Bear the Burn

by T. S. Joyce

  Cody took off his mask and knelt down with a curse.

  “I can fix this,” Dade said on a desperate breath.

  With his teeth, he bit his gloves and yanked them off. He lifted her arm in his hands.

  “What are you doing?” Cody asked low.

  “Changing her. She’ll heal.”

  “Are you crazy? She’ll Change instantly in front of everyone.”

  “I don’t give a shit, Cody! That’s what you wanted anyway, to out us.” His voice dipped to a ragged whisper. “Please. She’s my mate. Shayna did this to her because of me.”

  Cody’s eyes looked horrified through the streaks of soot on his face. “Shayna? But why?”

  “I need to get to her,” a paramedic named Greg said, shoving his way through.

  “Wait.” Cody slashed his hand through the air, stopping Greg in his tracks. His brought his gaze back to Dade. “She’s really yours? And she knows?”

  Dade shook his head. “I pushed her away.”

  “Fuck, Dade! You can’t Change her without her permission. No. She’ll have to survive this on her own. Human.”

  Dade looked down at her legs, burned to the bone from that metal beam. Moisture blurred his vision. “I can’t lose her. I’m sorry, Cody.” Before his alpha could stop him, Dade sank his teeth into Quinn’s arm and bit down until he could taste the iron in her blood.

  “What are you doing?” Greg screamed. “Get away from her.” He shoved Dade backward, but it was already too late.

  Quinn’s back bowed, and she made a choking sound.

  Somberly, Dade removed his helmet and jacket.

  Boone looked up at him from his place beside Quinn’s seizing body. He shook his head and muttered, “Shhhit,” then stood and removed his jacket, too.

  A crowd was forming near the second fire engine that had been called in from Station 7. They joined the other half of their crew, working tirelessly with the hoses to calm the flames that engulfed the building.

  Gage rolled his eyes closed, shook his head, and dropped his mask on the grass. “Welp, no one will ever accuse us of not knowing how to make an entrance.”

  Cody cracked his neck and pointed to a teenager in the crowd who was taking video with his cell phone. “You might want to point that thing over here. We’re about to make you famous online, kid.”

  A long snarl rattled Quinn’s throat as her back arched against the ground again. Hands clenched, she screamed in the final moments before a red-furred grizzly ripped out of her skin.

  The crowd surged backward, terrified cries filling the air as Quinn struggled to all fours. Her back legs weren’t working, and her pupils were dilated with shock. Maybe this wouldn’t work. Maybe she was too broken for a bear to fix her.

  It was too late to regret his decision now because there was no turning back. Cody looked furious as he shrugged out of his turnout gear. Dade yanked his suspenders from his shoulders and pulled his shirt over his head just as Quinn lunged upward, wild abandon in her scared gaze. His bear exploded from him, shredding the top of his trousers on the way out. He roared a welcome as towering grizzlies burst from his brothers, one by one.

  Most of the crowd was on the lamb, but a few brave souls stayed around to take video and pictures. Some of the firefighters from their crew abandoned the hose to get away from them, leaving Station 7 to take the brunt of the flames.

  Dade slammed down onto all fours in front of her as Quinn tried to charge the crowd. From the vacant look in her eyes, she didn’t have her mind, and Dade would be damned if he Changed her, then allowed her to do something she would regret for all time. If she struggled to put an ailing dog to sleep, she’d be destroyed if she hurt someone now.

  Fury in her eyes, she attacked Dade, clawing and biting, but he was helpless to defend himself against her. He wouldn’t hurt her worse than she was by raking a warning claw down her flesh. Cody stood on all fours and bellowed a roar so loud, Quinn hunched down in front of him. He narrowed blazing eyes at her, gold as fire against his dark fur. When he took a thundering step forward, Quinn fell back on her injured legs. The acrid smell of her fear pulled a warning growl from Dade’s throat, but Cody wasn’t backing down.

  Quinn was beautiful—wide, churning green-gold eyes, dark nose set against auburn fur that shone like sparks in the sunlight. A soft, confused noise rattled her chest as she froze. With a sharp inhalation, she sank back into her human skin.

  “They’ll kill her,” a woman screamed from the crowd.

  Metal cracked on metal, and Dade threw himself over Quinn’s crumpled body just as the first shot rang out. Pain blasted through his shoulder.

  Cody was yelling now, and Dade looked over his shoulder to see him back in his human form, holding his jacket in front of his dick and trying to calm the crowd.

  “He won’t hurt her. She’s his mate. He’s just trying to protect her. Please, put the weapons down so I can get my crew to Change back. They won’t hurt you. You have my word.”

  “The word of a monster!” a man clutching a handgun shouted from the edge of the growing masses.

  “We aren’t monsters. We’re citizens just like you, and we don’t hurt humans. Please, my brother is just trying to save his girl. Greg! Can you help her? She needs to go to the hospital. Her legs are badly burned.”

  “What are you?” a woman asked from her hiding place, peeking around the fire engine.

  “We’re bear shifters. Very rare. Greg. Please, man, she needs help.”

  Greg stepped cautiously from beside the ambulance. “You bit her. Why?”

  “Don’t answer any more questions,” a blond-haired woman ordered from the crowd. “I think you should think carefully about the things that come from your mouth right now. An informal interview will only hurt you when emotions are running high like this. Plus, your brother has been shot.”

  “Who are you?” Cody asked.

  “I work for the newspaper. I’ll break this story if you want me to, but I think we need to take a step back.”

  The woman’s voice rang with honesty, and her hazel eyes swam with concern.

  “Okay, no more,” Cody conceded.

  “Will she turn into that thing again?” Greg asked, approaching with his med kit slowly.

  “Not now,” Cody said. “Not for another week at least. Look at her.” He jerked his head toward Quinn’s limp body lying between Dade’s front paws. “She’s half dead.”

  “I’m not working on her with three grizzlies looking over my shoulder. You’re the leader, right? Get them to turn into humans again so I don’t have to worry about my life while I’m trying to save hers.”

  “Change back.” Cody’s voice cracked with authority, and Dade’s body caved in on itself.

  Growling at the pain of his forced Change, coupled with the seeping bullet wound that was burning his shoulder from the inside out, he was barely able to keep the scream in his throat as he melted into his human skin again. Exhausted, he slid into what was left of his trousers and hoped his dick wasn’t hanging out for the news crew that had just pulled up.

  He watched, anguished, as Greg and other paramedics that had been called to the scene, worked over Quinn. Her eyes were open, staring vacantly at the sky as her body was jostled and moved, and Dade fell to his knees as Greg placed an oxygen mask on her.

  “Her lungs are struggling from the smoke inhalation.” Greg’s voice drifted in and out of Dade’s consciousness. “…Burns… blood transfusion… both legs… broken… internal bleeding…”

  He hadn’t saved her at all. The bear inside of her was strong and would give her the ability to heal faster, but some things were too bad to fix instantly. He knew that. The scars on his torso and neck were proof of shifter mortality. The smell of her burned flesh was further proof that saving her hadn’t been as simple as a bite from him.

  And now Quinn, his Quinn, was hurt badly. If she lived, she’d be scarred for always, just like him.

  He’d done this.

  Poisoned he
r life with his presence.

  That man in the crowd was right.

  Dade wiped Quinn’s blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

  He was a monster.

  Chapter Six

  The beep beep beeping of a machine pulled Quinn from the deep folds of sleep. Her throat was dry, and when she tried to open her eyes, something kept her from being able to do so. Reaching up, she felt around her face. Tape adhered her lids together, and in a moment of panic, she pulled at the corners and yanked them off.

  Her vision was blurry, so she blinked rapidly until it cleared. She was in a hospital room with a large viewing window. Outside, she could see two uniformed police officers. She ripped out the tube pushing oxygen into her nose and tugged at the IV in her arm. The beeping flat lined as she ridded herself of the plethora of wires and contraptions attached to her body.

  Fumbling, she pushed the red button on her bed. “Hello?”

  A doctor bustled in, and both cops rested their hands on their guns as they watched her through the window.

  “Where am I?” she asked, voice sounding like she’d swallowed glass and gravel.

  “You’re at St. Anthony’s. Shhh, please, Quinn. You have to stay calm, or they won’t let me stay in here with you.”

  “What do you mean? I don’t understand. Why am I here?”

  The doctor’s blond ponytail swished as she froze. Her blue eyes went round with shock. “Don’t you remember what happened to you?”

  Quinn rubbed her head and tried to recall the time before she’d been in here. Flashes of memories assaulted her. Gravel, black sedan, two cats, Dade…Dade. Work, inventory, flames…

  She gasped as it came back to her. Horrified, she pulled the sheets back to reveal her bandaged legs. “I want to see them.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  Quinn read the doctor’s nametag. “Moira, please.”

  “Swear not to hurt me if I take the bandages off?”

  “Hurt you? Why would I hurt you?”

  Her delicate eyebrows drew down. “What is the last thing you remember?”

  “Burning.”

  “Nothing more?”

  Quinn squinted her eyes, trying to dredge up anything more, but there was simply nothing there. “Fire, pain, then here.”

  Moira leaned over the bed and pressed an intercom button. “Call him,” was all she said.

  Static sounded, and a feminine voice came over the other line. “But Lieutenant Danvers said—”

  “Call him,” Moira said sternly.

  “Call who?” Quinn asked low.

  “Someone who can explain what happened to you much better than I can. You ready to see?”

  Quinn swallowed the coward down and nodded.

  It hurt. Holy hell it was agony to take the bandages off, but Moira didn’t slow down or give her time to back out. And when Quinn laid her eyes on her scarred legs, a piece of her broke. Across her thighs, her skin had melted, and now resembled red Oklahoma clay.

  “How long have I been out?”

  “Two days.”

  Quinn jerked her attention to Moira’s face. Her voice sounded clear as a bell. She didn’t know how she could tell, but Moira was telling the truth.

  “Two days?” Quinn dragged her shocked gaze back down to her legs. “But these look half healed.”

  “They are. You might have some muscle weakness, and possibly a limp, but you’ll make almost a full recovery.”

  “And the scars?”

  Moira shook her head sadly.

  Quinn leaned back against the pillow and stared at the sterile ceiling. “When can I go home?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “But you’re a doctor. Surely, you can tell how long it will take me to heal.”

  Moira looked pointedly at the officers outside. “It’s not up to me or any of the medical staff here, Quinn. It’s up to the government.”

  “What?” she asked on a breath. “What does the government have to do with me? I pay my taxes.” She twitched her head at an escalating noise outside. “I don’t even have a speeding ticket on my record.” The noise grew louder, pricking her ears until they tingled. “What is that?”

  “What’s what?”

  “That noise. People. A crowd…jeering.” She lurched out of bed and hissed at the searing pain that blasted up her legs. With a groan of shock, she used the chair to steady herself, then shuffled over to the window. The gown she wore was backless, and she was giving Moira quite the show of her ass, but right now, she didn’t care so much about that. Below, thousands of people had gathered. Some held signs, but she could only read one from here.

  Cage the Animals.

  Animals?

  A black SUV pulled through the crowd slowly, and when the door opened, she perked up. Dade and another blond-haired man filed out and made their way slowly through the crowd. The masses surged forward, clawing and touching them. Dade lifted his feral gaze, golden green, up to her window and held her frozen fast.

  “What’s wrong with him?” she asked.

  Moira inhaled deeply. “As far as I’m concerned, nothing is wrong with him. You either.”

  Frowning, Quinn twisted. “Why has Dade come to see me?”

  “Because Dade Keller is the reason you are here.”

  Confusion washed over her, making it hard for her to breath. Indeed, he’d felt dangerous the first time she’d met him, and cold when he’d sped away from her on the street. “Dade set the fire?”

  “No. Dade isn’t the one who put you here in this hospital, Quinn. He is the reason you’re still alive.” Moira stood and smoothed the wrinkles from her lavender scrubs. “You have about five minutes before he reaches this room.” She twitched her head toward the bathroom and smiled. “Push the button if you need me.”

  Leaning heavily on the chair, then the bed, Quinn made her way to the bathroom and guffawed when she saw her pallid reflection in the mirror. She looked like an unwashed, unkempt vampire. With a growl, she sponged off in the shower, careful not to get her burns wet. Shaving her legs with the disposable razor on the lip of the shower sounded like hell, so she settled for shampooing her hair while bent forward under the water. Teeth brushed, face washed, and cheeks pinched, she shuffled out the door and froze. Dade sat on her rumpled hospital bed, shirt off and long, deep scars on his back exposed. Moira was checking something under a bandage across his shoulder. Eyes still blazing that feral color, he slid her a glance over his shoulder, then pulled his T-shirt back over his scarred body.

  “It looks fine,” Moira said. “Who took the bullet out?”

  Dade nodded to a man in the corner. “My brother, Boone, did.”

  “With what?” Moira asked.

  “With my finger,” Boone said with an empty smile.

  “Truth,” Quinn whispered. “You’re telling the truth.”

  The brothers each shot the other a loaded look.

  “But how do I know that?” she asked low.

  Boone pushed off the wall, his blue eyes troubled as he twitched his head. His shoulder-length blond hair flicked out from in front of his face, and he stuck his oversize hand out for a shake. Up one arm, he was completely covered with a full sleeve of tattoos. “I’m Boone Keller. You probably don’t remember me, but I was there when you came to be, little bear.”

  “Little bear,” she repeated softly, shaking his hand.

  His words tugged at the frayed end of a memory she’d buried deeply.

  “Right. Well, I’m going to leave you to it.” He jerked his chin toward the officers by the window. “I’ll be outside.”

  Dade sat on the bed, his profile to her, watching her warily from the corner of his eye. “I have something to say, and I suck with words, so just let me say it and get it done.”

  She shuffled toward the bed, but the pain in her legs made her wince and lose her balance. “Shhhoot,” she hissed, leaning heavily, arms locked against the mattress.

  A growling sound came from b
ehind her, and when she took stock of her body, Dade’s hands were gripping her waist, steadying her from behind. How the heck had he ended up over here?

  She narrowed her eyes at her splayed hands, in instincts screaming not to keep him at her back. “What are you?”

  “Well, that’s part of what I want to talk to you about. I’m a shifter.”

  “Meaning?”

  “I turn into a bear when I want. Or lately when I’m worked up.”

  She snorted and sank heavily onto the mattress. Sure, it sounded like he was being honest from the clear bell tone of his voice, but he wasn’t a bear. “Okay, Dade Keller, where’d you get all those scars on your back?”

  “I did two tours. Shrapnel.”

  The smile fell from her lips as her humor faded away. “Are you still active duty?”

  He shook his head and sat beside her. “Let me see your legs.”

  “Why, because the open back of my hospital gown wasn’t enough? You’ll have to buy me dinner before I show you my gorgeous gams.” She’d meant it as a joke, but her voice had faded and hitched by the last word. Her heart pounded around Dade, and she had the fluttering of emotions she hadn’t felt in years when she looked into his eyes. Nothing in her wanted to show him how messed up her body was now.

  “I didn’t look at the back of your gown.”

  “Because you didn’t want to?” The answer mattered.

  Dade canted his head and blinked once, slowly. “I wanted to look, but I didn’t think you would be comfortable with it.”

  She took a relieved breath and brushed her fingertips across the melted skin on his neck. “And this?”

  Dade gripped her wrist and pushed it away. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed and gave her a hard look. “I’ve given you enough for now.”

  Him flinching away from her touch ripped at her heart. “Why don’t you like for me to touch you?”

  “Because,” he whispered, “I haven’t earned it.”

  “Moira said you saved my life.”

  “Moira was mistaken. I was the one who ruined your life. You just haven’t realized it yet.”