Ruthless (Wolf Ranch #6) - Renee Rose Page 0,61

ran up, and Nash dashed over to me. He was soot streaked and sweating. Everything smelled like a campfire, and the heat was impressive. His hands settled on my shoulders, and he looked at me with wide, wild eyes.

“God, are you all right?” he shouted over the hiss and crackle of the fire.

I nodded, licked my lips. “I’m fine. I was up at the swimming hole and saw it.”

“Rand! She’s here!” someone shouted.

“We thought you were in the house.” Frowning, he threw another wild glance over his shoulder. “He thought you were in there.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Rand? No! He can’t be inside?” I ran toward the house. “Rand!”

Rob and Willow headed me off, Nash right behind me.

“Tell Rand she’s here,” Nash shouted. I heard a different tone to his voice—fear.

Rob’s whistle pierced the night, making me jump. The others rushed over.

“Are you sure he’s in there?” I shouted, desperately clinging to any option other than the one I couldn’t accept. “It’s getting worse!”

Rand was in the middle of that fire. Looking for me.

“I heard him calling your name and saw him going in the kitchen door when we were running here,” Rob said, his voice grave.

No.

No!

I ran toward the house, but someone caught me around the middle, pulled me back and into him. My feet came off the ground, thrashing. “No. You can’t go in there.” Rob. His voice was deep. Commanding.

I didn’t give a shit.

“Rand’s in there! He’s my mate. We have to save him!”

“I’ll go in,” Nash yelled.

“You can’t,” Rob shouted. “There’s no way in, and it’s going to collapse soon.”

“No! Rand!” I screamed. “He’s mine. I love him, and I didn’t tell him. He needs to know!”

I started to sob in Rob’s arms as I watched my house burn. I couldn’t imagine Rand inside. Needing help. Unable to escape because of the smoke. Or already burned. Dead.

“I have to help him!”

“You have to stay here. Safe. That’s what Rand would want.”

“Save Rand! We have to save Rand!” I screamed, tears streaming down my cheeks. I fought to get free of Rob’s hold. “What am I going to do without him?” I sobbed.

Cars were pulling up in my drive, more people piling out all around us.

“It’s not over yet. He’s a shifter,” Rob said, still holding me back from surging in. “We’re hard to kill, and we heal spontaneously. But the same isn’t true for you. Do you understand? You can’t go in there.”

I looked closer and realized the other shifters were trying to get in. They’d circled the house and were yelling to Rand that I was out.

“Is he still alive?” I sobbed.

“I don’t know,” Rob said grimly. “He could survive, if he can find his way out.”

But that’s when the house groaned and collapsed, the upstairs over the kitchen first, then seconds later the other side of the house. Windows fell to the ground and shattered. Flames shot up into the sky now that there was nothing holding them back.

Shifters leaped out of the way and scrambled out from the outskirts where they’d been trying to get in. Rob dragged me backward.

I screamed and screamed, “Rand! No! Rand, please!” I doubled over, coughing and choking on the smoke and soot as I watched the two-story structure flatten.

He can’t die.

He can’t die.

I love him.

Oh God, I loved him so much. How could I have been so stupid, pushing him away at every turn? I’d been so afraid of getting hurt, I’d hurt us both. And now I’d never see him again.

But Rob said he could survive. He just needed to find his way out.

“Rand!” I shouted. “Rand. I’m out here! Rand!”

Sirens wailed, getting closer. The fire department would show up, but there would be nothing they could do.

“Rand!”

And then, suddenly—miraculously—a huge wolf’s head emerged from the side of the house, as if he magically came through the stone foundation. No, from the coal chute!

Fur gone in spots, skin black, the wolf scrambled out.

Boyd and Levi ran forward and yanked him free of the rubble.

Rob released me, and I ran to Rand. He bounded toward me, limping at first, but then bursting with energy, a joyful whine coming from his throat.

“Don’t shift,” Rob barked at Rand. “Fire department just arrived.”

“Rand,” I wept, dropping to my knees and sobbing. I stroked his fur, carefully. “Your fur. You’re burned everywhere.”

“He’ll be all right,” Boyd said, appearing beside us. “His wolf will heal him quickly. I promise.”

“He’s right,” Audrey said. “I’ll treat his wounds to satisfy myself, but it