Kirin hung up his coat then placed his shoes and backpack in the labeled cubbies before racing up to Emily and tugging on her hand. “Emily, are we having chocolate milk today?”
I sighed and braced to scold my son, worried how he would react to her answer.
She ruffled his hair. “I believe you get some, but as you know, not all our students can drink it.”
He nodded with his lips turned up in a smile. “Thank you.” Then he raced to the toy room.
“Don’t make a mess,” I called after him, needing to leave him on his own as I checked the messages on the phone to begin my workday before any of the parents and students arrived.
Overall, the day started off without much excitement. There was a quick test of the fire alarm before all the students scheduled for the day arrived. They showed up on time, and their parents were anxious to leave rather than stand around to chat after dropping them off as often happened. The lunch order was sent up with no issues, and the half-day students all left shortly after noon.
I hoped the rest of the day went as smoothly, and I expected it to until two alphas walked into the center just after the students were coerced into nap and quiet time. Maybe my thoughts jinxed the day, but I knew none of the students would stay quiet or sleep for long with the two sexy firefighters wanting to inspect each room to ensure we were up to code. Talk about bad timing.
Chapter Two
Blaze
“Yo, Draco, you’re with me today.”
I sighed as the fire inspector motioned at me. Everyone at the firehall knew my name. First and last. Yet, I got called Draco more often than not. They made it seem like I was the only dragon shifter in Saramto, which I found hard to believe. There had been plenty of my kind leave the dragon community for other cities and towns throughout my life.
Grabbing my coat, I followed Bruce, a buffalo shifter, to the command vehicle he used when performing inspections around the metropolis. A different kind of training for me today. Since becoming part of Station 347, I’d never been invited by him to tag along, the call always seeming to go to any probie on shift rather than fully certified firefighters.
Hopping into the passenger seat, I buckled up. “So, where are we going?”
“Shifter Towers.” He started the truck before driving out the back door of the garage. “It will take a couple weeks for me to get to all the businesses there, but we’ll see how many we can get through today.”
Provided there wasn’t an emergency we got called away for. That happened every now and again when we were out in the community for training or events, but not as often as I’d expected when I moved to the big city.
“Are there usually a lot of infractions?” I wanted to know what to expect, what my duties would involve as his assistant.
“Not really.” He turned right onto Main Street, taking us past the three seventy-story high-rises. “Mostly blocked fire exits or misplaced fire extinguishers. I rarely hand out any fines. Usually, businesses just need a reminder of the fire code. The buildings themselves are usually well-maintained with up-to-date logbooks. We’ll test the alarm systems and the elevators. It’s been a while since we got a call about someone being stuck in one of them.”
“A while?” It wasn’t a call I had responded to since I started with the 347, yet I had been trained on the procedure.
Bruce shrugged, switching into the left-hand lane. “A few months, maybe? Though most of the time, someone from the maintenance team can get the elevator moving again. The problem is that people use their phones to dial emergency services before thinking to press the call button in the car itself. Many times, they’re out before we arrive.”
“What do you want me to do in there?” As with any scene we went to, it was best to know as much information as possible ahead of time to do our job quickly and efficiently.
“To start, just pay attention and observe. I’ve seen you on various sites, and you catch things that others don’t.” He turned left onto a roadway that went alongside tower three before turning ninety degrees to go behind the other two buildings. It was designated for delivery and emergency vehicles only. “In each business, I’ll ask you to check different things. Mostly, you’ll be my eyes and ears when I’m focused on the business owner. You would be surprised what happens in the background while I’m introducing myself and stating the purpose for our visit.”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted more details or preferred to learn on the go based on what the day would bring. It wasn’t as if anyone was in immediate danger.
After parking in a spot adjacent to the maintenance entrance for tower one, Bruce turned off the truck then grabbed his messenger bag from the back seat. “Let’s go.”
No heavy coat, pants, or boots needed. No helmet or any other PPE. I felt almost naked without our turnouts as I walked toward the building alongside the fire inspector.
Bruce had just pushed the button beside the maintenance entrance when the door opened, a graying older man who gave off the scent of a goat shifter, on the other side.
“It’s good to see you again, Inspector Stanfield.” He nodded to Bruce then to me. “I expected you to be coming around sometime soon.”
Bruce chuckled. “You, too, George. I expect you to have your logbooks all up to date for me.”
“Of course.” He moved aside and ushered us in. “I’m trying to train the younger ones to keep them filled out, but if it’s not computerized, they want nothing to do with it.”
Bruce patted him on the back. “When the power fails, it’s a good time to remind them why paper records are important.” He sidestepped to stand beside me. “This is Dra— I’m mean, this is Blaze. He’s helping me out today.”
George glanced at my coat then up at me. “Not a probie. How did you wrangle this one?”
