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“Where?”

“It’s by the kibble. She likes breaking out and…okay, stop glaring, I know it’s not the time. The point is that there is a gap behind the cabinets at the back. She’ll probably be hiding there. It’s why you folks didn’t find her.”

I glance at the low building. Smoke is still curling from the eaves.

I point at my young lieutenant. “Tell him exactly where.”

“He won’t find it, and even if he does, Cornbread doesn’t come to anyone but me.”

This Beta is as dominant as an Alpha. No wonder she appears to have attracted an Omega.

I realize the risk a fraction of a second too late.

“Ma’am, you’re not…” Startled, I reach for her sleeve, when her expression changes.

Sophie dives around me like we’re on the football field.

“Stop her,” I order my crew.

But they’re taken off guard too.

“Damn,” I growl.

My heart races faster than it has all morning, even when the fire was raging with both terror and fury.

Paige’s sister is throwing herself into a smoldering building that could collapse on her head. She is wearing no protective gear.

She is a fool.

But why does she feel like pack?

It is breaching…everything…for me to go in after her. But I must.

How could I face Paige otherwise? How could I face the rest of my pack?

“Captain,” I bark. “You’ve got command.”

He nods.

Other Alphas may have argued with me, but my captain is in his sixties and has known me since I was a kid.

He has worked in this department with me since I joined it when I was eighteen. The type of trust that we have built with each other is unshakable.

He simply tosses an air pack at me. "I have command."

Judd steps toward me. "I'm coming with you."

"No," I bark.

"Chief—"

"Stay with your crew. Do your job, lieutenant. I'll do mine."

I run toward the building after Sophie.

I pull the mask firmly over my face, tightening the straps. Instantly, my forehead and jaw hurt with the pressure. The protective hood settles around it, followed by my helmet. I connect the air supply.

I am cut off from the world.