He’s right. Bert is barking. But it’s funny, it doesn’t sound quite right. His bark is higher than usual, almost frantic.
Shit.
I look at Jude. “I think something’s wrong.”
I try the doorknob. It’s locked.
Stand back,” I tell him.
Jude does what I say. I step back, anchor myself with my standing foot, then drive my heel into the door. It’s old and solid, but I feel a little give. I kick again, then again. The wood starts to splinter. On the fourth try, it gives way.
I burst inside, Jude behind me. The first thing I see is the smoky haze. The second is Bert, running back and forth up and down the stairs, yelping.
“Get him out of here!” I yell at Jude. I sprint up the stairs, and get to the top just as Ember staggers out of her bedroom, naked. She’s coughing and wheezing, dragging a bedsheet behind her.
“Ember!” I run to her. Blearily, she peers through half-closed eyelids as she continues to cough. I scoop her up, grabbing the bedsheet too, and carry her limp body down the stairs. Eyes stinging, I see now that the flickering light is flames engulfing the kitchen and the entire back of the house.
I carry Ember outside, all the way out past the sidewalk to the boulevard, and set her down on the grass. I help her drape the sheet around her to cover her nakedness, then take off my leather cut and put it around her so she won’t be cold.
“Jesus, the entire place is gonna go up,” Jude declares. “If we’d been a few minutes later…”
Ember is still coughing. I brush the hair from her face, listen to her breathing. She blinks up at me. “I… I didn’t think I’d make it out…”
“You can thank Bert,” I tell her. “His barking was what made me realize there was something wrong.”
Ember’s coughing quiets, and she sucks in a great, shaky lungful of air. “Oh, thank God,” she exhales. She takes another slow, careful breath and lets it out, looking around her. Suddenly, she freezes.
“Why is that there?” she pants.
I follow her eyes to a Beemer that’s parked a couple houses down. It’s the only car on that side of the street at this hour. It’s familiar, but it takes me a second to place it. Then I realize whose it is.
“Was he here?” I ask.
Ember’s eyes widen in fear. “Striker, I think he’s still inside the house!”
Jude is standing behind Striker. “There’s someone still in there?” he asks in alarm.
Ember starts to talk, but she’s interrupted by a coughing fit. When she gets control of herself, she wheezes, “Yes, my… husband…”
Jude doesn’t wait to hear the rest. Without a word, he takes off, sprinting toward the house.
“No!” Ember chokes weakly. “Jude!”
“Jude!” I yell after him, my voice booming across the yard. But he either doesn’t hear me or isn’t listening.
Before I can stop him, Jude crashes through the door of the burning house and disappears inside.
36
Ember
“Is she coming around?”
The voices come to me as though they’re filtered through cotton, fuzzy and indistinct. At first, I can’t tell how many of them there are, or who they are.
But then, I hear the low rumble that’s become as familiar to me as my own heartbeat.
“I think so,” he says. “Her eyelids are fluttering.”
Striker.
I try to open my eyes, but the bright light sends a spear of pain through my head. I squeeze my eyelids shut and turn away from it, moaning.
“Hey, Tank, can you shut those blinds? I think the sunlight is bothering her.”
A second later, instant bliss as the light dims. I brace myself and try again. This time, it works. I squint through the fuzz in my brain and look up to see Striker’s face staring down at me, drawn and haggard, like he hasn’t slept.
Then I remember where I am, and what brought me here.
“What time is it?” I croak.
“It’s morning,” Striker tells me, with a glance to the other side of the bed. I follow his eyes. Tank is there, with Cady at his side. Next to them is a woman in a nurse’s uniform whom I recognize as one of the other bikers’ old ladies.
“Hi,” she smiles down at me. “I’m Isabel. Not sure if you remember me.”
I start to nod, but it hurts. “Yes, I do.”
“Strictly speaking, I shouldn’t be letting this many people in here at once to visit you,” she winks. “They promised me they wouldn’t tire you out or stay very long.”
“Am I… am I okay?” I ask, alarmed.
“Yes, you’re going to be just fine,” Isabel assures me. “The docs just want to keep you under observation for a little while, and make sure you get some rest before we release you. You have signs of smoke inhalation. And when we admitted you last night, you told us you’d been drugged by your ex-husband, so we’re going to watch you for a bit to make sure there are no lasting effects from either of those things.”
At her words, my mind flashes back to the horror of last night. All of a sudden, my heart is racing. “Striker, where’s Bert?” I ask, reaching for his sleeve.
“He’s fine, don’t worry. I got hold of Margot, and she came and took him to her house. She and Benji are outside waiting to see you, by the way.”
“Wren is with them,” Cady adds. “She’d like to see you, too but I thought maybe she’d be a little too excited for your first visit.”
I let out a soft laugh that ends in a cough. “That’s so sweet…” I say when I can speak again. And then all at once, I realize who isn’t here.
“Oh my God,” I gasp. “What about Jude?”
Striker seems pained. “He’s here at the hospital, too. He’s gonna be okay, but he got caught in the house when he went back in to look for your ex. He suffered some burns, unfortunately. The docs say he’s gonna heal, but it’ll take time. And there’ll be some scarring.”
“Oh, no…” I say, stricken.
“He’s pretty upset that none of the Lords were watching the house when Mark showed up to break in,” Striker continues, shaking his head. “He feels like this whole thing is his fault. Maybe we can go see him when they release you. Set his mind at ease a little.”
I’m fighting the urge to cry. “Poor Jude!” I exclaim. “He shouldn’t feel bad. He’s a hero. But wait… did he manage to get Mark out?”
Striker and Tank exchange a look.
“Mark didn’t make it,” Striker grunts. “He was dead before Jude went in for him.”
“Oh my God.” I pull in a shaky breath.
“The fire department came, of course,” Tank adds. “You probably don’t remember much of that. I talked to one of the fire fighters, a guy I know. He told me it’s gonna be a while before they figure out what happened, but his best guess is there was an explosion in the basement. Your ex was down there when it happened. His body was pretty badly burned. The guy I talked to said there’s probably gonna be an investigation, but they think maybe he was trying to start some sort of electrical fire down there and it backfired on him.”