Page 18 of Where There’s Smoke (Fire House Omegas #2)

Elliot

I was sitting at my desk when the e-mail came in. I knew my pack mates were absolutely enamored with Melody, and I was as well, but I had been restrained because I knew something wasn’t right with the fire that had happened at the shelter.

More than anything, I wanted to think the best of the small omega. She seemed kindhearted and eager to help. But in my career studying arson, I had seen things that I couldn’t write off, and I didn’t want to believe that she could have done something to cause the fire.

I had been putting off looking into her insurance claim, but if she had good insurance on the shelter, the fire was probably going to benefit her greatly.

Even thinking about her like that made me feel dirty.

Only, arson wasn’t always done by bad people or criminals.

They were done by desperate people who needed money.

And unfortunately, I knew that Melody probably fit that description, based on her own words.

The subject line of the e-mail made my breath catch in my throat as I read it.

Fingerprint results for the canisters at the Grove Rd fire.

That was the road that the shelter was on.

When we had given the property a thorough sweep after the fire, we had found several gas canisters toward the back of the building thrown in a dumpster.

From there, it was a pretty easy assumption to make that the accelerant that we noticed in the kitchen came from those canisters.

So we gave them to our contact at the lab and decided to get them fingerprinted to see about identifying the owner of said canisters. I was hoping and praying that it wasn’t the omega.

Even as I went to open the e-mail, in the back of my mind, I was thinking about what I could do if she had done it. Surely, there was some way I could protect her? That was ridiculous, though. Why should I protect her if she’d committed arson? It was a serious crime and often came with jail time.

Jeez, Elliot. Pull yourself together.

Except, if I was brutally honest with myself, I was falling for the omega just as hard as my pack mates. I wasn’t sure if I could turn her in. The turmoil that realization had created had been keeping me up at night. So, while Fitz and Samson had gotten closer to her, I had been drawing away.

Taking a few shallow breaths, I opened the e-mail and quickly scanned the contents for the words I was looking for. Turned out, the lab had found fingerprints, but they were still hunting for a match.

What were the chances that an outsider had gone into the omega’s shelter, poured gasoline near an old microwave, and set the place on fire?

The lab was also working on getting the CCTV footage from the shelter, but with most of the tech burned to a crisp, that was a work in progress.

The whole thing was going so slowly, and there was nothing I could do about that, which sucked. I wanted answers. I wanted to breathe a sigh of fucking relief because I knew that Melody had nothing to do with it. And all I could do was be patient and wait.

I hated waiting.

I was on my way to the kitchen when Fitz came bursting out of his room and pulled me into a big hug. He stank overwhelmingly of Melody and sex. Oh, shit.

“What the hell did you do?” I asked, pulling back and looking at him with wide eyes.

It was a redundant question, considering his scent made it blatantly obvious what he’d been doing.

I was just so damn shocked. I didn’t think Melody was anywhere near having sex with one of my pack mates yet.

They were dancing around each other, clearly both interested, but I thought they were a long way off from fucking.

He grinned at me, that boyish smirk that I was so used to, and for the first time in a long while, I wanted it gone.

“Well, it turned out our sweet girl decided on a method to figure out if she was an omega,” he said.

“And that is?” I asked, already dreading the answer.

“She said if she could take a knot, that would prove she was an omega. It sounded logical to me, and we managed to prove her right. She had a little bit of a meltdown when she realized she was, in fact, an omega, and I’m pretty sure her head nearly exploded, but she seems to be calming down a bit.

Once I finally went down, and boy, did it take a while for me to go down, she detangled herself, and I left to get a snack, which is where I’m going now.

” He patted me on the shoulder like that was that, easy as pie.

What could I say to him? If I turned around and told him that I suspected Melody of arson, his entire world would come crashing down around him. Fitz may act like a charming, rich player, but he had a mushy center, and it was clear as day that he’d become very attached to Melody.

Plus, I had no proof.

Honestly, the idea that she had caused the fire seemed far-fetched, even to me, but I was the captain of our station and the head of my pack. I had a duty to protect everyone and check everything.

“Don’t you think you’re rushing into things?” I asked.

Fitz shook his head. “Not at all. I told her we can take things at our own pace; she’s going to take her time getting to know you guys.

But she did agree that we should have a conversation together ’cause she felt weird talking about having a relationship with the pack with only me there.

But I told her there was no rush, she didn’t have to go jumping onto our knots just because we did it once.

Though I’d very much like to do it again, because I swear to god, my knot has never taken so long to deflate.

She had it in a choke hold.” He laughed, talking a mile a minute.

All I could do was sigh. I wasn’t ready to send Fitz into a depressive spiral because things about that fire looked fishy.

I needed more information. For now, I’d just have to get to know the girl.

And maybe that would tell me what I needed to know about the fire and suspected arson.

As much as I hated it, some undercover work was necessary.

“Well, shit. I guess we better start talking, then.” I gripped Fitz’s shoulder, nodding once. “I’ll follow you.”

With a grin, Fitz turned and headed into the kitchen. I was right behind him, though I was dragging my feet. Dammit, I didn’t want to do this. But I really didn’t feel like I had much choice.

As I stepped into the room behind Fitz, I noticed Melody right away. She was standing next to Samson, both of them making sandwiches, and something about the effortless, stripped-down look of her went straight to my cock.

I could tell that she’d been fucked, knotted, and holy hell, her scent was so potent.

As she stood next to Samson, he knocked her in the shoulder with his, and she chuckled, pulling into herself.

It was clear she was still pretty skittish and even embarrassed about the situation, but Sam was doing his best to warm her up.

“Better not eat all the turkey, Sam. I’m not running back to the store because you devoured all the deli meat. Again.”

He turned around and rolled his eyes at me. “Yeah, yeah. It won’t be just me this time. Look at the size of Melody’s sandwich.”

I did, and I had to say I was impressed. “I guess you’re starving, huh?”

Her eyes went wide as I leaned against the counter near her, her stare going from me to the sandwich and back.

“I can put some back. I didn’t know that it was?—”

I waved that idea off. “Nah. It’s no big deal.”

A shy smile lit up her face, and she nodded. “Okay.”

“So, Melody,” I started, never great at small talk, “do you have any siblings?”

Melody and Samson finished creating their towering sandwiches, taking them to the small table in the kitchen and sitting down. Once settled with her food, she cocked her head to the side, deep in thought as she chewed. “I have two brothers, but I never see them. They live across the country.”

“Why?” Fitz asked.

I was thankful for his question because it made me seem less like a one-man inquisition.

Melody scrunched her nose. “My family and I don’t really share the same values.”

“Well, you’re going to have to explain that ,” Fitz said, handing her a bottle of water with a frown.

“You will want to tell them about everything, won’t you?” Samson asked.

“Well…” Melody glanced at the three of us, her anxiety written all over her face.

“They don’t exactly approve of my life choices.

They set me up on tons of blind dates with beta businessmen early in my twenties, and I couldn't stand it.

They saw me as an asset. They couldn't understand the fact that I wanted to help animals in a meaningful way instead of accepting the opportunities they presented. As far as they were concerned, my use as a daughter was to marry someone affluent enough that they could potentially support them in their retirement.”

Fitz rolled his eyes. “My parents have a few friends like that, and they are insufferable.”

Melody nodded. “It was all very fake. So, about five years ago, I decided I was going to do my own thing. As you can imagine, they weren’t exactly supportive.”

“And your brothers felt the same way?” I asked. I didn't have any siblings of my own, but I was fairly sure that if I had a sister, I would want to protect her from dating anyone who was only after status or looks.

A delicate snort escaped Melody as she shook her head. “One of my brothers is worse than my parents and is a complete raging misogynist, and the other one just kind of stayed out of it. He’s my little brother.”

Was she telling the truth? I wanted to believe her, but I wasn’t completely convinced.

Was I leaning toward her telling the truth because I thought she was pretty and smelled amazing, or because she genuinely seemed honest?

Was I being too harsh because I didn’t want to admit that I could be wrong, that Melody was in my head and not leaving anytime soon, and that scared the shit out of me? What about her insurance payout?

I needed to know just how big it would be, because if Melody was going to profit off this situation, that would make her look all the more suspicious.

But if it was nothing, if it could barely pay for a replacement building, that said the opposite.

Complicated wasn’t what I needed more of, and here I was.

Ugh, this was going to be a long few weeks.