Page 22 of Where There's Smoke
“Hmm, well, exercise is good. Lord knows we need to stay limber. And I know the rookies would love doing this.”
I bit my lip. Dog walkers were always needed. There were only so many volunteers, and making sure the animalsallgot the appropriate exercise was difficult. All shelters dealt with it, and yeah, the staff could help, but there was enough to do, between medical care and paperwork, that it made exercising the dogs tricky.
“That would be amazing. It would be a huge help for the shelters.” I smiled and nodded at Elliot, shrugging a little when he eyed me.
“Naturally, we would focus on our displaced fluffs first,” Fitz said, making kissy faces at the disinterested-looking boxer.
“We should do a fundraiser next month! Maybe a barbecue?” Samson grinned, looking between his pack mates before his gaze landed on me. “We tend to have them fairly regularly. We have a big cookout and raise funds. Last time, we did it for the local pediatric ward. But this time, we could do it for the animals, maybe get a few of them adopted!”
My heart was melting. These guys were so sweet and considerate.
They were going to make some omega very lucky one day.
For a brief moment, a wave of sadness hit me because I wasn't an omega. I wasn’tthatomega, the one who’d be so lucky, so taken care of. How different would my life have been if I were, and I could date guys like these handsome, caring firefighters? The ones I’d learned went by Pack Wilder.
Sadly, that was just a fantasy.
We got the dogs back to the shelter, wrangling them all back into their kennels. Some were tired, namely those who’d run around, chasing Samson, for the last fifteen minutes of park time, and they went right inside and curled up to take a nap, which sounded amazing if I was being honest.
“Exercise, for sure!” Samson leaned over, planting his hands on his knees as he took exaggerated breaths. I couldn’t help but smile and laugh. Between him and Fitz, they were liable to have me cracking up all the time.
Elliot was a bit different, and I observed him as he chatted with the shelter director off to the side. He wasn’t rude or anything. Hell, the guy had given up his room for me. He was just…more closed off, tight-lipped. Maybe even uptight. There was tightness, that was for sure.
I was about to ask if they were discussing the fundraiser when one of the shelter staff walked past me and stopped. He was a vet tech, going by the scrubs and purposeful strides. But he’d frozen mid-step, turning back to look at me with wide eyes and a smile.
“Damn, I’m sorry, you just…” He took one step closer, his eyes closing as he sniffed the air. “…Smell fantastic.”
I had no idea what he was getting at. He was clearly an alpha, and I backed up instinctively. He hadn’t reached rude or inappropriate quite yet, but I didn’t love how he was so fascinated with my scent, especially considering I knew it was nothing special. I was a beta, after all.
“Umm, thanks.” I pulled into myself, helping the last dog into its kennel.
The guy wasn’t leaving, though. “Are you spoken for, sweetness?”
“What?” My mind was spinning. What was happening right now?
“Beat it. Go take care of the animals.” Elliot was suddenly at my side, his voice a growl as he basically told the vet tech to get lost. Samson and Fitz appeared on my other side, their usual grins replaced with stoic, intimidating glares.
“Oh,” the guy said, pulling away from me, “I’m sorry. I just?—”
“I don’t care what youjust. Beat. It.”
Elliot took one small step toward the guy, rumbling growls filling the area around me, and then the guy nodded and left. He hadn’t done anything horrible, even if I wasn’t loving the attention, but I hadnotexpected the pack to do that.
“Come on, let’s get you back to the station.” Elliot gestured toward the door, and I proceeded to head out, my brain still scrambled by what had happened.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. We got you. And besides, Dotty probably needs a feeding, right?” Fitz was there at my side, grinning when I looked over and nodded.
“Yeah. Yeah, totally. You’re probably right. Let’s get back.”
As we left the shelter, I couldn’t help but think about that guy. He’d been so attracted to my nothing-special scent. I’d never experienced that before. Something was going on, but I had no idea what.
Chapter 11
Melody
It felt like I blinked, and I had been at Station Seventeen for an entire week.
The firefighters had welcomed me into the station with smiles. Well, all except for Elliot, but even he was acting less grumpy than before.
