Page 3 of Single Dad Panther's Best Friend Romance

I’m a panther, and as a panther, I could easily climb up to the second floor where a number of civilians wait, facing certain death from the smoke and flames unless someone gets to them. “I don’t see another way, damn it,” I say.

“Negative!” he repeats.

And then, the stairway collapses. There are a great many shouts from the people upstairs on the landing, and I find it very difficult to keep from shifting automatically. Usually, it’s anger that will make a shifter shift without the conscious decision to do so. However, it can happen with any very strong emotion. Inthis case, the very strong emotion is concern for the safety of the people on that floor.

This is a bad fire.

This is a very bad fire.

I could repeat that sentence a thousand times and add a newverywith each repetition. I’m on the verge of ignoring Garrett and just shifting.

But then Garrett says, “Four panel multi-pane window. See it?”

“Yeah.”

“Clear it.”

“Hey!” I shout over the flames. A man looks down at me. “Move everyone back toward the doors. Not through them, just back. Now!”

Progress is slow but I shout a few more times and then unleash the hose, slowly moving it closer to the crowd. They get the idea and move faster as instructed. When the area around the window is free of people, I say into the handheld, “Clear.”

Garrett doesn’t reply directly but counts down. “Five. Four. Three.” After five seconds, the window shatters. A few seconds later, I see a big, yellow bucket from one of the engines and a firefighter climbs off. He gestures toward the people and I shout, “Children first. Move in an orderly fashion!”

Another firefighter climbs out. No. Two. They have this covered; I think. “They’re here, Garett, what next?”

“Come out,” he says, “and bring your men through the main entrance.”

“Roger,” I say.

I turn and Vic, Todd, and Mike are ready to go. Things in a fire can be crazy. I realize I’ve actually forgotten somehow that they can hear the damned radio just like I can. “All right,” I call, “let’s go.” They nod and we make our way around somesmoldering rafters toward the door. “Todd, Mike. Soak these. We’ll wait out there for you.”

Vic and I step out and it’s amazing (as it always is) how much cooler it feels to be out in the open air. The oppressiveness of the moment is gone. Of course, the difference I feel is only on my face. I’m still overheated as hell under the big, heavy fire coat.

“Are we going to be able to save anyone else?” Vic asks. He’s a shifter, too. Todd and Mike as well. The three of them are leopards, and that makes the four of us rivals, in a sense. We’re always teasing each other. Ultimately, I’m a leopard.

Black panthers are leopards. But I have a jet-black coat that hides my spots. They look like standard albeit very, very large leopards. And for some reason, panthers are far larger than other cat shifters. I look like I have a solid black coat.

Very few people, shifter or not, have the guts to look closely enough at a panther shifter’s coat to see the very subtle shading differences of our spots.

But now isn’t the time to think about that crap. Now, I’m a firefighter trying to control a situation that would have the average person running in the opposite direction.

There’s no real time to think, but everything has to be carefully thought of when considering how to handle a scene like this. And to make it worse, I notice that there are already some TV crews setting up and ready to have fun raking in the ratings over fear and tragedy.

“Fucking ghouls.”

I look at Mike and nod. “Yeah, but let’s focus on something important, like the people still out of our reach.”

“The first floors are clear. Let’s get to spraying those down and maybe it will give us an open avenue.”

I shake my head. “Or create even more structural damage.”

Time is ticking. This is hell. Garrett yells into my earpiece. “What are you doing?!”

Fuck! “We’re just out now. Going to head around and see if there’s a better entrance.”

Garrett sounds like he’s ready to beat his chest. “Do it then!”

I hustle us around the building. I’m thankful for being hidden from the media goons because I’m really thinking I’m going to defy Garrett and every logical part of my brain. ‘I’m going to shift. You guys get one of the trucks over here and focus on the top, but below the floor where we know there are still people.”

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