Page 3 of Burned By My Mate

My hands clench into fists. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

“The guy keeping you alive.” His gaze hardens, and then his nostrils flare slightly. His whole body stiffens, his expression unreadable. He looks…conflicted.

The other firefighters are running around, getting hoses ready, and aiming the water at the flames. I watch, hope building in me that they’ll be able to save this place and at least some of my things.

The recipe book.

A loud crash pulls my attention back to the house. Flames explode through the front window, sending shards of glass flying. My stomach drops. It’s gone.Everything’s gone.

Tears burn my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. Not here. Not in front of him.

I stand there, with the firefighter still keeping his grip on me as the other firefighters work to put the fire out. My eyes and throat sting, and I’m not sure if it’s from the smoke or from holding back my tears.

The firefighter’s radio crackles, and a voice comes through. “The fire’s under control, Chief. No sign of gas leaks. You need to see it, though. Looks like arson.”

His gaze snaps back to me. “You set this fire? You put my men at risk?”

I reel back. “What?No!Why would I do that?”

His jaw tightens. “People do desperate things for insurance money.”

Anger surges through me. “Ijustbought this house! I put every dime I had into it! Why would I burn it down?”

For a moment, he just stares at me. Then something shifts in his eyes, as if he’s reassessing.

Before he can say anything, another firefighter approaches. “Chief, we found footprints out back. Too big to be hers.”

A muscle in his jaw ticks. He exhales sharply, then turns back to me.

“Stay put,” he growls, and I glare at him.

He turns and stomps off, following the other man to where I’m guessing he found the footprints.

I watch him go, determined to stay far, far away from the rude man.

Then I turn back to the burnt remains of my house and sigh.

What am I going to do now?

TWO

Logan

I was supposedto be off an hour ago.

Instead, I’m standing outside a burning house, watching my team pick through the remains to make sure all of the fire is out. The air is thick with smoke, the scent of charred wood stinging my nose. It’s been a long shift already, and this? This is just the damn cherry on top.

I follow Harris around the back of the house to where he’s found the footprints and I curse when I see that they run off into the woods. He’s right. The prints are way too big to be the woman, and I sigh.

Guess I’ll have to apologize.

My bear stretches inside of me, yawning lazily, and I roll my eyes at him.

Tucker and Crew, our police here in Twisted Oak, come around the house and stop by my side, their eyes scanning the tree line and the footsteps.

“What do you think?” Harris asks, and I take a deep breath.

“They head towards Red Fog land, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was them. Or maybe the woman has enemies. She said she just moved here. She could be running from something.”

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