Chapter 60

Lila’s POV I dropped the can of beer from the ground, watching it spread across the hardwood floors. My mind was whirling as the smoke began to fill the living room. I saw the smoke before I saw the flames, and then the explosion came last.

I wasn’t sure I could stand up from the couch without falling over, but Brody was on his feet quickly, pulling me up with him.

The screaming pierced my ears from those who were caught in the explosion.

My heart was racing quickly against my chest; Brody kept his hold around my waist and was shuffling me toward the door.

“I need to get Rachel and Becca...” My words came out as a hoarse whisper, and I thought he didn’t hear me.

But he glanced down at me and narrowed his eyes.

“I need to get you to safety,” he told me firmly.

I shook my head; tears filling my eyes as I shoved him away from me.

“I need to get my friends,” I said louder, surprising him.

I took off toward the flames before he could say or do anything.

If I knew one thing about Volana’s is that we were incredibly hard to kill. Blaise had tried to kill my mother numerous times and she came back stronger than ever.

I wasn’t going to let fire be the one thing that took me out.

There was another explosion and that knocked me to the ground.

It was incredibly hard to breathe with how much smoke was invading my lungs, but I pushed through. I covered my mouth with my arms and kept making my way into the kitchen.

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That the last time I saw Rachel, she was standing near the kitchen door with Ryan, and I feared she was caught in the explosion.

I stumbled across a couple of bodies; students that were caught in the explosion.

My stomach knotted.

I couldn’t tell if they were alive or dead.

“Rachel?!” I yelled into the loud flames of fire. “Becca?!”

After a moment of what felt like hopeless waiting, I heard my name.

“Lila!!”

It was Rachel.

I followed the sound of my name until I found her pressed against the corner of the kitchen. Her face was covered in soot and blood and her hair was matted around her head. Her clothing was torn to shreds as she struggled to free her foot from the fridge that had fallen from her.

“I can’t move...” she cried; tears mixing with the soot and blood, staining her features.

“Hold on,” I said, trying to keep the horror I was feeling out of my voice.

I grabbed the fridge and used my entire strength to lift it enough so she could get her foot free.

She screamed in pain as she slid herself out from under the fridge.

“I think it’s broken,” she cried, pointing at her foot.

Her entire foot was swollen and twisted in a direction that shouldn’t be twisted. I couldn’t help but grimace.

“It’s going to be okay,” I assured her. “Just grab onto me and I’ll get you out of here.”

She wrapped her arm around me, and I managed to lift her off the ground. Rachel weighed practically nothing, so it was easy to lift her and carry her through the smoked engulfed house.

“I don’t know where Ryan is...” she cried. “He was with me one minute and disappeared after the explosion.”

My heart fell into my stomach; oh goddess. I hoped he was okay.

“Lila!” I heard Brody say as he fought his way into the fire and through the smoke.

He looked like he was about to pass out at any moment; the smoke would be too much for him and I worried he couldn’t handle it like a Volana wolf could.

“Brody, you need to get out of here,” I ordered him.

“Not without you!” He coughed, but even as he said that he grew wobbly, and I thought he was going to fall.

I shoved Rachel into Brody’s arms.

“Get her out of here,” I ordered.

“What about you?” He asked as I turned back toward the kitchen.

“I need to find Ryan and Becca.”

...

Enzo’s POV Students ran from the burning house, pure horror on their faces.

I felt a sense of panic when I didn’t see Lila among them.

But I knew she was still alive; my wolf could feel it.

Just as I reached the door of the house, Brody ran through it with Rachel in his arms.

“Where’s Lila?” I demanded to know.

Brody narrowed his eyes at me, seemingly confused. I realized I must have sounded like a worried boyfriend, and I needed to think of something else to say.

“Where is everybody else?”

“Lila is still inside,” Scott cried. “She told me to get Rachel out.”

“I don’t know where Ryan is,” Rachel cried; her entire charred body was trembling. “I think I broke my foot.”

“Call 911,” I demanded.

Brody nodded and took off further away from the house before grabbing his phone.

I didn’t stick around and wait any longer; I went straight into the house.

The smoke was a lot, and I couldn’t see for a while. I shifted into my wolf form so I could navigate a little better.

Max knew exactly where Lila was, and it didn’t take us long to reach her.

She was in the kitchen, kneeling over a body and she was trembling.

I could hear her crying as she did chest compressions on someone that I assumed was probably Ryan.

“You need to get out of here,” I ordered her through a mindlink.

She glanced at me, and I saw the void in her eyes; it was a look I had never seen from her.

“I think he’s dead...” she croaked.

“Help me get him on my back and let’s get out,” I said again.

She nodded as she stood to her feet, bringing Ryan with her.

She was able to lift his unconscious body off the ground and place him on my back with ease. She was incredibly strong, and I shouldn’t have been surprised by this.

“I need to find Becca!” She cried.

“I’ll find her, let’s just get you and him out of here,” I ordered.

She looked at me for a moment longer before nodding her head and running toward the exit.

Lila stumbled outside as soon as we broke through the door. I could hear the sirens in the distance and was relieved to see the red lights shining through the night. Students were huddled around outside, crying as and nursing their own wounds as they watched the building burn to the ground.

I placed Ryan on the ground beside a screaming Rachel. She looked horrified when she saw him lying unconscious before her.

I shifted back into my human form and began doing CPR to resuscitate him, but he remained unmoving.

I feared that Lila might have been right.

“Becca...” she cried, tears filling her eyes.

I looked back at the building, there was no way I would be able to get back in there and save anyone else.

Anyone still there would be long dead by now.

“Lila!!”

We turned and saw Becca running toward us; I sighed relief when she wrapped her arms around Lila and they both cried with one another.

The ambulance and fire department arrived moments later and were already getting to work on helping the students and stopping the fire.

The police were around also, asking questions about what had happened. Most students were too distraught to speak though.

Ryan and Rachel were both being transported to the hospital and Lila remained seated on the ground, staring at her feet as she tried to wrap her mind about what had happened.

“Let me look at you,” I said to her as I knelt beside her.

She glanced at me with tear-feared eyes.

“How did you know I was here...?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at me.

I could smell the alcohol on her breath and knew she was still a little drunk despite everything that had happened.

“I didn’t,” I lied. “I heard the explosion, and I came running.”

“You’re lying...” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “I know you are lying. You care about me.

Admit it. Admit that you want me as your mate.”

“You are a naive and foolish girl that snuck out to go to a party. I would be embarrassed to take someone like that as my mate.”

She stared at me for a moment longer and I thought she was going to start crying; I instantly felt guilty for saying those words. I was just so angry that she would put herself in this position and I was speaking out of emotions.

But her next words cut me like a sharp knife.

“Then reject me. Because I don’t want you as my mate either.”