Wildfire Griffin (Fire & Rescue Shifters: Wildfire Crew #1)(33)

Griff gave him what Rory and his siblings had always referred to as “the dad look.” The one that managed to combine total support with a certain wryness; a mix of you got this with gotta let kids make their own mistakes.

“Please, Dad,” Rory urged. “I don’t have your ability to read people, and my own power doesn’t work on Edith. I’m terrified of screwing up and not being able to make it right again.”

His dad’s image flickered and broke up for a moment, the unreliable internet connection struggling to maintain the call. “I can’t tell you your path, son. All I can do is suggest that you listen to your instincts. What does your griffin think?”

Sweep her into the sky, his animal said promptly. Show her our true self.

Rory made a face. “My griffin is no help. All it wants to do is mate her immediately. But I can’t, Dad. I’m her boss, after all. Imagine how it’s going to look to her if I hire her one day and start making advances the next. I have to keep my animal leashed, but so far it keeps getting away from me.” He winced as he recalled how close he’d already come to disaster. “Yesterday, I almost kissed her in the middle of fitting her out for new gear.”

“Well,” Griff murmured, smiling. “Firefighter uniforms are very sexy.”

“Seriously, Dad. You’ve got more control of your own beast than any shifter I know. How do you do it?”

Griff blew out his breath. “I learned the hard way that if you pit yourself against your own soul, you lose every time. Rory, I understand your concerns, but don’t think of this as something that’s happening only to you. Even though Edith’s not a shifter, she’ll be experiencing the mating instinct too. But she doesn’t know what’s really going on. Imagine what that must be like for her.”

Was that why Edith wouldn’t look him in the eyes? “You think she’s so timid and uncertain around me because she feels something too?”

Griff cocked an eyebrow at him. “Let’s just say that I find it difficult to believe that some fragile little mouse could possibly be your perfect match.”

Hope bloomed in his chest, but he hesitated. “I don’t know. If you saw her, you’d be able to tell how badly she’s been hurt. She’d locked herself up in that remote lookout tower like she was scared of the world. Yesterday, when she met the rest of the crew, she looked like she wanted to bolt straight back there. If she’s that overwhelmed just by meeting new people, how can I possibly dump shifters and fated mates and lightning-throwing invisible monsters on her head? I can’t explain one thing without the whole story coming out.”

“Mmm.” Griff rubbed his chin for a moment. “Who else knows she’s your mate?”

“Evidently, half of England and Scotland,” Rory said wryly. “Apart from that…all the squad, of course. And the Superintendent.”

The dad look was back again, stronger than ever. “And you see no way this could possibly go wrong.”

Rory winced. “Buck won’t tell, and I can keep the rest of the squad from spilling the secret too soon. And I will tell her. When the moment is right.” He glanced at the time. “I’ve got to go to training. Tell Mom and the girls I’ll call when I can.”

“We’re all thinking of you, son. Stay safe.” Griff hesitated. “And Rory?”

He paused with his thumb over the End Call button. “Yeah?”

“Make the right moment.”





Chapter 14





The right moment, Rory was pretty sure, was not in the middle of a crowded gym that smelled of socks.

Nonetheless, when he walked through the door and was confronted by the sight of Edith doing chin-ups across the room, it was all he could do not to drop to his knees and propose marriage on the spot.

Her muscles flexed under a light gleam of sweat. Her shorts and crop top clung to her narrow, straight figure and showed off the powerful curves of her thighs. Tendons stood out in the sides of her neck as she pulled herself up one more time. Strong, controlled, every part of her body working in perfect unison.

Joe came up behind him as he stood there frozen. The sea dragon let out a long, appreciative whistle.

“Bro.” Joe draped an arm over his shoulder, nodding in Edith’s direction. “Please take this as a totally platonic expression of sincere aesthetic admiration when I say: Daaaaaaamn.”

Unaware of her audience, Edith dropped to the ground. She wiped her forearm across her forehead, flushed and panting. She was gloriously female, intoxicatingly sexy, and he was staring at her like a lovesick teenage boy in front of half the crew.

He wrenched himself away, turning to Joe instead. “You want to do some free weights?”

“Not in the slightest,” Joe responded. His blue eyes gleamed with wickedness. “But I bet I know someone who does. Hey, Edith! Rory needs a spotter!”

Rory strategically positioned his gym towel in front of his groin as Edith headed their way. “Joe,” he growled under his breath, barely moving his lips. “I am going to murder you with my bare hands.”

“Just being a good wingman, bro. Whether you like it or not.” The sea dragon punched his arm cheerfully before heading off to join Callum and Blaise at the floor mats.

Edith flipped her long honey-gold braid over her shoulder, sweat-damp from her work out. His heart gave a great bound as she lifted her chin, looking him squarely in the eyes. “You wanted me?”