Page 119 of Claiming Their Omega

The source. I have to find the source of the fire and put it out.

I can’t let the animals get hurt or all of the equipment in the barn be destroyed. With that dim thought echoing in my mind, I stagger up onto my knees and crawl again, heading toward a side wall of the barn. We have blankets for the horses on one of the shelves, if they aren’t all burned up. Maybe I can use those to fight the flames.

My thoughts feel disjointed and wild, adrenaline surging so high that I feel my limbs shaking with it. I crawl to the shelves and pull myself up, pawing for the blankets. I grab them and tug, all of them falling on top of me. I’m so dizzy and nauseous from the smoke, even trying to stay down low—it’s hard to focus.

Once I’ve got ahold of a few blankets, I drag them outside the barn. There’s a water trough in the paddock outside the barn where we keep water out for the animals, and I haul the blankets over to the trough while I hear the horses running around in the distance. I try to picture every bit of the barn in my head to make sure I haven’t forgotten any animals.

There’s still plenty of water in the trough, thankfully, and I dunk all the blankets and myself in it.

I need to find the source of the blaze.

I haul the heavy blankets out, barely able to carry them when they’re soaked with water like this, and beat them against various pockets of flame. I have to save as much of the barn as I can.

The heat is oppressive, and I can’t see anything in front of me. I can feel myself getting weaker, even as I try to put out the fire with all the water and wet fabric I can find. The smoke makes my lungs burn, and my eyes are watering—even if the smoke wasn’t making me blind, with how watery my eyes are, I wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway.

I can feel my strength waning, but I can’t stop. I have to save the barn!

Help, I think, almost to myself. It’s ridiculous for me to cry for help when we’re out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I’m praying. Help, help, please… come on…

I just need the strength to save the barn. I just… I need…

I fall to the ground. I’m too dizzy, I can’t stop coughing. I feel so sick, so weak.

Oh god, please, someone help me…

Everything goes black.

Chapter 44

Jesse

When a business associate asks you to have a nightcap with him, even if it’s late, you say yes. Or at least, we do when our reputations are on the line.

Charles is an important contact and not someone who knows us as well as some others, so we want to make sure that he understands all this bullshit the McAllisters have been spreading is well and truly horse shit. We can’t have him believing in any of it.

He does seem to be enjoying our company, and I think that we’ve managed to smooth the way. I glance at the clock. Christ, it’s late, and we have to be up early for the auction. I’m going to be miserable tomorrow when I’m operating on three hours of sleep but you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do—

Help!

I straighten in my seat.

It’s the weirdest thing, but I swear for a second it was like I could hear Grace’s voice in my head.

A second later a horrible cold wave of fear rushes through me, and I know that it’s not mine. I stand up, spilling my drink on the table.

Help! Help!

I can tell that the other men sense it too, all of them stiff in their seats.

“Everything all right?” Charles asks, looking at each of us in concern.

“You heard that?” I croak at my pack mates. I have nothing against Charles, but he literally doesn’t fucking matter right now. If Grace is really in trouble, nothing matters except for her.

My pack mates all nod, tense.

My heart drops as terror fills my bones. Not the terror that I felt from Grace, but my own terror. I know when an emotion is her, and when it’s me. It’s like it just makes sense, I just know.

“Our mate’s in trouble,” I explain to Charles as the other three hurry out of the booth we’ve all been sharing. “We have to go.”

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