Page 30 of Found by the Pack

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“Okay,” he says simply. “I’ll grab them before I leave.”

Then he turns, nods once, and walks off like it’s the most normal thing in the world.

It’s not.

I feel like I’ve been standing in the sun too long. My skin is prickly. My lungs are tight.

I finish the rest of my shopping quickly. Pasta. Tomatoes. An absurd number of frozen waffles I’ll probably never eat.

When I finally step outside, the breeze hits my cheeks like a slap. I close my eyes for a second, try to level my breathing.

It’s fine. He’s just a man. Just a firefighter. Just?—

I blink.

He’s coming out of the store.

Even seeing him again after just a few minutes feels like a jolt. Like walking into a room you didn’t expect anyone to be in.

He walks toward me, grocery bag in one hand. I feel his gaze before he speaks.

I pop the trunk, reaching for the power bank and key. When I hand them to him, his fingers brush mine.

They’re warm. Dry. Strong.

I shouldn’t be noticing that.

“I’ll make sure he gets ’em,” he says.

“Thanks.” I try not to sound breathless. Fail miserably.

He nods again. “I’m sure we’ll see each other around.”

And then he turns and walks away, boots hitting pavement with weight and purpose.

His truck roars to life. The scent of smoke and heat and him lingers in the air like an aftershock.

I stand there too long before I climb into the car, close the door, and finally let myself breathe.

I press my forehead to the steering wheel, the leather cold against my skin.

Why did that feel like a tidal wave?

Why did he make my skin buzz like electricity under water?

I don’t know this man. Not really.

But my body reacted like it did.

I’ve had a headache all day. A slight fever, too. Probably from being rained on. From lack of sleep. From the general chaos of being uprooted.

But something deeper pulses in my gut. Some kind of wildness I don’t know how to name.

I blink away tears before they can fall.This is not that. Gabe is not Max.

He’snotMax.

And just because Max and the others were firefighters doesn’t mean every man in uniform is a danger.

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