Page 65 of Packed in the Fire house

We had almost fifteen firefighters at Station Sixteen, but we were already short-staffed, thanks to one guy leaving and another getting sick a while back and choosing to retire early. I couldn’t let me going on bonding leave impede any of the remaining firefighters.

“You should have done that from the start.”

“I should have. I was stupid.” I didn’t like admitting when I failed, but there was no denying I had done wrong by Sunny. She came across as so independent, so put together, that I let myself think she was fine and probably missed the warning signs.

My pack mate grimaced. “We should have taken her to the hospital.”

“If Hailey thinks she needs it, I’m taking her, no matter how much she complains.”

“Well—”

Rune’s words were cut off as Hailey joined us. “Dehydrated, exhausted, and not eating anywhere near as much as she should,” the brunette EMT declared as she glowered at me and my pack mate, arms crossed.

“She’ll be okay, though?” Rune asked.

“Is she—ow! What the hell?” The tiny omega interrupted me by delivering a surprisingly strong punch, for someone so small, to my chest.

“Walker Landry. You bonded an omega, then proceeded to work as normal? No, not even work as normal, you decided to jump in and help with the wildfires, which is a non-stop situation? I didn’t take you for acompletemoron!” she hissed in that sweet-as-pie southern accent.

Rubbing the spot on my chest that she had walloped, I stared down at her in surprise. “It wasn’t planned, it all happened so quickly, and I couldn’t take time off. She insisted she was okay… I thought she was.”

Hailey pinched the bridge of her nose, looking utterly done with my shit. “Why are alphas so thickheaded?” She sighed. “Let me spell this out for you. That sweet, lovely omega in there is exhausted, hasn’t been taking care of herself, and despite being newly bonded, she is hardly spending any time with her alpha! On top of that, she has a toddler who is hardly sleeping, and it sounds like she’s not been getting much support. Does that sound like a good combination to you?”

I looked at the ground sheepishly. “I didn’t realize.”

“Well, now you do. And what are you going to do to change it?” Hailey asked, crossing her arms, all business and no bullshit.

“I’ve already ensured I won’t be going on any more calls.”

Hailey nodded. “That’s a start.”

“What else should we be doing?” Rune asked.

“She needs to be resting, no running around. Someone needs to ensure she’s drinking and eating regularly. Has she got a nest?”

Rune shook his head. “She…uh…”

Hailey sighed. “Please don’t tell me she’s sharing bunks with you guys…”

“No! She’s in my private captain’s room. It’s just a little bare,” I admitted.

“Well, that needs to change.”

“We will be fixing that immediately,” I assured her.

“You better. She seems lovely. Offered to bake me cookies.”

“She is amazing,” Rune agreed.

Chapter 25

Blaze

It was officiallyoperation getting Sunny rested.

Unfortunately, Walker needed to tie up some loose ends, so he was doing that and also running to the grocery store to get a bunch of healthy groceries for feeding Sunny. Rune was on baby duty, which meant he was taking Luka through the trucks, showing him all the fancy fire engines.

That left me on Sunshine duty. I had already made the den cozy before she had fainted, but now I was goingextra. I had pulled the duvets off all the empty bunks and made a makeshift nest on the sofa bed in the den.

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