Page 97 of Savior

“But it’s completely safe to fight until the third trimester,” Dakota added, tapping the side of her nose with a wink.

I pulled back to run my hands over my face with a shake of my head before bringing them to rest against her belly.

Lauren jutted her chin up with a defiant smirk. “Any more words of wisdom you care to impart, Tex?”

“Yeah. Let’s all play a great game out there.” I swatted her ass and moved until my mouth covered hers, swallowing the witty retort resting on the tip of her tongue. My hands moved to her hips, squeezing as if to remind myself that she was real. Lauren tilted her head to the side, deepening the kiss while greedily exploring my mouth with her tongue.

As a kid, I’d wanted to be the hero, never imagining that the world I wanted to save would someday rest under the palms of my hands.

Knowing it was now or never, I reluctantly pulled back, wondering if the men who’d dropped the first atomic bomb felt like I did, this fear that the world would never be the same.

By lighting the match, we were changing the entire game, and that came with a lot of fucking variables.

“Hey, Mike?” Lauren called softly. “I’ve got some advice for you now.”

Thank Christ.

Finally, someone realized that I shouldn’t have been the brains behind the operation.

Her nose wrinkled, as if what she was about to say caused her pain. “You, um, you might want to find that mint now.”

The crease disappeared from between her brows and, as much as she tried to fight it, her laughter echoed across the empty porch.

I shook my head in mock disappointment. “Jesus, darlin’, you’re gonna blow our cover. Maybe we tackle the issue at hand first, and then I’ll guzzle a bottle of mouthwash if it’ll make you happy. Zane, you ready?”

He propped the back door open and poured a line of gasoline out into the grass. “With the breeze, it’s gonna catch fast. Dakota, maybe you go on ahead.”

“I’m not that slow,” she grumbled, pulling her cell phone from the waistband of her leggings. “I’ve got the text ready to send to Kate. Just tell me when.”

Lauren nodded. “Good to go here, Tex.”

“Ma?” I cocked my head to the side and looked at Celia.

“Don’t call me that,” she said, keeping her eyes on her watch. “Okay… now.”

I struck the match and dropped it. Any fears that we hadn’t used enough accelerant were quickly alleviated by the sight of a bright orange fireball, spreading through the inside of the house like a tornado.

Light gray smoke began pouring through the open doorway and from under the roof like a thick fog, the heat forcing us to move quickly through the side gate toward the street.

We went down as the front window exploded, sending fragments of glass and wood through the air like something from a pipe bomb. Any minute now, the neighbors were going to come running out to investigate.

“Debris!” I announced. “We got debris!”

Dakota did her best to keep up but ended up stumbling and falling into the grass. Zane managed to scoop her up before looking back at me with a shake of his head. Right about then, another window exploded from the side of the house.

So, there was a slight chance we’d gone overboard with the gasoline.

The wind quickly caught the smoke coming from the broken windows, drawing it around us until the other houses disappeared from view.

It was exactly what I’d been hoping for… in another two to three minutes when we were speeding away. We might as well have been caught in a blinding snowstorm with as much visibility as we had.

Kate pulled up in Grey’s truck, her mouth hanging wide open in shock. She’d have to save all questions until the end. With as fast as the fire was spreading, there was a good chance that first responders were already en route.

The ground vibrated beneath my feet, and I jerked my head to the right and left, straining to see the threat through the veil of smoke.

Even with Dakota in his arms, Zane reached the truck first. When he heard the deep rumble, he cocked his head to the side as if trying to place the sound. “Mike?”

“Everybody in the truck!” I roared.

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