Page 2 of Spark (Damselverse #2)
Chapter two
Dacre
T he siren blares to life in the firehouse.
All at once, my team jumps into action, yelling and shouting orders as their voices rise above the cacophony, yet it takes me a few moments to gather myself.
I think I’m still in a dream…
What happened to the girl? The one with the drenched, dark hair and the round, sparkling eyes of hazel?
She had been in trouble. I don’t know how it’s possible, but she was calling out to me for help.
Who am I to deny her siren’s call?
“Bloom, what’s taking so long? We’re on call. Up and atom!”
That was the Captain, and I'd best get my ass into gear if I hope to save some lives today.
Now, I return to the land of the living, joining my team in the melee that has taken over the firehouse as we prepare for battle with a deadly foe.
Fire is one of the biggest killers on the planet after all. And there I was, dreaming about some fantasy girl while someone’s loved one is in danger.
I’m a firefighter, a first responder, and I need to get my head out of the clouds ASAP.
The whole time the team gathers in the truck, I’m aware of the eyes of my teammate, Dane, as we set off at high speed.
As an emergency vehicle, traffic gives way, but I still can’t rid the image of the girl from my mind.
My Alpha is deeply rattled, shaking in his manacles as he roars in his cage. I shut my eyes, trying to focus.
Steady, steady…
“You good?”
Startled, I look up to find Dane regarding me once again. He’s not a member of my pack, but he's still like a brother to me.
We trained together after all. He has my back, always. But right now, his shit-eating grin is getting on my every last nerve.
What is he smiling about?
Of course. How could I forget?
He went through something similar a few months back, a night that changed the trajectory of his life forever. I doubt this is the same.
Lightning never strikes twice, as they say.
Back then, Dane rescued a little Omega from a burning building, one he’d just happened to dream about mere moments before we got the call about the fire.
She’d broken into his pack brother’s bookstore. Then she set it on fire with a match and became their pack’s official Omega a few weeks later.
But what are the chances of that happening again? Not all Alphas are so lucky, or unlucky… If my dream is, indeed, true, then the girl is in deep shit.
Now I’m on edge as all I want to do is get to the scene of the fire and save her.
That’s if she is real.
The moment the truck pulls up outside the garage, I jump into action, barging toward the heart of the inferno like a raging rhino.
Captain Rogers flusters behind me. “Bloom!"
“He’s got this, Captain,” Dane says, their voices growing weaker and weaker as I rush to my destiny.
She’s in here, I just know it. The siren is leading me straight to the back of the old garage by a boarded window as I kick down the blackened door.
Fuck. The smoke is bad, but I remember my training, trying to see through the haze for a body.
Alphas, as it turns out, are quite adept firefighters. We’re strong and can endure the most stressful of situations.
It doesn’t take me long to find her lying on the floor in a heap of soot and ash. I don’t think. I rush forth, scooping her up in my arms as I hold her close to my chest.
Hopefully, I’m not too late.
It seems we got here at the nick of time. The girl will be all right.
She has to be…
Now, I run back outside into the wet rain, lying her down on my lap as I check her vital signs.
She has a pulse, but it’s weak.
Unfortunately, it looks like she inhaled a fair amount of smoke, but she’s alive and breathing.
Still, I start taking off my mask, just to be sure…
The flames continue to dance toward the sky, turning it into a blaze of orange and red. I rock the girl on my lap, making a sound I never even knew I was capable of.
I’m purring.
I haven’t dared look at her face yet. Her wet black hair is plastered across her eyes, so all I have are her lips.
Luscious, red lips perfect for kissing, and the roots of my fangs ache next as her pretty neck is on full display.
Mine, my Alpha growls.
Just to be sure she’s the same girl from my dream, I brush aside her sheet of wet hair.
My heart freaking stops.
Closed eyes, yet it is her. The same perky nose with the sloped bridge, and I don’t believe it…
The moment my mask comes off, her soaked lavender scent hits my nose like a tidal wave. My brain short-circuits, and then my Alpha thrashes even more as he continues to growl that one word.
Mine, mine, mine.
Well, what do you know. It appears I found my scent match, but that’s no reason to get distracted.
I place the mask over her mouth, brushing aside her soaked hair with another purr.
When her eyelashes flutter, my Alpha purrs louder as she slowly comes to. She soon relaxes in my hold, wiggling in closer to absorb my warmth and scent.
As her eyes peel open, my whole world tips on its axis.
I find that sweet hazel at last. Now, I have no doubt in my mind.
Her arm reaches out for me weakly, fingers brushing across the faint stubble of my cheek, “Alpha.”
And then she passes out, rolling her head to one side, right beside my beating heart.
Fuck. How do I tell Xavier and Nolan that I may have just found our pack’s Omega? There’s a strong chance that she could be their scent match, too.
It doesn’t take them long to sense my urgency through the bond. Nolan is ecstatic beyond belief, but Xavier grunts, returning to his art.
He hasn’t left that gallery in weeks.
The team has finally put the fire out. Now I pass the Omega over to a medic as soon as the ambulance arrives.
Just as I’m watching her at the back of the ambulance, her chest rising and falling, I catch movement in the corner of my eye.
When I turn, I find a small kitten scurrying behind the front wheel of an old car. It looks like the Omega wasn’t the only one in trouble here tonight.
I hope Nolan has some room at the shelter because I have three more souls for him to rescue.
As well as a little Omega.