by Cecilia Lane
“Not our fault that Hudson accepted every swap,” Nolan snickered.
“Just because none of us are certain he knows how to read doesn’t mean we can take advantage,” Callum said with a broad smile on his face. Hudson raised his middle finger with a deep growl. “Three trades. I want a final schedule of inspections by the end of the week. Let’s keep the town from burning down before we catch our firebug.”
Chapter 9
Becca fixed a smile on her face and sauntered into Mug Shot. She hoped the Old Maids were handing out their brand of old lady mischief. She was ready to dish out some trouble of her own. Too many thoughts bounced around in her head. She needed to focus on anything else.
Her expression slipped a fraction when she found Mara behind the counter with her sister. The cow hadn’t waited a moment before swooping in on her territory.
Faith twisted around from where she was showing Mara how to run the espresso maker. The vacant, pleasant look she wore for customers disappeared into a frown so deep Becca worried she’d have permanent lines on her forehead.
The sharp sting of anger filled the air. Faith’s voice was close to a growl when she spoke. “Three hours, Becca. That’s impressive even by your standards.”
Becca winced. She’d run most of the night in an attempt to work out the residue of rage and guilt over her time with the hunters, her ever-present grief over her lost daughter, and the asshole not-mate that triggered it all. When she finally turned toward the home she shared with Faith and Tommy, the sun was peeking over the horizon. She collapsed against her mattress to catch her breath and jerked awake hours later.
Adding to an already shit morning, she knew she’d really stepped in it with her boss-sister.
Faith was alarmingly lenient with the five minutes she perpetually ran late. They used to joke that it started at birth and she’d forever be five minutes behind.
There was no amusement on Faith’s face.
Ten minutes extra for a lunch break, even the thirty minutes she lost after getting her hair done and simply losing track of time, none of those incurred the wrath of three hours past the start of her shift.
Faith rarely got angry. She was the perfect twin. Polite, quiet, hard working. Nothing like Becca. Which was why the anger hurt. She’d goaded her sister into an emotion she rarely showed. Following it would be disappointment. Becca wasn’t sure which was worse.
“Luckily, I had someone here willing to work.” Faith nodded to Mara, who was making a serious study of her shoes.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered and pushed her way into the back. She was going to put her wallet and phone away, don her apron, and be the best damn employee for the rest of the day. She owed it to Faith. Faith didn’t need to offer her a job, but she did. Faith didn’t need to put up with her shit, but she did.
Anyone else would have fired her long ago. Hell, they had. She couldn’t count the number of jobs that let her go for attitude problems and tardiness on two hands.
By the Broken, she was a mess.
The sweet scent of baking pastries didn’t mask the cloud of anger Faith brought with her into the back of the shop. “If you need time off, that’s fine. That’s what it’s there for.”
“I’m fine. I’m here now.” Becca poked her head through the neck of her apron and tied the strings behind her back.
“But not three hours ago when I needed you. If you insist that you’re fine, you need to be here.”
“Damn, Faith. I’m sorry, okay? It won’t happen again.”
“What’s the excuse this time? The hairdresser forgot about you? They didn’t have your color for a mani-pedi? Was the sky just so blue that you had to ponder the existence of living in a marble?”
Becca stuffed her hands into the front pocket. “I was talking to Nolan,” she admitted.
Her fox brushed against her mind at their mate’s name. Even after telling him she didn’t want him, every cell in her body and urge of her inner animal drew her back toward him. He was like a magnet and she was caught in his force.
“What?” Her sister screeched and all trace of anger vanished from her scent.
Becca rubbed her ears and tried to answer, but Faith fired off question after question.
“When did this happen? What did you say? What did he say? Are you going to see him again? What changed your mind?”
Becca raised her hands to urge a pause in the interrogation, then did the cowardly thing and pushed back to the storefront.
Her plan of using the public as a cloak fell into nothing as she eyed the empty cafe.
“Is Nolan the blond one with the swooping hair?” Mara asked, gaze trailing toward the firehouse.
Eavesdropper! Becca narrowed her eyes and her fox urged out a little growl.
“With his oh-so-fashionable brood that should be on a magazine cover? Yeah, that’s him,” Faith answered.
“Does he have any brothers?”
“Why yes, he does.” Becca nodded so hard she cracked her neck. “About thirty of them. Let’s talk about setting up Mara instead of Nolan.”
“Oh, I’m definitely more interested in your story.”
“Traitor,” Becca grumbled and Mara shrugged unapologetically.
Faith poked her hard in the stomach. “Well?”
“We talked. Nothing changes.” The timers on the coffee pots were about to chime for refills and none of the other slackers were moving for them. Becca clicked the buttons before they would sound and busied herself with prepping them for a refill, entirely out of her desire to prove she could be a hard worker and not one bit because she needed a steaming mug of caffeine to stare into while avoiding the topic of Nolan.
“Please. That you talked is a change. What did you talk about? And before you object, I would like to point out that I have dealt with your attitude with the patience of a saint and have not fired your ass for being three hours late. You owe me some gossip and you better make it damn good.”
Dammit. Called out using her own reasoning. Stupid twin connection. They were separate people who thought the same way far too often.
“Who are you and what have you done with my sister? Faith,” Becca lowered her voice conspiratorially, “you realize you just used dirty wordies?”
“You and Leah are bad influences. Speaking of, I should call her. I can get her on speakerphone for this.”
“Stop!” Becca laughed and snatched the phone out of her sister’s hands. “I yield! I’ll dish. And I’ll dish to Leah later. And probably Rylee, too. Hell, I’ll just make a transcript of the entire thing and post it on every single street corner and in the newspaper for good measure, too!”
“Probably for the best. I’ll make notes and get back to you with any further questions.” Faith waved her hands. “Well?”
“It started last night.” Becca waited for the whoops and hollers to die down. “As you know, it’s a not-so-good time of the year for me.”
Faith immediately turned serious. “Oh, Becks.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine. Really.” Her fox whined in her head. They were definitely not fine, but she’d paste on her smile and stick her foot in her mouth just like normal. “So I was at the bar, drinking way too much, and Leah, that jerk, cut me off. So I left and Nolan followed me out.
“One thing led to another, I was going for the goal, and some asshole started shooting up the place. Huge gunfight, cops all over, SWAT team gets called in, choppers, the works.”
Mara froze. Faith simply smacked her lightly. “Seriously!”
“Some kid, probably, shot a gun and I happened to be the lucky one to catch it. You know how kids are these days with their violent video games and their rap music. How we’re not all living in a Mad Max scenario yet, I’ll never know. This is the world you want to bring kits or pups into, by the way. I look forward to your little hellions stuffing us into medieval torture devices for fun.”
Faith directed a kick to her shin that Becca narrowly avoided. “Okay, okay! And with my ah, aversion to do
ctors, Nolan talked me into going to his place to check it out.”
Too late, she realized she made a mistake in telling the story. Oh, she’d needed to come clean about the shooting. That Faith hadn’t heard about it yet was a gift from above. Small towns worked like a hive mind. Once one person knew a thing, everyone knew it.
But she couldn’t explain exactly why she ran out on Nolan. Faith didn’t know and Mara was a complete stranger. Hell, she hadn’t been able to explain it to Nolan before they dipped into the Big Conversation that morning.
Jacob knew everything. Cole knew whatever Jacob told him and Rylee knew whatever Cole passed along to her. That was two people too many for Becca’s tastes. She wasn’t ready for the entire enclave to know she was a coward and had blood on her hands. She didn’t think she’d ever be ready for that secret to be spilled.
“And, well, I freaked out,” she said in a rush. “It was too much, too soon. Ten years of nothing, and then we’re making out like teens again? I had to get out of there, so I made a graceful exit.”
“You ran out on him without an explanation, you mean?”
“You get me. It’s almost like we shared a womb.”
“I should have eaten you in there,” Faith snorted. “So that’s why you were coming in when I was heading out.”
“Sorry. Again. I went for a run. I didn’t mean to fall asleep when I got back to the house. I only meant to take stock of the crazy night. But that wasn’t all because Nolan was waiting for me this morning.”
“This is a rollercoaster. I don’t think I can handle another loop,” Mara grinned.
“Try living it,” Becca said with wide eyes. “So we talked. He said he was sorry for how senior year turned out. And he still thinks he’s my mate.”
There was a bomb in those words, and not the one about their pairing. It was obvious from how he postured around her that he thought they were still connected, even if he didn’t outright say the words. Which he had. Numerous times.
But the apology. And that he’d thrown around their girl’s name and plans when they brought her home. That he even had plans for them as a family unit. Those were the shockers that she hadn’t had time to process.
Did it really change anything? Even if he had all the pretty words and ideas in the world, he still wasn’t by her side when she needed him. He still freaked out separately from her. Male pride and wanting to seem strong for her, or simply a scared teenager, he didn’t include her.
And if he couldn’t lower his walls, then they had no future. She experienced that hurt first hand. She wasn’t going to sign up for a second tour of duty on that battlefield. She’d already been blown to bits the first time around.
Faith shoved her aside with a brush of her hips and snapped the lids on the coffee pots. She dropped her own munitions payload with a few, tiny words. “I mean, he is. Isn’t he?”
“I rejected him.”
Becca didn’t understand why those words felt sour on her tongue. She’d wanted closure and she got it. That need drove her into his arms. It kept her in the alley while they talked. Jacob planted the idea with his need to talk about his family. Cole let it grow wild with his advice to get all the animosity out of her system.
She could probably find it in her heart to forgive Nolan one day, but she couldn’t accept him as a mate. He was a runner, just like her. He put up roadblocks and kept her out of his head. He didn’t let her see the ugly worry. And she didn’t stick around to show off hers.
If that wasn’t enough, she still had nightmares over her treatment at the hands of hunters. They tried to run her down in a horrifying fox hunt. She couldn’t bring herself to come clean to her twin. She had no hope of telling the man who already let her down in the past.
Her head reeling too near the serious subjects she wanted to avoid, she turned from her audience and doctored herself up the mug of coffee that was supposed to give her cover.
Her sister had other ideas. “I don’t buy it. You’ve been on this kick of pushing him away for years now, but I remember when you two couldn’t be apart for five minutes. He’d cross the road to go home and then you’d be on the phone with him until you fell asleep.”
Becca set her mug down with a hard clink and tightened her grip on her inner animal. Mate, mate, mate. Nolan, Nolan, Nolan. No, no, NO. “Not all of us are going to stumble into perfect matedom.”
“Perfect? Hardly. We fight, which you know because you still haven’t gotten a place of your own. We can’t agree on attending a foodie conference later this year. His mother tries to be a third wheel and Tommy lets enough slide to drive me crazy. It’s messy and complicated, but I wouldn’t dream of not having him at the end of the day.”
“And so I should just trust in the yipping little half of me and ignore the logical, thinking side? Why does the primal ball of instinct get a bigger say over me?” Yep, she’d just insulted everyone she was close with. Score.
Mara nodded sagely. “I get it. I mean, once you sift through the ‘I’m scared of marshmallows’ and ‘my landlord is sleeping with my mom’ on the talk shows, there’s one common story. Love isn’t enough. Circumstances change. Maybe someone has a great job opportunity and wants to move, but the other half wants to stay near their entire family. Nothing broke down between them, but the love they had wasn’t enough to keep them together.”
Faith whirled on her. “I just hired you. You should be on my side!”
“Suck on our realism, hopeless romantic!” Becca laughed and high-fived her new best friend.
Faith glared at them both. “Listen to your instincts. Relationships are complicated. It took how many years for Tommy and I to get together? Sure, we weren’t crushing on each other since first grade like you and Nolan, but he’s been in Bearden since middle school. These things happen when we’re ready for them.”
“I was ready,” Becca said with all trace of joking removed. “I was never and have never been so sure about anything in my life. Nolan wasn’t there when I needed him and I can’t try to cross that minefield again. I still have a say in this and I say he’s not my mate.”
Her sister smiled sadly and wrapped her in a hug. “Whatever you say, Becks. Whatever you say.”
Chapter 10
Nolan rested his hands on his stomach and stared at the ceiling. The Strathorns and the volunteers were all on call, but he was the one stuck filling the night shift rotation. The vampire crew was down a man due to some emergency leave, but Callum wouldn’t let the slot stay empty with a firebug in town.
It’d been quiet for an entire week. No fires, no more rounds fired into the night. Worst of all, nothing from Becca.
Instinctively, he flexed his hand. The breaks had mended and a shift into his bear form had repaired all the damage, but he still felt a bit of an ache. It was probably all in his mind. Becca’s latest rejection was a fresh wound on his heart and he was manifesting it in the hand he injured right after.
He was a fucking nutcase.
The brief moment of stepping past all her walls, of her eyes touching on him and actually seeing him, had ruined him. He’d lost his appetite and he could barely focus. His inner bear was more restless than ever. He’d shifted at least twice every day since he dragged Becca into the alley and demanded answers. Even with the drain of multiple shifts and runs until he was exhausted, his skin felt tight and itchy.
Pushing his human side to the limit didn’t help, either. A long workout didn’t slack the need to be near her. While the vamps were up and going about their night, he should have managed a few minutes of napping. Instead, he stared at the ceiling and failed to keep her off his mind.
She didn’t want him for a mate. He couldn’t accept her rejection.
Ten fucking years of the same. Only now, he had to see her and hear her and catch her scent filling the bars and restaurants and streets. There was no escaping the hurt that ran straight to his bones.
The alarm inside the house cut short his spiral of self-hatred and regret. He kicked his g
rumbling bear to the back of his mind and rolled out of bed.
He had a job to do, and someone’s life might depend on him.
He was out of the dorms and into the engine bay within seconds of the vamp crew. Jeremiah, the captain on the night shift, fired off quick responses into the radio on his shoulder. The rest of them were silent as they stuffed themselves into their turnout gear and found their spots in the engine.
The first turn off Main didn’t catch his attention. Late night jobs were typically residential fires.
The second turn made him sit up. There were only a handful of neighborhoods clustered in the area.
A third turn pushed his heart to the limit. His folks lived close by. The Holden sisters lived across the street. Two other homes stood empty on the street, waiting for a brother and sister to finish fixing them up before moving in.
He wasn’t sure which option would be worse. He might see his childhood home go up in flames, disappointment on a sibling’s face, or watch his mate’s house burn down.
His heart jumped in his chest when Jeremiah made the final turn.
One side of the Holdens’ house was thoroughly engulfed. Flames crept over the roof and licked at the windows. Smoke billowed into the night, blending into the night sky above and eerily illuminated by the fire below.
“Fuck,” he cursed. “No. No.”
Nolan jumped from the engine before it pulled to a stop.
His parents watched the destruction from the end of their driveway. Faith and Tommy stood with them and held each other tight. The flickering light of the fire played out in shadows across their faces.
Theirs. Not Becca’s.
“Hold, Byers! Hold! We go in together!” Jeremiah screamed at him over the radio.
Nolan didn’t hear him. The vamp outranked him and would be sure to report him to his alpha, but those were problems for the morning. His insides churned and his bear savaged his mind. He had to find Becca. He would die if she didn’t make it out alive.