Page 4 of Where There's Smoke
I had to resist the urge to laugh when I saw Samson's face as he deposited her on the fire truck, a mixture of anger, fear, and confusion that I had never seen on the usually stoic man’s face.
She had met his look with a glower that had me thinking about sinking to my knees and begging her to smile at me. I wasn't bragging when I said we had rescued a lot of people in our time. That was just part of being a firefighter. But I didn’t think we'd ever rescued anyone as pretty as her.
Or as hilarious. Gorgeous and funny. The total package.
Samson threw me a disgruntled look as he turned back to the fire, heading toward the blaze. Placing his hand on Elliot's shoulder, he shouted something that I couldn't hear. Our distinguished pack leader nodded, and they conversed for a minute or two while I turned my attention to the pretty woman that he had deposited next to me.
“Hey,” I greeted her warmly, handing her a bottle of water and a towel so she could clean up. Her face and hair were caked in soot. “Can I check you out?”
“What? Oh, right. No, I'm fine. I need to check on the animals,” she said, going to get up but swaying as she did so.
“No can do, firecracker. The dogs are having the time of their lives. The firefighters and spectators are playing with them and taking them on walks. You were in there the longest, so I need to make sure you're okay first.”
“But…”
“Nope. I'm sorry, but I'm not taking no for an answer. Now sit down and let me give you some oxygen. You need it after being in there for that long.” I eyed her, jerking my head back toward the building that was up in flames.
“I…” It looked like she was about to argue, but she deflated, the reality of the situation probably hitting her now that the adrenaline was wearing off. “Okay,” she said, her voice small.
Even through the layer of soot, her bright blue eyes were mesmerizing. With her dark hair and pale skin, she was strikingly beautiful. A loud part of my instincts wanted to clean her up and get her something fresh to wear. She smelled too much like char, and I wanted to see that terror leave her eyes. The hopelessness too.
“I’m going to put this on your face,” I said, holding up the plastic mask that was attached to oxygen. Instead of waiting for her reply, I simply placed it over her face. In doing so, I got soclose to her that, even through the soot and the smoke, her scent hit me like a brick.
Melon.
Sweet, but not overbearingly so, subtle and delicious. It was absolute perfection. I was a sucker for food scents—they were my kryptonite—and fuck, this omega smelled delightful.
In fact, she smelled like mine.
My hindbrain was working in overdrive, insisting that I needed to scoop the omega up and make sure she was safe. She shouldn't be near the fire. She should be safe in a nest. She should be tucked away somewhere warm…with me.
The tiny bit of rational mind I had thankfully won out. I couldn't go kidnapping innocent victims of fires, especially when it was my job to look after them.
No matter how badly the alpha inside me wanted to do it.
“There you go,” I praised gently as she started breathing more regularly with the mask on. “Now, do you have someone we can call for you? Maybe your pack?” I asked, already silently praying to all the gods above that she didn't have a pack, because if this omega was taken, I was going to jump off a bridge.
Yes, I was being an overdramatic little shit, but there was something about the gorgeous, summer-scented woman that made my mind go crazy.
When she shook her head, I wanted to cheer. Considering that would be an extremely bad reaction to the victim of a fire telling me she had no one to call, I repressed the urge to do so.
“No family anywhere near here,” she said, pulling the mask off for a second.
“Keep that on,” a gruff voice said from behind me as Samson appeared, frowning at the omega. Compared to me, she was tiny, so next to him, she was downright minuscule. My pack mate definitely had a fondness for going to the gym, and it showed in the sheer size of his muscular frame.
“I'm fine, honestly,” she said, going to pull off the mask, but a coughing fit overtook her. I gently pressed the mask closer to her face with a knowing look.
The little glower she shot my way was downright adorable and made my cock twitch.
“Since you don’t have anyone to call, one of us is going to stay with you while you get treated, and then we will escort you home. Is your place near here?”
Her eyes widened as she shook her head. “You don't need to do that,” she insisted, not taking the mask off.
Thank god for small mercies. If I had to put that mask on her face one more time, I was going to threaten to smack her ass, which I assumed was just as stunning as the rest of her.
I didn't like the way her cough sounded. She had probably inhaled a good amount of smoke. Luckily, we were pros at dealing with smoke inhalation, so I was going to keep an eye on her for a few minutes while she wore the oxygen mask, and if she didn't improve, I would send her in the first ambulance to get checked out by a doctor.
“Wedoneed to do that,” I said. “We need to make sure you get back safe.”
