hand, revealing an uncharacteristically serious expression. “Bro. You really have to tell her. Today. And more than that, you have to tell Connor and Conleth too. You three need to compare notes and work out which of you really fathered that baby.”

  Callum stuck tape over the last socket and straightened. He took out his list again. He needed to update it and move on to the next item before he got distracted and forgot.

  “Bro.” Joe plucked the notebook out of his hand, using his full six-foot-eight height to keep it out of reach. “Are you listening to me?”

  His fists clenched. For a second, he was a child again, furious tears burning his eyes, snatching futilely at thin air as his brothers laughed and tossed his book between them…

  “Give that back.” With huge effort, he kept his voice level. “I need it.”

  Joe hesitated, then lowered his arm to offer him the notebook. “Sorry, bro. That was a dick move.”

  Callum nodded curtly, not trusting himself to speak. Reclaiming his list, he drew a line through Block sockets.

  Joe let out a long sigh. “Listen, Cal. I don’t have to have a vision to know that even if you are that kid’s dad, things are going to go badly, badly wrong for you if you don’t come clean with Diana.”

  There was only one item remaining on his list: Make bed. He literally needed to make a bed. Since they didn’t have a cot or crib, Diana had said it would be safest for her to sleep on the floor with Beth.

  He’d borrowed a couple of camping mats from the storeroom. They weren’t exactly comfortable, but maybe if he piled up a few of them…

  “Cal.” Joe’s voice made him start. “I know we haven’t always been best buds, but I thought we’d grown closer since we started working together. If something’s worrying you, I’ve got your back, I promise. Talk to me?”

  Belatedly, Callum realized that it had been his turn to contribute to the conversation. “Not good at talking.”

  “Then perform an interpretive dance.” Despite Joe’s light-hearted words, the sea dragon’s turquoise eyes revealed genuine concern. “Or I could fetch some semaphore flags.”

  “You know semaphore?”

  Joe promptly waved his long arms in a sequence that might have indicated Yes, of course I do. Then again, given that he didn’t know semaphore, it could just as easily mean Help, we’re being attacked by giant aquatic squirrels.

  “You have many hidden talents,” Callum said, amused.

  “Talents, yes. Hidden, no. I’ve learned my lesson there.” Joe picked up a sheet, shaking it out. “Seriously, bro. Why are you so scared of telling Diana about your brothers?”

  Callum took the end of the
sheet, tucking it under the mattress. “You said yourself that we haven’t always been friends.”

  The sea dragon blinked at him. “I think you skipped a few links in that chain of thought, bro.”

  “You were their friend.” Callum met Joe’s eyes, steadily. “Before.”

  Joe fidgeted, looking a little embarrassed. “Yeah, well…back then I had more in common with Conleth and Connor. I mean, let’s face it, I was something of a playboy. And you were never exactly keen on coming out partying. Sorry.”

  “Not blaming you. You just preferred their company. Like everyone.”

  Joe started to speak—and then paused, staring at him. “Hang on. Are you trying to say that you’re worried that Diana might like your brothers better than you?”

  Callum looked down, smoothing out a tiny wrinkle in the sheet. “She already liked one of them well enough to want to sleep with him. Even if she really did accidentally sleep with me instead.”

  “But you’re her true mate. Did you consider the possibility that she was only attracted to your brother because he’s like you?”

  He made a hollow laugh. “We’re nothing alike.”

  “Apart from, you know, literally being identical.”

  “Just on the outside.” A restless energy filled him. He needed to do something, but he’d finished his list. His hands twitched. “You know them, Joe. They’re witty and charming and charismatic. And I’m…me.”

  Joe looked at him for a long moment. “Yes. And you’re Diana’s mate. Her perfect match. Not Connor or Conleth. You. Maybe you should trust fate on this one, bro.”

  Much as Callum tried, he couldn’t stay still any longer. He restlessly paced the room, sweeping his fingertips across every flat surface to make sure he hadn’t missed any dust.

  “Maybe,” he said. “Or maybe she was attracted to my brother because that’s how I’m supposed to be. If my talent wasn’t…” He gestured at his forehead and heart, indicating his inner animal. “So distracting.”