Coming In Hot Box Set

by Gina Kincade

  “None of these bodies were in plain sight either,” Cap remarked, pinching the skin between his eyes as if he had a headache or eyestrain maybe. Looking at those damn reports all day, who the hell wouldn’t?

  “No, sir,” Jack agreed tersely.

  “Anybody ever ask you how you knew where to look?”

  “Lots of people. Police mostly.”

  “And you managed to come up with plausible stories, right?” Cap switched off the monitor and swung around in his desk chair. It creaked. “But that’s what they were, weren’t they? Stories. Lies.”

  “Embellishments. Not lies per se. In the greater scheme of things. And dictionary definition. I mean, my embellishments could have happened. Lies are just straight-up untrue,” Jack said. He rubbed his forehead. “Look, if you’re going to fire me, can you give me my paycheck and do it? I’ve got packing to get to.”

  “Fire you?” Cap’s red eyebrows rose. “Is that what you think this meeting is for?”

  “What else?” Jack tried to keep the sullen tone out of his voice and wasn’t entirely successful.

  “These – embellishments as you prefer to call them. Why do you feel the need for them? Why not the truth?” Cap leaned forward, his green eyes sharp and bright.

  Jack calculated the distance to the door from his chair and mentally cursed. He couldn’t run. He was no coward.

  “The embellishments are easier, sir.”

  “I’ll bet.” Cap leaned back in his squeaky chair. He stared at Jack. Jack stared back. When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back. Jesus. Nietzsche at a time like this. Not even the real quote. Some half-assed version of it. Jack held back an insane bark of laughter.

  The silence lengthened. Went to college. Grew a beard and got a job at Starbucks.

  “Christ. All right!” Jack yelled. “I can see ghosts, okay? I. Can. See. Ghosts.” He jumped to his feet and headed for the door. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll take a rain check on the ride to the psych ward and clear out my locker.”

  “Stop.” Cap didn’t raise his voice, but Jack halted as if his feet had been glued to the floor. He hunched his shoulders and waited. Cap wanted his say. They all did. Fine. Let him rip.

  “Do you know why I hired you?” Cap asked.

  Oh, Jesus God, let it be over with. This dragging it out shit sucked.

  “At this point in the conversation, I have no earthly idea.”

  “A few days after your application came across my desk, I happened to attend a dinner. Every month quite a few captains from fire stations across Massachusetts meet. They switch venues and the one last month happened to be nearby. So I went. And who do you think I sat next to?” Cap asked.

  What the fuck? How the hell should Jack know who Cap sat next to?

  “Some other captain of some other fire station maybe?” Jack guessed.

  “Captain Pete Moriarty,” Cap said.

  Jack grimaced. That bastard. His old boss in Boston. Moriarty set the gold standard for how to humiliate someone getting fired. Jack still wanted to punch a wall every time he thought about that exit interview.

  “If you talked about me, I have no clue why you hired me. I’m sure he had nothing good to say.” Jack’s jaw ached from grinding his teeth so hard.

  “He ranted a good fifteen minutes straight,” Cap remarked. “Maybe even twenty.”

  Jesus. Jack closed his eyes. Opened them. Nope. Still here. “And your point?”

  “What he said intrigued me. Set the wheels in my head spinning you might say.”

  Jack wanted to set the wheels of his Jeep spinning. Straight the hell out of Fairhaven.

  “Sit down, Jack.”

  Jack found himself walking back to the chair. He sat, but mentally protested. Vigorously.

  “Cap, I don’t understand why you’re dragging this out.”

  “Bear with me.” Cap leaned back in his chair again. It squeaked. That goddamn squeak grated on Jack’s nerves. Why the fuck didn’t he oil the thing?

  “You can see the applications of Rosie’s gift in this field. Becoming a paramedic made perfect sense for her. Any medical position would have. What I don’t understand is why you chose this line of work.” Cap leaned forward. Squeak. A spasm of pain skewered Jack’s bottom teeth. And he was about to lose his dental insurance too. Figured.

  “What’s the connection between ghosts and being a paramedic, Jack?”

  “Do you believe I see them? Or are you humoring me? Because I’ve been humored before. Humored by the best. And still ended up thrown out on my ass. If that’s where this is headed, why don’t we just get it over with?” Jack leaned forward as well, too angry to hold back any longer. His tenure with the Fairhaven Fire Department was shot to shit by now, so no more dancing around like assholes.

  “I believe you see them.” Cap’s matter-of-fact tone blew Jack away. What?

  Jack tried to relax, but he was too tightly wound.

  Cap said, “I’m not humoring you. If I believe in Rosie’s gift of healing hands, why wouldn’t I also believe you can see ghosts? You’ve found four dead bodies in two weeks, and it has been clearly established you weren’t responsible for any of their deaths. Nor were you involved in any other way except for finding them. So why be a paramedic? Your ability has gotten you fired time after time because the two don’t seem to reconcile very well. I’m curious why you made the commitment to this particular field of work.”

  Jack took a deep breath, his mind racing a hundred miles a minute. Should he? Could Cap be the right person to talk about this with? Salvaging his job might not be out of the question if he answered satisfactorily. Jack wanted more than anything to stay in Fairhaven and be with Rosie. And, damn it, he loved being a paramedic. That part would never change, no matter how many times he got fired.

  He exhaled and said, “I don’t just see ghosts. I see the ones whose bodies need finding. They’ve either been buried or hidden somewhere by their murderers or died behind closed doors and nobody cared to check on them. Accident victims who somehow don’t end up being found at the scene. They seek me out, and I have to help them. It’s my sacred duty. So an outside job was essential. It boiled down to becoming either a cop or a paramedic. And considering how angry I can get over the way some of these people have been treated, I thought not being armed all the time might be a damn good idea.”

  Cap listened to him as if the two of them were the only ones in existence. Jack found that oddly compelling.

  “Somewhere along the line I discovered I liked helping people. Saving their lives if I could. At this point being a paramedic is also a sacred duty. Just like helping the ghosts. The two go hand in hand for me even if nobody else can see it.”

  “I can see it,” Cap said.

  And for the first time, Jack believed it.

  The onrush of relief and gratitude made breathing impossible for a moment.

  “So I’m not fired?”

  “You’re not fired. Get out of here, Jack. Go have some coffee.” Cap gestured at the door.

  Absurdly thankful, Jack bolted.

  “And, Jack,” Cap called.

  Jack halted.

  “Keep up the good work. I’ve got your back.” Cap turned to his PC and switched on the monitor.

  Jack shook his head, rooted to the spot for a moment. Laughing under his breath, he made his way to the stationhouse kitchen.

  Rosie sat at the table making notes from her horticulture book. Her cheeks plumped as she blew out her breath and scribbled her hieroglyphics onto her notepad.

  Duke stood by the coffee machine, mug in hand.

  They both looked up when he entered the room. Rosie’s eyes darkened apprehensively. Duke’s fingers tightened around the mug’s handle.

  Jack said, “So why did the blonde put lipstick on her forehead?” He waited a beat “Because she was desperately trying to make up her mind.”

  “You asshole!” Duke brayed laughter and nearly dropped his coffee.

  Rosie ripped pages
from her notepad, scrunched them up, and threw them at him, but she was giggling.

  Jack gazed around the kitchen. Yeah, he could definitely call Fairhaven home. Who said rolling stones never gathered any moss?

  THE END

  Burn Deep by Élianne Adams

  Paranormal Romance

  Chapter One

  “What do you mean, I can’t go in? I’ll damned well go in if I want to.” The man growled the words through clenched teeth.

  He towered over her, but Cortney stepped between him and the open trauma room door. The last thing the patient needed was to have an irrational family member getting in the way of his care. Too much was at stake. “You. Can’t. Go. In. There’s a waiting room right over there. We’ll come for you as soon as we can.” She pointed in the direction she expected him to go, and turned to head back into the room. She didn’t mind helping out in the ER when needed, but she could do without rude assholes.

  “I want your name. I’m filing a complaint.”

  Cortney drew a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Punching a man in the throat would be deemed unprofessional. It would feel good, but she’d lose her job. Not to mention, her punch wouldn’t even make him flinch, much less cause any harm. Turning on her heel, and without glancing in his direction, she headed straight for the filing cabinet. She rifled through the folders, grabbed what she needed, then placed the form in front of him. “It’s Cortney, no U.”

  “What?” the man spat as he looked down his nose at her, already reaching for the pen.

  “My name. It is Cortney, with no U in it. C-O-R-T-N-E-Y,” she spelled as she pointed to her name badge. “You still can’t go—”

  A beeping sounded overhead, and her stomach fell. Fuck. Please, let it be anywhere else. She chanced a look at the blinking blue light above trauma one just as the announcement came over the loudspeaker.

  Code Blue, trauma one. Code Blue, trauma one, the voice on the speaker declared. She was running even before the announcement was done. The asshole would have to wait.

  Two nurses she recognized, as well as a student in navy blue scrubs who looked like she might pass out, rushed in along with her.

  “Someone start compressions,” Dr. Eric called out the moment he ran in. “Give me some history on this guy.”

  Cortney listened to every word but said nothing as she kneeled on the stretcher and placed her hands on the young man’s sternum. One, and two, she counted in her head, wincing as the familiar cracking of bone accompanied the second compression, but she kept going. Three and four and five...

  The doctor watched from the foot of the stretcher, keeping tabs on everything going on. “Do we have an IV on him yet?” he asked.

  “Almost there with the IV,” Sylvie, the ER nurse, called out then rattled off what little information she had on the patient.

  One and two and three and four and five and six… Cortney kept counting to twenty then paused for the respiratory therapist to administer a couple of breaths before starting all over again.

  “Let’s get him intubated,” the doctor ordered.

  “IV is in.”

  “Push one milligram of Epi now,” the doctor ordered. “Great compressions, Cortney. Keep going,” he said.

  Her arms ached, and sweat trickled down her back, but she wouldn’t stop. Not until someone was ready to relieve her. Unlike larger hospitals, their little town didn’t have a code team. They had to rely on nurses from different departments to drop what they were doing and help.

  “Intubated,” the respiratory therapist called out as she attached the bag and began the rhythmic squeezing that would keep oxygen flowing to the man’s vital organs.

  “Epi in.” Sylvie raised her voice to be heard by the person recording.

  “I’ll take over, Cort,” Trista, one of her medical floor co-workers, said as she stepped up behind her.

  Cortney looked back to see that Mel and Bernice had also come to help out. Yes, the cavalry has arrived.

  “Stop compressions,” Doctor Eric called as he stepped in for a pulse check.

  He studied the cardiac monitor for a moment. “We have a faint pulse. He’s in V-tach. Let’s shock him.” He took the paddles, and the high pitched whine of the machine cut through the silence.

  He placed the paddles on the patient’s chest. Everyone stepped away from the stretcher, hands up in front of them. “I’m clear. You’re clear. We’re all clear,” he announced just before the man’s body jumped as electricity jolted through him.

  Cortney held her breath as they all stared at the monitor. One beat. Two… then nothing. Damn it.

  “Resume CPR.”

  ***

  All Draven had wanted was to get in there and get Kirk out before all the drama started. But that little spitfire with her light brown hair and steel gray eyes had gotten up in his face and stood up to him. Him. He was the head of the biggest phoenix odyssey in Ontario. No one in his clan gave him grief over anything. Ever.

  It had been oddly refreshing. The constant ass kissing Draven received grated on his nerves more often than not. He’d had no intention of reporting the little nurse, still didn’t, but the situation with Kirk was getting out of hand, and if he didn’t get in there and get him out, all hell would break loose.

  It wasn’t that phoenix shifters were in hiding anymore, but tensions between the phoenix population and humans were on the rise, and burning one of their hospitals down would incite a riot. Not that he’d allow it to happen, but even a hint of such a danger would send the humans in an uproar.

  Once Kirk rose, he was going to kill the kid and make him go through it all over again just for causing him this headache.

  Draven watched as Kirk’s body bounced off the stretcher. That wouldn’t feel good. And the broken ribs would hurt like a bitch, too. Oh, Kirk wasn’t feeling a damned thing now, but he’d feel every last blow as he came back to life. Served the idiot right for getting himself killed in the first place. He was too reckless. He’d learn. By human standards, Kirk wasn’t a child, but in phoenix years, he was no more than a snot-nosed teen who needed to be taught some manners.

  All motion stopped for a beat. Two. Then when the line on the monitor went flat, the flurry of activity started up again.

  He watched Cortney move around with all the confidence of a seasoned professional, but she couldn’t be more than twenty-two at most. When she dashed to the red cart and grabbed another vial from the drawer, a faint glow trailed her fingertips, but then it was gone. What the hell?

  Draven stood straighter. A second later, the glow came back, bathing her whole body in a pale aura. She was either reacting to Kirk, or to him. Either way, she was a suitable phoenix mate. She would accompany him to the odyssey when he left. He just had to make that happen sooner rather than later. Already, the temperature in the room had risen a couple of degrees. Kirk was coming back faster than even he’d expected. Any longer and they would fry the humans. Well, most of them anyway. Spunky little Cortney would be fine. But the others would perish.

  “How long have we been coding him? Has family been notified?” the doctor asked, his voice resigned.

  “Almost twenty-five minutes,” the one who had been recording everything on a clipboard said. “No family on file.”

  Draven stepped forward. “I’m his family.”

  All eyes turned to him. Cortney glared, but Eric’s eyes grew wide.

  “Draven, I… Jesus, is he one of yours?” the doctor asked, his face getting paler by the second.

  “He is.”

  “Clear the room. Everyone out. Now,” Eric ordered.

  Cortney stood there blinking at him for a moment, then proceeded to follow her co-workers.

  “Not you. You can stay. In fact, you’re coming with me,” Draven told her more gently than he’d spoken to her before.

  She narrowed her eyes at him, then turned to the doctor. “What’s going on here, Eric?”

  “Draven, if this guy goes up in flames—”

  “Sh
e’ll be fine. She’s a phoenix mate. I just need somewhere out in the open to bring him. And fast.” Already he had him up in his arms and headed toward the exit.

  “The helipad. Should be far enough from the building,” the doctor suggested.

  “What the hell are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere with you,” Cortney spat as he walked past.

  He didn’t bother mentioning that she was following. Her aura had already brightened to a brilliant red. It was a color of power and strength. And it gave him hope. Someone so strong wouldn’t be suited to a young one like Kirk. For too many years—lifetimes—he’d been alone. He almost didn’t dare hope.

  Draven took in the energy pouring from Kirk as he jogged to the helipad. He placed the kid at the center before turning to Cortney. “He’s going to burn fast, and hot. It won't hurt you, but it might be frightening.”

  “Doctor Parker.” She whipped around to ask Eric something, but the man was long gone. “What’s goi—”

  “He can’t come near. He’s human. He’d die.”

  “B-but, I’m human.” Eyes wide, she took a step back, then another. More than anything, he wanted to reassure her, but there was no time. Fiery energy blasted him from behind. He absorbed as much of it as he could, but even he couldn’t contain the fire of a rising phoenix.

  Cortney’s scream ripped through the clearing as the blue and yellow flames engulfed them all.

  Chapter Two

  A huge ball of fire shot out of the man Cortney had been trying to save only a few minutes before, rushing straight to her. She had to get the hell out of there, but her legs wouldn’t move. In an instant, the flames engulfed her, slithering like a living, breathing thing along her skin, making her hair fly all around her face in the blast.

  Her throat hurt. Not from the pain she was expecting, but because she was screaming so fucking loud. How the hell could she breathe with fire sucking all the oxygen away?

  One second she was alone, the next, the rude man from the ER appeared in front of her. His arms came around her, and he held her close. He somehow absorbed the flames, taking them within himself, pulling them from her.