Page 6 of Packed in the Fire house

An overwhelming smell of graham crackers hit me, and there was something sosafeabout it. It may have been the adrenaline wearing off, or maybe it was the smell of the alpha who pulled me into his arms, but the floodgates opened, and I proceeded to messily sob all over him.

I hadn’t been around many safe alphas. My brother and his pack didn’t count, because they were family. They wanted nothing from me, whereas alphas who were strangers…

“It’s okay, Cher,” he muttered in a light Cajun accent, his ungloved hand gently running through my hair in a soothing gesture. “Blaze is the firefighter with your boy. He’s my pack mate, and your boy seems rather taken with him.” He chuckled.

“He loves fire trucks,” I said through my sobs.

My body swayed as the alpha holding me laughed lightly. “Luckily, we have a few of those to keep him amused while the paramedic here checks you over. You were completely out of it when we found you.”

“How is Luka?” I asked, looking up at him, trying to right myself but failing miserably.

“He seems good. A little distressed, as is to be expected, but he seemed to avoid the worst of the smoke. Did you wrap the damp cloth around his face?” I nodded. “Well, that was a damn smart move, Cher. You protected your little boy. The blankets under the door were another good call. You did everything right.”

His reassurance that I had done well, that I wasn’t a complete failure of a mother, set off another wave of tears.

Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, I was shaking and oh-so-fucking drained. The firefighter, who had yet to tell me his name, didn’t let go of me as the paramedic placed an oxygen mask over my mouth and fussed over me. They put a little monitor on one of my fingers and checked things like blood pressure and pulse.

The entire time, the firefighter didn’t leave me.

“You’re doing amazingly, Cher. They’re just checking your blood oxygen now,” he explained softly.

I nodded, letting them do whatever they wanted to me as I came down from my high, shaking.

“My name’s not Cher…”

He chuckled, a warm sound I wanted to sink into. “It’s a term of endearment where I’m from.”

“Oh…”

I liked that.

The firefighter frowned when he noticed my trembling. As he pulled back, out of my personal space, I had to resist the urge to sob harder.

I needed him near. I couldn’t explainwhy, but the idea of him not being at my side made me panic.

Maybe I was feeling a little more sensitive because of everything I had just been through. Omegas tended to need more care, more affection. They sought out comfort and reassurance from alphas.

I didn’t usually, but that was because I had tried and been burned before.

Only, with this guy, the idea of him turning away made my chest tighten with even more panic.

My worry abated when, instead of turning away, he unzipped his bulky firefighter jacket and threw it over my shoulders, enveloping me in warmth and a heavy dose of that graham cracker scent that made my body preen with happiness.

“Can’t have you cold now, can we?” he muttered.

I opened my mouth to reply when a smooth voice called out, approaching from the left of me. “Look who’s ready to see their mama!” A firefighter wearing only his bulky bottoms and a dark gray shirt walked over to us, Luka on his hip, and set him gently on the stretcher.

“Luka!” I cried in relief, holding my arms out for him. He crawled into my lap, snuggling into me. A scent that wasn’t his own clung to him, a deep, rich chocolate with a hint of spice—maybe cinnamon?

“He’s been cleared by the paramedics and is good as gold,” the firefighter told me.

Ripping my eyes away from my son, I actually looked at the man who had just handed me back my child.

Thealpha.

I shouldn’t have been shocked; most firefighters were alphas. Their natural inclination to athleticism meant that they gravitated to athletics and high-activity jobs, like emergency services.

He was clearly the source of the chocolate cinnamon scent that was making my head spin.

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