Page 55 of Heritage of Fire

I can’t die yet … I haven’t heard you laugh ;)

The roads outside of New York City have arguably less traffic, but it still feels like this drive is taking forever. Slowly, the tall buildings fade away, more trees and smaller shops coming into view. There’s a main road that twists through the little town located near the warehouse. It’s where the pizza shop and local grocery store are. No one comes through this town since it isn’t on the way to anything important. You need to be hunting for it to find it, which makes it the perfect spot for storing weapons.

I turn onto the private gravel road that leads to the warehouse, gray and beige rocks crunching beneath my tires. The road weaves through the trees, winding and curving several times; if you’d never driven it before, you wouldn’t know which direction you are going. Halfway up the drive is the security gate. We keep it unmanned, with simple keycard access. Mostly because the warehouse is heavily secure, and anyone wanting to break in would probably be going around the back anyway.

Noticing the spring buds on the trees and the wildflowers that line the drive, I roll my window down. They aren’t something I typically get to appreciate, always coming home after dark. But not today. Today I want to spend some time with Luna. When I left the office, I told Igor not to call me unless there’s an emergency.

My car comes to a stop, but I pause before getting out. Was that a shriek? My heart rate rises. I jam my finger into the vehicle’s stop button and fly toward the warehouse. Another scream belts out from the lower level. What the hell is she doing down there? I fumble with the gun holster at my waist as I run.

“Please, don’t!”

My mind short-circuits.

My throat constricts and my mouth goes dry. The tension in my chest is almost painful. Where are her guards? I yank open the door, lifting my gun as I take the first corner with caution.Moving methodically, I grapple with the urge to barrel through the building, but my training prevents me.

“Ah! There he is!”

Several other shouts echo across the deep warehouse. Voices I recognize as a few of my men. Shuffling boots and grunts reach my ears. Frank comes running by, and I grab his arm. He pauses, gaze flicking cautiously to my gun. Sweat is pouring down his face.

“Tell me what’s going! Where is my—where’s Luna?” I can’t ask the question fast enough, and I don’t stop to wait for an answer. I move farther into the warehouse. Sunlight filters in and bounces off the concrete walls. Five of my men are running around, their attention on the floor.

“Don’t kill him!” Luna shouts, rounding a shipping crate and trailing behind them. I shake my head, feeling like I’m in the twilight zone—I didn’t even know that Lunatalkedto these guys.

Frank catches up to me. He is panting in my ear, the old man leaning down, hands on his knees.

“Spit it out, Frank,” I bark.

“Raccoon,” he heaves. “There’s an abnormally large raccoon in the warehouse, Boss.”

What the?—?

The men are running around after araccoon? Lev swears as his suit jacket gets caught on a crate and rips. Another man hops up onto a different crate, trying to track the thing from above. They’re all acting like animals.

I keep my gun out and start toward where Luna is chasing the thing. I’m three steps from her when a massive raccoon, the size of abear cubcomes barreling at me.

The hell?That is … disturbing.

Racing after the thing, Luna smacks right into me. I grab her shoulders.

“Luna, let them take care of it.”

She shoves my hands off. Her chin rises in defiance—I can tell she’s getting ready to tell me off. A fact that shouldn’t cause my skin to heat. But it does.

“No! Youcan’tkill it. I accidentally left the door propped open on my walk today and it got in.” Her eyes are shiny, like she’s on the verge of tears. I reach for her, but she darts under my arm. “There he is!”

I grab her hand before she gets too far. Instantly, a spark of electricity thrums through my palm, carrying up my arm. She must feel it, too, because her heads whips back in my direction and her eyes widen at where our skin connects. Tense, she blows out a shaky breath.

“Please, Nik. Don’t shoot him. I’ll get him out.” Big brown eyes stare up at me, and my chest tightens all over again. A shudder racks my body, my grip tightening on her wrist—I can’t tell her no. Keeping my eyes on her, I raise my voice?—

“No one kill the raccoon!”

Damn, that hurt.My elbow whacks against a nearby crate as I dive after the raccoon. It’s become personal now. The nimble, cunning little shit has managed to escape every time we have him cornered near the back door. We even opened the large shop doors, but he keeps running into dark corners. Luna has since entrusted me with making sure he doesn’t get hurt—even though I’d like to just shoot the thing and be done with this chase.

My shoes slip on the floor as I take a sharp corner around a large shipment of Makarovs. I go down right as my phone starts ringing, my knees plowing into the concrete.

I dig around in my suit pocket and pull out my phone while getting to my feet and continuing the chase. The raccoon leaps onto a stack of pallets and then jumps back the way he came.

“Hello,” I pant. Frankly, it’s embarrassing how much energy I’m exerting over this.

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