Wild Fire (Wilding Pack Wolves 5) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (4 page)

Troy shuffled around to block their view and give her some privacy. And also so he could duck his head to speak quietly to her. “I’m going to check you out, all right?” It was his standard protocol for human victims.

She frowned a little, then gave a nod. He dropped his hand to her wrist to take her pulse, even though he knew she was fine at this point, then kept his eyes locked with hers—partially so she would know that he was on her side, and partially to keep from gawking at her nakedness.

“Can you tell me your name?” he said loud enough for his crew to hear, even though they had stepped back and turned their backs on them. It was another standard question.

“Zoe Wilding.” She gave a small cough. By the sound of it, even her lungs were clearing out ridiculously fast. Her pulse was hammering pretty damn fast, but his own was clicking up another notch, too—this was
the
Zoe Wilding, one of the Wilding pack that had been called out by the Wolf Hunter in his hate-filled videos. She was pretty much a child-genius as far as he could tell. He’d read up on the Wildings since their names had been splashed all over the internet. He told himself it was natural to be curious, given the proximity of his station to the lab, but the truth was that he was just a little obsessed with the Wildings and the River pack and all their exploits.

“Hello, Zoe,” he said loud enough for the others to hear. “My name’s Troy. You’re obviously a shifter, and your shifter healing is doing a great job with your injuries.” He peered over his shoulder at his crew, then looked back to her. “I’m also a shifter and a healer. Can you tell me if there’s any residual damage or pain?” He was trying to let her know that he would cover for her abnormally rapid healing. His human crew shouldn’t know the difference between regular shifter healing and whatever the hell he saw happen all over her body.

She scrutinized his face, and he hoped that she was reading between the lines. “I think I may have twisted my ankle,” she said, carefully, “but I don’t think it’s too bad.”

“Good.” Then he realized that with half of her hair burned away, she was going to have a hard time explaining why the rest of her was untouched. He reached out to the side that had been burned short. “I’m sorry I had to cut away some of your hair, ma’am. But you were caught on that equipment, and I needed to get you out of there before you were burned.”

Her eyes went a little wide, taking in his bald-faced lie. “It’ll grow back.”

He couldn’t help smiling at that. “I have no doubt about that.” Could she grow back even her hair? What kind of magical creature
was
Zoe Wilding? Of course, she was a shifter. But with the blue energy shield and superhealing… something more magical than met the eye was going on with her.

Not that what met the eye was bad in any way whatsoever. He kept having to fight against his wolf’s desire to take her into his arms—which was completely ridiculous, not only because his crew would wonder what the hell he was doing.
He had just met the girl
—and not in the best of circumstances.

A pounding of boots up the stairs heralded the arrival of the blanket—
Thank God.

“No clothes in the truck,” Julio said, handing him the blanket.

Troy draped it over her, and she pulled it around the sides and back. “Are you sure you’re not experiencing any pain?” he asked her, this time for real. He was concerned that maybe he had missed something in all the craziness.

“No, I’m fine.” She gathered the blanket tighter around her and made a movement to stand up. He held her elbow as she got to her feet, amazed at how steady she was, given her leg had been completely broken less than a minute before.

She coughed on the smoke.

He frowned. “If you’re good to move, I’d like to get you out into the fresh air before I give you a more thorough check-over.” By which he meant,
I need to talk to you before this is all over.
He wasn’t sure if she got the message, but she nodded and gestured for him to lead the way. Instead, he looped his arm around her shoulders, holding the blanket closed in back so that it covered her, and ushered her toward the stairs.

He bent his head closer to hers and said softly, “Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to carry you? Might look a little more convincing.”

She frowned at him but shook her head. “I can make it.”

“Suit yourself.” He guided her down the four flights of stairs, and when they reached the bottom, flames were licking the night, painting everything with a demonic orange glow. 
 T
wo men were waiting for them, looking out of place next to the fire trucks and personnel working hard at putting out the fire.
One of the men was dressed in professional clothes—slacks and a polo shirt—while the other had some kind of military clothing. By the dark hair, blue eyes, and family resemblance, Troy judged them both to be part of the Wilding family.

The older one rushed forward and embraced Zoe. “Oh my God, I thought I’d lost you.” He held on tight to her.

“I’m fine, Dad, I promise.” She pulled back and glanced at Troy over her shoulder—he was still close, holding the end of the blanket to keep it closed. “This is Troy. He saved me. He’s a shifter, too.”

Her father held a hand out to Troy, and he had to lean forward to shake it.

“I can’t thank you enough,” the older man said. He had to be Billy Wilding. “If there’s anything I can ever do for you, please don’t hesitate to ask.” Then he looked back to Zoe and seemed to suddenly realize that half of her hair was missing. And that she was naked. “You… you shifted, Zo.” His voice was filled with wonder.

Zoe gave him a look. “Dad,
please.”

What?
So… somehow her father didn’t know she could even shift? Much less… all the rest? Troy kept his lips buttoned tight.

Billy Wilding coughed, glanced around, then focused on his daughter again, running a gentle hand along her charred off hair. “Is this going to be the new hairstyle in the lab?” he asked with a pained smile.

Zoe rolled her eyes. “I’ll try not to embarrass you.”

Her father just shook his head.

Zoe looked over her father’s shoulder at the man in the military clothes and frowned. “Daniel, what are you doing here?”

He stepped forward, concern etched all over his face. “I was meeting with your father,” he said, exasperated. “We were talking about…” He looked up at the building that was still on fire, not even close to contained, then back to Zoe with even more concern. “We were talking about the threat the Wolf Hunter poses to your lab,” he said with a growl in his voice. “I guess we’re a little late on that.” He looked angry, but Troy didn’t think it was directed at Zoe or even her father. He’d read enough about Daniel Wilding in the press to know that he was a leader in this fight to protect his family and find the madman who had been hunting shifters. It was a fight that Troy had been itching to get involved in, but hadn’t yet found a way to.

Maybe
this
was his way in.

“I have some clothes for Ms. Wilding in the truck,” Troy said, gesturing to the small ambulance that he drove over from the station. He didn’t know what his crewmate’s problem was—there were definitely clothes in the truck. Troy stocked his supplies meticulously. The asshole probably just didn’t want her dressed quite yet. Which only made Troy’s inner beast seethe with anger. “If you step this way, ma’am, I can get you checked out, dressed, and then you can rejoin your family.”

Zoe was staring at the ground, frowning like she was thinking something over, but she nodded and let him guide her toward the ambulance. By all rights, she should’ve died up there in that fire or in either of the two explosions that had rocked the lab. She shouldn’t be walking out with only burned-short hair. And he shouldn’t be asking her the thing he wanted most of all… but he was going to, anyway.

He held the blanket as she stepped up into the ambulance, then he closed the door behind her.

They were alone.

“Do you really have clothes for me?” she asked with a pinched look. “Or do you just want to know exactly what kind of freak I am?”

The harshness of it knocked him back for a second. “I really wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Her face softened. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair.” She shook her head. “Look, you saved me, and I really appreciate that. I mean, you saw what I can do, but if you hadn’t gotten me out of there, there’s no way I would’ve made it. So… thank you.”

She had taken a seat on the stretcher, pulling the blanket tight around her. He came and kneeled next to her and looked up into her beautiful blue eyes. Man, she was gorgeous.

“That’s not the first time you’ve shifted, is it?” he asked. “In spite of what your dad thinks.”

She shook her head and seemed to lock down, emotionally.

He leaned in toward her. “Hey, whatever your secrets are, Zoe Wilding, I promise I’ll keep them. I won’t tell anyone what happened. But there’s something that I’d like to…” He swallowed because this felt like he was extorting her in some way… and he didn’t want that to be the case. Not at all. “I just have a favor I wanted to ask. You don’t have to say yes. I’ll keep your secret no matter what.”

He watched several expressions flits across her face—a narrow-eyed suspicion, followed by a skeptical look, and then some sort of relief. “What kind of favor?”

Troy bit his lip and looked away. He wasn’t quite sure how to say it, so he busied himself for a minute, digging out the lightweight cotton pajamas, spare clothes for accident victims. He placed them on the stretcher next to her and returned to kneeling in front of her.

He took a breath and just said it. “I want to help catch the guy who did this.”

Her eyebrows hiked up, her blue eyes wide. “The Wolf Hunter?”

“It has to be him, right? I’ve been watching all of this on the news, you and your family, and I’ve been thinking… well, I’ve been thinking that I want a part of that. I want to be part of
stopping
this monster.” He shook his head and stared at the floor, wondering if he sounded like some kind of overly idealistic idiot. “Until this guy is stopped, no one is safe.” He looked back up at her. The soft expression in her eyes made his wolf sing.

He was telling the truth when he said he wanted to stop the Wolf Hunter, but his inner beast was insisting there was a whole lot more to it than that.

“I’m trying to catch him, too,” she said, softly.

His heart surged with hope. “Let me help you. I’m just a regular wolf, a healer, but I want to help.”

She smiled a little, but it was uncertain, like she wasn’t quite sure what to make of him. “That’s probably why you run into burning buildings to rescue people you don’t know.”

Well, she was right about that. And somehow it didn’t surprise him that she could see straight inside him right off the bat. “Will you introduce me to your cousin? I’ve been fanboying over him for a long time.”

At that, she laughed, and the smile on her face transformed her from gorgeous to breathtakingly beautiful. Yeah, his wolf was right—there was a lot more in this for him than just a righteous cause.

Her laugh settled into just a smile. “I guess I owe you.” She said it with a small smirk.

“Thank you. I’ll let you get dressed.” Then he hustled his ass out of the ambulance before she could change her mind.

Troy spent a long minute standing around, waiting awkwardly with her father and her cousin. When Zoe finally emerged from the ambulance, she had ditched the blanket and was still barefoot, but now she was dressed in the thin cotton pajamas he gave her. The half of her deep black hair that was still long cascaded over her shoulders and bounced lightly as she moved. The half that was burnt short made her look like a goth rocker, ready to go on tour.

Daniel spoke first. “We need to move you out of here, Zoe.”

She looked up at the still-burning building. “Doesn’t look I can to get much more work done tonight, anyway.”

Her father shook his head. “Daniel wants you to move up to the River family estate in the mountains for a while. I think it’s a good idea.”

Zoe’s smiled disappeared. “What about my research? How am I going to—”

Her father cut her off with a placating raise of his hand, patting the air. “The River family’s expanding the estate, with your cousin Terra’s help. I’m sure they’ll have room for you to set up something and continue your work there. It will take a little time for the insurance to cover the cost of getting your equipment replaced in the lab, anyway.”

Zoe scowled. “All right. I still have my simulations. I can work with that.” She looked like she was holding back from saying more, but then she just added, “This is Troy.” She gestured to him, then narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know your last name.”

“Hartman.” He gave her a smile.

She turned back to Daniel. “This is Troy Hartman. He just saved my life. He’s a shifter and a healer—and I think he would be a great help to the cause. He says he’d like to join us.”

Daniel gave Troy a quizzical look but then extended his hand. “We can use all the help we can get. Maybe you can help Zoe get moved up to the estate and settled in.”

Troy smiled wider and shook his hand. “That sounds perfect.” He had heard of the River family estate, of course—the Wolf Hunter had outed the location on one of his videos. And Daniel Wilding himself was welcoming Troy into the fight to find and stop that bastard.
And
he was going to help Zoe Wilding move, at least temporarily, to the estate as well, buying him a little extra time with her.

This was working out better than he could’ve hoped.