Guard, p.10
Guard, page 10
She put the baseball bat she kept as a doorstop back into the slider. It was early, but she wasn’t going to get any more sleep, and she could be early for once. She showered and reached for a dress. She’d never worn a dress to work before. Plus, there was snow out there.
She glanced out the bathroom window, and if she stood on her tiptoes, she could see the wolf’s tail. Moving as silently around the room as possible, she put the dress back and grabbed her normal leggings and sweater. If he didn’t want her as she was, she wasn’t going to play that game anymore. Sean had wanted something she wasn’t, and breaking the promise of expecting no more than who she was from herself wasn’t going to happen. Flint hadn’t wanted her when she was being herself, so too bad for him. His loss. A light layer of make-up and she was done.
She opened the fridge and out the kitchen window saw snow flying from the wolf as he shook his head. His nose pressed against her slider. She put the eggs on the counter and went over and stood at the door, hands on hips, staring at the wolf.
“Rocky, this isn’t a diner, you know,” she said through the glass.
He sat down on his haunches and stared back. His brown eyes searched her. If that wasn’t Flint Larsen, she would turn in her nonexistent wand. She moved the bat and slid the door open. “Well, you might as well come in. I’m not going to sit out in the cold. Shake the snow off before you come in, you freeloader.”
The wolf stared at her before stepping back. He wasn’t going to come in. But then he shook, the snow flying everywhere but into her kitchen. He moved in, so gracefully she wanted to watch him move more. Run with him. It was a weird feeling.
“I don’t suppose you want to shift before I feed you?”
The wolf sat down next to her table and blinked at her.
“I’ll take that as a no.” She took the frying pan Mia had washed last night, put it on the stove, and started cracking eggs until there were none left. “I have a guest, so you can’t have all of these.”
The wolf stepped forward, like it might dart through her home and upstairs. Instead, he lifted his head and smelled the air. He relaxed.
Emma pursed her lips at the confounded wolf. She was certain who it was now. But she wasn’t going to let on. At least part of him wanted her. Fine. Eggs were cheap. Even organic, free-range, roadside stand eggs weren’t too pricey.
She put a plate on the floor and sat at the table next to him. He looked at her and back at the eggs. “What? I need to go to the store. I’m out of bacon.”
He glared at her. That wasn’t what he was trying to say.
“Whatever, you’re welcome.” She ate her eggs, missing her toast.
He trotted over to the door and looked back at her.
“You’ve got thumbs. You should use them.”
He sat down and waited.
She lifted her eyebrows at him. Take that, Flint Larsen. I’m not opening that door for you. “I’ve got to get to work, but first I have to shovel my driveway.” Without magic, which she would have said, but she wasn’t a hundred percent sure that it was Flint, more like ninety-nine percent. “Mia,” she yelled, stepping out of the kitchen. “There’s a wolf in the kitchen, but don’t pay him any mind. When he gets bored, he’ll let himself out.”
Mia was on the top landing of the stairs, and she glared at Emma in the living room. “What?”
The slider moved, and before she could get back to the kitchen, the door was closed, the licked-clean plate was in the kitchen sink, and his black wolf bum was bolting for the tree line. She watched him go. “What game are you playing, Mr. Larsen?”
“Who are you talking to, and where is this wolf?” Mia had come in behind her. “Oh, eggs—are these for me?”
“Yes.”
Mia took a big bite and pointed to the pan and the dozen and a half egg shells. “You were really hungry.”
“I’m still really hungry.” Emma stared out the window to where the wolf had disappeared.
“Are you on one of those high-protein diets where you only eat meat?”
“You could say that. I’m going to see if I can find where the shovel ended up.” That was the downside of having her magic clean up for her. Sometimes things ended up in places where she couldn’t find them. Boots, gloves, and hat on, she put on her biggest coat and prepared for battle with the snow, a battle she always lost without magic.
She pulled open the front door. The last storm they’d had, the wind had blown a deeper pile onto her porch. Snow was lightly falling on her shoveled porch, driveway, and walkway. Both her red hunk of junk and Mia’s little pink car didn’t have snow on them. Someone had cleaned them off and shoveled the whole driveway.
Emma stared at the driveway. “Mia, did you get up in the middle of the night and shovel?”
Mia laughed behind her. “I’m going to shower. I’ll be back soon.”
Emma stared at her car and checked the time. Even new and improved Emma had a hard time being on time. It drove everyone around her crazy. Especially Shiori. If you can continually be twenty minutes late, you can be on time, she’d say. And logically, that made sense, but not to Emma. There was always time for one more thing. Like now—she could get that load of laundry in.
Emma held Flint’s shirt above the washing machine. It was stupid, really. The thing had been dirty before she’d stolen it, and she’d worn it too. It had to be washed. She dropped it in and started the machine as Mia came down the stairs.
“I’m ready when you are,” the feisty administrative assistant said.
Emma rode with Mia, as her tires weren’t the best in the snow. When they pulled into the parking lot, it shocked her not to see Jack’s truck in the lot, or any of his new workers.
Mia pulled into the spot next to the front door. “You don’t know what to do with yourself because you’re early, do you?” She laughed.
“No, not at all.” Emma swung her oversized purse over her shoulder. A plow truck had taken care of the lot, but fresh snow covered the sidewalk. The snow wasn’t deep, but a blustery wind created deeper pockets, and every few steps, she sank in up to her knee.
Emma unlocked the front door and held it for Mia, but at the last moment, she stopped her. “Don’t go in there.” The protective spell she’d cast was gone.
“What?” Mia turned at the edge of the door frame.
Emma yanked Mia back into the snow with her and hoped her wards would protect them both.
A fireball rushed down the corridor and out at the two of them. Emma covered Mia, but her wards held. Emma’s insides shook, but she managed to cast an additional protection spell as a mini comet attacked them with relentless flames. The flames roared like lava on her back.
16
The side of the firehouse shook. “What was that?” Flint looked up from his second breakfast.
“Probably a plow truck,” Hudson said. Hudson had seen Flint shifting into skin from the firehouse kitchen window and lured him in for a chat with a plate of bacon. Flint had grabbed some spare clothes from his locker. But he didn’t bother with shoes.
Chief Ledger thudded out of his office. “What the hell was that?” He stood in the kitchen, elbows bent, fists at his waist. “Did one of you clowns run the engine into the front garage wall again?”
“It was outside, maybe a plow,” Hudson repeated.
“That was no plow hitting a curb. Sounded like the old dynamite explosions over at the gravel pit.” Ledger’s eyebrows rose.
The three males ran to the back door. Smoke poured from the school building, and Flint ran toward it. But Ledger and Hudson disappeared back inside, and moments later, the siren wailed, crying out into the morning sky.
Flint ran, his bare feet gripping the snow, clumps of ice splattering up at him with each long stride. He reached the building. To him it had taken hours, but he was at the dark side door within a minute. The hallway was dark. He pulled on the locked door. Unlike the chief, he didn’t have keys to this old building. Flint pivoted and fought his way through the snowbank alongside the building. The smoke thickened.
“Help, please, at the old school.” A woman was talking fast and loudly. It wasn’t Emma. He shouldn’t have felt joy in the fact it wasn’t Emma, so he pushed it down.
When he leaped over the last snowbank, his heart imploded. Emma lay on the ground next to a female dressed in purple. The woman had taken off her coat and draped it over Emma.
“I’ve got fire and rescue on their way,” one of the county dispatchers answered from the woman’s cell phone.
Flint dropped to his knees next to Emma. He had to put his emotions away and do the job they’d trained him to do. Smoke poured out of the front doors, and while he couldn’t be sure, it seemed localized, knowing the building as well as he did. He didn’t want to move Emma. The mechanicals weren’t near the front entrance. Nothing should explode. The cinderblock building was smoking with no flames, and the front office addition was entirely brick and glass. 1960s kind of ugly.
“Hundsburg company, Firefighter Larsen,” he said into the phone, putting it on speaker and laying it on the ground.
The purple-clad female across from him blinked up. “You’re barefoot.”
“Yes.” Flint ignored the woman. Under the white puffy coat and Emma’s oversized woolen one, he found her pulse—weak, but there. “Pulse is fifty,” he said to the dispatcher, leaning over Emma to do so. “Second-degree burns on her right arm.” Flint laid his hand on Emma’s chest and felt it rise and lower. The burns were severe but contained to her forearm on her right side.
His own heart was taking off like a bullet. Never in his ten years of being at first a volunteer and then a professional firefighter had he ever been so nervous. Not even on his first call.
“Okay. Engine Two and EMT are on their way now,” the dispatcher said.
Flint heard the trucks pull out, even though he couldn’t see them behind the building.
“How are you?” Flint glanced up at the purple-clad woman. He’d scented her at Emma’s.
“I’m not hurt. Emma shielded me from the blast. She held it back. She . . .”
“It’s okay. Emma’s a . . .” He cocked his head at the phone. If he could keep from outing Emma and save her, he would. “We’ve met.”
“You’re Flint?”
“Yes,” he said, not looking up at the girl. He rested the backside of his hand on Emma’s cheek, and his magic seeped out of him.
“Mia,” said the girl, pointing to herself.
Emma took a deeper breath. That was it. She didn’t have internal injuries, at least not the car crash kind. The burn was bad, but he’d seen worse. She’d depleted all of her power. Flint put his other hand on Emma and let the power sink in. The sirens of the EMT truck were getting closer within seconds. He pushed the white coat to her feet and undid the buttons on her navy pea coat. Beneath it she wore a tight gold sweater. Where was the woman going later? Not his problem. He needed more skin, so he pulled her shirt up.
Her friend was watching, but he didn’t care.
Flint put both of his hands on her stomach and, for the first time, tried to forcibly move his power. He pushed it out of his core.
“Her eyes moved under her lids,” said Mia.
Flint nodded and closed his eyes. He centered himself and pushed out as much power as he could. None of his coworkers or friends knew he had power, no one but his immediate family and his cousins. He shouldn’t have power. When a witch mated with a shifter, the offspring were always shifters. His siblings and cousins were oddities of existence, brought on by the witches’ oracle. The female who had always been his favorite aunt, even now, and he had other nice aunts. Until he revealed he had power, no one would know.
“Sounds like the truck is there. Anything else you need from me?” the dispatcher asked.
“No, I’m good,” said Mia. “I’m going to call her friends.”
Flint didn’t have much more power to give her. His own head was feeling light. She hadn’t woken up. “Come on, Emma. You can do it.” The last of his power was trickling from him. If he gave her any more, he would pass out. He pushed a little more.
“Are you okay?” Mia asked him. “Your color is worse than hers now.”
He leaned back on his heels as Hudson ran up beside Emma, bag in hand. He tossed Flint a jacket, and Flint stood and tried to step back, letting Hudson and the other EMT do their job.
His head spun, and Chief Ledger caught his arm. “You okay, son?”
“A little lightheaded.” Flint caught his balance and crossed his arms over his chest. “Her pulse was 50 when I took it a minute ago.”
“Got it,” Hudson said to Flint, then turned to Mia. “What happened?”
“Emma unlocked the door, and I started to go in . . .” Mia paused and looked at Flint.
He nodded. “Emma’s a witch.” He didn’t want to out Emma, but Hudson was no fool. Emma and Mia would have been horribly burned without her protection.
Hudson didn’t show any emotion.
“Emma told me not to go in. She jumped in front of me, and then fire filled the hallway and rumbled out of the building. She saved me. She saved me! You have to save her. Please.” It was catching up to Mia. Her hand shook over her mouth.
“Flint, take Mia to the truck and get her warm.” Hudson focused on Emma.
The other EMT had a blood pressure cuff on Emma. “Her other vitals are improving. And I can’t find any trauma point.”
He didn’t want to leave Emma, but an upset friend hovering over the patient didn’t help either of them. And Hudson was the trained EMT. He was helping the best way he could right now.
Flint opened the side door of the truck, glancing back at the building. They were spraying water over the side of the school, but by the way the chief was talking, there wasn’t any immediate danger.
Flint reached over and turned the heater all the way up. “You okay?”
Mia nodded. “I’m texting with our boss and her friends right now.” Her phone rang.
Flint closed the door, giving her some privacy. In the back of the engine, he found the box of clothes, pulled out a pair of boots, and slipped them on. From a bin, he grabbed a lavender stick to help with Mia’s anxiety.
He knocked on the side door and opened the stick. He put it on the dashboard. “You doing okay?”
“Hold on a second, Daphne. There’s a fireman here.” Mia nodded. “I’m talking to her best friend now. Jack, the owner of the woodworking business, and Shiori, her good friend are on their way. And so is Carter, our boss.”
Flint nodded. “Are either of them a witch?”
“Who’s that?” came from the phone.
“He’s the fireman who Emma . . .” Mia’s eyes widened at Flint. He stood closer, afraid she might fall.
“Oh, Goddess. What the heck is she getting herself into now?”
Best friend or not, Flint didn’t like the way Daphne was talking about Emma.
Mia looked down and up again. “Yes, one of them is,” she told Flint. She obviously hadn’t wanted to tell him, which he took as a good sign. He wouldn’t want someone telling on him. Mia went up in his opinion.
“I think she’s drained all her power.” Flint’s tone was low. He was one second from taking the phone away from Mia and hanging up on Emma’s so-called friend.
“Who are you talking to, Mia? The fireman? What does he know about magical power? Good Goddess, everyone’s an expert now.”
“Daphne.” Mia held Flint’s gaze. “Emma’s going to be okay. Her arm is burned.”
Mia held the phone away from her ear. This Daphne was talking loud enough for people in downtown Pittsburgh to hear her. “I need to keep a better eye on her. I can’t leave her alone at all.”
That might have been Emma's best friend, but she sounded more like her keeper. Flint frowned at the phone in Mia’s hand and shut the truck door with care, going back to Emma.
Geir, another EMT, had brought the gurney over to her. “Help me with the lift.” They already had the backboard slid under her. Her arms were out of her coat. A blanket kept the falling snow off her. The chief and the crew were finishing up with the building.
Mia had come out of the truck. “How is she?”
Flint nodded at Mia. “Vitals are good. But we’re going to take her to Palmer hospital on the hill. They have a special paranormal unit.”
“Oh, okay. Can I go with her?” Mia looked between Hudson and Flint.
Hudson shook his head. “Sorry, only humans mated to a paranormal can enter the unit.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders sank. “You’re sure? It’s just I don’t want her waking up by herself.” Mia’s lips pursed. She was barely hanging on.
“Yeah, I’m sorry.” Geir jumped in the front of the ambulance.
“I’ll ride with her,” said Flint.
Mia nodded. “Thank you.”
They were lifting Emma into the ambulance when a helicopter circled above the building and landed on the far side of the parking lot. Snow and water vibrated with the chopper blades around the parking lot.
“Who the hell is that?” Chief Ledger growled. “I’m glad we don’t have a flame going, or they would have kicked it into high gear.”
A tall man in expensive shoes and a suit held his hand over his head, protecting himself as he jogged out. He waved at Mia, then saw Emma being loaded up and ran toward the ambulance. “Is she okay?”
“She’s stable but unconscious.” Hudson motioned at Flint to keep loading her into the vehicle.
“We can put her in the helicopter to move her faster,” the male barked.
