Escaping Wildfire
Chapter 19: Step Two

Gema

I opened the door to my apartment and was surprised to replace Larkin pacing up and down the living area.

“Gema,” He sounded surprised and ran his hand through his hair. He was no longer wearing his suit and looked freshly showered.

“I’m sorry I missed your shift.” He sounded genuinely apologetic, which for some reason upset me. If he was sorry, why didn't he just make it? There were a lot of people sorry to not make it, who didn't even get the choice to be there or not.

“I didn’t expect you’d be there.” I shrugged.

“You’re my fiancée, why wouldn’t you expect me there?”

“I didn’t think we were taking the whole engaged thing all that seriously. After all, you didn’t even ask me to dance at my birthday party.” I put my hand on my hip, and I felt the anger rise in me. I didn’t really care about Larkin being at my shift or not, but he gave me something to direct my real anger towards, so he got the brunt of it.

“You left without even saying anything to me. Where did you even go?”

He looked nervous and cleared his throat. “I…I just needed to clear my head, so I went for a run.”

“A run? Isn’t that just great? My wolf had to take her first run in a practice field, but you went off and ran through the forest to your heart’s desire."

He had the decency to look embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I can take you on a run through the forest another time if you’d like.”

‘Gema, I know you’re upset, but taking it out on Larkin won’t get him on our side.’ Apparently, Amora was going to be my voice of reason from now on. I took a deep breath before answering him.

“I’d like that, thank you. I’m going to shower and head to bed now.” I changed my tone, realizing that I was being too harsh with him.

“I’ll sleep on the couch out here,” He called out to me as I went into the bedroom. “Good night.”

Noah

We were supposed to have headed back home last week, but as far as anyone was concerned this was home now. We had yet to replace a contact for the cats, who apparently didn’t want to be found. Aaliyah hadn’t arrived as expected and instead called her brothers and told them she was staying through the end of the month. No surprise there as she was likely avoiding Jordan.

Alpha Kedrick had finished the training program for us as he was confident we would get Cobalt Falls back, but I wasn’t feeling very hopeful about that, not tonight when I was supposed to be with Gema during her first shift.

I was busy wallowing in my pain, laying in bed staring up at the ceiling when Cristian barged into my room. “Get up and get dressed.” He slapped my foot and threw a shirt at me.

“Why? Where are we going?”

“Just get dressed and follow me.”

I put on my shirt and grabbed my shoes, heading out the door with him. He walked me outside to a fire pit set up with three chairs around it. Jordan was already sitting getting the fire going.

“What’s this?” I said, taking the empty seat.

“We know tonight’s going to be rough for you…for all of us…so we wanted to do something special.”

Jordan pulled out a six-pack from behind his chair, and Cristian pulled out a cardboard box.

“How did you even score that…” I asked Jordan, “And what exactly is in there? I pointed at the box.

Cristian popped off the lid before tipping the container for me and Jordan to see inside. “Strawberry cupcakes.” He smiled looking proud of himself.

“Her favorite.” I smiled, and he nodded back at me. “Her favorite.”

“So…did you bake those?…cause last time you tried baking it didn’t go so well. I almost chipped a tooth on those fucking rocks you made.”

I laughed as I remembered Cristian’s attempt at making brownies…and Jordan’s attempt at eating them.

“These are safe, one of the pack girls made them for me.”

“Bro, are these sex cupcakes from one of your skanks? Gema would be so disappointed in you right now.” I shook my head at him trying not to laugh.

“Fuck off.” He shoved me with his foot. “That happened one time, and she was just thanking me for the good time...but these, I actually got these the honest way. I asked one of the cooks where I could get cupcakes, and she told me her daughter had a little side business selling them, so I ordered and paid for them. Now, both of you better be nice, or I won’t share.”

Jordan passed us each beer, and we sat quietly for a moment just drinking. “What do you think they’re all doing right now? You think Gema’s excited about her first shift?”

“I hope so, I always thought I’d be there to help her and run with her.” My voice started to shake, and I wiped a hand over my face to keep myself from tearing up.

“I know it’s rough, Man.” Cristian slapped my back softly. “You were supposed to replace your mate tonight.” I looked up at him with my mouth agape. “What? Let’s not pretend the whole pack didn’t think you and Gema were end game.”

“Alright then, no pretending.” I nodded at Cristian and raised my beer his way before taking a drink.

“It’s two to midnight,” Jordan said, checking his watch. Cristian pulled out the cupcakes again and passed them around. As the clock struck midnight, he held his cupcake up in front of him peeling the paper, “Happy Birthday, Gema.” Jordan and I followed suit, sending our well wishes up into the night, hoping Gema would feel them wherever she was.

After we ate our cupcakes, Cristian stood up and yanked off his shirt. “Let’s run.” He called out before continuing to strip as he made his way out to the forest line. We caught up to him and once we had all shifted, Ax and Cosmo fell in line behind Neo. We may not have our pack right now, but our wolves still recognize their Alpha.

The three of us ran until we couldn’t anymore, and with how exhausted I was after the run, I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Gema

I laid in bed later than usual this morning. It was my day off, and I was still sore from my shift last night. Nora hadn't stopped by this morning with food, so I didn’t know if I’d be expected to go down to the dining hall now that Larkin shared the apartment with me.

I got dressed and made my way downstairs, but it was in between meals, so no one seemed to be around to ask for food. I tried a few doors looking for the pantry or kitchen, but no luck so far. Rory and I had never made it inside during our tour, so I didn't know where anything was yet. My fourth door ended up being an entrance to a stairwell, and I was going to turn around until I heard voices. Is that Larkin? The male voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t make out the female voice.

“How can you say last night meant nothing to you?” He sounded really upset, and my nosy self was not about to turn back now, even though I couldn’t hear what the other person was saying.

“No matter how many times you tell me to, I’m not going to reject you. We love each other, how can you not see this is worth fighting for?”

Reject you? He has a mate! ‘Amora, are you hearing this?’

‘I’m as shocked as you are, now get closer so that I can try to hear who he’s with.’ I took a very small step towards the staircase in an attempt to be quiet.

“Run away with me, I don’t need this pack, I just need you. We all know my father will never step down anyway.”

“Even if we ran away, he’d replace us. Don’t you get it? He’ll never let us be happy.”

“So, you’re just giving up…”

Their voices got softer, and I attempted to get closer, but I somehow ended up knocking my foot into the rail making the sound echo throughout the stairwell. Fuck

“Someone’s here.” The female said.

“Wait here, I’ll go see.”

I tried to leave before getting caught, but I was two steps too late. “Gema? How long have you been here?” I turned back around and looked at him sheepishly. “Long enough.”

“Fuck.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You heard everything.”

“Pretty much, "I nodded. "How long have you known about her?”

“She turned 18 about six months ago, and we found out right on her birthday.”

“Why aren’t you together then?” I asked even though I could easily assume the answer had something to do with Alpha Marek.

“We shouldn’t talk here.”

I just nodded as he confirmed, without actually saying, that this had something to do with his father.

“Follow me.” He walked back down the stairs, and as we turned the corner I saw her.

“Nora?” Nora! His mate is Nora. Suddenly, everything from these last few weeks made sense. Nora was Larkin’s mate, and she’d had to watch and help as I took over the life she should have had. I felt sick as I realized the full depravity of Alpha Marek. He had to know they were mates, but he forced her to help me, serve me even, to move me in with her mate. All those times I thought she was scared...the ring…the dress…she wasn’t scared, she was just trying to keep it together as she watched another woman take her mate.

In here, Larkin had led us back to our apartment. “This is the safest place to talk, if anyone asks, Nora’s just here helping you get ready.”

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on now?”

"My father doesn’t want Nora as my mate. He says she’s weak, and that I need a stronger mate. He went to a couple of packs looking for an alpha female of the right age. He saw you at the last pack and found you worthy to be my mate, so here we are."

“But why are you allowing this? You talked about running away, why haven’t you?”

“Because he’s threatened to kill Nora if I don’t comply. He’s already hurt her once, and I won’t risk that again.”

"That bastard.” I never thought I’d hate someone, but at that moment, I certainly hated Alpha Marek.

“You’ll keep this to yourself right?” Nora spoke up nervously.

“Of course…your secret's safe with me...but I do want to ask for something in return.”

“Like what?” They looked at me nervously.

“Help me get in touch with my brother.”

Larkin took a deep breath before responding. “My dad checks the phone records, even mine and Rory's cell phones….I don’t think–”

“I have a phone.” I cut him off. “Just get me a charger, please….If you think your love is worth fighting for, then help me get out of here, and I promise, I’ll help you get Nora out as well.

For a moment, they looked at each other, communicating without words. Larkin then turned back to me and nodded. “We’ll help you.”

And with that, step two of my plan to get out of here took form.