Escaping Wildfire

Noah

I passed out as soon as my head hit my pillow. I was beyond exhausted, but I would be up and wide awake in a heartbeat if someone told me Gema was here already. Cosmo was even more excited than I was, which I didn’t think possible. I kept having dreams about my last night in Cobalt Falls when Gema rode Cosmo as we ran through the forest. Everything about that night was fucking perfect.

I woke up on my own around noon and wasn’t able to get back to sleep. I got dressed, instead, and headed down to the dining hall. Everyone was already downstairs eating when I got there.

“Noah!” My brother, Felix, shouted excitedly. “They told us Gema was on her way, you guys got her out. I knew you could do it!” I set down my tray at my usual spot in between my brothers.

“Yeah, she’ll be home in a few hours.” I smiled broadly at them, as I couldn’t contain my excitement.

“Have we gotten any more information from Olivia’s contact?” I asked the guys.

“Not yet, but they estimated they’d be here around 3 pm.”

“Is Gema okay?” Jasmine quietly asked.

“Yes, she was lost in the forest for most of the night, and had a few scratches and bruises but nothing life-threatening.”

“That’s good.” She gave us one of her rare smiles. It was strange seeing the previously overly bubbly Jasmine lose all of her shine. Now and then, we’d catch glimpses of it, and right now was one of those rare moments.

“Hey, Noah?” Miles spoke up from my left.

“Yeah, what's up?” I looked down at him.

“Is Wildfire going to attack Harvest Moon now?” He stared up at me with the same green eyes all the men in my family had.

I took a deep breath before responding. “I can’t say for certain, but I can tell you that we’re already planning how to stop Wildfire.” I paused not knowing how much to tell them or whether to even be honest with them, but I decided it was best not to lie. “It probably won’t be pretty, and there’s going to be some fighting before this is all over, but I can promise I’ll do my best to keep you and Felix safe.”

“Will we get Mamá and Papá back?”

I wrapped my arm around his shoulder and pulled him close to me. “That’s the plan, it’s just harder to get to them because they’re locked up. Alpha Marek is a bad man who used our parents to get you guys to behave while you were at Wildfire. I want our parents back as much as you do, and Alpha Kedrick will help us. We just have to be brave for them because Mamá and Papá miss us just as much as we miss them.”

“We can be brave, Noah.” Felix chimed in from my right, and I brought him into the embrace. “Can you train us, so that we can be ready for when you fight Wildfire?”

“You won’t be fighting anyone, at least not until you’re my age.” I ruffled his hair. “But I’ll teach you, it’s good to start early and learn some self-defense.” The boys smiled at me and went back to eating.

“Can we learn too?” Jade looked over at Jordan. “I know we already know some stuff, but I’d like to keep learning…like Noah said, for self-defense.” Jade put on a brave front and she’d kept it together for Jasmine, but I could see a bit of fear in her eyes as she spoke to Jordan. What they had gone through had left them all traumatized, and maybe continuing to train would help them heal, or at least give them a sense of peace.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’ll talk to Alpha about starting you. Probably Tuesday since Labor Day is coming up.”

“Also, would it be possible for me to go to school?” She looked down at her plate, not making eye contact with anyone.

“You want to go to school school?” Jordan craned his head to look past Jasmine and over at Jade.

“I know we said we’d do the homeschool thing, but I need to get out. It’s just…I feel a bit trapped being here all day.” She sighed loudly, “Can I just try it out?”

“Alright, I’ll ask Alpha, I’m sure we can get it set for Tuesday, too.” He looked at Jasmine, “Do you want to go, too?”

“No!” She said a little too loudly. “I mean, no…no I’m fine with the homeschooling…I...I’m not ready for actual school.” She shook her head vigorously with wide eyes.

“Okay, no worries, you can homeschool as long as you want.” Jordan put his hand soothingly on her forearm, and she settled back down.

“What about you guys?” I asked my brothers. “Do you want to go?”

They looked at each other, doing their silent twin talk before Felix spoke up for them. “We want to go, but as long as we can be in the same class.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to Alpha and see.”

We finished up our lunch and went our separate ways. We’d been given the day off from training to rest, but Cosmo was feeling antsy, so I decided to head out for a run.

‘What do you think Amora’s like?’

‘I bet she’s gray like the rest of her family. Small but strong just like Gema.’

I had thought a lot about Gema and her wolf over the last few weeks. I’d felt pretty confident that we’d be mates this whole time, but now that our time to find out was finally becoming a reality, I was nervous. ‘Do you really think we’ll be mates?’

‘I’m about 90 percent certain we are, and the other 10 percent of me knows she’ll love us regardless. We’re awesome, remember?’

We ran until we reached the pack border and then started to head back. Cosmo sounded like his old self during our run, and it was nice to experience the normal banter from my overly confident wolf again.

I got back to my room at five to three, just enough time to shower before Gema arrived. As I was getting out of the shower, Jordan linked me that Alpha wanted to see us in his office. I quickly threw on some clothes and rushed downstairs.

“Come on in,” Alpha waved me in, and I could see that Cristian and Jordan were already in the room.

“Is everything okay, Alpha?” My heart was beating like crazy, unsure of why he had called us into his office. Please let Gema be okay.

“Yes, everything is good. I called you three in here because Gema and her friend have arrived.”

Cristian and I made a move to get up and leave, “Where is she?”

“Hold on a minute, sit back down guys.” He motioned with his palms out for us to stay put. “They’ve taken the girls to the pack clinic. The cat shifters who first treated them gave them a sedative, and they’re both still asleep, but the doctor said they are healing up nicely and should both wake up soon. I wanted to talk to you here before you rushed down there with all of your questions. The girls need rest. For now, Ellis went down there with them, and she’s linked me that you can go visit. One at a time in the room though.”

“Yeah, we can stay calm. You two go on ahead, I want to go get my sisters so they can see her, too.” Jordan went out to get the girls and we stayed with Alpha.

“Come on, I’ll drive you two over then.”

I had never been more nervous than I was during that drive. I felt sick, and Cosmo kept switching between cheering me on and pacing around.

Alpha dropped us off at the front, and I vaguely recall hearing Cristian ask for the room number at the desk. He pulled me along to the elevator, and we climbed up to the 2nd floor.

“You go first.” As embarrassing as it was to admit, I was scared. I had wanted this for so long, and I wasn’t ashamed to admit I’d cried my fair share of tears over not being with Gema on her 18th birthday to find out if we were mates, but now that the moment had arrived, I was scared shitless. I couldn’t save her from Wildfire, how did I expect to be a good mate to her? What if I couldn’t protect her again, or worse…what if we weren’t even fated mates?

Gema

I woke up to a steady beeping. As I opened my eyes, I saw the familiar form of my brother sitting in a nearby chair.

“Cristian?”

“Gema! You’re awake.” He smiled at me, and I went to get up, but pain shot through me.

“Wait, let me help.” He lifted me and readjusted my pillow behind me.

“What happened?”

“You and your friend got lost, we called up the cat shifters in the area and had them keep a lookout for you. A few of them actually went out to search for you, and you and your friend were found unconscious. By the looks of it, they said you took a pretty bad fall.”

His words helped me recall the previous night. “Yeah, I remember now, we did have a nasty fall. How long have we been here?”

“About 30 minutes. The cats did as much as they could to patch you up and drove you here.”

“And Hadley?” She’s on the other side. Here, “He got up and pushed back the curtain to reveal a sleeping Hadley in the next bed.

“We made it then?” I couldn’t help the wave of emotion that consumed me at my realization. We managed to escape Wildfire and were now at Harvest Moon. “Where are the others? Noah?”

Before Cristian could answer, the door opened to reveal a young man in scrubs.

He stopped at the door holding his clipboard with a death grip as if transfixed. His eyes suddenly widened, and the four-letter word I had been hoping to hear from someone else came out of his mouth, “Mate.”

My heart dropped, and Cristian and I widened our eyes at each other. Amora hadn’t said anything, and I didn’t smell anything different, so he couldn’t possibly be my mate, right?

′Amora?′ I called out cautiously.

‘He’s not ours.’

‘Oh, Thank Goddess!’

That only left two other possibilities, and I was fairly certain it wasn’t my brother, so that left…

I looked over at Hadley, then back at the guy. He was staring right at her and slowly started making his way to her.

‘He’s Hadley and Piper’s mate!’ Amora said excitedly.

‘This is so perfect, I’m so happy for her. I hope she wakes up soon so she can meet him.’

Cristian closed the curtain back up to give them some privacy. “That scared me for a second.”

“Me too, I had to double-check with Amora.”

“That’s right, your wolf. Ax can meet her now.” He smiled at the thought. “We’ll go running as soon as you’re well. For now, I think it’s time I let Noah come in. You’re ready for him, right?”

“Yes, definitely.”

He then left to get Noah. I should have asked for a mirror. I probably look terrible after my crazy night.

‘He’ll think we’re beautiful no matter what.’ Amora said as she shook out her fur.

My heart was pounding like crazy, and I kept taking deep breaths hoping I’d smell something. Was he coming yet? What was taking so long? My eyes started to water as my thoughts went all over the place, so I closed my eyes trying to calm my nerves.

I heard the door click open, and I was overpowered by the most amazing smell of rosemary with hints of orange and pine. Amora started going crazy in my head and yelling out.

‘Mate! Mate! Mate!’

I was scared to open my eyes, and I felt warm tears falling on my cheeks. The bed moved down as he sat down next to me and grabbed my hand. My hand exploded with the feeling of tingles from the mate bond. I had never felt something so wonderful.

“Gem…open your eyes, Gem…” He whispered as he cupped my face.

I slowly opened my eyes and blinked back my tears as I stared into the most amazing green eyes I had ever seen.

“Mate,” We whispered to each other at the same time.

“Cosmo’s going crazy right now. He can’t wait to get you out of this bed so that he can meet Amora.” His eyes flashed bright green as Cosmo showed through.

“She can’t wait to meet him either.” Noah wiped at my tears, before kissing me softly.

“I know you’re not fully healed yet, but I’m marking you as soon as you’re ready.” He laid me back down as he brushed my hair back with his hand. He was smiling so brightly at me, and I still couldn’t believe we were back together. He laced his fingers with mine as he sat down on the chair beside the bed.

“So, I’m supposed to give the others a turn to come see you. Jordan and the girls…but I kind of want to be selfish right now and stay with my mate. Also, I’m pretty sure they’re all waiting out there to find out if we’re actually mates.”

I giggled at the thought of everyone waiting outside. “I do want to see everyone, so maybe you can give them just a little time, and then you can come back and spend the night with me.”

“Okay, how about I get you some food, and come back once you’ve seen everyone.”

“Deal.” With that, my mate, I loved saying that, stepped out, and I got to talk to Jasmine and her siblings. She looked so much healthier than the last time I had seen her, but I knew she still had a ways to go.

Noah came back with a burger and fries for both of us, which I devoured, along with half of Noah’s fries. He was also nice enough to bring a burger for Hadley and her mate, even though she hadn’t woken up yet. I was certain Hadley would be beyond excited to meet her mate, who we found out was named Sawyer, or Dr. James as everyone at the clinic called him.

Everyone was happy for me and Noah, and I fell asleep peacefully for the first time in weeks.