Chapter 83

Fiona

I stumble, crying out when my ankle twists a funny way as I climb through the rubble. Ethan catches me, his hands gripping my waist to steady me.

“Th-thanks,” I mumble, letting myself hold onto his wrists as he lifts me and sets me back down on more sturdy ground.

“Do you think we’ll be able to find it?” I ask, kicking a particularly burnt piece of something to the side. When it moves, the original form- or what’s left of it’s original form- breaks apart and crumbles to ash.

Ethan’s fingers wrap around my elbow, helping me over another unsteady spot as he says, “We’ll find it. Ryan is on his way to help, and I think he may bring help.”

“Help?” I ask, looking up at him. “Who?”

“He was out with a few pack members for the day and volunteered them to come help. They should be here any—”

The rumble of a car engine stops Ethan’s words, making us both look up. Ryan pulls up to the curb behind Ethan’s car and cuts the engine, climbing out with two other men. They’re familiar, and as they get closer, I realize one is the Junior Lawyer that helped me before and the other works at Silverclaw.

“Alpha.” They greet with a slight bow. What Ethan said moments ago fully registers. They’re Lycans like Ethan and Ryan.

“Mrs. Aldrige.”

“Mrs. Fiona.”

They both offer me slight bows as well, the younger of the two grinning like a teenager who just got his first paycheck.

“Hi, thanks for coming to help,” I tell them, waving to be polite. I itch to get back to looking for anything salvageable, but I don’t want to be rude.

The Junior Lawyer steps up, holding his hand out. I notice the slight shift in Ethan’s body behind mine as the young man reaches for me. Ethan’s body presses into my back, his hand on my elbow sliding just enough to where my hand also reaches out. I go to shake his hand, but with a slight bump from Ethan’s guidance, I realize that’s not what’s happening.

The Junior Lawyer takes my hand and kneels, surprising me as he presses my knuckles to his forehead.

“My name is Jeremy Reid,” he says softly. “I welcome you to the Silverclaw Pack.”

He doesn’t say anything else which creates an awkward silence. Am I supposed to do something? Say something?

“Um, I…”

My words trail off when the other man takes my other hand, mirroring the Junior Lawyer. He goes down on one knee and takes my hand, pressing it to his forehead like the younger man. If anyone were to see this, they’d think I was being proposed to by two different men.

“My name is Isaac Harman. I welcome you to the Silverclaw Pack.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I find Ethan smiling down at me before he looks to the two men.

“Reid. Isaac. Thank you for greeting my mate. You may stand,” he instructs. They release my hands and stand, one smiling widely and the other looking around at my ruined house.

“What’s the situation, Alpha?” Isaac questions seriously.

“The Luna’s moonstone necklace is somewhere in the rubble. We are also searching for anything that may have survived the fire,” Ethan tells the men, and they both stiffen at the mention of the necklace. I curl in on myself, feeling stupid for losing it.

Reid offers me another smile which makes me feel a bit better, but not fully.

“Do you know who did this?” Reid asks.

Ethan shakes his head, answering, “No, but I’ve got people investigating. The fire department is also doing their own investigation, and I’m waiting to hear back to see what they’ve found.”

I didn’t realize there were so many people looking into this.

“Was it not an accident?” I ask, turning my eyes up to Ethan. Did he think someone deliberately set the fire?

“It’s not concrete yet, but I do believe someone set the fire purposely and was targeting you- or maybe me through you,” he answers and a shiver runs down my spine. Would this ever end? I’ve been attacked, kidnapped, and hurt more times over the last few weeks than I have ever been in my entire life. It’s ridiculous and getting old.

Is it too much to ask for a simple, calm life with someone I love?

Can’t I just have that?

“Don’t worry, Fiona,” Ethan says, grabbing my attention again. “I will find whoever did this and they will be punished. My people are looking into it, and they’re the best.”

“Thank you, Ethan,” I murmur and kiss his cheek. Then, I turn to the men standing in front of us. “And thank you for coming to help.”

They answer with various forms of it being their duty and privilege as they fan out, beginning their search through the rubble and ash. Ethan follows me, keeping me from falling or getting hurt as I step over or push pieces of wreckage aside.

“My room would’ve been over here,” I tell him, pointing to the right. “So, if the necklace was anywhere, that’s where it would’ve been.”

I stumble over pieces of wood and brick, pushing at the remains of my house.

If I don’t find anything else, I hope I can at least find the necklace. I try not to keep my hopes too high, though, because it could’ve been melted or burned away by the fire. It was small and the fire was hot. Most likely it got destroyed like everything else.

“Did you have a safe?” Ethan asks a little while later, making me lift my head. My vision is blurry, and my eyes burn, but I can clearly see the soot streaked box he’s holding.

“Yes! I forgot about it,” I tell him, rushing toward him. “I changed it to one of those fancy fireproof ones when my mom died.” I reach my blackened hands out but nearly fall over when I trip over a burned beam.

“Woah.”

Ethan catches me by the waist, lifting me off my feet and over the beam. As soon as I’m on my feet, my fingers are pressing the little number buttons to open the safe. It pops, and I pull the little door open, whimpering in relief when I see the papers inside.

Birth certificate, social security card, and several other important papers sit right in the bottom of the box, but the picture on top is what brings tears to my already burning eyes.

On top sits a picture of me and my mother from a year before she passed. We’re both smiling and hugging each other as we sit on a park bench. It was before we found out she was sick and before she started growing pale and thin.

Now, it’s the only picture I have left of her.

I reach for the picture but pause when I notice my dirty hands. I don’t want to ruin the picture, so I close the safe again and look up at Ethan.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He smiles down at me, a bright, encouraging smile, as he says, “Let’s keep looking. I’ll put this over there, and we can find your necklace.”

I watch him for a moment, wondering how I got so lucky to have him, before I turn back to the wreckage. We’d already found more than I expected, so with renewed energy, I begin digging through the rubble.

Puffs of ash hit me in the face as I dig, but I wave it away, continuing in my search. I move forward, careful of where I step as I narrow my burning eyes. I have to remind myself not to rub at them or it would get worse.

The longer I search, the harder it becomes to see and to breathe, but I press on. I’ll find the necklace today no matter how long it takes.

Pushing aside a small pile of brick, I break out into a coughing fit when a cloud of dust sprays up in my face. I pull back, staggering as I shake my head and try to blink the ash out of my eyes and cough it out of my mouth.

“Are you okay?” Someone asks, hands grabbing my biceps to stop me from falling.

I blink aggressively and find the blurry form of Reid standing in front of me.

“I- yeah, I just got ashes in my eyes,” I tell him, my voice coming out as a rasp.

“Here, drink this.” He presses something cold into my hands, guiding it to my lips and letting me drink the cool, refreshing water. “Tilt your head back, I’ll help you clear your eyes out.” I do as he says, tilting my head.

The cold water is a shock to my burning eyes, but it also feels nice once you get past the cold pinpricks.

“Now bend over and let it drain,” he instructs. Again, I follow his instructions, bending and blinking. We do this three times before my vision mostly clears, and I can see again.

“Thank you, Reid,” I mutter, blinking my still itchy eyes. I want to rub at them, but that would put me back in the same position with ash in my eyes, and if I’m going to find the necklace, I can’t do that.

When I turn, I find Ethan watching us with a proud expression on his face. Reid dips his head and scurries past Ethan, muttering something I don’t catch, but it doesn’t matter because when Ethan steps up to me, he lifts his hand.

Between his fingers and dangling from his grip is the necklace.

“You found it!”

His smile widens, and he darts forward when I stumble over to him.

“Careful,” he growls in warning. “I found it while you and Reid were—”

“Cleaning my eyes,” I tell him, not wanting him to think Reid was doing anything bad. He chuckles.

“I know. I saw,” Ethan murmurs, kissing my forehead. “I’m glad you like my pack mates. Now, turn around.”

I spin faster than I think I ever have, almost giddy to have the necklace back, and the moment he lifts it over my head, it pulses with a soft glow. The blueish silver light fades then grows again as Ethan slides the chain around my neck.

Once it’s secure and the pendant is laying flat against my clavicle, a sense of calm washes over me.