Stanley, Gale - Hellfire [Southwest Shifters 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (9 page)

Gage was already headed out the door. “We’re wasting time. Let’s get Kate out of danger. Then we’ll decide what happens next.”

* * * *

In the distance, billowing columns of smoke reached for the heavens, but the sight was nothing compared to the nightmare landscape they witnessed the further they drove north. Smoke that found the right mix of gas and air ignited into giant balls of fire, setting the sky aglow. Kate’s land was in a hilly area surrounded by forest, the type of terrain that might increase the speed and intensity of fire. But the house itself was in a large clearing and might be safe for a little while. Gage just hoped the high winds would hold off until they had Kate out of there. It would only take one flying ember to set the house ablaze.

The New Mexico State Police had recommended a route around the fire, but Gage’s stomach sank when he realized how many miles the detour added to their drive. He urged Tanner to go faster, knowing his partner was already going as fast the old truck allowed.

When they finally crested the ridge, Gage panicked. A wall of flame surrounded the clearing. Kate’s truck was still there. “Do you think she shifted and ran?”

“Don’t know,” Tanner said doubtfully. “We have to see for ourselves. Do you want to get out and make a run for it?”

Did he?
Memories overwhelmed him. He was back in the
Pine Barrens
, an inferno consuming his entire world. Terrified wolves howling in pain. Homes reduced to skeleton framework in minutes. Mass confusion. The stench of burning fur. Blackened forms twitching on the charred earth. He was in the bowels of hell, and he ran.

“Gage!” The heat was unbearable, and Tanner had rivulets of sweat running down his face. “We have to go through the fire. There’s no other way.”

Gage groaned under the weight of regret and remorse, grief and guilt. Despite being a kid when the Lycan village was burned down, he always felt like he should have saved everyone. Now he had a chance to save Kate, and he couldn’t make himself move.
Oh God, Kweo. Is this some kind of test?
He put his face in his hands. “I don’t know…”

Tanner put an arm around him. “We can do this together. We can save Kate and bring her home.”

Tanner’s voice brought him back to the present.
Faced with his worst fear, he took comfort in the thought that his partner was there with him and
together
they were going to save their mate. With his wolf spirit in his heart and Tanner at his side, he could do this. It made all the difference.
“Go!”

“Hold on.” Tanner gunned the motor and drove down the rise and through the flames.

It was hotter than hell, with zero visibility. The cab filled with smoke, and they both started coughing and choking. The pickup stalled once, and Gage thought it was all over, but somehow Tanner got it going, and they ended up inside a ring of fire. The blaze burned and crackled, sending flaming embers toward the sky. He prayed they wouldn’t torch the house. Ignoring the burn of the truck’s door handles, he and Tanner threw open the doors, desperate to get inside and look for Kate before the house caught and went up in flames.

* * * *

Flames circled Kate like a fiery necklace of
reddish-orange citrine.
The hot, dry air seared her lungs, but her ears heard a roaring waterfall. It was all so surreal. Every animal instinct shouted
run
, but it was hopeless. In the space of a heartbeat, her situation had become desperate. Fire just didn’t spread this quickly. Could the right mix of terrain, fuel, and wind send a fire spiraling out of control? Or had the grim reaper come back to claim a life he’d once spared?

Overcome by a bizarre sensation of déjà vu, she watched a wall of
flames reach for the sky in a taunting dance. She’d cheated death once, hiding in the woods while her family burned to death. Yet Kweo, the wolf spirit she’d forsaken, had given her a second chance, a path back to her people. She’d cast it aside out of fear and cowardice, and now he was punishing her, giving her the death she should have had sixteen years ago. The torment of hellfire was her destiny, and this time there would be no escape.

The thick smoke stole her breath and burned her eyes, but she preferred suffocating from smoke inhalation to burning alive. Stumbling through the door, she ran to the back of the house and crammed herself into a corner. Each choking inhale was harder to drag into her raw, sore throat. Time slowed, and darkness closed in on her like a warm, heavy blanket.

* * * *

Tanner didn’t think. He ran at the door shoulder-first, and it flew open. Glancing over at Gage, he saw his partner climb through a window that had shattered from the heat. They met in the living room, choking and stumbling against furniture in the smoky haze.

“Kate! Kate!” Tanner screamed as the thick smoke invaded his lungs.

“I’ll take the kitchen.” Gage’s voice was hoarse, and he doubled over, coughing.

Tanner hesitated, torn between helping his lover and searching for Kate.

Gage straightened. “Go,” he gasped.

Tanner nodded once and ran for the bedroom. He
found Kate cowering in the corner, hands over her head. When he pulled her arms away, she wheezed and struggled for breath. Tears had plowed a trail through the soot on her face, but she was still alive, and relief flowed through his body. “Thank God, you’re okay.”
Is she?
Her color was bad, and when Tanner pulled her into his arms, she was like a rag doll. “Gage!” His voice cracked, but Gage was already running through the door.

“Is she okay?” Gage croaked.

“She’s pale, and her lips are blue, probably from smoke inhalation. We need to get out of here. Now.” He scooped her up, and a worried Gage followed them through the house and outside.

Loud popping noises stopped them dead in their tracks. Frozen with shock, they watched the truck wilt as the tires liquefied.
The paint had bubbled, metal was starting to peel, and the license plate had melted completely.
Windows had blown out, and the frames were deformed
. The truck was toast.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Tanner set Kate on the ground and hunched down next to her. “We need to shift. It’s the only way. We’ll get through faster, and we’ll heal faster.”

Gage got on his knees next to them. “Come on, sweetheart, shift. We have to go.”

* * * *

Overwhelmed with panic, Kate sat on the dirt and shook her head from side to side. Tanner shook her, and she looked at him dumbly. Behind him, flames danced, and the thick, choking smoke invaded her body. Her head felt fuzzy, and she couldn’t think straight.

“Shift. Shift. Shift.” Kate heard Tanner’s voice through an incessant buzz, and she kept shaking her head. So tired, right this minute she felt the life draining from her body.

Gage’s face appeared in front of her, his hands gripping her arms. “Shift, Kate. Damn it, shift!”

Leave me alone.
Didn’t he know she couldn’t shift?

“We’re not leaving without you.”

Go. Go and save yourself.

“If you don’t shift, I’ll carry you, and we’ll all burn in our human skins. Is that what you want? For us all to die here together?”

Why wouldn’t they listen to her? They had to go, but they weren’t moving. Her men would die here because of her. She couldn’t help her family, but she could help them. She needed to be strong for Gage and Tanner. A will to live came back, not for herself, but for them. They didn’t deserve to die.

Change begins in the mind.

The body serves the mind.

We are shaped by the mind.

Nothing. Kweo had abandoned her, but surely he wouldn’t desert these men. She prayed he would help her wake her inner wolf one more time.
Help me. Help me to help these men. Show me—

Muscles
contracted painfully, forcing her to hands and knees. Limbs contorted, and t
hick black fur spread over her sweaty, soot-covered body. Pitifully weak howls expressed her pain, and Tanner and Gage mouthed words of encouragement and praise. Wolf at last, she hadn’t realized how much she missed this side of herself. But there was no time to savor the freedom, the joy of being without self-
imposed restraints.

The two males were already changing, prancing on their paws with impatience. One of them grabbed her by the scruff and pulled her toward the flames. For a second she dug in and refused to let him drag her any closer. Then the other wolf came up behind her and bit her ass. Yelping, more in embarrassment than pain, she leaped into a blast furnace, a hellfire of dancing red-and-orange flames that
stole the moisture from her body.
Scorching air assaulted her nostrils, along with the smell of burning fur. The
engulfing heat was claustrophobic, pressing in from all directions. J
ust when she thought it was unbearable and she would not last another second, she sprang from the edge of the fire. The two males leaped out after her. Gage licked her blistered nose. Tanner sank his teeth into her scruff and gave her a tug, letting her know he expected her to follow them. Her suddenly submissive wolf nodded and let them lead the way.

* * * *

Exhausted, singed, and dehydrated, Gage collapsed by the front door and watched the others sink to their bellies as well. He was never so glad to see his home, but he wasn’t sure he had the strength to shift and open the door. He needn’t have worried. The front door flew open, and Alex came through it.

“Thank God,” the Alpha whispered. He went right to the she-wolf, picked her up as if she were a pup, and carried her inside. She let out one whimper of protest then quieted.

Gage and Tanner padded inside and watched as Alex set her gently on the floor and locked the door. The Alpha brought them bowls of water, and they drank their fill. Kate was too weak, and Alex brought her a bottle and held it so she could drink. Then he sat on the floor, watching them. He placed a hand on Kate’s rump, and Gage snarled and bared his teeth.

Alex lifted a brow. “What’s that all about?”

Gage shifted immediately, and Tanner followed. “With all due respect, Alpha, you’re a little too close to our mate,” Tanner told him.

“
Your
mate?” Alex frowned and raised a brow, but he removed his hand. Kate crawled a little closer to Tanner, and he put a palm on her back to comfort her.

“Our mate.” Gage spoke in a voice edged with burnished steel. “What are you doing here, Alpha?”

“Did you think I didn’t know what was going on?” Alex asked, irritated. “It’s my job to know everything that concerns the pack. You’ve both been avoiding me, but you brought her scent back here, and my nose is still working, last time I checked, anyway.” He seemed to be waiting for one of them to say something, but they remained silent. “I’ve had my eye on you for a while. When were you going to come to me and tell me you’d discovered a she-wolf?”

Gage shrugged in an evasive manner. “We thought it best to take care of our mate ourselves. It wasn’t our intention to force Kate to come back with us, and we were afraid you might act differently.”

“I would have done whatever was needed to bring her here. She belongs with us.”

“Ultimately the decision is hers.”

“Not really,” Alex said sharply. “We all have a responsibility to the pack. Our number-one priority is to make sure our race survives.”

Gage snarled at him. “Our number-one priority is our mate.” From the corner of his eye, he saw Kate’s ears twitch, and he knew she was listening to every word. “Our concern is for Kate. If she decides to stay, we want her to live here with me and Tanner.” He looked over at Kate. “But it’s her choice.” Gage turned back to Alex. “If you have a problem with that, then we’re leaving, all of us.”

Chapter Ten

It was dark when Kate woke in wolf skin, and for a second, panic made her heart race. Then she smelled her mates, and their comforting scents calmed her.
My mates!
Gage’s words had shocked the hell out of her. She knew how she felt about them already in her mind—they were
her men
—but she hadn’t had a clue those same deep feelings were reciprocated.

At first she thought it was all about the sex. After all, they were attracted to
Shiloh
, too. Then she realized they cared, but she had assumed it was all about reproduction and the pack. Now she knew it was more, much more, and she ached to make a life with them.

It was a glorious feeling to know where she belonged. After she’d lost her family, she’d gone through life always feeling estranged, as if she didn’t fit anywhere. Thanks to her men, she’d finally figured it out. It had nothing to do with looks or strength or weakness. It was all about accepting who she was inside, aligning herself with her inner wolf, and finding peace.

That inner peace would help her when she left. Real grief covered her at the thought of leaving them, but what could she do? Gage and Tanner had each other.
Shiloh
had no one else, just a string of one-night stands, anonymous sex. She was the anchor in his life. Their home must have burned to the ground. How could she leave him now, when he had nothing left but her?