49. Alec

49

ALEC

" W e have to try!" Jace pleads, staring at the building. "We have to at least try!"

"It's not possible!" I argue back. "The whole thing might collapse on us if we go inside. It's already falling apart."

The helplessness weighs on me as I stare at the growing flames.

"The fire is starting to spread to the porch," Jace says, holding his head in his hands. "If we don't go now, we can't get inside. I'm going in."

"No!" I yell, grabbing him again. "We need to call for help. If we call, we can get help and find them!"

The inferno rages before us, a wall of flames and smoke that obscures everything. I feel like I'm suffocating, the heat from the fire pressing down on me, making it hard to breathe. Every second that passes feels like a punch to the gut. I'm torn between the hopelessness clawing at me and the desperate urge to ignore it, to push through and find them.

"It's too late," I croak out, more to myself than to Jace. "It has to be too late."

"No," Jace snaps, shaking his head vehemently. "We have to try. We have to do something. We can't just stand here."

I know he's right, but it feels like a futile effort. The building is already a skeleton of its former self, the porch sagging dangerously. As if to confirm my fears, the porch begins to collapse, pieces of it crashing down with a thunderous roar. My heart sinks; it's too late.

Jace is already moving, tearing himself from my grasp, running toward a window. "I'm going in!" he shouts, determination blazing in his eyes. I reach for him, but it's too late. He's yanking on the window, trying to break through.

The air is filled with a deafening whistling noise, and I grab Jace, pulling him away just as a rush of flames bursts out of the window. We hit the ground, rolling away from the searing heat.

We lie there, stunned and gasping for air, staring at the now fully engulfed building. The flames lick at the sky, and it's hard to believe that anyone could have survived inside. I feel a crushing weight of despair. If Devin and Tessa were still in there, they're gone now. I'm consumed by guilt and helplessness.

Jace's eyes are hollow as he turns to me, both of us recognizing the grim truth. I feel the ache of my own failure deep in my chest. I want to shut down, retreat from the crushing reality. I turn away from Jace, fighting to hold back the flood of emotions threatening to overwhelm me.

But then, faint and weak, a cry for help pierces through the chaos. My heart leaps, and I turn to Jace. "Did you hear that?"

He nods, his face a mix of hope and exhaustion. We scramble to our feet, following the sound around the back of the cabin. The smoke is less intense here, and we push through the haze, desperation fueling our movements.

There, in the field behind the burning cabin, we find them. Tessa is slumped on the ground, weak and trembling, her eyes filled with relief and pain. Devin lies next to her, unconscious, his face smeared with soot.

"Devin! Tessa!" I rush forward, dropping to my knees beside them. My hands are shaking as I check Devin's pulse, relieved to find it steady, though weak. Tessa reaches out, her eyes pleading for help.

Jace kneels beside her, trying to comfort her. "We're here," he says softly, his voice strained with emotion. "We're going to get you out of here."

As we work to get them to safety, the realization of how close we came to losing them hits me hard. I feel tears stinging my eyes but push them away, focusing on getting them help. The fire still roars in the distance, but right now, our priority is getting everyone far away from the fire and calling for help. We can't fit everyone in the car, plus keep Max subdued.

"You get Devin, I'll carry Tessa!" I yell over the roaring fire. I cough, smoke filling my lungs even this far from the structure.

The two of us pick them up, Jace carrying Max in a fireman's hold while I scoop Tessa up from behind her knees and back, holding her close to my chest.

The adrenaline surge kicks in as soon as I have Tessa in my arms and I race to the car, carrying her as if she weighed nothing at all.

I lay her in the back seat while Jace lays Devin on the grass, checking to make sure his heart is still beating. He leans in, listening for breath, then looks back at me with a worried expression.

"I don't think he's breathing," Jace says, his face a mixture of fear and anxiety.

"I'm calling for help now," I say, grabbing my phone from the center console. I punch the buttons, my hands starting to shake as I come down from the adrenaline rush, shock starting to settle in.

I have to fight it off though, I have to stay strong for Tessa, and for Devin. I lift the phone to my ear and wait for the call to connect. "Come on, come on," I mutter, feeling like everything is happening in slow motion.

"911, what's your emergency?"

I give them the location of the farm, then explain how Max kidnapped Tessa, and when we arrived to rescue her, found the house on fire. I tell the operator we have him subdued but he's not secure and we need police, fire, and ambulance right away.

The dispatcher keeps me calm, despite my racing heart, asking questions to keep my attention directed at her. I answer as best I can, feeling numb as I watch Jace start to perform CPR on Devin.

"Hurry!" I beg.

"They're on their way. You should start seeing first responders arriving within two minutes, Alec," she says, her voice steady and calm, which grounds me.

"Alec, he's waking up!" Jace yells. I glance up to see Devin gasping for air, looking around wildly.

My eyes fill with tears as I realize once again how close we came to losing them both. I hate that it took me until this point to realize how much Tessa, Jace, and Devin mean to me. Devin and Jace are like my brothers and I think I've fallen in love with Tessa.

I can't imagine a life without them in it now, and my heart aches when I think about what we could have lost.

"Is there anything else we need to know?" the dispatcher asks.

"Tessa is pregnant," I blurt out, the fact having escaped me in all the turmoil. "She's having triplets. Please make sure the babies are okay."

The dispatcher hums, typing something into her system. "I've let the team know, Alec. They're going to be there soon. We'll make sure you and your friends and the babies are all safe."

The first sirens echo across the quiet countryside and hope blooms in my chest. They're coming. The cavalry are coming.

We're safe.

Police officers arrive first, guns drawn as they leap out of the car, pointing them at Max who is still on the ground. In all the confusion, he'd managed to crawl quite a distance away but they surround him, keeping him from going anywhere.

The fire trucks come next, several piling up in the area and spilling out a sea of firefighters who get to work containing the inferno as fast as possible. This area is all woodland and fields, so if left unchecked, the fire could devastate thousands of acres and hundreds of people.

The ambulances arrive last and when they pull up, a team comes out to gather up Tessa and Devin, carefully strapping them to boards to whisk them away. Jace climbs in with Devin in the back of the ambulance and I start to get in with Tessa, but they stop me.

"She's very weak," the EMT says, giving me a sympathetic look. "We need space to work on her. You can meet us at the hospital."

I step back, anxiety gripping my heart. Tessa is loaded in and the doors are shut as I watch them take her away from me.

But when I turn, I see the police reading Max his rights as they shove him into the back of a cruiser, other officers already securing the scene for evidence. They can't get into the house yet, but they've cordoned off the areas outside that are part of the scene.

I walk over to the car, my head throbbing from where Max punched me, and my body sore from grappling with him. I pull down the sun visor mirror and examine my face, which is covered in soot and ash. I have a cut on my lip but other than that, Max didn't hurt me anywhere else.

Slapping the visor shut, I pull out of the drive and follow the ambulances to the county hospital. Once inside, Tessa is immediately rushed to a room where she's looked at by several doctors and nurses.

One comes out to give me the news. Tessa is very weak from the kidnapping and the smoke inhalation, plus she lost a lot of blood when Max stabbed her. I hadn't even noticed in all the commotion. I clench my hands into fists, grateful that Max is already in custody because I could have killed him myself.

"We don't know if Tessa is going to make it, Mr. Montgomery," the nurse explains.

Ice fills my veins and I feel like I can't breathe. The world seems to stop around me.

"Save her," I plead.