Page 7

Chapter

Four

The flames are everywhere, Jake. Surrounding me. I … I don’t think I can get through them.

Alannah’s words were playing in a loop in his mind as he jumped out of the car the second it stopped and started sprinting to the location where Alannah was trapped.

“Almost there, sunshine, just hold on a little longer for me,” he said into the phone, mustering the most soothing tone he could manage under the circumstances.

Unwilling to leave Alannah alone in case the worst happened, he’d remained on the line with her.

After finding out she was running one of her favorite loops at a local park, he and a couple of his brothers jumped into a vehicle and drove to her location.

Firefighters were enroute, and Prey had given him Alannah’s exact location.

All he had to do was get to her.

In time.

The flames are everywhere, Jake. Surrounding me. I … I don’t think I can get through them.

Those words continued to taunt him. She was trapped in a fire for the second time in as many days, only this time, he wasn't there with her. She was all alone, and he was so very aware that the flames could easily claim her before he could get to her.

He could lose her.

“The flames are getting closer,” Alannah said on a whimper.

“I know, honey, but I'm almost there. Hold on, Alannah.” An order, not a request. He wasn't going to lose her. Not now and certainly not like this.

“I am, I don’t want to die, but, Jake, if I do, I don’t want you to think it’s your fault.” She broke off into a coughing fit, the smoke from this fire no doubt aggravating her already damaged throat and lungs from all the smoke she’d inhaled the day before.

Honestly, she shouldn’t even be out running.

Doctors had told them both to take it easy. Even though their smoke inhalation was mild, they should avoid physical activity for at least the next couple of days.

What the hell had she been thinking?

Why was she out running instead of safely at her friend’s house?

And how could she think he wouldn't blame himself if she died because of him?

“I'm sorry, sunshine,” he whispered, nearing her location but still not close enough for his liking.

“Not your fault, grumpy,” she said. “Jake, in case I don’t … you don’t … if I—” her words broke off, and he heard a scream fall from her lips. She must have dropped her phone because he heard a thump and then … nothing.

The call must have disconnected when she dropped the phone because there wasn't a single sound coming through.

“Alannah!” he screamed anyway, insisting she answer him.

Had the flames gotten to her?

Was he too late?

“She’s gone,” he told Jax and Cole in a panic as he lowered his cell phone from his ear and saw that the call had indeed been disconnected.

Gone could mean only one thing.

That he was too late.

“Hold on, bro, we’re almost there,” Jax told him as all three of them picked up their pace, and a minute later, the glow of the flames came into view.

They were every bit as bright and ferocious as the ones that haunted what little sleep he’d gotten the night before, and knowing Alannah was trapped between them was a whole different kind of nightmare.

In the distance, sirens began to wail.

Help was coming, but it wasn't going to get there quickly enough.

Somehow, he found extra speed he hadn't known he possessed as he bolted toward them. Fully intending to dart through them and search for his best friend until he found her.

He would have done just that if he hadn't been tackled to the ground just as the heat of the fire began to scorch his skin.

“No, Jake. You can't,” Jax said from on top of him.

“Alannah is in there,” he roared, fighting to get out of his brother’s hold so he could run into those flames and find his best friend.

Trapped alone and terrified in a ring of fire with no way out, and it was all his fault.

He should have insisted that she come and stay with him, and if she’d continued to refuse then tell her he’d stay with her at her apartment.

If he’d been with her, he never would have let her go out running when she was recovering from smoke inhalation.

If she hadn't been out running, she would have been safe from the people targeting him and his family.

“If she’s in there, it’s probably already too late. I'm sorry,” Jax said softly.

Staring at the fire raging before him, Jake knew that his little brother was right. There was no way Alannah could survive. If she’d dropped the phone, it had to be because the flames had gotten close enough to catch her.

That scream …

It was still echoing inside his head.

Pure, unadulterated terror.

The last thing he’d ever hear from her, and it would stay with him for a lifetime.

As it should.

“Alannah, I'm sorry, sunshine,” he yelled into the flames. No doubt Jax was right and she was already gone, but he couldn’t stop himself.

Jake didn't cry. Hadn't since he was six years old and realized that no matter how many tears he shed it wasn't going to bring his mom back to life.

He hadn't even cried when his dad and stepmom had been killed because, as the second oldest, he’d wanted to be strong for the younger kids.

Wanted to be big and tough and stoic like his older stepbrother.

But now … knowing how horrifying Alannah’s final moments would have been, tears blurred his vision.

“I’m so sorry, man,” Cole said from beside him.

Jax’s weight eased off him, and together, Jax and Cole helped pull him to his feet. He couldn’t take his eyes off the fire, knowing that Alannah was somewhere inside the rapidly growing flames had his stomach twisting to the point where he thought he might be sick.

“Come on, Jake, we have to move back, away from the fire,” Jax said gently, guiding him further away from the inferno that had stolen his best friend from him.

Those men were going to pay.

When he got the name of the final man involved in the rape and conspiracy, he was personally going to tear him apart limb by limb.

No amount of suffering would be enough to make up for Alannah’s final moments, but his rage needed an outlet.

“I’ll make sure you get justice, sunshine,” he whispered with a determination that sunk down deep into his bones.

He needed something to focus on other than his grief, and revenge was the perfect replacement.

“Jake!”

Head darting up, he whipped around in the direction the voice had come from, and he saw her.

His sunshine.

Dirty, hair a mess, tears streaking her face, but alive and running toward him.

The next thing he knew, she launched herself into his arms.

They closed around her automatically, and he drew her close as she sobbed. There was every chance he would believe he was merely hallucinating, but the smell of smoke had gotten stronger the second he was touching her.

“I thought I was going to die,” Alannah wailed, her wet face pressed against his neck.

“You screamed and the phone cut off, I thought … I thought you were gone. I thought I lost you.”

“You didn't lose me, grumpy, I'm here.” The arms she had curled around his neck tightened to the point she was almost impeding his ability to breathe, and he didn't care in the least. She was here, alive, and in his arms.

That was all that mattered.

“How did you get out?” he asked, running a hand the length of her spine to calm her, only he was almost as panicked as she was.

“There was a man, another jogger, he came out of nowhere, that’s why I screamed. Then he showed me a way out of the flames,” Alannah explained.

A jogger who was prepared to walk through an almost impenetrable wall of flames to get to a stranger with no guarantee they could get back out?

His faith in humanity didn't believe that.

Not in the least.

“Where is he, Alannah?” he asked, scanning the area but seeing no one. If some random jogger had saved her life, they wouldn't just disappear, except he, Alannah, Jax, and Cole were the only ones there.

Lifting her head she looked around. “I don’t see him,” she said, sounding confused. “Where did he go? I have to find him, Jake. I have to thank him. He saved my life.”

When she started to struggle to get out of his hold, he tightened his grip on her. Their minds obviously going in the same direction his had, Jax and Cole shifted closer, moving in to flank Alannah on either side.

“I don’t think he saved your life to be nice, sunshine.”

Brow crinkled, Alannah cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

“I think whoever led you out of the flames is the person who started the fire to begin with.”

October 14 th

6:26 P.M.

I think whoever led you out of the flames is the person who started the fire to begin with.

Alannah couldn’t stop thinking about Jake’s words even hours later after she’d given her statement to the cops, been checked out by paramedics, packed a bag, came to Jake’s house, showered, and eaten.

Well, picked at her food more than eaten it.

Her appetite had disappeared.

Even though she’d showered, standing under the hot spray for a solid thirty minutes, scrubbing and scrubbing at her skin, and shampooing her hair over and over again, she still smelled like smoke. It seemed to have permeated deep into her skin and no amount of cleaning would get rid of it.

The smell made her nauseous, and even though she knew her body needed the calories and nourishment, she just couldn’t settle her stomach enough to do more than nibble at the food on her plate.

It wasn't just the smell that had her so on edge. Wasn't even the fact that she had almost died in a fire for the second time in two days. It was also what some of the cops had implied when they’d been taking her statement.

They had kept saying how odd it was that she’d been in back-to-back fires.