Shelter for Sophie: Badge of Honor, Book 8

by Susan Stoker

  Chief covered the mouthpiece of his phone and told Crash, “We need to get to her.”

  “What’s up?” Crash asked, already moving toward the garage bays where the trucks were parked.

  “Not sure. But she doesn’t sound right. Something’s wrong.”

  As they were on their way to the garage, Sledge hurried up behind them. “What’s going on?”

  “Something’s wrong with Sophie. We’re headed there to check it out,” Crash said, updating the other firefighter.

  “She call nine-one-one?” Sledge asked, not questioning the fact that they were leaving.

  “No. Chief is on the phone with her.”

  “Soph, listen to me, can you do that?”

  “Who is this?”

  Fuck. “You need to get up and go to your front door. Open it, sit on the step, and wait for me.”

  “I’m s-so tired. I need to s-sleep,” she informed him.

  “No! Sophie. Get up. Now,” Chief barked at her. He toned down his voice and said, “The fresh air will help you feel better.”

  “I want Chief,” she whined.

  “I know you do, shi ásdząą. I’m comin’.”

  “Chief?”

  “Yeah, Soph. It’s me.”

  “Where are you? M-My head hurts s-so bad and I’m s-so tired.”

  Chief hopped into the front seat of the firetruck and only absently noticed that Penelope and Moose had joined the group. He kept talking to Sophie as they tore out of the station and headed for her house.

  “I’m coming, Soph. But you need to get up and unlock the door, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah. Okay. Oh crap, I’m gonna…”

  He heard the covers rustling then the unmistakable sound of Sophie throwing up. It seemed like forever, but she finally came back on the line and said in the most pathetic voice, “I threw up.”

  “I heard, baby.”

  “I’m gonna just lie here on the bathroom floor.”

  “No, Sophie. Get. Up. Crawl if you have to, but get to the front door and open it. Go outside. Wait for me.”

  “What’s wrong with m-me?” she asked, barely audible.

  “I think it’s carbon monoxide. I’m not sure though. Please, shi ásdząą, get outside for me. I’m comin’ as fast as I can.”

  “I don’t know how.”

  “How what?”

  “How to get outside.”

  The adrenaline was coursing through Chief’s veins as if he’d injected it directly into his bloodstream. The signs of poisoning were all there, he and his fellow firefighters had seen them enough to recognize it. Headache, nausea, fatigue, confusion, agitation, vomiting…the only thing that would save her was getting out of the poisoned air inside her house.

  “You’re in your bathroom?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Crawl to the bedroom door. Do it.”

  Chief heard shuffling, then her voice. “I’m here.”

  “Turn right. Go down the hallway.”

  More shuffling. Chief continued to talk Sophie through how to get to her front door. Thank God he’d been there enough to know her house as well as he knew his own. If she’d been talking to a nine-one-one operative, he or she wouldn’t have been able to talk her through exiting the house.

  “You should be at the front door now, Soph. Yeah?”

  “I’m tired,” the other half of his soul said softly. “Are you here?”

  “Almost. Reach up and turn the deadbolt, Sophie. To the right. Then turn the knob and you’ll be outside. You’re doing so good.”

  “I don’t wanna. I wanna s-sleep,” she complained.

  “You can sleep when you’re outside.”

  She didn’t answer him, and Chief gripped the phone harder.

  “Sophie!” he yelled.

  “What?”

  “Unlock the door and go outside. Now!”

  “Bossy,” she grumped. “Tory warned m-me.”

  About to yell at her again, Chief heard the click of the deadbolt and rested his head on the seat behind him. Thank God.

  “Crawl, Soph. Get outside. Onto your lawn if you can.”

  “It’s cold out here,” she complained.

  “I know, and I’m sorry. I’ll be there in a minute with a blanket for you.”

  “I hear s-sirens. Is that you?”

  “That’s me, baby.”

  “Okay. Can I lie down now?”

  “Are you outside? In the grass?”

  “Almost.”

  “You can lie down when you get to the grass,” Chief told her. “Not before.”

  After a moment, Sophie said, “Chief?”

  “Yeah?”

  “There’s a dog s-standing in your yard s-staring at m-me.”

  Chief shuddered. He knew it wasn’t a dog. It was the coyote she’d seen earlier. The skin-walker had almost taken his woman tonight. “Close your eyes, Sophie. Don’t look at it.”

  “What if it wants to eat m-me?”

  “It won’t. If you don’t look at it, it can’t hurt you.”

  “’Kay. Are you bringing m-me s-some aspirin? M-My head really hurts.”

  “Yeah, Soph.”

  “Good. Chief?”

  “What?”

  “M-My head hurts.”

  Chief didn’t bother to answer her repetitious statement, as they were pulling up in front of both his and Sophie’s houses. Crash cut the siren but kept the lights on.

  Chief saw movement in his front yard out of the corner of his eye, but refused to look at the skin-walker. Refused to give him any more power over him or his woman.

  He jumped out of the truck even before it stopped moving and headed for the woman who owned his heart.

  Sophie was lying on her back, half on her grass and half on the walkway that led up to her front door. Her knees were bleeding, most likely from where she’d crawled down her steps to get to the grass, and her hand was clutched around her phone, still held up to her ear. She was wearing a pink sleep set, which consisted of a pair of flimsy shorts and a tank top. One strap of the top had fallen off her shoulder. The light pink color of her clothes shone brightly against the dark grass under her.

  “Sophie,” Chief breathed as he fell onto his knees next to her. He gently slipped her phone out of her hand and pocketed it. Before he could do anything else, Penelope was there with a face mask connected to a bottle of oxygen.

  Chief slipped the elastic over her head and held the mask over her nose and mouth. He leaned down and whispered into her ear. “I’m here, Soph. You’re gonna be just fine. Breathe for me. Deep breaths.”

  He watched her chest move up and down as she followed his orders. After several moments, her eyes opened and she stared up at him. Chief ignored his fellow firefighters moving around him, inspecting the house, checking the levels of carbon monoxide inside. He had eyes only for Sophie.

  “Hey,” he said softly.

  “Hey,” she returned, then wrinkled her brow and tried to look around.

  Chief held her head still and said, “Look at me, Soph.” When she met his eyes, he explained what was going on. “You’re okay. That’s the most important thing. You hear me?”

  She nodded, eyes wide.

  “You have carbon monoxide poisoning. But you got outside and you’re gonna be fine.”

  “What? How?” she asked haltingly.

  “I don’t know. Sledge is in your house trying to figure that out as we speak. But in the meantime, I’m gonna get you to the emergency room so they can check you out.”

  “I don’t need—”

  “Not negotiable,” Chief told her sternly. “There’s no way I’m taking any chances on this. At the very least, they’ll get you some more pure oxygen, like you’ve got now, and we can go home in a few hours.”

  Chief could see the confusion slowly clearing from her eyes as the oxygen slowly started making its way through her bloodstream. One hand came up and landed on his biceps and she gripped him hard.

  “Here,” Penelope said from ab
ove them. “I grabbed a blanket from the house. It was on the floor next to the front door.”

  Chief shifted so his friend could spread the blanket over Sophie, but didn’t remove his hand from the face mask and kept his other on the side of her neck, his thumb resting on her carotid artery, making sure it continued to beat as strongly as it was right now.

  “Thank God you went over to my house to look at the stars,” he told Sophie softly. “You weren’t inside your house as long.”

  Her eyes got wide again and she stared up at him. Then she reached up with her free hand and tried to remove his hand from the mask on her face.

  Chief shook his head at her. “Keep it on. I want as much oxygen as possible getting into your body.”

  She nodded, but said, “I was going to go s-straight to bed, but after I changed, I had a s-sudden urge to s-see the s-stars.” Her words were muffled and distorted from the mask, but Chief understood her.

  He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. He sent a prayer in thanks to his people, long since gone from this earth. He thanked them for looking out for his woman. Thanked them for keeping the skin-walker’s spell from harming Sophie. Told them he’d bring Sophie to their sacred land as soon as he could. Lastly, he thanked them for proving to him once and for all that Sophie was the other half of his soul.

  “You ready to roll?” Squirrel asked from above him.

  Chief opened his eyes and nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

  He stayed by Sophie’s side as she was transferred to a gurney and carried to the ambulance that had arrived mere moments ago. Chief didn’t spare a second’s thought for the safety of Sophie’s house. His friends would take care of it for them. He had no doubt by the time they left the hospital, Sledge and the others would’ve found the source of the carbon monoxide leak and neutralized it. All that mattered at the moment was Sophie, and the fact she was still breathing. After he spoke with the doctor, he’d know for sure, but somehow he knew she was just fine. She hadn’t been inside the house long enough for any permanent damage to have been done.

  * * *

  Three hours later, Chief wrapped his arm around Sophie’s waist as he led her up to his front door. He turned and waved at Squirrel. His friends had come to the hospital after getting off shift and waited until they’d heard that Sophie was going to be all right.

  Squirrel had waited for Sophie to be signed out and drove them home. Chief noted that his truck was in the driveway; someone else had obviously dropped it off for him. Sophie’s house was dark, and Crash told him earlier that the source of the carbon monoxide had been her heating system. It was gas, and when she’d turned it on that evening to cut the chill in the house, it had apparently malfunctioned…even though it had been serviced not too long ago.

  The firefighters had turned it off, aired out the house so it was safe to enter, and Sledge said that he’d call in the morning to get someone to go out and fix it.

  Chief was relieved, because now his entire attention could be on the woman at his side.

  He unlocked his door and guided Sophie inside.

  “I’m really okay, Chief,” she told him softly. “I can walk you know.”

  “I do. Humor me.”

  Falling silent, she did as he asked. Not saying a word as he locked the door and steered her straight to his bedroom.

  Chief knew she’d never been there before, but there was no way he was going to put them on his couch tonight. No, he needed her in his bed. In his space.

  He led her to the side and she sat.

  “You good? Need anything? Water?”

  “I’m okay,” she reassured him.

  “Those scrubs can’t be terribly comfortable. You want a T-shirt?”

  “Yes, please.” She pulled at the olive-green V-neck top she’d been given at the hospital. “I was grateful to put this on earlier, I can’t believe everyone s-saw m-me in m-my pajamas. But this is kinda itchy.”

  “Be right back,” Chief told her, then kissed her on the forehead and turned to his dresser. He grabbed a Station 7 T-shirt and carried it back to her. “Here ya go. I’m going to duck into the bathroom. Take your time.”

  He left his room, giving her some privacy. Chief leaned against his counter, resting on his hands, and stared at himself in the mirror.

  Dark lines creased his forehead and his mouth pulled down in a worried frown. It had been way too close tonight. If he’d been late leaving work, or if he hadn’t insisted on calling her until she answered. Or if she hadn’t spent that time on his back porch talking with him on the phone. A thousand other scenarios ran though his mind, each one ending with Sophie’s death.

  “Chief?” she called from his room.

  Shaking his head, Chief immediately turned away from his reflection and headed for Sophie. “Yeah, baby, I’m here.”

  “What time is it?” she asked.

  “No clue,” he admitted. “Don’t really care. All I care about is that we’re home and you’re all right.”

  “Good answer,” she murmured.

  “Lay down. I’ll be in bed in a second.”

  “Which s-side?”

  “Which side what?”

  “Which s-side do you usually s-sleep on?”

  One corner of Chief’s lips twitched up. “Doesn’t matter.”

  “Yes, it does,” she insisted. “You can’t just change s-sides. It’s weird. Believe m-me, I know. I once tried to m-move m-my bed from one wall to the other, but I had to put it back because I couldn’t get used to s-sleeping on the opposite s-side of m-my bed.”

  Chief grabbed the bottom of his T-shirt and whipped it up and over his head. For the first time in his life, he dropped it on the floor, not caring where it landed. Not caring it wasn’t in the hamper with the rest of his dirty clothes. Not caring about anything other than the woman sitting on the side of his mattress, looking disheveled and unsure about herself.

  He unzipped his jeans and shoved them off, turning away from Sophie only long enough to grab a pair of sweats from a drawer and quickly pull them up his legs. He stalked over to Sophie and put a hand on either side of her hips and leaned into her.

  She went back on a hand and looked up at him with wide eyes. “You just took off your clothes in front of m-me,” she informed him.

  His lips quirked upward. “You’re gonna see a lot more of me sometime soon. You didn’t like what you saw?” he questioned.

  “Uh…no…I m-mean yes…crap…you know you look good.” She stumbled over her words.

  Not touching, but leaning farther into her, so much that he could feel the heat from her body seep into his own, Chief said, “I don’t care what side of the bed you choose because we won’t be taking sides.”

  “We won’t?”

  “Nope. Every time we’ve slept together, on your couch or mine, you’ve ended up mostly on top of me. I like that. So I figure when we’re in bed, it won’t be any different. You’ll drape yourself over me and use my shoulder for a pillow…that way we won’t be on either side.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah, oh. Now scoot up and get under the covers.”

  Chief watched with hooded eyes as she did as he ordered, her pale legs flashing in the low light of the room as she moved. He crawled after her on his hands and knees and lifted the sheet, joining her in his bed with a long sigh.

  He pulled Sophie into him and closed his eyes in contentment when one of her legs bent and she wrapped it around his thighs. Her hair tickled his face and fell over his dark skin, contrasting erotically with his black chest hair as it lay against him.

  Her pale hand rested over his heart and he knew she could feel it beating double time. Her normal shampoo smell was very faint, the scent of antiseptic overwhelming everything else, but Chief didn’t give a shit. She was alive, in his arms, in his bed…nothing else mattered.

  “Thank you for coming for m-me,” she said softly.

  “I’ll always come for you, shi ásdząą.”

  “I could’ve d
ied.”

  Chief stayed silent. It wasn’t his people’s way to talk about death. Especially not her death.

  “I don’t really remember what happened, but thank you, Chief. Thank you for being bossy. Thank you for looking out for m-me. Thank you for being there.”

  “Promise me something,” Chief said quietly.

  “Anything.”

  “If you’re ever in a dangerous situation in the future…don’t ever give up.”

  “I won’t,” she said immediately.

  “I’m serious. I don’t care what it is. Car wreck, terrorist takes over the hospital, a patient goes crazy…don’t give up. Even if you see the skin-walkers surrounding you, ready to take you away from me, fight back. I didn’t find you after all this time to have you taken from me. I want to spend every day I can with you. I want them all, I’m greedy like that. One year, five years, ten years, it’s not enough. I want all your years. Can you promise me that?”

  “Only if you promise in return.” Sophie propped herself up on an elbow and stared down at him. “You’re in way m-more danger than I am on a day-to-day basis, Chief. Running into burning buildings, dealing with domestic s-situations, being s-sitting ducks on the s-side of the road as crazy people roar past an accident s-scene without s-slowing down. I want to know all about your culture. I want to m-meet your m-mom, s-see where you grew up. M-Maybe even s-start a family with you, if it’s s-something you think you m-might want.”

  “I want it,” he said immediately.

  The smile on her face was blinding and so beautiful, Chief wanted to weep.

  “Then you need to m-make the s-same promise.”

  “I promise. Nothing in my life is more important than you are. Ayóó ánííníshní.”

  “Ah yo, Ah knee nesh yay.”

  Chief smiled. God, he loved those words coming from her mouth.

  “Oh, and by the way,” Sophie said, laying her head back down on his shoulder and clutching him tighter.

  “Yeah?”

  “I do remember before I fell asleep looking up on m-my phone how to s-say ‘I love you’ in Navajo. I wanted to s-surprise you.”

  Chief tensed. Oh shit.

  “Imagine m-my s-surprise when I found out that I’d been s-saying that to you s-since we watched the s-stars together.”