Chapter 23

Ryan

I just stood there and watched her go. She didn"t even give me time to debate this with her, and I loved a good debate.

Maybe she wasn"t as reckless and unthinking as I originally thought, but she was the most headstrong, independent, pain in my ass I"d ever met and I loved her all the more for it.

The thing was, I was proud of what she had done, but of course I didn't tell her that. Fear of losing her had me all out of sorts, trying to protect her instead. I knew I was going about it all wrong. I just couldn"t seem to help myself.

With a sigh, I left the room and walked back out.

People were staring at me and not in a way I was used to. I"d made a spectacle of myself. I'd probably tarnished my good name in some way and I didn"t give a shit.

I truly didn"t care what they thought. My personal business was between me and Gracie and no one else. I gave everything of myself to this town, but that had to stop.

Seeing Gracie so weak and injured had terrified me more than watching her burn. I was a little more prepared to see it this time. And honestly, it was way easier to watch while she was in her raven form. She didn"t scream or even look afraid. I knew she wasn"t in any pain. She"d looked almost peaceful and it had fully restored her health. It was like watching a miracle.

And if I"d just left her be, to handle things herself, she probably would have done it back at base and gotten right back to work.

I groaned, held my head high, and walked right through that gym, daring anyone to say a word to me. Trying hard not to look left or right and definitely not make eye contact. Dean caught my attention and gave two thumbs up with a big cheesy grin.

Asshole.

Whatever fall out came from my outburst in front of half my constituents would have to wait. I was still the mayor, and my town was still in danger.

Outside, I mounted Elias"s bike, only this time I did take a second to pull out a helmet and secure it to my head first. I wasn"t invincible, and today I"d probably been far more reckless than my mate.

I almost laughed at the idea.

Pretty sure no one had ever thought of me as reckless before.

"Mayor?" a woman called out from behind me.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I had never really left myself be available to dating. Seeing me with another woman was bound to stir up a bit of interest. It had showed them that I could be emotionally available and now I was going to be sought after by every unmated female in the area. Couldn"t they just respect my mating bond?

Plastering a smile on my face, I turned towards her. I didn"t know the girl, but I knew she was a Grimes and she wasn"t alone. Five of her cousins were there too.

Great. They were coming at me in droves. I just hoped there wasn"t going to be an incident or riot or anything. And I didn"t relish the idea of putting them back in their place. I was a mating male. I could own that now. But just because I hadn"t sealed my bond with Gracie already didn"t mean I was available to anyone else. They"d have to learn and respect that.

"What can I do for you?" I asked in my sweet comforting voice reserved for election times mostly.

"We heard about you and Gracie."

And there it was. I'd laugh if this wasn"t so predictably pathetic.

"And . . ." I snapped this time, not even bothering to try to hide my annoyance.

She looked at the cousin closest to her who stepped up and took over with a defiance I wasn"t expecting.

"She"s a true hero, sir. The way she saved Rodney like that. She went out of her way to help him and she used her powers for good. We want to be like Gracie."

Pretty sure my mouth dropped open.

Gracie?

They weren"t coming after me? They weren"t interested in me? This was all about Gracie?

My ego instantly deflated, but I certainly wasn"t disappointed by it. My mate had been brave. I was suddenly seeing her in a new light, as a true role model, one that didn"t speak the pretty words and assure people the way I did, but one of action, who lived her life to protect those she cared about.

I"d been thinking about this all wrong.

"We"re Grimes, Ryan."

"I know that. You"re cousins to my sister."

They all relaxed and smiled. There was a societal ladder amongst raven shifters. It was stupid and archaic in my opinion, but many held on to the old ways. It was a sticky situation to navigate, but I"d like to think I was making progress. Both the Grimes and Pierce families who sat on the lowest rung of that ladder now had representation on the Congress Council for the first time in our history.

I"d helped make that happen.

Whereas they were at the bottom, the Davenports occupied the highest rung. My name had clout, but I"d always tried not to use that to my advantage. And I certainly didn"t make my decisions for Ravenden based on any of that nonsense.

The woman cleared her throat. "We"d like to help fight this wildfire."

"What? No, it"s dangerous. You"re safer here."

She looked back to her cousins and they all lifted their chins in stubborn defiance. Exactly the same way Gracie did when she didn"t like something I said.

I knew then I was screwed.

The whole Flock of them were going to do what they wanted and there wasn"t going to be a damned thing I could do to stop them.

I sighed. "How do you plan to help?"

"We"re water witches," one of them reminded me. "We"re strong, Ryan. Together we might not be able to put out the fire, and you"re right, we aren"t firefighters, but we can work the edges of the fire to help with containment and free up some of the actual firefighters to work other areas."

I was ready to protest and remind them that it wasn"t safe to be that close to the fire, but when I opened my mouth to speak my heart swelled with pride.

"That"s genius and really brave of you ladies. Why don"t you follow me down to base camp and we can discuss it with Clarence."

At first they just looked at me.

I wouldn"t admit it, but I was just as stunned by my words as anyone.

We had powers. These were gifts that could truly help make a difference, just like Gracie had for Rodney, and before with Guffy.

I wasn"t a man who focused much on myself. I would sacrifice anything to protect my town. Why would I expect my mate to do anything less? Be anyone less?

She was inspiring others into action, and I couldn"t be prouder of her.

"Do you think there are others from the Grimes Flock who would be willing to help?"

"Yes," the first one said. "There are a lot of us desperate to help in any way. We just thought you"d think it was silly of us to think we could make a difference."

I dismounted the bike trying not to think about how shallow I"d been thinking they were coming over to flirt with me. That thought was ridiculous. But this wasn"t silly at all.

"No. This isn"t silly, it"s an incredible offer and may make all the difference in the world. I"m going to make an announcement and see if anyone else would like to help. If we pull our stronger powers together, we just might be able to control this fire." I pointed to the first two who had spoken. "I"m going to need the two of you to step up and help lead this campaign. Can you do that?"

"Us, sir? Surely you have more capable people for that sort of thing. We"re Grimes."

I scowled. "I hate hearing you say that. In my experience the Grimes Flock is among the best of all of us. And if you can think up this plan, then you are fully capable of managing it. I know you can and am counting on it."

They both stood a little taller and nodded.

"Yes, sir. We can do it."

"Come with me."

I walked back into the gym and whistled to catch everyone"s attention. The room immediately quieted.

"It"s easy to be stuck here feeling helpless while wanting to do anything you can to help. My own sister fought me on this just earlier today when I tried to shut down her beloved diner because it sat on the evacuation line. She said she had enough common sense to move on when true danger knocked, but in the meantime, there were people who were going to need food, and she refused to leave in order to help provide that."

As if it had been planned and executed right on cue, David opened the door juggling a stack of to-go containers as Kim and Gia walked in behind him.

I chuckled and pointed them out to make my point.

"The truth is, they just wanted to help. And maybe there are others of you amongst us who feel that way too. Maybe you aren"t part of the volunteer crews and therefore just don"t know how to help. My sister found her own way and so have several of our ladies from the Grimes Flock who have courageously stepped up to help us battle this fire."

I held out my hand and turned to acknowledge the six water witches who had approached me.

"We are ravens. We are highly intelligent and good with puzzles. There is a raging fire at our doorstep threatening our homes and our lives. We have to figure out how to put this thing out and fast. Six ravens. Six powerful water witches can use their gifts to make a true difference. If anyone amongst us would like to join their effort, please come forward as we help our first responders and volunteers in their courageous efforts to save our town."

A thunderous applause went up around the room as dozens of people came forward wanting to help. This included nearly the entire Grimes Flock, two of which could manipulate the weather and make it rain down on the fire. We had Earth wielders who could erect new berms and scatter dirt to help smother the flames. People were getting creative and even merging powers amongst themselves ready to tackle this beast. Some of the Pierces even volunteered, who advised they could use their wind powers to direct the water where we needed it most.

I had an unsettling feeling when speaking with the Pierces, but I couldn"t quite put my finger on why. Pushing that thought to the back of my mind, I proudly led them out and helped assist with organizing the efforts until a few people stepped up to take over.

We had a plan, and it was a good one.

I made a call over to Clarence to give him a heads up.

"Clarence, how are things heating up down there?" I asked, trying to make a pun that fell flat the second it left my tongue.

Still he chuckled. "The second Gracie returned without you, I knew I"d be hearing from you soon."

"Gracie"s back to work then?"

"She is."

"Good."

"Good? I thought you"d be freaking out. Did I misread things? You were very much acting like a mating male. I thought the two of you . . ."

"Oh, I am," I confessed. "But she"s amongst our best and we have a fire to put out. Speaking of which . . ." I dove in to quickly explaining our new reinforcements plan.

"They"re amateurs, Ryan. They may think they"re helping while being counterproductive."

"Which is why they will only be focusing on containment efforts working safely from the perimeter."

I went into details on the plan we"d erected.

"This just might work," he finally conceded. "And I could pull some of my men back to help aid from within."

We quickly got to work getting people into place.

It warmed my heart to think of so many people banding together in a common effort like this. It seemed everyone had something valuable to offer. There was even a group of young teens whose feathers hadn"t even come in yet helping by forming a line and grabbing a stack of buckets to help wet down certain areas.

I stood back and smiled as two hours later Clarence called me to say the fire was under control, still raging, but unmoving.

When night fell, reinforcements seemed to come out of nowhere, allowing others time to rest and regain their strengths.

I had never seen people sustain their powers for this long, but they did it as we continued to fight the fire.

With a unified effort and various gifts across multiple Flocks, a team had managed to gather enough elements and resources to force it to rain through the night.

By morning the fire had died down to nothing more than smoke and smoldering embers. We"d done it.

I took a step back from the spotlight and let Julia Grimes, who I had learned was the name of the woman who"d first approached me, and Clarence make the announcements as the entire town gathered around.

"The fire is out!" she exclaimed to the crowd who erupted in cheers.

Clarence stepped in to thank everyone on their efforts and warn that we weren't entirely out of the woodworks just yet, but that his team could manage things from here to ensure we did not spark a secondary fire.

Some of the credit was given to me, but I immediately turned it back to Julia and her brave cousins.

As Clarence continued with some announcements, I saw Gracie walk out of the ashes laughing and shoving with Guffy and Rodney. By all accounts neither of them should have been alive, yet they were—because of her.

My heart swelled with pride for the woman I loved, her found family, and all the people of Ravenden. Together we had overcome a terrible situation. We"d lost a few homes in the process, but no lives. It all could have been so much worse if it wasn"t for my one brave mate.

Grinning proudly, I nodded her way.

It took a lot of effort not to run to her, check every inch of her body and kiss her until I was convinced she was okay. But I"d made enough of a spectacle already and now was not the time or the place. Plus, I knew I was going to have a lot of groveling to do when I finally got her alone.