He closed his eyes, thinking he might need a few minutes instead of seconds, but cracked them open when feet came to a stop a few inches in front of his nose, splashing mud on his face and in his mouth. He craned his neck, looking up and up and up.
Tall woman, Aidan’s wife. Mate. Whatever.
“Take Hannah to our house, and Fen, too,” she yelled, and Mirren answered . . . something. Nik groaned and closed his eyes again. Just a little nap and he’d get up.
At least they’d gotten the girl out. Nobody had mentioned the dog. He liked dogs. This dog had sure caused a lot of drama, though. He might like to get a dog when he—
“Hey, Nik. Nik. Wake up.” It was Krys again. Mrs. Aidan.
“M’awake.” He sort of opened his eyes.
“Uh-huh, sure you are. Mel, sit here with him, will you? He’s not burned, but he needs to keep this on until he’s able to stand up by himself.”
This what? Nik raised his head an instant before Mrs. Aidan shoved him onto his back and smacked something over his nose and mouth. The mud didn’t feel as good oozing down his ass as it had on his face.
He opened his mouth to tell her he didn’t appreciate her bossy attitude but, in doing so, he took in a breath of air. No, not air, but real oxygen. He raised his hand and felt the mask over his face, the tube stretching toward . . .
“Leave it on.”
Damn, but his eyes burned. The woman leaning over him was the strawberry blonde he’d seen helping bossy Mrs. Aidan turn on the fire hydrant.
Nik tried to sit up. His shoulders hovered about two inches off the ground for a couple of excruciating seconds before he gave up, flopping back into the mud.
The woman laughed. “You are one dirty boy.”
Yeah, well. She had a big black smudge across her nose that qualified her for Barnum & Bailey’s clown act.
“Oh, stop glaring at me. I’m Melissa Calvert.” She frowned. “You’re one of the new Rangers?”
He slipped a hand up and edged the oxygen mask away from his mouth. “Yeah.” He didn’t recognize his own voice. Sounded kinda sexy. “How are the others?”
She reached out and slapped the mask back over his mouth. All the women in this freaking town were bossy. Robin would fit right in.
“Hannah’s unconscious, but her burns weren’t bad. Krys thinks it was smoke inhalation and she’ll get it out of her system during daysleep. Fen got burned bringing her out, though. The whole ceiling came down just after Cage got you.”
Yeah, he owed Cage Reynolds a big cigar.
Melissa looked up at the house. “Damn it. This is gonna make even more people leave Penton. It’s like God doesn’t want us to rebuild.”
Nik suspected God had nothing to do with it. He’d be interested in digging around in the ruins after daylight to see what he could find. He was no fire investigator, but Ranger duty had honed his powers of observation pretty sharply—plus, he could use his Touch on whatever was left.
The fact that he remembered he was a Ranger meant the oxygen had finally revived his smoke-saturated neurons. This time, when he tried to sit up, he only wavered once. Might as well be really reckless and pull off the mask.
“How do your lungs feel? You breathing okay?” Melissa turned the wheel atop the small oxygen tank to the “Off” position. “If you get light-headed, tell me and I’ll give you some more.”
“Thanks. I’m Nik Dimitrou, by the way. One of the new Rangers, as you guessed. You’re a nurse?”
No, that wasn’t right. Melissa Calvert. Her dossier had identified her as Aidan Murphy’s human familiar, at least until she was turned vampire by the nutcase who’d tried to destroy the town.
“I had a year of nursing school, so I help Krys out when I can—that’s Aidan’s mate.”
Nik nodded. “The bossy redhead.”
Melissa laughed, and Nik felt badly for comparing her to a circus clown. He just hoped he hadn’t said it aloud. She was pretty, even with the black nose and fangs.
“Krys wouldn’t disagree with you, and neither would Aidan.” Her voice softened. “And here comes your rescuer, who seems to make a habit out of saving people.”
Cage walked toward them from the direction of Aidan’s house. He looked as wiped as Nik felt. “Guess I owe him a . . .” What did one give a vampire as a thank-you gift? “A pint of blood or something.”
Melissa grinned. She was the first vampire in Penton that Nik had seen flash a fang so openly. Maybe she hadn’t figured out how to keep them hidden yet, being a newbie and all. “Better hurry, Cage,” she said. “He’s still kinda delirious and is offering to repay you in blood.”