by Zoe Chant
“I don’t want you as my alpha!” Danny yelled, right into Daddy’s shocked face. “You hurt Mr. Griff, when it wasn’t even fair! I wish he was still my alpha! I wish he was my daddy! I don’t want you! Go away!”
Daddy snarled, his hands clenching. Danny’s skin prickled as Simba surged forward—but Daddy stopped dead. He stared at his own fists, then down at Danny. His face went white.
“No,” Daddy whispered in horror. “I nearly—no!”
Daddy whirled, his own form shimmering. His clothes tore away as he shifted. On four paws, he charged blindly out the door. Danny heard him crashing through the trees. His enraged, agonized roars faded away as he disappeared into the woods.
Simba wanted to run too, all the way home to Mommy, but Danny held his lion back. “It’s too far,” he said to the cub out loud. “And we don’t know the way.”
We can’t stay here. Simba’s tail lashed in agitation. What if he comes back?
Danny made himself a deep breath, focusing on staying calm, just like Mr. Griff had taught him. Frowning, he tried to think with his human head instead of his lion’s heart. “We need a plan.”
The front door was nice and thick. It made a big bang when Danny pushed it shut. He found a big metal key in the lock, and turned it with a reassuring click. Then he went through all the rooms downstairs, checking that all the windows were closed too.
“There,” he said to Simba, when he was satisfied that Daddy wouldn’t be able to get back in. “Now we just need to call for help.”
Simba looked mournfully at the dark, cold place where the pride-bond—the real pride-bond, not Daddy’s fake one—had been. How?
There was a phone in one of the bedrooms upstairs—a funny old-fashioned phone that was plugged in, not like a proper phone that you could put in your pocket. It took Danny a little puzzling how to work it, since it didn’t have a screen to touch, but in the end he figured out which buttons to press.
He didn’t know Mommy’s number, but there was one number he did know. It was a different number from the one in America, he remembered. Mommy had made sure that he learned it by heart. She’d told him to call it if he was ever hurt or scared or needed help.
He definitely needed help now.
“999,” said a stranger’s voice in his ear. “What is the nature of your emergency?”
“Can I talk to the firefighters?” Danny remembered to add, “Please?”
There were a few clicks, then a different man said, “East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. Where is your emergency?”
Danny thought this was a very strange way of saying hello. “Is Mr. Griff there?”
There was a pause. “What do you think this is, the damn Yellow Pages? I’m a fire dispatcher, not an operator. Is there a fire near you? Do you need a fire engine?”
“No, thank you,” Danny said politely. “I just need Mr. Griff. He’s a firefighter, so I know he works here. Could you get him for me? Please?”
“Oh, for the love of-” The man sighed heavily. “Kid, unless you’ve actually got a fire—a big fire—don’t call the fire department. Got it?”
“Um…okay,” Danny said, dubiously. “But-”
The phone made a funny beeping sound in his ear. The man had hung up.
Now what? Simba wanted to know.
Danny hopped down off the bed. “Now I guess we look for some matches.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Griff
Griff had never felt less like going in to work.
He’d spent half the day waiting impatiently for Ash to come off duty. But when Griff had finally managed to accost him at the fire station, the Phoenix had flatly refused to try to burn away one of his shifter animals right away.
“You are not in a fit state of mind to make this decision now,” Ash had told him. The Fire Commander hadn’t even had a chance to change out of his turnout gear, the scent of smoke still heavy around him. “And in any event, I am not in a fit state physically to attempt it. I must rest, and you must reflect. You must be absolutely certain that this is the only way forward. Think. If you have me do this, it cannot be undone.”
The best Griff had been able to do was to force Ash to reluctantly promise to make the attempt tomorrow, if Griff didn’t change his mind before then. He knew that he wouldn’t. Now that Reiner was Danny’s alpha as well as father, he had a double claim to the boy. His legal position was practically unassailable.
Griff knew that Hayley had hidden Danny’s passport, but that wouldn’t delay Reiner for long. All he had to do was get a Valtyran passport for Danny, and he’d be able to take him out of the country any time he liked. There would be nothing standing in his way.
I have to stop him. I have to be able to shift.
If Ash burned away his eagle, leaving him a lion shifter, then he’d be able to challenge Reiner directly. If his eagle was the one to survive…well, the situation would be less straightforward, but at least he’d legally be a shifter. Hayley would have a strong case for retaining custody of Danny.
If neither of his animals survived…Griff refused to even contemplate that possibility. Which left him with nothing to do except watch the minutes crawl past, agonizingly slowly. If it hadn’t been for his bad leg, he would have been pacing like a caged lion.
His own lion was pacing, endlessly circling in his mind, its rage and humiliation boiling under his skin. His eagle’s accusing eyes tracked the lion’s every move. It blamed the lion for losing Danny to Reiner, and it took all of Griff’s control to keep its fury leashed. Its talons clenched on his bones, trying to twist them into its own shape. He could feel his body vibrating, ever so slightly, right on the edge of an uncontrolled shift.
Normally, he would have called in sick—he couldn’t risk having a seizure in the middle of the control room. But he was scheduled to cover the evening shift, which was always short-handed thanks to the unsociable hours required. If he didn’t turn up, he’d be leaving the fire department dangerously short-staffed. He couldn’t put the city at risk just for his own personal crisis.
Plus, of course, I’d probably get fired, Griff thought with bleak humor as he rode the elevator up to the control room. Pun intended.
He was already on probation, thanks to his frozen hand. Unfortunately, being a fire dispatcher involved a lot of typing. Another black mark on his record would cost him his job. And that would cost him his life insurance…which would in turn cost Hayley a lot of money.
At least there’s one advantage to having a terminal condition that doctors don’t believe in. The insurance industry doesn’t believe in it either.
At the moment, he was worth a lot more to Hayley dead than alive. He could only pray that after Ash finished with him tomorrow, that would no longer be true.
“You look like hammered shit,” Kevin greeted him as he entered the control room.
“Good to see you too,” Griff replied, stiffly folding himself into his chair. He looked around at the otherwise deserted office. “Where’s Claire? I thought she was on duty tonight with you.”
“Guess you weren’t the only one spending Halloween getting wasted. She called in sick.” Kevin scowled in irritation, pulling his headset off his ears. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you, even if you do look like dog vomit. I have been bursting to piss for bloody hours.”
“I’m logged in,” Griff said, slipping his own headset on. He cast a quick, practiced glance at the status of the department, noting that all the fire engines were already out attending to incidents. “Busy night, I see.”
“Like you wouldn’t believe. I’ve even been having to route calls to our backup control centers to handle.” Kevin was already heading for the door. “Hey, got a funny story about a prank call earlier, actually. I’ll tell you when I get back.”
Griff frowned at his screen as Kevin left. He didn’t like how backup control had been allocating resources, keeping nothing in reserve. Every single crew was stacked up already. If a new call came in-
&nbs
p; As if on cue, his headset beeped at him. With a practiced flick, he hit the answer button. “East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. Where is your emergency?”
“Mr. Griff!”
His heart stopped at the familiar voice. “Danny?”
“I tried to call earlier but you weren’t there. The other man told me not to call again unless there was a big fire.” Danny stopped, coughing. “I think the fire’s big enough now.”
GO! roared his lion. Griff lost valuable seconds to a full-body spasm, the lion’s frantic claws ripping across his mind. His eagle was a storm of wings and talons, beating against the inside of his skull. Our cub is in danger! GO!
“Danny, where are you?” he managed to gasp out through the pain.
“Daddy’s house. Daddy’s not here. I, um, yelled at him a lot, then he ran into the woods and I locked him out.” Danny coughed again, the sound of it like a saw blade across Griff’s own throat. “Mr. Griff, the fire’s getting really big now.”
“I’m sending help to you, Danny.” His good hand flew across the keyboard, steady despite the agony wracking his bones. He briefly muted Danny’s line, switching instead to the all-crew broadcast. “Code red, code red, all crews respond! I’ve got a kid trapped in a burning building! I need a team, now!”
Without waiting for a verbal response, he switched back to Danny. He kept his voice soft and calm, no matter how his inner beasts screamed at him. “Okay, Danny. I need you to tell me exactly where you are in the house.”
“Upstairs in the bedroom, where the phone is.”
“That’s good,” he said encouragingly, though it wasn’t. Upstairs was very, very bad indeed. “And where’s the fire?”
“Downstairs.” Danny’s voice went high and wobbly. “All downstairs. I’m sorry, Mr. Griff, I didn’t mean to!”
“It’s okay, Danny.” Griff snarled soundlessly at the ETAs popping up on his screen as crews responded to the alert. Too slow, too slow! “Is the bedroom door closed?”
“Yes, I closed it to stop the smoke but it’s still coming in real fast.” Danny gulped down a sob. “I tried to open the window but it’s stuck. Please, please, come get me.”
Griff had to grab at the desk, bracing himself as a seizure shook his body. His beasts were single-minded with the need to reach their cub. His muscles writhed against each other, trying to twist into wings and paws. Every fiber of his being cried out to run to the boy’s aid.
But Danny needed his human mind now, not his animals’ instincts.
“Help is coming, Danny.” Griff’s hand shook on the control board as he frantically re-prioritized tasks, dispatching every fire engine he could to Reiner’s house. “Just stay down low, out of the smoke.”
His fingers cracked and bent halfway through dialing Ash’s emergency contact number. He scrabbled futilely at the keys, his paw-hands unable to press single buttons. His control board flung up a dozen errors as the system tried to process the gibberish commands.
*ASH!* he tried to send telepathically—but he could feel the mental shout just bounce off the inside of his own skull. He’d never been able to contact other shifters that way.
He just had enough dexterity left to jab the mute button on his headset. “KEVIN!” he roared. “GET IN HERE!”
“Jesus Christ! Can’t a guy even take a piss around-” Kevin stopped dead in the doorway.
“Take over!” Griff fell out of his chair, forced to all fours as his spine twisted. “Call Ash!”
Kevin shook his head in mute incomprehension. Face white with shock, he started backing away.
Griff didn’t have time to explain, or to cajole. He locked eyes with the other dispatcher, unleashing his full alpha dominance. “Stop.”
Kevin froze like a deer caught in car headlights.
“Go to the control board.” Griff fought to keep his throat and tongue human. “Call Fire Commander Ash.”
Moving as stiffly as a robot, Kevin did so.
A rush of relief shot through Griff as he heard Ash pick up the call. “Ash, get the team to Danny,” Griff ordered, not waiting for Ash to speak. “He’s trapped in a fire. Go!”
The phone line instantly went dead, Ash not wasting even a second to respond. Nonetheless, Griff could feel the Phoenix’s acknowledgement in his mind, a brief, blazing telepathic communication like a rescue beacon flaring in the night.
*I can sense him,* Chase’s mental voice crashed through his head, as swift and unstoppable as the pegasus himself. *We’re on our way, Griff.*
*I’m already in the air,* Dai sent too, a second later. *I’m bringing John and Hugh.*
*We will not fail you, oath-brother.* John’s telepathic tone was fierce and focused. Griff could feel him calling clouds across the sky, shaping them into a torrent strong enough to drown any inferno. *Tell your son that we come!*
Griff let out his breath. He relaxed his alpha hold over the shaking Kevin. “Sorry. Now, I need you to-”
Kevin bolted like a rabbit. Griff didn’t have a chance to reestablish his dominance before the other dispatcher had fled out of sight.
Griff snarled, cursing himself, but it was too late to do anything about it now. His erratic heartbeat lurched as he realized he hadn’t heard anything from Danny for at least a minute. His headset was still on, askew over his lengthening skull. He managed to get his talons round the microphone, unmuting it again. “Danny? Can you hear me?”
“Please come, Mr. Griff, please!”
The panic in Danny’s voice hurt worse than his twisting bones. “My friends are on their way now. I’m going to stay right here with you until they arrive. It won’t be long. Chase can find anyone, remember?”
Got to keep him calm. Give him something to focus on. Just a little longer…
“Danny, I’ve got a very important job for you,” Griff managed to get out through gritted fangs. He closed his eyes, focusing on the sound of Danny’s scratchy, labored breathing in his ear. “I need you to check the door for me. Crawl over on your belly, like a snake. Don’t open the door, just touch it and see if it’s hot. Can you do that for me? Now?”
He heard shuffling, then a yelp of pain. “It burned me!”
That meant there was no escape that way—and if Danny opened the door, the fire would be sucked into the room. “Danny, do not open the door. Can you see any blankets or pillows?”
Danny went into a long coughing fit. When he finally answered, his voice was hoarse and raspy. “Yes. There’s lots.”
“I want you to stuff as many as you can under the door. Block it up so the smoke can’t get in. Make sure you stay down low, understand?”
“Okay,” Danny whispered, sounding very small and scared. “I have to put the phone down. You won’t go away, will you?”
“I promise, I’ll be here. I’ll won’t leave you, ever.”
Distantly, he was aware of curling into a ball, fur and feathers ripping from his skin, joints snapping and contorting. But as long as he could still speak, everything else was irrelevant. He ignored the pain, ignored his beasts, ignored whatever was happening to his tortured body. Nothing mattered except Danny.
Even though Reiner had broken their pride-bond, he could still feel an echo of it, like a phantom limb. Griff focused on it fiercely, blocking out everything except that faint, tenuous link. He sent all his own strength, all his pride, all his courage down that slender connection.
*We can see the house.* Ash’s mental voice sounded faintly in his head. *We are nearly there, Griff. Tell him to hold on just a few moments longer.*
“I did it!” Danny’s voice came back, much stronger than before. “The smoke’s not coming in so fast any more.”
“Well done, lad,” Griff gasped. “My friends are nearly there. Just hold on.”
“Mr. Griff, are you okay? You sound funny.”
“Don’t worry about me.” A primal fire was roaring through his blood, devouring his consciousness. He fought for just a few more seconds of lucidity. “Crawl over to the window. Can you
see my friends yet?”
“Umm…no. Just—” Without warning, Danny shrieked.
“Danny?” The line had gone dead. “Danny!”
*I’ve got him!* Dai’s triumphant telepathic roar echoed around Griff’s shattering mind. *We’ve got him, Griff. He’s safe.*
That was all Griff needed to hear.
Danny’s safe. I can let go now.
His beasts rose up, and devoured him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Danny
No one was listening to Danny.
He tried again. “Please, Dr. Hugh. I just want-”
“Don’t try to talk yet.” Dr. Hugh’s white hair kept changing color, red-blue-red-blue, in the whirling lights of the fire engines. His hands felt nice on Danny’s neck, a tingly sort of warmth driving away all the soreness. “You’ve breathed in a lot of smoke. Just hold still while I fix it.”
“He needs to get to hospital!” Daddy snarled at Dr. Hugh. “Where’s the damn ambulance?”
“How should I know?” Mr. Hugh snapped, glaring right back as if he wasn’t scared of Daddy’s lion at all. “For the last time, move away. You’re giving me a migraine, hovering so close. I can’t work with you breathing down the back of my neck.”
Daddy didn’t budge one bit. He’d run out of the woods right as Mr. Dai was putting Danny back down on the ground, and he hadn’t let go of Danny’s hand ever since. Danny didn’t mind, not now that Daddy was back to being just Daddy again. Daddy was much nicer when he wasn’t pretending to be an alpha. He didn’t even seem mad about Danny burning up his house.
Danny hoped he wouldn’t be mad about Mr. Dai knocking down the wall, either. Turned out that dragons were real strong.
Danny kicked his feet impatiently, willing Dr. Hugh to hurry so that he could talk. He stared out the back door of the fire engine, watching all the firefighters run around through the smoke and rain. Danny wasn’t quite sure why so many of them had decided to turn up, when Mr. Griff’s friends had already rescued him.
