Chapter 19

Ryan

Working alongside Gracie had proven harder than I thought, but I didn"t know how to get out of it. There was a small part of me that didn"t want to get out of it.

I was beginning to despise my apartment. I"d even left dirty dishes in the sink this morning as I rushed to leave the house.

She was everywhere. Somehow Gracie Montgomery had managed to infiltrate every inch of my apartment and my raven was perfectly clear on his stance as he peppered me with images and reminders of the time we"d spent together here. He wanted her. I wanted and missed her so much it hurt. But then I would remember the sight of her dying in that fire and it would make me physically ill. I just couldn"t put myself through that again.

Everywhere I went people were talking about it like it was perfectly normal. I wasn"t sure why I hadn"t already known she was a phoenix because it was painfully clear that it was common knowledge around Ravenden. Some people were just as mortified as me about her power, but others seemed to be in awe of what she could do and how she"d saved Guffy. I wasn"t ready to really consider that side of it.

Before last week, Gracie had been just a vague memory of someone I went to school with. She hadn"t really been anything to me back then, and even though I"d seen her around town since graduation, I had never really noticed. So why was she suddenly everywhere I looked now?

Mate, my raven whined. I"d lost count of how many times that had happened today.

He"d been content while she was with us, but the second I"d walked out of my office it had started up again.

Unable to bear it, I retreated to Mom and Dad"s house, the one place I knew I wouldn"t be haunted by memories of her.

"Hey sweetie, what are you doing here? Twice in one week. Should I be concerned?"

"I"m fine," I snapped.

"I can see that. Is this about Gracie?"

I sighed. "I can"t get away from her. It"s like she"s everywhere now."

"She was probably always there. You"re just more aware of her now. And I imagine your bird must be driving you crazy. Have you spoken to her yet?"

"Why do I get the feeling you already know I spent most of the day with her?"

She grinned and shrugged. "I might have heard a peep about that."

I groaned. My mother had eyes all over town. Very few things got past her.

"We were working, Mom."

"Work? Is that what we were calling it these days?"

"Actual work. Clarence asked me to help out with a case and assigned Gracie to me. It"s why we"ve been spending so much time together."

She nodded. "Yes. Late nights, or is it overnights? Lots and lots of work."

"Mom! You weren"t even here."

"True, but Felicity mentioned it to her mother or told your Aunt Ginny who then told me. I was kept apprised of your little tryst the entire time I was away."

"My little tryst? That"s not what it was, and we really were working."

"All night long, for three nights straight?"

I groaned. "Stop trying to interfere with my personal life."

"No interference, dear."

I gave her an even more skeptical look. "Why? You had no issues intervening with Gia and especially with Elias. Why are you being okay with this?"

She shrugged. "Guess you could say I have a soft spot for orphans. That poor girl has been through so much. I know she lost her parents in a car accident. The whole thing went up in flames and Gracie walked away unscathed."

"What?"

"Probably how she learned about that wonderful gift of hers, but she wasn"t able to save her parents. I like to think that"s why she goes above and beyond to save others now."

I had never even considered that. I knew Gracie had lost her parents, but I"d never heard the story about how. My heart ached to go to her and pull her into my arms and let her know that everything was going to be okay. I wanted to promise her the world, yet I still held back.

"Maybe just something to consider," Mom said as she started to walk away. "Oh, your dad and I have dinner plans, so if you"re sticking around, you"re on your own. Or maybe you could just stop being a chicken and go clear things up with your mate."

My jaw dropped, but she flitted out of the room before I could come up with a response.

When my phone rang it made me jump.

"Ryan Davenport," I answered as if on autopilot.

"Hey Ryan, it"s Vance. Just got a call in I thought you"d want to know about. There"s a wildfire in the forest south of town. All units and volunteers have been alerted."

"How big?"

"I don"t know yet."

"Has anyone done a flyover yet?"

"Don"t know. I"m heading there now."

"You"re not already there?" I asked, and then I wanted to smack myself because I could hear Gracie"s voice in my head and see his name written at the top of our list.

"Nope. Will be in ten though."

"Where were you?"

"Calm down, man. You sound like this is an interrogation. I don"t know any more than I already told you. And I was on a date. You can confirm it with your sister even."

"I didn"t mean it like that, Vance," I said guiltily. He was my friend, and I should have defended him better. Of course he wasn"t an arsonist. But this little voice in the back of my head whispered reminders of why he"d made the list in the first place. At least this time he had an alibi.

"I"m just messing with you. I"ll call in with an update when I"m onsite."

"Thanks, man. I may head over there myself."

My first instinct was to call Gracie and tell her to stay home. That wasn"t fair though. As much as I wanted to protect her, this was her job. And I knew she loved her job. It wasn"t something I wanted to come between, but damn, my need to keep her safe was nearly unbearable.

I knew I had to be there. No matter what happened, I couldn"t just sit by and wait for news to come.

Without saying goodbye to anyone, I left the house and raced to my car. I was halfway through town, speeding beyond what was sane, before I even knew what I was doing.

I supposed I was just lucky I had managed to stay in my skin. My raven was going crazy and making me anxious thinking of all the things that could go wrong and how many dangers Gracie could face.

I didn"t want to care, but I did. There was no way to deny that. It wasn"t that I didn"t love her, I just didn"t know how to get past everything that happened.

As I got closer, I was forced to slow down. I could see the plume of dark smoke billowing above the tree line.

"Come on!" I screamed, laying on the horn.

It earned me the finger. Normally I found it ridiculously funny when a bird shifter gave the bird, but right now it was just pissing me off.

I honked again when traffic came to a complete stop.

Completely frustrated, I pulled over to the side of the road out of the flow of traffic, parked, and got out.

"Oh, hey Mayor. I didn"t realize it was you," Ken Thornton said. "Sorry about the finger."

"It"s okay. We"re all anxious right now."

I didn"t stop as I started out on foot toward the rendezvous scene.

"Hey, Mayor. What"s happening?" someone else stopped me and asked.

"I don"t know. Stay in your car. I"ll see what the holdup is and what we can do about it."

A few cars further up the road someone else stopped me.

"Ryan, is everything okay? The sky"s turning orange."

"It"s a fire, according to the emergency radio. I"m trying to get us some answers, but I"m also just as stuck in this traffic as everyone else."

When I looked up, she was right. The sky did have an orange hue to it now. I knew this was a bad one.

Gracie! I thought with a desperate need to get to her.

Mate!my raven added in my head, sending my anxiety up another notch.

I took off running, ignoring all the shouts and questions as I passed car after car.

My town wasn"t this big. Where the hell did all these cars come from?

I knew that was a ridiculous thought, but it felt like all of Ravenden was out here stuck on this road right now when they should be at home.

The faster I ran, the more my raven tried to sprout my wings and fly.

I could hear a motorcycle approaching behind me, so I slowed and got out of the way. It stopped beside me.

"Heard you were running like a fool towards the fire," Elias said with a smirk. "Hop on. Short of flying I"ll get you there the fastest."

I didn"t hesitate. I didn"t even put on a helmet. I desperately needed to know my mate was safe even though I kept telling myself we didn"t want or need the stress of being with someone like her. But I couldn"t help the feeling of needing to protect her.

My brother was true to his word and got us to the base station quickly. A combination of police, firefighters, EMTs, and volunteers were everywhere. I found Clarence in the midst of it all.

"Is it him?" I asked.

"I don"t know. We've been too busy trying to tackle this fire to even start looking for evidence."

"But what does your gut say?"

"Ryan, this is the worst fire we"ve seen in Ravenden in decades. It could take weeks until we know anything. I"ll keep you in the loop, but you don"t need to be here right now. We"re evacuating all homes and businesses south of Main Street and east of the river as a precaution, but the road through town is so backed up that it"s taking time to even get the word out."

"I can help with that," I told him. It would be good to have something to do right now.

I looked around and noticed Vance was there. He was just standing all alone in the middle of the chaos staring out into the fire. We were still a ways away from it, but close enough to feel the heat. If the wind changed directions, it would be nearly unbearable to remain here.

"What do you need?" I asked him.

"Get these people back and help those in the danger zone relocate and settle."

"Okay. But first I have to know Gracie"s okay."

He stared at me for a moment but didn"t question it.

"Gracie, check in," he called over the radio.

"It"s hot in here, but we"re all alive and well," she replied.

Just hearing her voice calmed me just a little.

Clarence was watching me closely.

"Thanks," I mouthed.

He nodded, and I forced myself to walk away. But when I turned to leave, I noticed Vance still just standing there.

"Hey Vance," I said as I approached him.

He didn"t even seem to hear me.

"Vance?"

A little startled and shaken, he looked at me.

"Ryan? What are you doing here?"

"You called me, remember?"

"Well yeah, but I didn"t think you"d come running to the scene."

"Just here to find out how I can help," I lied.

"Yeah, I think we all are. It"s just unbelievable . . . and so beautiful . . . in a terrifying way."

His words gave me chills. I was still struggling to believe he could be the arsonist, but I understood why Gracie had put him on the list. He wasn"t acting like himself.

Though I supposed he wasn"t the only one standing around watching the chaos in shock. A group of men stood just behind the caution tape one of the officers had set up after my arrival.

Herb, Carson, and Tony were set up in camp chairs with a cooler of beer, taking it all in.

"Guys, really?"

"Don"t be a party pooper, Ry. This is the most excitement Ravenden has seen in a long time," Carson said with a laugh.

"Maybe ever," Herb added.

"Cheers to that," Tony said, raising his beer for them all to toast to the fire.

I shook my head and went to check on Vance instead.

"Are you okay, Vance?"

"Yeah. Fine. What did Clarence say needs to be done?"

Just like that, he had transitioned back into my friend.

"Evacuating south of Main. I know some of your men are helping with traffic, but if you have any that can assist with going door to door and checking on the south side before the fire reaches it, that would be great. Oh, and we probably need to keep an eye on these assholes."

He looked over to see the trio I"d just been talking with.

"I guess some of us never really grow up, huh? They always were a bunch of worthless assholes. How many times did Carson push me to the point of having to kick his ass?"

Vance was laughing, but it felt to me like a little piece of the puzzle clicked into place. Old Lady Pierce was Carson"s grandmother. We hadn"t been able to find a connection to that location between her house and Vance, but maybe it wasn"t her house that was the connection, but his hatred of Carson. The two of them had never gotten along, but never so much that it was alarming.

We"d all run in the same group growing up, and while they weren"t the best of friends, they"d at least gotten along well enough—or so I"d thought.

I pushed that thought to the back of my mind to consider later. Right now, I was headed into full operational mode. I needed as clear a head as possible. There was a crisis in my town and, as long as my mate was fine, the best thing I could do was stay busy and help my people.

With a final look around, I transformed into the mayor Ravenden deserved.

"I"ll get a crew on it."

"Great. I"ll get some of the volunteers to start turning people around."

Elias hadn"t been the only one to arrive on a motorcycle. Those that came and weren"t already allocated to the fire by Clarence were sent to the back of the line to start turning people around.

"Take my bike and I"ll fly back home. As long as the fire doesn"t spread north, we should be fine to stay there, according to Clarence," my brother said.

"The Diner is just barely in the evacuation zone boundaries. Can you stop there and let your mate and our stubborn family know to close up and get the hell out of there?"

"I"m on it, Mr. Mayor."

For once, I didn"t think my brother was being an asshole for saying that. Typically, he would call me that in a derogatory way. This felt different.

Before I left the area to check on things around town, I stopped by to check in with Clarence.

"Vance sent a crew to start going house to house while we still can. And I have a team of volunteers assisting with traffic. What other immediate needs do you have?"

He stared at me in surprise for a moment. "We"re good."

I nodded when my phone rang. "Great. Let me know if anything else comes up. I"m going to make my rounds and ensure everything"s running smoothly."

"Isn"t that usually someone else"s job, Ryan?"

I shook my head. "Not on my watch."

Glancing at my phone and seeing it was my dad, I pointed to it and walked away to take the call.

"Ryan Davenport."

"I assume you know about the fire already," Dad said.

"Yes sir. I"m onsite and about to leave to check on our volunteers and the evacuation status."

"We"re evacuating?"

"Everything south of Main and as far as the river at this point, so you and Mom should be okay. I"ll let you know if that changes."

"How"s Gracie?"

"Doing her thing," I said, trying not to let the panic show in my voice.

"And how are you doing?"

How was I?

I considered that for a moment. I was a wreck. Worst case scenarios started to come to mind.

"Fine as long as I keep busy," I lied, or maybe it wasn"t entirely a lie because I really hoped it was true.

"If you need anything, please let me know. Would you like me to update the Congress Council?"

"That would be great, Dad. No need to call Clarence, but the others should certainly be kept apprised of what"s going on."

"Sounds like a good job for me. I"d head over to assist, but you know how your mother worries, and I suppose we may need to put Ginny and Atticus up for the night as well."

Hanging up with him, I took a deep breath, then pushed down the fears threatening to surface. I was Ryan Davenport, Mayor of Ravenden. It was time to go to work.