Police surround us while the firemen do their thing, trying their best to save everyone inside before they can even start putting out the flames.
The Wolves are covered in soot, their faces smudged with black charcoal as ash litters the ground. It's like a scene out of a horror story. I can hardly believe what I’m seeing.
A slumped figure emerges from the broken roller door, his body bent under the weight of another man slung over his shoulders. They stand for a moment in the hazey doorway, two faceless silhouettes against the flames at their backs. Brothers at first glance, clawing their way to safety. The face of a wolf is barely visible under the streaks of ash, painted across Jaren's forearm with pride, and a stark contrast of the widow's ink wrapped around the arm gripping him. I can't help but gasp at the sight. I've never seen anything quite as poetic as a man saving his sworn enemy
The second Eli clears the burning building, Sebastian instantly lets me go. I race toward them and nearly beat the shit out of Eli when he refuses to put him down and keeps hauling him away from the burning building.
When he finally stops moving, Sebastian calls over a paramedic. I drop to my knees and press my fingers against his neck, trying to find a pulse like they do in all the movies. But I have no fucking idea what I’m doing. Am I even feeling in the right spot?
A paramedic moves in, and I get booted aside, but I stay right by Jaren’s head, keeping him protected. Christian moves in beside me with wide, horrified eyes, shaking his head, clearly seeing what I'm refusing to believe.
The paramedic looks up and seeing Christian as the guy in charge, she meets his eyes before shaking her head. “I’m sorry,” she says with sad eyes. “He’s gone. There’s nothing I can do for him.”
Christian nods, and as the paramedic moves on to the next guy, I break. “NOOOO,” I cry, throwing myself down onto Jaren. He didn’t even get a real chance to live. He was stuck working a rundown bar for a bunch of gang members. Surely, he had so much more to do with his life.
“Hey,” Christian says, pulling me up. “You don’t get to break down yet. I know you're hurting, and seeing all of this is a lot for a kid like you, but you’re the leader here. These guys are counting on you. Get in there and help until every last man has been checked, every wound stitched, and every flame is gone. You have a job to do. You can cry when you get home.”
I nod my head, getting back onto my wobbly feet with Sebastian at my side. I fucking hate that he’s right … again. But I have no choice. These guys are counting on me to be their voice of reason, to bring them back from making a drastic move, and to put forward a plan to make this right, but before that, there’s still a crisis to handle and chaos to fix.
I turn to Sebastian while also taking in Eli over his shoulder. “You two get out of here before the rest of them realize who you are and take revenge into their own hands.”
They nod, and just like that, they’re gone, not stupid enough to hang around longer than necessary.
I make my way over to one of the many firemen and pull on his arm until I have his undivided attention. “I kicked in all the bedroom doors in the west corridor but the three at the end. Make sure someone checks those. I want every single one of my men accounted for, is that clear?”
The fireman gives me a strange look, wondering who the fuck I am to be giving out orders but seeing the look in my eyes he nods and instantly speaks into his radio. “Last three bedrooms in the west corridor have not been cleared. I repeat, the last three bedrooms in the west corridor have not been cleared. Over.”
A crackly voice comes back through the radio, and I listen intently. “Heading there now. Over.”
Confident that they have it under control, I focus on the men struggling on the ground until every last one of them has been tended to. Men are driven off in ambulances while others are treated on-site by their own brothers.
The police make their way around, trying to take statements, and just as they’ve been trained, no one gives away anything. It’s like an unspoken rule that everyone claims that they don’t know how it happened.
Someone points me out as their leader, and just as the cops are taking my name, two firemen come walking out of the flames carrying one last body. Only this one is different and hasn’t fallen like the rest.