Page 25 of Where There's Smoke
You have officially lost your marbles,I thought as I opened the door to their bedroom and slipped in.
Inhaling deeply, I did my best to figure out what the room smelled like. My nose was still all messed up from the smoke inhalation, but it was nice. Warm and masculine. The moment I took a deep breath, my brain went into overdrive, and without thinking, I started grabbing all the fabric I could find and bundling it into my arms.
I was beyond irrational, with only one goal in mind, and that was to make a nice, big, comfortable place for me in that bed.
It was an urge that felt primal, almost like if Ididn'tdo it, everything was going to go catastrophically wrong. The entire world would collapse.
My hands grasped at all the fabric, that little voice in the back of my brain crying out with glee as I gathered it. I could scarcely hold on to all of it, but darn it, if I wasn’t going to try. I needed all of them to make the spot right.
As I turned to leave, taking my haul of fabric with me, my eyes landed on the laundry basket.
Surely, I didn’t want that… did I? Maybe just a shirt or two.
A few moments later, I was darting out of the room and rushing back to the bed I’d been using like a thief who’d snaggedthe crown jewels. Adrenaline was pumping through me, but as I created this massive hoard of soft things, all decorated with those scents I couldn’t parse out, the frantic energy in me died off, and I was finally able to go back to sleep.
Chapter 13
Elliot
“Did hell freeze over?” I asked in disbelief as I pulled my jacket on. “When was the last time you two were awake and ready before me?”
We had only gone home briefly to grab some things and sleep for a few hours. We wanted to keep an eye on Melody, but we also didn’t want to make our concern obvious. So, despite their complaining, we had gone home. Usually on the mornings when we had to get to work, I was the first up and ready to go, but as I got my morning coffee, both of my pack mates were already dressed and waiting at the kitchen table, shit-eating grins on their faces.
“We're excited to get to work,” Fitz said, throwing me a boyish grin.
Shaking my head, I filled my coffee cup, pouring in a liberal amount of vanilla syrup. “You're just excited to seeheragain.”
He didn't even try to hide it. “Of course I'm excited to go see our girls.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Girls, as in plural? Have you got someone else stashed at the firehouse that I don't know about?”
Samson shook his head, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “He’s talking about Melody and Dotty.”
“The dog?” I asked in disbelief.
“Yeah!” Fitz nodded enthusiastically. “Every firehouse needs a mascot, like I said before, and a Dalmatian is the perfect one for Station Seventeen. I don't think we'd get rid of her if we tried. The guys all love that little puppy.”
“That little puppy is hardly walking,” I countered.
Fitz shrugged. “That doesn't mean we aren't obsessed with her. Plus, she took her first steps in the firehouse, Elliot. That means it's meant to be!”
When they’d told me that they wanted to cancel our date with the omega teacher, I knew they were seriously in over their heads. Part of me thought I needed to bring them back to reality, but another part wanted them to enjoy this time. We worked hard. If they were having a good time, then who was I to stop it?
I rolled my eyes. “Let’s go. I should just be happy that you two aren't going to be late for once.”
“That's the spirit!”
Sometimes, I appreciated Fitz’s enthusiasm, but that was most definitelyafterI’d had my coffee.
It was still early when I got to the firehouse with my pack mates. They both immediately went into the kitchen to start making breakfast. Melody was probably still asleep, and they were adamant that they couldn't disturb her if she was. She was hardly sleeping, thanks to waking up every few hours to feed the dog.
While I was cranky because of her presence, even I had to admit that her dedication was impressive.
But we had things we needed to do.
So, against my better judgment, and even though I knew Sam and Fitz would probably be pissy about it, I decided to go check on her. We needed to get moving, and tiptoeing around our “guest” wasn’t going to cut it.
I tried to be quiet, despite all that. I wasn’t interested in scaring the hell out of her first thing in the morning. Though, I had to hope that she’d gotten better at handling the random jump scare, considering how often the alarm went off. When I got to the door, I eased it open, peeking my head inside.
