The Better to Bite(67)

The fire truck raced onto the scene. The firefighters leapt off the truck and yanked out their hoses.

The station kept burning.

Rafe put Shirley down on the grass. Ash stained her face and clothes and her wide eyes just stared at the scene around her with a kind of desperate shock.

Cass still had on her handcuffs. She wasn’t crying now. I didn’t even know if she realized what was happening.

Rafe turned toward me. His blue gaze seemed to sear me. I glanced down and saw the bright, red blisters on his hands.

“Rafe,” my horrified whisper.

“Jon, what the hell happened in there?” My dad demanded as he pulled Cass away from the deputy. “Is anyone else inside?”

Jon shook his head. Like Shirley, ash covered him. “It’s clear.” He coughed, shoving some of the smoke from his lungs.

The firefighters were headed inside the station now. The scent of fire stung my nose.

Normally, at a fire scene, the crowd gets bigger as the firefighters battle the blaze. Onlookers come out to gawk. This time, the crowd was getting smaller, real fast. The wolves were slipping away, not wanting to be seen.

Brent was gone. Mr. Knoxley had vanished.

Rafe stayed, and he stayed right by my side.

“Your office,” Jon managed to say between coughs. “The fire—it just exploded from your office.”

The office I’d been handcuffed in moments before?

It wasn’t my night.

I glanced back at the fire. Then I realized I could have been inside when the blaze started.

Huh. Maybe it was my night.

An ambulance roared onto the scene. One, then another. My dad’s arm wrapped around my shoulders. “Go, baby…”

The EMTs jumped out. One raced for Shirley. One headed for Jon and Cass. My dad dragged another over to me. “My daughter’s been shot, and she needs to get checked out ASAP.”

“Shot?” The EMT’s dark eyes widened. “I thought—I thought this was a fire call.”

The night was full of surprises. I motioned to Rafe. “He’s burned, he needs—”

I saw his hands and realized that the blisters were already gone.

“He needs to ride with her to the hospital,” Rafe said smoothly.

My dad frowned at him.

“Trust me, Sheriff,” Rafe told him, “I can take care of her.”

My dad’s stare measured him. “You’d better.”

Oh, this couldn’t be good. But right then, I was hurt and scared and I just wanted to get away from the flames.

Maybe that made me a coward, but I didn’t care. I wanted to escape right then.

I climbed up into the ambulance. My dad followed me. He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’m sorry,” was his stark whisper.

I swallowed. “What will happen to her?” My voice was as quiet as his. “Please, Dad, help Cass.”

His head lifted, and he stared at me. I knew how serious the situation was. Cass had raised a weapon—been ready to fire—at a roomful of people. Sure, they’d been werewolves, but people.

I told him, “I don’t think she even knows where she is right now.” Because Cass was in shock. Grief, pain, they could drive a person right to the edge.

And beyond.

His fingers brushed down my cheek. “I’ll do my best.”

He would. That was all I could ask of him.

“Sheriff! Sheriff!”

The station burned behind him.

“Go,” I said even though I wanted him to stay with me. I was a cop’s daughter. I knew the job.

Hated it, but knew it.

He kissed my forehead, and then he eased back.

The ambulance’s siren screamed on. I shut my eyes as the doors slammed closed. Someone was unwrapping my arm. Checking my blood pressure. Asking me about the injury.

“It was an accident.” Rafe’s voice. He’d actually come with me. For some reason, I hadn’t expected that.

I opened my eyes and turned my head to see him better. He was close to my side.

“It was just an accident,” he repeated again as the EMT frowned. I heard the growl lying beneath the words and the EMT quickly nodded. I figured that he’d heard that menacing growl, too.

“R-right. Sure thing.” Then the EMT went to work on me.

I met Rafe’s gaze. I didn’t know what to think of him. Dangerous, dark, but he’d gone into that fire. He’d saved those people.

His fingers took mine, wrapping lightly around them.

Right then, the big, bad werewolf made me feel safe.

***

I had vague memories of being wheeled into the hospital. Of some guy in a surgical mask pushing one very long needle into my arm and then sewing my flesh back together.

Rafe was in my memories, telling me that everything was okay.

I felt like he lied, but I didn’t argue.