Chapter Thirty-One

Knox

“ A mara!” Knox yelled into the phone. He heard the phone hit the floor and cursed under his breath while he charged through the bar in search of Zeke and Drake. When he called their names, they didn’t answer.

Panic had set into his bones, and he didn’t have time to hunt down his friends. He growled in frustration and slammed open every door he could find.

Zeke was in the back room, pulling down liquor from the shelves. He wasted no time in grabbing his arm and yanking him from the room.

“What?” Zeke demanded. Knox knew that he didn’t appreciate being manhandled, but now was not the time for that shit. “What are you doing?”

“Amara, god damn it.” He continued to drag Zeke around while in search of Drake. “The shop is on fucking fire. Where the fuck is Drake?”

Zeke yanked his arm out of his grasp. “Last I saw, he was in the office. What do you mean the shop is on fire?”

“Did I fucking stutter?” He barged into the office, and Drake looked up from the computer. His confused expression narrowed as he took in Knox. Abruptly, he stood.

“What’s wrong?”

“Amara’s in trouble,” Knox barked before rushing out of the office. He didn’t have time to explain all over again why they had to go.

Thankfully, Drake didn’t ask any questions, and they all rushed out of the bar, pushing people aside to exit quickly.

As soon as they stepped outside, he could smell the smoke. He raced to the bookshop, not caring if the other two were behind him. His only thought was to get his mate. Nothing else mattered.

Flames licked up the side of the building, and great plumes of smoke rose into the night sky. A few people had begun to crowd the street, watching the scene unfold. Amara was not among them.

“Amara!” he called, covering his face from the heat the fire was giving off.

His heart slammed against his ribcage. This level of fear was something he’d never experienced. He couldn’t even see inside with all the rolling flames and the thick veil of smoke. The entire front of the shop was engulfed, and he knew then that there was no way they were getting in that way.

He called her name again, but he didn’t receive an answer. The crowd began murmuring, wondering if someone was stuck inside, but he didn’t have time to explain that his girl was in danger . . . if she was still alive.

He headed toward the flames, fully prepared to dive through them to find her, but Drake tugged him back with a firm grip on his arm. “Back alley! ”

The three of them rounded the building quickly and approached the back door. Black smoke was seeping through the cracks, but that was not what caused all three of them to growl.

Heavy chains with a padlock locked the door from the outside. Someone had done this on purpose. They were intentionally trying to kill their mate.

None of them needed to speak as they charged for the door. It took all three of them and their shifter strength to snap the chains off, and the wood around the handle splintered beneath the force.

Knox nearly ripped the door off of its hinges before they rushed inside, embraced by the smoke and embers. The flames were spreading quickly, and they were so big that he couldn’t imagine anyone was able to survive them, let alone the thick smoke that made it hard for him to breathe without his lungs burning.

The three of them covered their faces with their shirts as they began to cough.

“Amara!” he roared frantically, preparing himself to battle the fire to find his mate. He didn’t give a shit about himself as long as he got her out of there. He just hoped he wasn’t too late.

“Knox! Over here!” Drake called out.

He turned just in time to see Drake or Zeke lifting a tiny frame in his arms. He couldn’t tell which one held her, due to the dense smoke, but it didn’t matter. They had her.

The three of them left the burning shop and stepped back out into the alley, sucking in clean night air. All three of them were gasping for breath as they moved far enough away from the building before Drake laid Amara’s body on the ground.

Her face was covered in soot and ash, her arms red and blistered. If they had been a few minutes later . . .

It had been way too close, and Knox’s throat clogged with rare emotion. “Is she alive?” he asked, dropping to his knees by her side. “Is she breathing?”

Zeke pressed his fingers against the side of her neck, checking her pulse, at the same time sirens wailed in the distance.

His stomach was full of curdling dread, and the last few strands of his sanity pulled taught. If he lost her now, he’d be gone for good.

“She’s alive,” Zeke said after what felt like an eternity. “But we have to get her to the hospital. We don’t know how much smoke she inhaled or how it’ll affect the baby.”

Knox’s fingers balled into tight fists. “Her father did this,” he growled through clenched teeth.

“You don’t know that for sure,” Drake rumbled, but even Knox could detect the insecurity of that statement.

“Who else would it be?” He glared up at him. “She didn’t follow his command, and now he tried to kill her to make an example out of her. Tell me, Drake. Who else would have locked her inside and lit the place on fire?”

Drake glared back at him. “How many enemies do we have, Knox? How many people have we pissed off? You know that, because Amara is our mate, she’s our greatest weakness. Anyone who has a grudge against us, who has seen her with us, would know that. You need to be fucking smart about this. None of us can make a move until we know for sure who did this.”

Knox snarled, even though he knew Drake was right. They had made a lot of enemies, and any one of them could have come for revenge.

“He’s right, Knox,” Zeke murmured. “But none of that matters right now. She needs a hospital.”

The sirens were close, and Knox turned to watch the fire trucks and an ambulance roll up to the front .

Without further word, because they could have this discussion later, he picked her up, cradled her against his chest, and carried her toward the EMTs climbing out of the vehicle.

The three of them stood off to the side, though never too far away, as the EMTs began working on her. She still hadn’t regained consciousness and looked so tiny and frail against the stretcher. It hit him hard how close he was to losing her, and he vowed to never let it happen again. Whoever did this would pay with their lives.

It had been far too easy for someone to get to her. He didn’t care if she didn’t like it. From now on, one of them would always be by her side.

The EMTs quickly began loading Amara onto the back of the ambulance, and all three guys moved to join, but an EMT stopped them. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to meet us at the hospital.”

“If you think for one fucking minute that you’re going to keep us away from her, you are severely mistaken,” Knox growled dangerously. He was already on edge, and he didn’t need this asshole trying to keep him away from her now.

Zeke stepped forward. “We will stay out of your way, but we aren’t leaving her.”

The EMT must have seen the murderous rage on their faces because he paled and nodded timidly. The three of them crowded into the ambulance once they got her loaded, and as the driver closed them inside, Knox took her limp hand in his.