Chapter 31: The Fox of Flames
The world had narrowed to nothing but fire, smoke, and the crushing silence between breaths. I knelt beside Chief Ryan, my gloved hands trembling as they hovered over the debris pinning him down. His leg was crushed beneath twisted steel and collapsed concrete, the jagged remnants of what used to be the kindergarten's ceiling pressing mercilessly against him. Blood darkened the soot on his uniform, and the faint hiss of fire creeping closer filled the space between us.
His eyes met mine—sharp, clear, and terrifyingly calm despite everything.
"Mr. Fox," Ryan rasped, his voice steady even as ash clung to his lips, "what are you doing?"
I swallowed, the taste of smoke bitter on my tongue. "Saving you." My fingers dug into the wreckage again, ignoring the searing heat that bit through my gloves, tearing at the ruins like sheer willpower could bend steel.
But Ryan's hand shot out, gripping my wrist with surprising strength. His face—lined with exhaustion and streaked with soot—hardened with something more than pain.
"You've already answered the question," he said.
I froze.
That damn question. Would you save someone if the risk is too big?
I'd answered it without hesitation once. No, I'd said, because I have someone to go home to. Sienna.
But standing here, watching the life bleed from a man who'd never treated me like a rookie, who saw every member of this team as family regardless of rank... that answer felt like ash in my mouth.
"I was wrong," I whispered, my voice shaking. I tugged against his grip, desperate, conflicted. "I can't leave you here."