Page 60 of Bred By the Minotaur
I sleep like the dead that morning and afternoon, and wake up to the smell of dinner. Sandra is at the kitchen table when I come down.
“Feebs wanted me to spend more time with her,” Sandra says by way of explanation, giving a little eye roll.
“Love you,” Phoebe calls back.
I quirk a brow at her as I sidle in wearing my gym shorts and no shirt, not thinking we’d have company.
That’s when Milo zooms into the kitchen behind me, carrying Darla. “Dad! You’re up!” She wriggles in his arms, and he lets her go free. “We’re having tem-poo-poo-ra!”
Phoebe slaps her forehead. “Not tem-poo-poo-ra again.” She scoops some battered veggies out of the frying pan and strains them before dumping them onto a tray. “Sorry, Milo wanted breakfast for dinner, but Sandra and I outvoted him.”
“No, it’s perfect,” I say. “I love tem-poo-poo-ra.”
Milo screeches in delight, and we exchange a high-five. Phoebe groans even louder.
I’m reluctant to leave for work that night after I’ve put Milo to bed. But duty calls, et cetera.
When Sandra is gone, I pull in Phoebe for a kiss. She stiffens at first, but easily falls into me as I hold her the way I do when I’m about to haul her off to bed. I ravage her mouth, then release her, wishing I could stay another half hour.
“Go,” she says, swatting me on the butt. My tail flicks as I grab my shirt and head out the door.
That night, though, I’m glad I showed up to work. It’s one thing after another. We’re called to the scene when an old man has a heart attack, but he’s dead before EMTs even arrive. Then an alarm goes off at a college dormitory, and we arrive to a parking lot full of sleepy students in pajamas while their common room leaks smoke out the window because someone left food in the oven.
We scuttle all over town that night, and by two in the morning, I’m run ragged. I’m glad I have my coworkers, who are all troopers.
Then, toward the end of our shift, we get another call. There’s been a fire in a restaurant that has an apartment above it. We all race to the truck and get in, heading off down the road with our siren howling. You can already see the smoke billowing into the sky.
When we get there five minutes later, the whole building is in flames, radiating heat. We’re not sure where the entrance to the apartment is, but the restaurant owner points us to stairs that are certainly not to code.
Ron goes up first, and I’m close behind him. When we smash open the front door, the apartment is filled with smoke, and I grab my mask and slap it on my muzzle. It doesn’t help, though, with this much particulate in the air.
This is a bad one, and it’s taken over most of the apartment already.
“There’s rooms in the back and upstairs,” Ron says after surveying the layout.
I beat him to the punch. “I’ll take upstairs.”
I’m halfway up the steps, blinded by the smoke, when I hear a crash and a scream. Uh oh. I hope whoever it is isn’t hurt or trapped. I’ve been in situations like that before, and they still haunt me.
I race down the hall to where a door has fallen in. Inside is a little orc girl, trembling all over on her bed. She’s the same age as Milo.
I barge in through the door and snatch her up, and though she flails, I hold her close to me.
“It’s all right,” I say through the mask. “Hold on to me as tight as you can.”
She obeys, clinging like a monkey. I turn around to leave the way I came, flames licking at us, smoke filling my lungs. Everything around us is blazing, searing my exposed fur.
Then the beam over the doorway cracks and falls, showering us with sparks. I cover the girl with my arms, but the sparks burn holes through my heavy-duty clothes, anyway.
With the door blocked, the only way out now is through the window—from the third story. I turn around, breathing in even more smoke as I consider my options.
No. I know what I have to do, so I hold the girl close.
“I’m sorry,” I say to her. “I’m getting you out of here. Hang on.”
Then I run toward the window and jump through the glass, which explodes around me. The shattered edges tear into my body as I go through. But I need to keep my charge safe, so I intentionally fall wrong, bracing myself underneath her to keep her from getting injured.
I hit the ground and hear bones snap.
