by Donya Lynne
Chapter 40
Cordray stared out the passenger window of the Denali at the dark houses and fields as she and Trace returned to Asylum.
It was almost three in the morning.
She’d wanted to stay and help Micah go after Ronan, but, after thanking everyone for their hard work, Micah had insisted they go home. He said he would take care of Ronan on his own. Which meant Ronan had maybe forty-eight hours left to live, tops.
But if Micah wanted to take Ronan down himself, Cordray would let him. Her list of priorities had shifted sharply in the past twenty-four hours, and kicking Ronan’s ass wasn’t as high on that list as it was a couple of days ago. Taking a contented breath, she turned and gazed at Trace’s strong profile. He had become her number one priority and had just jumped to the top of her to-do list, thanks to Micah’s independent streak.
The corner of his mouth lifted as his eyes flicked toward her. Then he took his right hand off the steering wheel and held it over the center console. She slid her fingers between his and smiled as warmth seeped into her palm. It felt good to feel again, even if she still couldn’t feel anything when he wasn’t around. Trace was her lightning rod. Her lighthouse in the fog. He grounded her and made her feel safe. Something she never thought would be the case a few weeks ago.
Squeezing his hand, she finally broke the comfortable silence. “How did it feel working with your brother tonight?”
“It felt good.” He grinned and glanced at her. “Real good.” He faced the road again. “Everything is finally starting to feel like it’s going to be okay.”
“Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?” She knew his life had been filled with heartache, and that he’d been barely inches from going mutant a couple of days ago, but that was then. This was now. And now they were together. No more resistance. No more fighting fate. All she wanted was to get home and feel him inside her until sunrise.
“What about your father? Are you going to see him?”
Trace gave her hand a squeeze. “Brak and I are going to visit him in a couple of days, after he’s recovered and I’ve gotten some rest.” He cast her a sideways glance. “Someone’s been preventing me from getting any sleep.”
“And I’ll be preventing you from getting even more once we get home, so don’t get any ideas about wimping out on me.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
They drove in contented silence for a few minutes. Then Cordray noticed an orange glow in the distance. In the area of the ranch.
“Trace . . .?” she straightened, her instincts spiking to high alert as the glow got bigger.
“What is that?” Trace leaned forward and squinted.
“I don’t know.” Her heart began to race as a sinking feeling dove into her gut. “Hurry. Hit the gas.” She planted her hands on the dashboard and strained forward. “Faster, Trace!”
The glow grew larger, flickering. Smoke billowed into the air.
“Oh my God! It’s a fire. The ranch is on fire!”
She glanced across the seat to find that the color had drained from Trace’s face. He pressed harder on the accelerator.
When they reached the ranch, he slammed on the brakes, jacked the steering wheel to the right, and fishtailed onto the gravel driveway. Rocks spit up under the Denali, clanking against the undercarriage as they raced toward the fire, bouncing over the pair of potholes that still hadn’t been filled.
Several of the children were in the yard, hugging themselves, staring at the blazing dorm. Mya and Brenna were there, too. Mya was holding Faith. Brenna was on the phone. She spun around as the Denali skidded to a halt on the rocks.
She and Trace were out of the cab before the engine could even shut off.
“What happened? Is everyone okay?” She ran a circle around the shivering, crying kids in the yard. “Where are Null and Aiden?” Her pleading eyes jumped to Mya’s. “Please tell me they got out.”
The expression on Mya’s face said it all. Her two youngest were still inside the dorm.
“No!” Without thinking, she raced toward the open front door.
She had to save her kids.
* * *
“Cordray!” Trace started after her, but his legs gave out, and he fell to his knees.
Fire. Why did it have to be fire? Give him an ocean to swim across, a mile-wide chasm to leap over, or a hurricane to fly through, but not fire.
As he stared up at the blazing dormitory, it seemed to stretch skyward, growing ten stories tall instead of just two. One of the windows shattered, and he threw his arms in front of his face as glass and flames shot out.
Cordray was in there. His mate! It was his job to protect her. He had to do something. He couldn’t lose her now that he’d just found her. And what about Null and Aiden? He’d only known them a few days, but he already thought of them as his own. Would a father allow his children to die? All because he was a little scared?
Okay, make that a lot scared.
Terrified.
Just hearing the crackle of the flames was enough to send his pulse into orbit.
“Trace!” Brenna knelt beside him and shook his shoulder. “Do something. Please!” Horrified panic filled her bloodshot eyes.
He faced the fire. Saw his mother as she burned. Smelled her charred flesh.
He’d let his mother die. He hadn’t been strong enough to save her. But he was strong enough now. He had to be. He refused to let another female he loved perish.
In his mind, he saw his mother’s eyes open on her charred face and look right at him.
Go, Trace! You can save them. You were made to save them.
Her voice touched his mind so powerfully it felt like she was really there. As if she had never died and was still with him.
Now, Trace!
Pulling courage into his gut and strength into his legs, he rose and staggered toward the burning building. Smoke flooded the doorway, and he could see flames shooting across the ceiling in the rec room.
On the verge of hyperventilating, he forced his feet to move, then run, and then he was inside, surrounded by fire. The rail of the staircase smoldered. Flames licked up the slender posts.
“Cordray!”
Something crashed upstairs as the ceiling caved. He heard a scream. A child’s scream. Aiden’s.
“TRACE!” Cordray shouted from the second floor. “Help us!”
Heedless of his fear, he raced up the stairs and into the hall, which was filled with smoke and flames. Burning beams hung from the ceiling, blocking the way to the kids’ room at the end of the hall.
The sound of breathless coughing reached his ears.
“Cordray!” He pushed forward, oblivious to the intense heat.
“We’re in here!” Cordray yelled from beyond the blockade of fire-consumed wood. “Back here!”
Oh God, they were trapped.
You can do it, Trace. Use your power.
His power?
How?
Just do it!
Desperate and terrified, he thrust his hand out in front of him, letting loose an explosion of energy unlike any before. It was so powerful that it couldn’t possibly have come from him, but it had.
A boom sounded, and the fiery blockade vaporized into ash, cutting a path to the children’s bedroom. He rushed forward.
Cordray was huddled with the kids on the floor. They were covered in soot. Aiden clutched her Pooh Bear with one hand and held a small blanket over her mouth with the other, as if she were using it as an air filter.
Cordray’s fearful gaze met his and instantly transformed into one of relief and hope. And love.
“Can you dematerialize?” he said. He wasn’t able to. That was one vampire gift he’d been born without. His mixed blood allowed him to hide in the shadows, but not poof out of a burning building. Lucky him.
She shook her head. “I’m too torqued. I won’t risk it. Not with the kids.” Dematerializing could go very wrong if she was too jacked up emotionally to keep herself separate from the kids while she
ghosted.
“Then give them to me. I’ll get them out. You go.”
“No. I’m not leaving you in here.”
“Cordray, don’t argue with me! Get out of here!”
“No! We go together, Trace! I will not go without you!”
He wanted her safe, but he could tell she wouldn’t leave him and the kids behind to take herself to safety. Her gaze penetrated his as if it were a dagger, her resolve set.
“Fine.” He reached for her as the ceiling groaned. The heat was almost unbearable. “Let’s move. We don’t have much time.”
She lifted Null toward him. “Take him. I’ll get Aiden.”
“Hold on, little man.” He tucked Null against his body. “Hide your eyes, okay?”
Null flung his tiny arms around Trace’s neck and thrust his face against his shoulder.
“You ready?” he said to Cordray, helping her up.
She nodded as another beam broke through the ceiling over Null’s bed and crashed down in a shower of sparks and fire.
Aiden screamed and put Pooh in a choke hold as she burrowed against Cordray’s body.
“Follow me and stay close.” He raised his right arm in front of him, palm outward.
The smoke was getting thicker.
He sure hoped this worked.
* * *
Cordray coughed and tried to cover her mouth so she could breathe, but that made it hard to hold on to Aiden. Screw it. She would just have to deal with the smoke, because she couldn’t let anything happen to Aiden. She hugged the little girl more tightly. Hot tears stung her eyes. She blinked several times, trying to clear her vision.
A beam crashed down behind her, and she jumped forward. “Trace, hurry!”
“We’re moving. Now!” A blast of energy burst from his hand. In an instant, anything blocking their path vaporized into ash.
“Go!” Trace rushed forward, arm held out in front of him.
Flames shot out from the bathroom, obscured by smoke, which clouded the way.
For a moment, she couldn’t see.
“Trace!”
His hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her forward.
They reached the stairs, but they were totally engulfed. Even if Trace could vapor the flames and embers into ash, the stairs wouldn’t hold their weight.
“Back here!” She tugged Trace into the back bedroom, where Riley slept. The flames weren’t quite as bad in here, which meant the fire had probably been started on the other end of the dorm.
Had Gavin been playing with matches again? So help her, if he didn’t learn his lesson from this, she didn’t know what she was going to do with that boy.
She opened the window. Probably not the best thing to do for a fire, but what choice did they have?
She knelt and set Aiden on the floor. “I’m going to jump down to the ground, and then you’re going to jump down so I can catch you, okay?”
Aiden shrunk backward and shook her head.
“Aiden, please. I promise I’ll catch you. I won’t let you get hurt.”
She cringed, hugging her Pooh Bear close. Tears streamed from her eyes. “I’m scared.”
“I’m scared, too, honey. But we don’t have much time. We have to jump.”
Flames were already snaking into the room.
Trace knelt and pulled her into his free arm then stood and nodded toward the window. “You go first,” he said to her. “I’ll take care of the kids.”
“But—”
“Go, baby. Jump. We’ll be right behind you.” He nodded encouragement as the fire spread farther into the room.
She placed her hand on the open windowsill, her eyes locked on Trace’s.
A meaningful look passed between them for what felt like an eternity. When a loud groan echoed through the attic, she glanced to the ground then turned back toward Trace.
“Don’t you dare leave me, Trace. I’ve waited too long to find you.”
* * *
He knew without her having to say it that her fear was that he could die. And here they’d just found each other. They’d been mated only twenty-four hours. What a bitch it would be for either one of them not to make it out of this alive, because the bond he had with her was already strong enough that if she didn’t survive the fire, he wouldn’t survive losing her.
“I know the feeling, baby. Now jump.”
I love you, she mouthed. The ends of her hair were smoking as if they’d been singed.
I love you, too, he mouthed back.
She turned and leaped. He peered down to see her land on her feet then turn and raise her gaze to the window.
“Okay,” he said to Null and Aiden, taking a step forward, “our turn.”
They both cried out and grabbed on as tightly as they could, hiding their faces against his chest. “No! No! Don’t jump! I’m scared!”
“It’ll be okay. I promise. I’ll never drop you.” As another groan rippled through the ceiling and down the walls, he sensed they were quickly running out of time.
Jump, Trace. Now!
His mother’s voice burst into his mind. He climbed onto the windowsill as best as he could with two squirming bundles tucked inside his arms.
A split second before he leaped, he heard a loud click, a fizzing sound, and then . . .
* * *
The blast threw Cordray back a good ten feet. She landed on her ass and rolled feet-over-head once before spinning to a dizzying stop just in time to see Trace and the two children somersaulting away from the dorm. They landed several feet away, Trace taking the worst of the fall as his knees slammed into the earth. He tossed forward, but not before he ensured Null and Aiden made a soft landing, which had to have taken a miraculous work of physics, and then slammed face-first into the ground before tumbling over himself.
Cordray heard a dull pop, like bone breaking, and then Trace landed on his back and stopped moving.
“TRACE!” She was on her feet in an instant, gobbling up the distance between them in a blink.
Falling to her knees, she pressed her fingers to the side of his neck, searching for a pulse. She couldn’t find one. Blood spilled out of his nose and over his mouth
“TRACE! No! Don’t you leave me here alone, you asshole!”
This couldn’t be happening. Not again. How many times did she have to lose someone she loved before the universe cut her a break?
Well, no more. She wouldn’t suffer through this again. Either Trace lived or they both died.
“Don’t you fucking leave me!” She thumped her joined fists on his chest hard enough to awaken the devil.
“Oomph!” Trace jackknifed off the ground then fell back. “Jesus, baby!” He coughed and rubbed his chest, wincing. “What’d you do that for?”
She gasped and froze, her mouth flapping open. “I thought . . . you weren’t . . . I thought you were dead.”
He coughed and rolled to his side. “I just got Bruce Willis’d from an exploding building. Can’t I get a second to get my bearings?”
He groaned and sat up, dabbing his fingers against his nose. That’s when she realized it was broken. That had been the pop she’d heard.
“Here, let me set that for you.” She pushed him onto his back, grabbed his nose, and snapped it back in place before he could stop her.
He let out a bloodcurdling cry and cupped his hands over his face. “What the fuck?”
“That’ll teach you to play dead on me, asshole.”
“I wasn’t playing dead! I was catching my breath. Holy Christ, C.” He wiped the blood off his lips then turned merciful, adoring eyes on her. “Do you really think I would leave you?” He reached for her hand then gave her a weak smirk. “I mean, wouldn’t you just hunt me down in hell and beat the shit out of me if I did?”
She frowned, confused. “I . . .”
“Baby . . .” He pushed himself into a sitting position and cradled her face in his palm. “I would never leave you. Now that I’ve found you, not even Satan could keep me from yo
u.”
Her heart shattered open as the weight of all that had happened in the last ten minutes barreled down on her and knocked her soul to its knees. Before she could stop them, convulsive sobs ripped through her body, and tears gushed from her eyes. She thought she’d lost him. She’d seen her life flash before her eyes without him in it and thought it was all over.
“Damn you!” She slapped his shoulder. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again!”
“I guess this means you’re keeping me, huh?” He winked at her.
She let out what sounded like a half sob, half laugh as relief washed through her. She wiped the tears from her face and nodded. “Yeah, asshole, I’m keeping you.” Pushing forward, she kissed him. Hard. Like her life depended on it.
And it did.
Because he was her life. From this day forward, there was no her without him.
Chapter 41
Fire trucks filled the lawn.
Trace sat on the deck beside Brenna, who was wrapping a bandage around a burn on his forearm. Bruises were forming around his eyes from his broken nose, and he’d sprained his right knee jumping out of the window, otherwise he was in good spirits. Cordray had retrieved a set of crutches Leon had used last year after twisting his ankle playing soccer, and they leaned against the wall beside him. Trace would need them to get around for a day or two, at least until he got in a few good feedings, the first of which Cordray planned on giving him later when all the excitement was finally over.
As for her, she’d escaped the fire relatively unscathed. The ends of her hair had been burned, so she’d need to get a haircut, and her right hand was bandaged from a small burn she’d gotten during their retreat in the hall, but that was about it.
She’d been lucky. Luckier than some of her kids. Riley had suffered the worst. She’d tried to get to Aiden and Null and had been badly burned. After applying as much first aid as they had access to at the ranch, Mya rushed her to the AKM medical center. That had been about forty-five minutes ago. Leon had gone with them. That left Null, Aiden, Panya, Faith, and Gavin, who sat by himself on the corner of the deck, his legs crossed, head down.
She might as well get this conversation over with.
Sighing, she joined Gavin and took a seat beside him. “Gavin, honey, did you do this?”