SAM Read online

  “Is that why you were driving around with a packed duffel in the front seat?”

  I nodded. The man was observant. “It took me all day to find the place and when I did, I was too frightened to go inside by myself. It’s terrifying. The wicked witch who rented it to me told me how perfect it would be for a single woman. She described it as having a quaint, vintage cottage feel with a sweet garden.

  “Had the wool pulled over your eyes, did you?”

  I groaned and blew out a breath, letting it vibrate my lips as I did it. “Apparently, that’s my new thing.”

  “This is getting more and more interesting.”

  I flashed him an exaggerated eye roll and then braced myself for the painful slap across my mouth. When no pain came, I looked over at Matt and did it again, just to test it out.

  “Why are you rolling your eyes at me? I feel like I’m missing something.”

  I laughed out loud, elated at the sudden feeling of freedom that overtook me. “You’re not mad that I rolled my eyes!”

  He shook his head. “Should I be?”

  “No! Gosh, maybe this day isn’t going to be so bad, after all.” I looked down at his large hands and frowned. “As long as you don’t decide to murder and dismember me.”

  “Presley, I promise you that I will neither murder nor dismember you. I do need you to refrain from saying anything like that in front of anyone else, though. I don’t need a rumor like that starting up in a town the size of Burden.”

  Relaxing into the seat, I played with the ends of my hair and huffed out a breath. “Thank you for helping me, Matt.”

  “Oh, you’ll be paying me back. I have a feeling I might need help with this calf. The owner is pretty old and won’t be able to assist the way I might need.”

  I grinned. “That’s awesome! What kind of help?”

  He looked over at me and quirked his eyebrow. “The gross, messy kind that might involve lots of bovine bodily fluids.”

  I thought about it for a second. “Will there be gloves?”

  “There will be gloves.”

  “Do you need a permanent assistant?”

  He jerked his gaze over to me before focusing on the road again. After a few more seconds pause, he replied, “Maybe.”

  “Matt, would you mind helping me move into my new house later?”

  He laughed and shrugged. “Why the hell not?”

  I swallowed and giggled. “Why the heck not.”

  3

  Sam

  I strolled into The Cave after a long shift at the station. Without time to shower, I knew I carried the stench of a long day of sweat and putrid smoke. My shoulders ached, and I stretched my arms, needing to release some of the tension that had built up.

  “Sam!” Kelly Dyers ran up to me and jumped, throwing herself onto my body.

  She latched her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist as I stumbled backwards. “Whoa. Hey, Kelly.”

  She touched my nose with the tip of her finger and grinned. “You’re smelly.”

  I tried to feel something for the petite little blonde in my arms, but nothing. I was too exhausted. No amount of shifter strength was going to reenergize me until I had a good long sleep. “Long day at the office.”

  “Did you save anyone’s life today, Sammy?”

  I was planted in the middle of the dance floor, standing still with a woman clinging to my body like I was a tree she was climbing. I moved to the side, my aching muscles protesting. “Let’s not talk shop. What are you doing here?”

  She pouted. “Come on, Sam. I wanna hear about your day. I saw smoke over towards Big Bend. Was anyone hurt? Did you have to rescue anyone?”

  My bear growled and I had to bite my tongue to keep the sound in. I didn’t want to be mean to the woman, but I was in no mood to play firefighter with her tonight. I just wanted to grab a beer, get off my feet, and catch a few laughs with my buddies. “Kelly, I’ve got some important business to discuss with Hutch and Thorn. Maybe I’ll catch up with you later.”

  A pout spread across her face, but she let go of me, slowly sliding down my body, still trying to lure me into her games. “You’d better. I’ll be waiting for you.” She winked at me as she threw her hair behind her shoulder.

  I forced my body to the bar and waved to Allie, Thorn’s mate. “Can I get a keg of beer rolled out to me?”

  She laughed. “Now, Sam, why would you need to drown yourself on a Tuesday night?”

  “Because some of Wyatt’s new wilderness nuts lit damn near half of the mountain on fire today.”

  She grinned and shook her head. “It wasn’t Georgia this time. I’ll send something over to you. Go, sit down. You look dead on your feet.”

  I tapped the bar with my fingers and nodded. “Thanks, Allie.”

  Struggling to find energy, I lumbered over to our usual table where Thorn, Hutch, and Sterling were sitting, watching me, with big grins.

  Thorn raised his eyebrows. “You look like an eighty-year-old man walking around here, Sam.”

  I sighed as my ass hit the wooden chair, my back slouching into it. “I feel like one. Fuck. I’m going to kill Wyatt the next time I see him.”

  Sterling shrugged. “That’s cool. We don’t need him.”

  I laughed and instantly regretted it. Groaning, I wrapped my arm around my ribcage and shook my head. “We don’t heal fast enough.”

  Allie appeared at my side with a pitcher of beer and a mug. “This is just for Sam. He’s earned it. Y’all leave him to it.”

  Thorn reached out and grabbed the back of her shorts when she tried to hurry away. Dragging her back and into his chest, he nuzzled her neck. “You didn’t bring me anything special.”

  She swatted his arm then pressed a chaste kiss to his mouth. “That’ll have to tide you over… until later.”

  I watched them and felt another ache, this one stemming from a deep inner longing. Casting a glance over at Kelly, I found her staring at me and quickly diverted my gaze back to my beer. Even loneliness wasn’t going to give me enough energy to keep up with a wildcat like Kelly tonight. She always wanted to play firefighter games. I’d have to pretend to carry her from a burning building and then give her mouth to mouth resuscitation.

  Even the idea of it right now soured my stomach. I didn’t want anything to do with fighting fires until I had to report in for my next shift.

  I looked up to find the guys all staring at me. “What?”

  Sterling rubbed at his eyes and blinked. “Did I just see you cold shoulder Kelly? Isn’t she number one in your rotation of women who burn for firemen?”

  I grunted. “I’m too fucking tired tonight. I’m seconds from asking one of you to just pour this beer down my throat for me.”

  Hutch snickered and Thorn splashed the last of his beer in my face.

  I growled and wiped my face. “You’re an asshole.”

  “Oh, yeah? Whatcha gonna do about it? Wanna fight?”

  I shook my head and managed a weak half-grin. “I hate you. I hate all of you right now. I’m taking my pitcher and leaving. I just want to crawl into bed and sleep for the next three weeks. If anyone sees Wyatt, tell him I’ve got a boot waiting to shove up his ass when I see him.”

  They waved me off, laughing when I spotted Kelly up front and abruptly changed direction, turning to head out the back door instead.

  Hutch squawked at me. “Chicken.”

  I flipped him off and took the second pitcher of beer Allie held out to me as I passed the bar. Planting a kiss to the top of her head, I thanked her. She was becoming a good friend to me, and a great mate to my buddy Thorn, and I was grateful for her.

  That didn’t stop Thorn from growling at me. “Hands off my mate.”

  Allie rolled her eyes. “Feel better, Sam.”

  I left the bar and cut around through the woods to walk to my house. I lived close to the bar, in the middle of town. It wasn’t my ideal choice, but I’d been too busy working to focus on what I really wanted, somethin
g farther from town, a place with some land.

  I let myself in and plopped down on the couch. My arms shook from fatigue as I upturned the first pitcher of beer, draining it.

  I flipped on the TV, laid back, and tried to focus on the news. My eyes crossed pretty much right away, though, and I couldn’t stay awake. I was out before I could even put the pitcher back on the table beside me. It rolled off my chest and hit the floor with a loud thud, but I was too far gone to care.

  4

  Presley

  It’d been almost two weeks since I’d settled into the Burden house. Matt had taken me on as his assistant, even though I had no training and was sometimes terrified of the animals we worked with. He’d also helped me move in, and checked under the bed and in closets for ghosts and serial killers at my request—once every few days.

  He was amazing, and there was no weirdness between us at all. I was a little worried when we first started working together that things might become uncomfortable. He was very attractive, but I’d sworn off men for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for me to learn that he wasn’t interested in me in that way, nor any other women, for that matter.

  The realization made me feel awkward. I’d blushed a lot in his presence and had a hard time silencing the echoing voice of Father’s awful fire and brimstone sermons about homosexuals in my head. It wasn’t that I thought he was right. I knew he was just spewing venom. My awkwardness stemmed from the fact that I was embarrassed to be related to someone who could say such awful, hateful things. I subconsciously worried that Matt might somehow see through me to my roots, to my upbringing, to the beliefs of the flock that I had grown up in, and hold it against me. I was flooded with guilt over the blood that ran through my veins.

  It only took a couple days for me to feel so consumed with guilt, that I’d told Matt everything. I knew that I was too open, too trusting, but Matt listened while I talked about my family and when he saw me frowning, he would hug me and hold me to his chest until I pushed him away.

  We’d become fast friends after just a couple of weeks, and he never held any of my past against me. He’d taken me under his wing and had shown me how to do the simplest of things without judging me, like having the utilities turned on in my home. Time and again, when I felt like I’d just escaped from an underground cult, he only smiled and talked me through things.

  I was finally beginning to feel like an adult, something I thought I’d longed for while secluded in Macon’s Edge, but after experiencing the seedier side of Dallas, began to doubt. Thanks to Matt’s steady patience, I now felt ready. Of course, I had little choice. My family had made no attempts to reach out to me, not even my sisters. Nothing. I’d sent them a card the first week I was in Dallas, hoping that maybe one or two might feel the same desire to escape the flock. I sent another once I had a permanent address, still nothing. I suppose that was to be expected. Father was feared and revered in Macon’s Edge, but even more so in our home. Growing up, none of us girls dared cross him and face his wrath.

  I knew my older sisters were lost to the flock, but I thought that there might be a chance that Fran would come. She was a year younger than me and often questioned the teachings, like I had. If I allowed my thoughts to stray to my family too often, it brought tears to my eyes and I’d spend the rest of my day in a melancholy that was hard to get out of. That wasn’t healthy, so when I wasn’t at work, I busied myself instead with scouring my new dwelling.

  The house wasn’t as scary once I’d cleared out the cobwebs and Matt had helped me get the electric turned on. It did have a strange odor that never went away, but Matt bought me a few scented candles that hid it nicely. The walls were dingy and the floors were warped, but it was a roof over my head, and for that I was grateful.

  Matt, being Matt, had offered up his guest room the moment he saw the place, but I refused. Despite my fears and tears, I had paid for the place, and I needed to be stronger if I was going to make it in the world outside the flock. I was learning, slowly, to be an adult, albeit an adult who had massive amounts of help from a good friend.

  I had, however, managed to stay in the house for the past four days without calling Matt over, so I felt proud of myself. I was doing it.

  After a dinner of a bologna sandwich and a bag of chips, I tucked in for the night. Bed was an old crib-sized mattress I’d placed in the small bedroom at the back of the house. I’d picked up the little mattress and a couple old blankets at the local thrift store along with some mismatched cups, plates and silverware. It worked for me for the time being, but I had stars in my eyes about the idea of getting real furniture one day.

  As I lay on my little mattress, I stared up at the ceiling and blinked away tears. It was my ritual to shed a few tears each night, but I was trying to do better. I didn’t want to be sad. I wanted to be okay. I wanted to be normal. Normal people didn’t cry themselves to sleep.

  My mind went into spastic overdrive every night, touching on all the things I was missing. My family was at the top of the list. I couldn’t say I regretted leaving Macon’s Edge, but I would’ve done anything to see my sisters again. I missed the little things like the walks we took down to the creek bed, and the camaraderie of all of us girls pitching in to fix supper then wash up the dishes afterward.

  I realized, more and more reluctantly, that I even missed what Kyle had been in my life.

  Kyle had been the first and only man to call me pretty. He’d been my first kiss, my first everything. I’d even given my virginity to him. My chastity was something that I’d been taught to hold sacred. A woman should give herself to no man but her husband, and I had a hard time giving in to Kyle before our wedding.

  I realized in retrospect that Kyle had done a number on me. He’d convinced me that we were as good as husband and wife already, and that it was perfectly okay. It was such a unique and euphoric feeling to me to have a man desire me, or to see any value in me at all, that I gave in.

  I had thought Kyle was the love of my life. I trusted him. Finding out the reality of our relationship had devastated me. So much so, that I’d done something reckless and foolish. I had so much to atone for.

  I fell asleep wondering if someday I would find the man I was meant to be with. I imagined it happening several years in the future, when I was more of a worldly type woman. Currently, I felt as though I was barely out of my teens, little more than the newborn calf that Matt and I had helped bring into the world, walking around on shaky legs. I was still learning, still growing. Maybe he was too.

  In the middle of a dream about parading around Burden arm-in-arm with my sisters, I was startled awake by something unusual in my room. I jerked upright. It took a moment or two to wrap my head around what was happening, but when I did, panic instantly seized my heart.

  The room was hazy, but I could make out a bright light coming from the kitchen. The air was thick and I began to cough. The haze quickly became dark, billowing clouds of smoke that stung my eyes and choked off my airway. Even through the thick smoke, the bright light from the kitchen was now clearly visible as the flames of a raging fire.

  I stood up and hurried to the doorway, but crackling and popping sounds from the living room scared me. I backed away, coughing, my eyes stinging from the smoke. I looked around the bedroom for a way to escape. The only window in the room was small, but big enough for a person to fit through. I ran over and tried to pry it open. It was nailed shut. Why had I never noticed that before? I’d have to break it. I wrapped a blanket around my fist and punched the glass. A shooting pain travelled through my fist up my arm, but the window didn’t even crack. Banging on it again and again, I prayed for it to break.

  I dropped the blanket and used my bare fist. The smoke burned my eyes and throat. Sweat drenched the T-shirt I wore. The fire was getting closer, growing stronger every second. The house was a matchbox, everything igniting whatever was beside it. Fear and smoke threatened to steal my last breath, but I fought with the window.


  I didn’t have anything heavy in the room to use to break the glass, just the mattress and old blankets. I was going to die in a crappy little run-down shack in Burden. I was going to die.

  5

  Sam

  It felt like I’d just closed my eyes when the alarm on my phone went off. I knew immediately it was the firehouse. I sat up and jammed my feet into my shoes before taking off out my front door. Not bothering to lock the door, I jumped in my truck and raced over to the station.

  The captain was already gearing up, along with a couple of the other firefighters, Dan and Pete. I jumped into the routine of donning my gear, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I went.

  “Did the mountain reignite?”

  Captain Jones shook his head. “The little shack at the end of Orange Blossom Lane is lit up like a damn firework show. One of the neighbors thinks there might be someone living in it. Says there’s been an old truck parked in the driveway for a few weeks now.”

  My stomach tightened to a knot, the way it always did when learning about a potential fire victim, and I tugged my helmet on before running to the firetruck. “Come on!”

  I’d gone from being in a dead sleep to maneuvering a speeding firetruck towards the small dirt lane where, in less than five minutes, an inferno blazed. I knew it may still have been too long. We could be rushing towards a burning house fire that held the remains of its victim.

  When I turned onto the little street, my heart sped, and adrenaline surged, charging my brain, which in turn kick-started my muscles, everything working on auto-pilot, doing what it had been trained to do. I spotted fire. The small structure was burning high and bright. This one wasn’t going to be easily doused. Once we had it under control, I knew we’d be left with nothing but a smoldering pile of ashes.

  I parked the firetruck close to the house, beside a rusty Chevy that’d seen better days. Jumping out and running for the hose, I quickly hooked it to the closest fire hydrant and handed it off to Pete. “I’m going to look around and see if I can spot anyone through the windows. Start working on the front. See if you can clear us a way in.”