Chapter 24

Gracie

Ryan was there when we walked out of the woods. Hell, everyone was there clapping and cheering us on as we were the last team to arrive. But he was all I saw.

I froze and the guys all stopped and sort of gathered around me like they were protecting me or something.

No one could protect me from Ryan, not even myself it would seem, because when he smiled at me, my traitorous heart wanted to run to him.

I didn"t, obviously. I was still on the job and we had things to do.

Maybe I should have gone to him, the others may have teased me a little about it, but no one would have begrudged me it. We hadn"t exactly spoken of what had happened, but I knew they all suspected.

It had been a long couple of days, and all I wanted to do was go back to the station, shower, then crawl into my bunk and sleep for a week.

I scuffed the ground with my shoe over the yellow tape loosely holding on as a ridiculous barrier between the public and what was the start of the fire line.

My breath caught as I leaned down and picked up a wooden match lying next to a single black feather.

It was him.

I picked them up to examine them.

Across the crowd my eyes locked with Ryan"s as I held them up. His widened in surprise. It was all the proof either of us needed to attribute this forest fire with our arsonist.

"You coming or staying?" Andrew asked me.

"I"m coming," I told him.

Why did it hurt me so much to turn and walk away from Ryan? I knew he was waiting for me, but he didn"t make a move to approach or try to pull me away. We needed to talk and not just about us, but about this case too.

I expected him to come racing over and begin puzzling out the events with me. Instead, he just stood there like he was torn between something bothering him and watching me with a silly grin on his face. As we drove away, he even waved.

What was going on with him?

We hadn"t truly known each other for all that long, but I knew this was uncharacteristic behavior for him.

"So what"s really going on with you and Davenport?" Andrew was the first to ask.

I groaned and turned to face him along with four other curious faces. Only Big Dick didn"t look my way since he was driving.

"Leave her be," he warned, as he turned on the siren, urging people out of our way.

I couldn"t even believe how many people were standing around. We"d been told there were extra volunteers coming in, but this looked to be half the town, and they were all clapping and cheering as we drove away.

"Have you ever seen anything like this before?" I asked.

"Nope. And if it weren"t for that rainstorm this morning we probably wouldn"t be getting quite the same reception. We got lucky," Dan reminded us.

"It"s a bad one," Rodney agreed. "I"d be dead if not for you, Gracie."

"Nothing any of you wouldn"t do for me."

"Speaking of Gracie, what the hell is going on with you and Ryan Davenport?" Andrew asked again.

I swear that man had a single-tracked mind.

My initial reaction was to say, "Nothing." But that was a lie, and they all knew it.

"He"s my true mate," I confessed instead.

These guys were my people. If I couldn't share this with them, then who could I? Was I truly that completely alone in the world now? It didn"t feel that way.

"When?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"When did you find out? How?"

"The night I pulled Guffy from the house fire. He was freaked out seeing me burn for the first time and had shifted to fly away just as my raven was reborn."

"That was when it happened?" Guffy asked.

"Yup."

"But you"d seemed off for a few days before that even."

"They were working together," Rodney reminded everyone. "Guaranteed they were already hooking up."

I punched him and scowled.

"Well, am I right?"

"That"s none of your goddamn business."

Dan snorted. "Yup, you"re right. Wow, you and Davenport? I don"t see it."

Andrew burst out laughing. The full belly kind that shook the bench we were sharing.

I glared at him, wishing my real gift was the ability to shoot daggers from my eyes.

"You"re like night and day. You"ll kill each other."

"What do you mean?" Big Dick asked, sounding concerned.

"We all know what a slob Gracie is," Andrew started.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Oh, it"s true. Found your panties in the bathroom again just the other day," Guffy confessed.

"And you"re always hanging your bras up in there," Dan agreed.

"Just be thankful you don"t have to wear one. That"s not being a slob. You aren"t supposed to put them in the dryer," I tried to explain. "Would you rather I hang them up in the bunkroom?"

"No!" they all said.

"Take them home and wash them," Rodney suggested.

"But I spend more time at the station."

"Not for long," Andrew said. "Soon the bras will be a Ryan problem. Are you even aware of how much it will drive him insane? Ryan likes everything neat and tidy."

"Then as long as I hang my bras in their designated place then he"ll be fine."

I didn"t even realize what I"d said until it was out of my mouth. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. They were goading me into confessing that I actually did want a life with Mr. Mayor, Ryan Davenport.

Assholes.

I wasn"t even fully ready to admit that to myself.

"Ryan is the most picky and particular man I know."

"And you know him so well, right Andrew?" I said sarcastically.

"Well yeah. Our siblings are mated, that sort of bonds people together in odd ways. I"m closer with Dean and David, but Ryan and I are cool. He"s just always so busy and distracted. I can"t see you settling for that. That"s all."

I didn"t really get the whole "our siblings are mated so we"re friends" connection, but Andrew seemed to believe the bullshit he was spouting.

Plus, he was wrong. When Ryan was with me, he was one hundred percent with me. Sure, he had responsibilities, but so did I. If he could grow to respect my job, then I could deal with him.

"She"s going to become a trophy mate and be paraded around on his arm," Guffy teased.

"That would be the funniest shit ever," Dan howled.

"What? You don"t think I can handle that? I"m pretty enough. I could rock the shit out of being a trophy wife. He should be so lucky."

We all knew that was bullshit, but the hell if I was going to let them think they were getting under my skin.

"You"d be some sexy arm candy for sure."

"Thanks Big Dick. At least someone has a little confidence in me."

"I didn"t mean it like that," Andrew protested. "I just know how dedicated you are here and how dedicated he is to his job. For both of you, it"s your entire lives, so where do you fit in together?"

"It"s called evolving and growing," Dan said. "Something Andrew clearly knows nothing about."

We all cracked up laughing.

"Nah, don't get me wrong. I like Ryan. He"s like a brother, we"re family."

"Family?" Guffy asked.

"That"s taking it a bit far, don"t you think?" Rodney joined in.

"Have you even met Ryan? I mean really. Elias sure, but the rest of the Davenports?" Dan teased.

"They have family game night every week," Big Dick surprised us by saying. "Ryan doesn"t always make it, but most of the time. Right, Andrew?"

"Exactly. It"s always been Dad"s thing, but turns out he grew up with their mom and she"s just as crazy competitive as Dad. So his parents and Dad banded together to declare family game night. We all get together, order pizza, and play board games once a week—including Mr. Mayor."

I didn"t know that. He hadn"t been to a game night since we met, at least not that I was aware of, and last week we"d been pretty inseparable.

I flushed at the memories of all the times and ways we"d made love. I missed the sex. No, I missed Ryan. I craved my mate in what was probably an unhealthy way sure to get my heart trampled on once more. Because Andrew was right. We didn"t make sense.

The adrenaline of the fire was waning as we pulled into the station and got out to tend to the truck and our gear.

After I"d left Ryan at the high school and stubbornly flown away while my raven demanded we go back to him, I"d come to the station for fresh clothes and another suit. It had been empty and lonely at the time, but now it was brimming with excitement and silly antics as we teased and played as much as we worked.

When the job was done, I was the first to rush to the bathroom. I desperately needed a shower. But I"d thought about Ryan being naked and the images were still playing out in my mind.

The smart thing would have been to go home. We shared a communal bathroom, and while the shower stalls were individuals, it wasn"t the type of place I was going to touch myself and give some relief to the physical sensations even thinking about Ryan seemed to cause. That would have to be reserved for later.

As I was stepping out, the alarm went off.

I groaned. I was past the point of exhaustion and ready for some downtime. Plus, I knew I needed to really talk with Ryan once and for all.

But all that would have to wait.

I dressed quickly and ran to the bay.

"Seven fires," Clarence was saying. "We"re not staffed to fight so many at once."

A dispatcher was on the radio. "Make that ten. Three more were just reported. They"re all over town, sir."

"We"re going to have to divide and conquer quickly. These are small but we don't want to risk any getting out of control."

We were issued assignments. All units were brought back in as well as some of the volunteers. Andrew and I were paired together this time.

We took his truck with as many supplies as possible because we didn"t have enough fire trucks to support ten different locations. Our fire was back at the cliffs, the one that had started me to begin thinking we were having a serial problem. It felt a bit like déjà vu driving up to it.

"What the hell is going on around here?" Andrew asked.

But I was too shook up as I stood there staring down at what I had to believe was now his calling card. A black feather lay on the ground with the match right on top of it this time.

"It"s our arsonist. I think he"s actually trying to burn Ravenden down. The forest fire didn"t do it, so he"s upping his game."

While Andrew used his own water powers to douse the small fire, I grabbed my phone and called Ryan.

"Ryan Davenport."

"Ryan, it"s Gracie."

"Hey. Are you okay? I heard there"s another fire. When you"re done with it, we really should talk."

"It"s not a fire, Ryan. There are at least ten of them. It"s him."

"Where are you?"

"The cliffs again."

"Tell him that all the original sites have been hit, plus a few extras."

"When did you get the calls?"

"About ten minutes ago."

"Babe, I"m here with Vance. He"s been debriefing me. Give us a few minutes and I"ll catch up with you so we can reassess."

I knew exactly what he was saying. If the fires just started coming in then Vance Thornton could not be the arsonist. There was no way he could run around town setting multiple fires when he was standing right there with Ryan.

"Okay," I said in a strained voice.

The second I hung up I ran to search for any sort of detonation device. It was the only thing that would make sense as I was certain it was Vance.

"What are you looking for?" Andrew asked.

"Any sort of incendiary device."

"There"s nothing. There"s no fuel, literally nothing. It doesn"t even make sense. Just a match against some dry land. And why is the land dry?"

"Witches caused the storm this morning. How did you not realize that?"

"Sorry, but I was a little preoccupied battling the fire."

"My biggest suspect is a bust now. Has a solid alibi for today."

"And you"re certain this is the work of our arsonist and not just a bunch of residual fires from sparks from the wildfire?"

"I suppose that could be plausible, but no. This is definitely his handiwork." I pointed to the ground. "He"s left behind a wooden match and a single feather at every fire."

My phone rang again and I answered it without even checking caller id. I assumed it was Ryan confirming he was on his way.

"Ms. Montgomery, I"m calling from Warwick Title and Insurance Company regarding your inquiry into the beneficiary of the Pierce estate in Ravenden. We"ve received all your paperwork and everything looks in order. I can now confirm that the insurance claim will be paid to a Carson Pierce. Says here he"s the late owner"s grandson and executor of the estate in question."

A man walked out of the shadows and into the clearing.

Carson.

He gave me a crooked smirk as he put a cigarette in his mouth and then lit it with a wooden match. He tossed the match into a patch of high dry grass, took a deep pull on of his cigarette and blew it out as he watched the fire.

A gust of breath far stronger than it should be was aimed directly for the flame while instantly ignited from the breeze.

"The catalyst is wind. Not fuel, but wind. It"s why we never found any residue or fuel source. It was wind."

But why was he suddenly exposing himself to us. The odds had shifted and I wasn"t sure what game he was playing at now but I had a very bad feeling about it.