Ryker, Abraham, and Gary appeared at the chaotic scene just to see Mary stepping out of the fire right before the structure collapsed. In her arms, she was holding another female pack member.
With no hesitation, Ryker rushed over to her side. She was shaking a little from exhaustion. He grabbed onto her shoulders right after she released the female to medical staff.
Ryker's eyes did a quick sweep. Black streaks riddled her face and her hair looked a mess. She looked exhausted.
"Are you okay?" he asked in concern while his hands roamed over her body.
"I'm okay," she said, but the pained grimace on her face when he touched her left forearm didn't go unnoticed.
He lifted her left arm and turned it slightly to see that the scalding fire burned her forearm.
"Get someone over here to look at this now," Ryker ordered Gary.
The building was no longer standing, and with it the fire was dissipating. Ryker watched Gary leave. His eyes swept over the place. Many people made it out alive, but the fire injured some pack members during their escape.
He felt Mary leaned further into him. His eyes returned to her just in time to catch her as she collapsed unconsciously into his arms. He knelt onto the ground to stop her fall.
"She's a fool," Abraham whispered next to him, but Ryker could hear the concern in his voice.
Ryker cradled one side of her face and held her close to his chest. At the same time, he was trying to control the erratic beating of his heart. When he heard that there was a fire, he was afraid for his people, but when he appeared at the scene and saw Mary coming out of the fire, he never felt so much fear in his life.
"She's brave," Ryker whispered proudly.
"She went into a raging fire to save people she didn't know."
It wasn't an accusation. There was surprise in Abraham's voice. Ryker, on the other hand, wasn't surprised at all. This sounds very much like Mary. It made him proud, but it also scared the crap out of him. Mary had no fears. She charged right inside to rescue people without a single thought about her life or how much her life matters to the surrounding people-to him.
The medical staff appeared and knelt next to Ryker. Setting down his medical kit, he took hold of Mary's hand and turned it around to look. It was a severe burn. It scalded the entire backside of her forearm.
"It would leave a terrible scar," the medical staff murmured before opening his kit up. He pulled out a medicinal jar. "In a hospital setting, it would be more convenient to debride the bad skin tissue before applying medicinal herbs to increase the healing process, but..."
Ryker understood. There were many other people that needed attending too. Many of which who received more severe burns compared to Mary.
"This will relieve the pain and increase the healing process," the medical staff assured him.
"What is it?" Ryker questioned.
"No worries, Alpha. It's a herbal mixture that I learned a while back during my residency. It has gotu kola in it to help with skin repairing and aloe vera to help with the burn."
Mary didn't wake up. She slept through the dressing of her forearm too. When the medical staff finished tending to Mary. He packed away his medical supplies before separating from them to tend to others.
Ryker was in a dilemma. The leader in him felt the need to stay and manage things here, but the male inside of him wanted to tend to the female in his arms. Looking away from Mary's unconscious form, his eyes did a quick sweep of the surrounding chaos. People were distraught and soon they would start asking questions. Questions that he didn't have any answers for.
"Carry her to my house, Abe." Ryker looked at his brother.
Abraham nodded before taking Mary from Ryker's arms. He watched Abraham carried her away before turning his attention to the scene.
Bruno and Gary appeared in front of him. Each wearing a grim look on their face. Ryker noticed Gary was carrying something. When his eyes landed on the red tinted gasoline containers.
"I found several of these at the edge of the woods," Gary stated. "There were also footprints. If I could guess it correctly, two to three people. Two lighter in build and one who is heavier. One set of footprints has a heavier set of prints on the ground."
"They fled...." Ryker murmured more to himself, "which means that they didn't have time to cover their tracks... someone caught them."
"It must be those damn juveniles! They are always causing trouble. They must have-" Bruno stopped when he saw Ryker shake his head in disagreement.
"No, it's not them. They are rule breakers, but they won't go this far," Ryker argued.
"It has to be them. Those pesky little brats don't care about the pack. They just want to have fun," Bruno combated. "We shouldn't allow them to act this way."
Ryker had recently taken in a group of rebellious juveniles. They were rule breakers and acted tough around everybody, but those were simple disobedience. They wouldn't dare go as far as harming others, and Ryker knew that thoroughly.
Ryker agreed with Bruno. They shouldn't act this way, but Ryker could see himself in the group of juveniles. They were lost and so afraid of acceptance. Their only shield of protection was to pretend that this new life meant nothing to them. When they truthfully sought something more than fear and sorrow.
People who migrated to his pack always sought more.
"Alpha Ryker."
Ryker turned to see Clarence. Clarence was an elder pack member that lived in the packhouse. He had no children or mate. Mainly spends most of his time minding his own business. However, Ryker valued his opinions very much. Clarence was once a council member from another pack until he moved away.
"May I have a moment of your time?" Clarence looked at Bruno and then at Gary.
Ryker dismissed them before turning to look at Clarence. A few members have slinked forward. They all looked tired and worn from trying to put out the fire.
"Do you know what happened?" Clarence was the first one to ask.
Ryker shook his head. "I wish I had the answers for you all, but I don't right now."
Some of them nodded in understanding.
"I apologize greatly. I wished I could give you all answers, but there isn't. I have failed in protecting you-"
"Ah, you do not need to explain yourself, Alpha. We know you do everything you can to provide for us," Clarence interrupted with a wave of his hand.
"Many people were injured," Ryker argued, feeling the guilt of not be able to save them all.
"Yes, people were injured, but our lives are not in your hands, Alpha. Life happens. Death happens. Our lives are our own to save and you have saved us. We can never thank you enough. Do not think too hard on this."
The few people that had wandered over nodded in agreement, but Ryker knew that even if some believe so. Others wouldn't.
"Is the female okay?" someone asked, changing the subject entirely.
It took Ryker a minute to understand that they were asking about Mary.
"We saw her rush first into the fire and helped pull someone out. Then she ran back in to save another! That female amazed me. She didn't stop until she knew everybody was out."
"She didn't even know us, and she went running in to save my little girl."
Although everyone was complimenting her and feeling grateful towards her, Ryker still felt that she shouldn't have done it. She risked her life without considering the consequences. She could have died.
"She's alright and resting now," Ryker assured them.
It was late when he finally got to go home. He made his way up the steps and towards his bedroom. Exhausted from re-homing his pack members into a community center until he could find them a new home. He stunk of smoke and sweat.
Opening the door, he had totally forgotten about Mary until he found her sleeping on his bed. He had asked Abraham to bring her to his home because he felt it would be safer to have her closer to him. He didn't think that they would have her sleep in his bed. He also had a spared bedroom.
Walking over slowly, as to not wake her, he looked down at her sleeping form. Her bandaged hand was lying on top of the blanket and over her stomach. She looked like she took a shower because she was now wearing one of t-shirt and she no longer had black streaks all over her face.
After a minute, he showered and hurry to bed. The sun was going to rise any minute now, and he hadn't had a single wink of sleep.
Ryker crawled into bed soon after, wearing only a pair of sleeping pants-nothing underneath. Just as he was about to settle in, Mary began mumbling. She became more aggressive and moving her legs and arms as if something terrified her. She twisted toward him as if to curl up into a ball. He saw her bandaged arm about to get squished between the mattress and her body and immediately grabbed onto her shoulder to stop her from rolling over.
Carefully, he pushed her back onto her back and scooted closer to her body, making sure his arm rested over her body to stop her from rolling onto her injured arm. She was still moving a little, but her movement lessened, and her whimpers quieted down.
Mary may had run into the fire, but it must have traumatized her. She was re-living it in her dreams. He saw the worry lines etched on her face. Gingerly, he leaned forward and kissed her forehead and smoothed back her hair.
Laying back down, he looked at her for another minute before closing his eyes and falling asleep next to her. Admittingly so, he could have slept in the spare bedroom, but the temptation here was too great. She was in his home and being near her relieved some of his fears and worries.
It seemed like he had just closed his eyes because when he opened them next, it was already morning and he was sleeping alone. The pillow next to him was imprinted with her body and the bedsheets next to him was ruffled. Mary slept in his bed.
Ryker didn't bother getting dressed. He brushed his teeth and washed his face before walking out of his bedroom and downstairs. His house was quiet with no sound, so disappointment began to settle in his chest. He had hoped to see her before she left-to see if she was doing better.
Then Ryker heard soft footsteps in the kitchen and gentle murmuring. Mary was in his kitchen cooking. He turned and walked down that hallway and into the curved archway that led to the kitchen. She was still in his shirt, but he wasn't sure if she wore anything underneath his shirt.
"Good morning," he announced his presence.
Mary dropped the spatula in her hand when she heard his name.
"Oh," she said.
He sauntered around the small marble island to stand in front of her. Mary's eyes traveled slowly down his naked chest and then flew back to his face. A blush marred her cheeks. Ryker couldn't help but admit he liked this vision in front of him. Mary was in his kitchen. She reached for the spatula and his attention was caught by his bandaged arm.
"How is your arm?" He reached to take hold of her hand to bring her arm between them.
"I checked it this morning. It still looks pretty ugly," she said.
They have moved closer to examine her arm. It was like a magnetic was pulling them together without them even trying.
"You shouldn't have gone inside." He looked at her with displeasure.
"I-but-but-why?" she stuttered in disbelief. She was trying to save his pack members and he could have been grateful.
"You could have gotten hurt," he responded, still scowling.
"I didn't though," Mary argued and yanked her hand from his. She took a step away and continued to cook breakfast. Turning her back to him.
"Mary," he sighed before shoving a hand through his morning, unkempt hair. "It's not that I am not grateful. I'm thankful you were there to save them. If it were me, I would have done the same but I don't want you to get hurt."
"But I didn't," she said again. "and this is my choice. You have no say in this."
He gave a short laugh before moving to stand next to her. He leaned against the counter.
"I think that I have some sort of say in this because I promised your brother I would take care of you."
Mary turned to glare at him with her spatula still in her hand. She was making some scrambled eggs.
"Before you get angry with me, I only say this because I care about you. I truly do not like seeing you getting hurt. So, the next time you decide to rush into a raging fire, think about me too."
Mary didn't know how to argue with that. It was his feelings that he was expressing. He had a right to feel that way. The way he said it, however, made Mary feel special.