Page 39 of Wild Omegas
Brooksand I turn toward Luke sprinting out of the house with a finger pointed behind us. We spin to see a horrifying fire burning through the barn. In the flurry of everything with Damien’s package we’d missed it.
Thatwas the source of the fire smell, the one that didn’t belong with Brooks’s natural scent—an actual fire.
I grip Brooks’s shirt tight as my body freezes again.
“Fire!” Luke calls again as he runs over to us. He’s got his phone in hand, dialing emergency services, and puts it up to his ears. “We’ve got hoses we can use in the meantime, and can do a headcount of the horses.” His narrowed eyes, his clenched jaw. Luke is terrified. Not of the fire, I don’t think, but for the horses he cares so deeply about.
Brooks nods. “I’ll get the hoses.” He squeezes my shoulder before dashing toward the barn.
I stare after him, unable to move or speak. Smelling smoke is one thing. Seeing the flames is another and I amnotready for it.
Flashes hit me all at once. The single flame that started it all, lit by a candle match near a curtain. The accelerant catching. Me, seated on the floor amongst it all. Burning the rest of my life and me along with it.
That’d been the plan. I thought there was no fixing the life that’d already metaphorically burned to the ground.
How wrong I’d been.
Luke hangs up with 911. “They won’t be here for fifteen or twenty minutes.” His words hit my ears as if through cotton. “There’s a station between here and Fairwater but still far out.”
Nodding is all I have for Luke as I stare at the flames.
He grabs my hand. “We need to go help, Josie.”
I swallow hard and close my eyes. Tears are already spilling down my cheeks. “This is my fault.”
Luke’s brow creases tight. “How is this your fault? It was probably a faulty wire or something.”
I shake my head. “It’s Damien.” He’s found me and is taunting me, and soon he’ll show up to either kill me or, maybe worse, kidnap and involve me with whatever crime he’s into. I never found out the crime flavor. My grandparents quickly suggested Wild Skies Ranch as an escape and I was out of New York three months after the fire. I assume he must be an omega trafficker to be tracking me down so far from the city. A perfect revenge for him must be servitude to an awful alpha.
Now it’smyalphas who are at risk.
My alphas. Carson.
Panic sweeps through me. “Luke, where is Carson?”
Luke meets my gaze. “He wasn’t in the house, that I know. You made it out here first?”
“I did.” But I never saw Carson. Unless… “Maybe he saw the fire?”
Luke’s eyes go wide. “He’s in the barn. Shit.”
Luke takes off sprinting again. The suggestion that my alpha might be in danger is theonlything that convinces my body to move in the face of our greatest fear. I follow Luke to the barn and while Luke takes a headcount of the horses on the way, I focus on looking for any sign of Carson. I didn’t see him whenI came out here, but then I got distracted by the package and Brooks. He could be anywhere.
We meet up with Brooks and each take a hose to attempt battling the flames as the horses stay back. It’s hard to make an impact when the wind picks up and the roof catches fire. We need the fire department here now. This isn’t something we can tackle alone. Garden hoses are meant for flowers or washing cars or filling buckets, not stopping property fires.
Then something catches my eye between flames and plumes of smoke. A man cradling a hurt foal.
Carson.
I don’t think. My body just reacts. My alpha is pinned down by flames.
“There!” I shout and move my hose toward where Carson is. He’s cornered with the foal in his arms and no clear way out. “We need to make a path.”
Luke and Brooks close in and together we battle down the flames. Carson sees the small opening, the jagged path lined by coals and ash, and runs out of the barn while coughing madly. He collapses on his knees and sets the foal down on the ground. Brooks runs to get the foal some fresh water while Carson grabs the hose from my hand and washes out his mouth.
“What were you doing in there?” Luke hisses.
Carson just points to the foal while coughing. “Was still inside. How did this start?”
