Page 10 of Where There’s Smoke (Fire House Omegas #2)

Melody

“ M orning!” Fitz greeted me as I entered the kitchen.

He was at the counter, chopping something.

Jeff and Tommy, firefighters I’d been introduced to briefly the previous day, were also sitting at the table and greeted me warmly, hardly looking up from their food, which they were devouring like they were going for a world record.

The firefighters had been nothing but welcoming. I was starting to feel comfortable simply being around them. They didn't ask any overly intrusive questions. They gave me my space and respected me. What more could I ask for?

“Hey,” I offered quietly. Jeff was the first to look up and give a smile as he swallowed down a mouthful of eggs.

“Hey there, Melody. You still settling in okay? How’s the puppy?” He was an easygoing guy, from what I could tell, and his presence was a welcome, calm energy amid all the hustle and bustle.

“She’s good. Eating like a champ.”

“I should say,” Tommy replied. He winked at me, those light blue eyes sparkling. “You’ve been up at the ass crack of dawn to feed her the last day or two.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, it’s like that when they’re little. Same with babies, you know?”

The guys just nodded and got back to their food. Fitz came closer, his usual smile downright dazzling as he leaned against the counter. “You want some breakfast?”

“I wouldn’t say no,” I replied as I padded into the room, the puppy in my arms.

The alpha continued to smile over at me. “I guess Little Miss Dotty girl needs her breakfast as well,” he observed. “She looks like she’s growing by the day!”

“She's a puppy. They do that.” I laughed again as I approached the counter, looking for the electric kettle so I could heat the water for her bottle. “And we’re calling her Dotty, huh? Sunny kept calling her Dotty baby . Makes sense, considering she’s a Dalmatian. Hmm…you’re lucky I like it.”

The kettle from the night before wasn’t on the stove, though, and I looked around, confused, checking the dishwasher.

“Oh, don’t use the kettle,” Fitz said. “There’s a bottle warmer over here,” he explained, pointing to a new device on the counter. “And yeah, sorry ’bout that. But come on, she needed a name, and Dotty is perfect. I came up with it myself.”

I shook my head, then registered what Fitz had said. There’s a bottle warmer?

That was…new. Technically, it was a warmer for baby bottles, but I’d used the same one at the shelter before it got ruined in the fire. It was also most certainly not there the night before.

“Where did you guys find a bottle warmer? I'm grateful. I'm just confused how you found one.”

Fitz smirked. “Samson went out and got it. He knew it would make your life easier with a puppy who’s chowing down at all hours of night and day.”

“We all chipped in,” Tommy said in his youthful, exuberant voice. “We all love Dotty girl. She's pretty much our mascot now, so anything we can do to help her…”

My chest warmed with appreciation, and a mild level of embarrassment, for having a crew of firefighters buying things for my dog. “Thank you.” I smiled at Tommy, who preened at my praise between bites of scrambled eggs.

It was a small gesture, but it meant the world to me, and I needed to be okay accepting the kindness. I’d give it to anyone else, and I was just as deserving, though I constantly had to remind myself of that. Smiling, I busied myself with making a bottle for the puppy.

“After eleven a.m., we’re off shift,” Fitz said.

“So… will you guys leave?” I asked, my voice somewhat subdued. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

“We may pop back to the house to get a bite, but we’re camping out here more because Elliot has a bunch of arson investigations we need to sort out. I'm doing some business nearby, and we thought it best to stick around as a pack.”

“How long have you been a pack?” I asked.

“About five years. Sammy and I were in the academy the same year. Elliot was already a fancy-pants investigator, but we all clicked. My cousin had become a firefighter, and I decided I wanted to give it a shot as well.”

“Blaze is a force unto himself.” I giggled. “I see that runs in the family.”

Fitz smirked. “I'm definitely the cuter cousin, though, aren't I?” he asked, playfully batting his eyelashes. I snorted, rolling my eyes as the bottle warmer clicked off.

“You're something, all right.” Jeff chuckled gruffly from the table, making us all giggle.

“You’re just jealous of my stunning good looks and beautiful ass.” Fitz proceeded to shake it at Jeff, who swatted him away.

“You are an ass. I’ll give you that.”

I smiled to myself, listening to their banter as I prepared Dotty's bottle. She was fast asleep in my arms, but I knew that, soon enough, she would be wiggling awake for her food. The bottle warmer was going to make my life infinitely easier, especially with the late-night feeds.

Even though all the firefighters at the station had been nothing but welcoming, I was slightly reassured that the pack would be staying. After all, they were the ones I knew best, and I hardly knew them, so that was saying something.

“So, Samson was thinking that after our shift, we should take a break, grab some lunch, and go see how all your rescues are doing.”

I turned to Fitz, a shocked smile on my face. “Really? That would be amazing. I've been so worried about them, and I think I'm annoying the shelters with how often I'm texting them.”

He chuckled. “We know. We got a phone call from them, but I convinced them that letting you visit for a few hours would help reduce your worry.”

“Oh, crap, really? Ugh, I'm just…yeah.” I nodded. It definitely would.

Honestly, I probably would still be texting them a lot. What could I say? I cared about my rescues. And I’d never had them out of sight for so long. Getting to visit them…well, it appeared I had another thing to be grateful to the pack for.

“This place is nice,” Elliot said, looking around with a discerning gaze. “Not as nice as your place, though.”

My face heated at his praise. There wasn’t much I was proud of, but my little shelter had been one of them. It was still a fresh wound, and behind the pride lay the pain of loss. I really didn’t know how I was supposed to get a new building.

Then again, Elliot couldn’t really say much, as he had only seen the burned-out husk of my building, instead of it in its full glory.

When Fitz had knocked on my door earlier, I had expected to see him and Samson, but Elliott was standing there with them, jacket on, ready to go.

I’d assumed Elliott would rather jump off a bridge than be in my vicinity.

Apparently not.

“Hello, everyone,” the shelter director greeted, holding out a hand to direct us to the kennels. “You can see your babies are all doing well. Do you want to take them out for a walk? We were about to start doing the rounds for walks, so you taking them would actually be a big help.”

Perking up, I walked over to one of the kennels, sticking my fingers through the holes and scratching one of the stray dogs on the nose. He whined happily, wanting out of the kennel.

“We’d love to.” It occurred to me that I’d spoken for the guys. “Unless you don’t want to?”

Samson shook his head, this towering hulk who barely fit inside this tiny building. “Of course we want to. Who am I taking?”

“Well, big guy, you can have the Newfoundland. He won’t pull you around like everyone else.”

The director got the massive dog out of the kennel, securing a leash around its shelter collar and handing it to Samson. The dog jumped on him, licking and barking with excitement.

Laughing at the scene, I helped get the other dogs ready for their walk. Each of us ended up with a handful, and then we were off like a shot, the animals desperate to stretch their legs. There was a park across the street, and we were told to take them there.

“These guys are the sweetest,” Fitz said as he led the boxer around the park.

“Most of the larger breeds are really gentle, I find,” I said as I watched them.

Elliot had Monty, a sweet older yellow lab, and his girlfriend, Molly, a russet lab, on twin leads, while Samson had three smaller dogs and was doing his best to keep them in control, in addition to the massive Newfoundland.

The smaller ones had a tendency to cause chaos, in my experience.

“You know, boss, we should get the guys to come walk these guys over the next few weeks to make sure they get the exercise they need. Plus, it's great exercise for us,” Samson said, glancing at Elliot, who looked thoughtful.

“Hmm, well, exercise is good. Lord knows we need to stay limber. And I know the rookies would love doing this.”

I bit my lip. Dog walkers were always needed.

There were only so many volunteers, and making sure the animals all got the appropriate exercise was difficult.

All shelters dealt with it, and yeah, the staff could help, but there was enough to do, between medical care and paperwork, that it made exercising the dogs tricky.

“That would be amazing. It would be a huge help for the shelters.” I smiled and nodded at Elliot, shrugging a little when he eyed me.

“Naturally, we would focus on our displaced fluffs first,” Fitz said, making kissy faces at the disinterested-looking boxer.

“We should do a fundraiser next month! Maybe a barbecue?” Samson grinned, looking between his pack mates before his gaze landed on me.

“We tend to have them fairly regularly. We have a big cookout and raise funds. Last time, we did it for the local pediatric ward. But this time, we could do it for the animals, maybe get a few of them adopted!”

My heart was melting. These guys were so sweet and considerate.

They were going to make some omega very lucky one day.

For a brief moment, a wave of sadness hit me because I wasn't an omega. I wasn’t that omega, the one who’d be so lucky, so taken care of. How different would my life have been if I were, and I could date guys like these handsome, caring firefighters? The ones I’d learned went by Pack Wilder.

Sadly, that was just a fantasy.

We got the dogs back to the shelter, wrangling them all back into their kennels. Some were tired, namely those who’d run around, chasing Samson, for the last fifteen minutes of park time, and they went right inside and curled up to take a nap, which sounded amazing if I was being honest.

“Exercise, for sure!” Samson leaned over, planting his hands on his knees as he took exaggerated breaths. I couldn’t help but smile and laugh. Between him and Fitz, they were liable to have me cracking up all the time.

Elliot was a bit different, and I observed him as he chatted with the shelter director off to the side. He wasn’t rude or anything. Hell, the guy had given up his room for me. He was just…more closed off, tight-lipped. Maybe even uptight. There was tightness, that was for sure.

I was about to ask if they were discussing the fundraiser when one of the shelter staff walked past me and stopped. He was a vet tech, going by the scrubs and purposeful strides. But he’d frozen mid-step, turning back to look at me with wide eyes and a smile.

“Damn, I’m sorry, you just…” He took one step closer, his eyes closing as he sniffed the air. “…Smell fantastic.”

I had no idea what he was getting at. He was clearly an alpha, and I backed up instinctively. He hadn’t reached rude or inappropriate quite yet, but I didn’t love how he was so fascinated with my scent, especially considering I knew it was nothing special. I was a beta, after all.

“Umm, thanks.” I pulled into myself, helping the last dog into its kennel.

The guy wasn’t leaving, though. “Are you spoken for, sweetness?”

“What?” My mind was spinning. What was happening right now?

“Beat it. Go take care of the animals.” Elliot was suddenly at my side, his voice a growl as he basically told the vet tech to get lost. Samson and Fitz appeared on my other side, their usual grins replaced with stoic, intimidating glares.

“Oh,” the guy said, pulling away from me, “I’m sorry. I just?—”

“I don’t care what you just . Beat. It.”

Elliot took one small step toward the guy, rumbling growls filling the area around me, and then the guy nodded and left. He hadn’t done anything horrible, even if I wasn’t loving the attention, but I had not expected the pack to do that.

“Come on, let’s get you back to the station.” Elliot gestured toward the door, and I proceeded to head out, my brain still scrambled by what had happened.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. We got you. And besides, Dotty probably needs a feeding, right?” Fitz was there at my side, grinning when I looked over and nodded.

“Yeah. Yeah, totally. You’re probably right. Let’s get back.”

As we left the shelter, I couldn’t help but think about that guy. He’d been so attracted to my nothing-special scent. I’d never experienced that before. Something was going on, but I had no idea what.