Chapter One

The call came just before ten in the evening. 

Laura Burton ran through the station toward the ambulance as the dispatch squawked again, echoing up to the rafters of the rescue squad’s garage. She jumped inside the ambulance and slammed the passenger door shut just as it pulled out of the station into the hot, hazy night. Jordan, the other paramedic on shift, put the pedal to the floor while punching the siren and lights that would wake the dead, not that the sound bothered her anymore after eight years on the job. Her phone buzzed, and she pulled it out to check the name before answering. 

She held on as Jordan raced over the hills in the inky black dark. She knew they weren’t far. After a few tense minutes of racing through the dark August night, orange light in the Montana sky rose like a dawn of death, above the dense pine trees on the old, winding country road. The flash of blue and red lights flickered on the trees ahead of them as they approached the curve. 

Jordan careened around the bend, revealing a towering blaze through shards of tortured guardrail. The brakes squealed in agony as they pulled up next to the fire truck and Sergeant Ashleigh Myers’s cruiser. Laura didn’t wait. She jumped out, pulling her bag over her shoulder and running toward the valley, down the hill. 

Fifty yards away, the blaze lit up the valley like a sun radiating from a crumpled ball of expensive metal at the core of the fire, laughing in the face of whatever the firefighter was trying to douse it with. Laura couldn’t tell if it was Megan or not but hoped to God she was there or coming from the truck. Megan was as pink and bubbly as bubble gum, but damn, she was fierce and knew how to do her job.

Laura sprinted toward a figure she recognized as Ash twenty yards away, now crouched above a body fresh from the flames of hell. The rumpled body lay limp.

Laura slid down to kneel, the gravel from the nearby river biting into her knees through the uniform. The wave of heat hit her face, illuminating the man in front of her in an eerie flickering glow. She felt for a pulse and leaned in to listen for signs of breathing. Both were faint. The body reeked of alcohol. 

“What do we know?” she asked, ripping open the seal on an oxygen mask.

Sergeant Ashleigh Myers’s voice cut to the chase like the cold, precise edge of a knife, short and sharp to compete with the sirens. “Megan got him out. I’m thinking DUI. There were some bottles on the floor. I’ll need to come to the hospital and get a blood alcohol. He likely has injuries to limbs and severe burns—the car’s electric. Batteries keep catching. Went off the road and rolled down into the valley.”

The fire made everything orange. Laura couldn’t see Megan but knew her best friend and the station’s top firefighter would be right in the thick of the flames. 

Laura pulled out a penlight and shined it onto the hands and face to see the damage before applying the mask. A quick glance told her his hands had gotten the worst bit. One side of his face was red and swollen— 

Her breath left her in a rush. “Oh my God.”

Jordan slid down next to her with the backboard.

“How bad? Third?”

“No, first, maybe second on the hands. But…I know him.” 

The older paramedic muscled over, ready to jump in as he always had whenever she needed as long as they had worked together. “Here, I’ll take over if you can’t—”

“No, I got this. Patient has a history of drug and alcohol abuse.” She steadied her voice and got a grip. 

“Laura, are you sure?” Ash’s voice was softer now. They had been tight friends since Laura had become a paramedic.

“No, seriously. I’m okay.”

Ash touched her arm until she looked up. Her violet eyes searched Laura’s in the dark for a quick second before nodding once. Laura both understood and didn’t mind. Friends in their line of work had to look out for each other.

Now was not the time to get all up in her head. Laura rattled off what she knew, while they went into the seamless dance of triage they had trained for. Each pulled out equipment before the other could ask for it. Muscle memory pulled Laura through the movements, as they secured him on the board.

“Stable for transport? Med evac?” Ash asked, her hands on her hips, badge glinting in the firelight.

“Blood pressure looks okay. We’re taking him now.” 

“I’ll follow.” 

Laura didn’t turn around to face her friend, but finished securing the head restraints, careful of the burns on his face, and latched onto the handrails of the backboard. 

“One, two, three.” Jordan counted as they hauled what was left of Carter Price up and marched toward the hill he had rolled his car down. Laura caught a glimpse of the fire Megan and the other firefighters were beating into submission. The flames reached for the stars above with a frantic desperation. For no reason in particular, Laura remembered her mom’s wood stove. She had always thought fire looked like hands of the damned in hell reaching for benediction. The light stretched their shadows, unnatural in the dark night, on the mountain prairie. 

The weight in her hands brought Laura back to the present. The large body overwhelmed the backboard, his feet reaching the edge of the board. Carter had always been tall, but the years had changed a lot. He wasn’t the same wiry kid from high school. Even unconscious and injured, Carter had a powerful presence, no doubt—what was once skin and bones was now muscle. Laura felt her arms start to give when another firefighter came up behind and helped take up the weight. They trudged up the steep climb, stumbling in the dark on the spot where Carter’s tires had plowed through grass, carving their own path. 

The ambulance looked like a literal heaven with the pure white light pouring out of the back windows. The team loaded Carter inside, and Laura hopped in the back while Jordan slammed the doors shut. Laura heard the driver’s door close in the front, and with a lurch, they sped off into the dark. 

In the clear light, she rechecked vitals and assessed the damage again. It looked and felt like a fracture, but she couldn’t be sure. Heart rate was elevated, but that could be a mix of adrenaline, pain, or whatever else Carter was pumping in his body these days. His face was banged up. Laura pulled out a burn kit and applied the medicine to his hands and face. 

He looked familiar enough as the guy from around town back in high school. What had it been? Fifteen years now? God. Why was he back? He hadn’t wanted to see her ever again, and now they were locked in a steel box together. Had he gotten a say, she was probably the last person he’d want to see again after things had finished between them.

“Well, guess what, buddy? Welcome home,” she said in a dry voice.

Had he been any other patient, Laura would’ve done her thing, alone with no witnesses. They were a small town with a small team of paramedics only going out two at a time, which meant she was alone in the back. 

She had learned of her ability through pets and skinned knees when she was young. She didn’t know how she came by it, but all she needed to do was close her eyes and visualize the wounds healing to make it so. She’d been practicing for years and had helped everyone she’d ever reached on the job, provided they weren’t already gone. She knew she couldn’t help the deceased. Burns, bones, and gashes, she could kickstart the healing process before carefully wrapping them in bandages. By the time the nurses at the hospital removed all the coverings, the wounds were well on their way and past the point of infection. 

It was the same with heart attacks and pneumonia. Laura would remove her gloves, place her arms on the patient, and with her eyes closed, visualize the heart beating and the lungs draining of fluid and filling with sweet air. Some cases were more complicated, but she did what she could in the short drive between the pick-up and the hospital. 

So why wasn’t she doing it now? 

His face was the one she still thought about from high school. Laura bit her lip and pulled off her gloves before placing them on his skin, tacky with sweat from the fire. Even he deserved help and her oath required it, but something about this situation felt different.

She drew in a breath and tried to calm her mind. The warm glow from within didn’t come. She tried to imagine his burns healing, the broken bone knitting together, but nothing happened. Laura tried again, mimicking everything she had done for years. Starting to panic, she placed her hands on his chest and gave it another go with a steadying breath. A faint tinge of warmth came from within, but the reaction wasn’t the same. Why wasn’t it working?

The ambulance lurched over the speed bump, welcoming them to the hospital parking lot. She felt the ambulance make the turn into the emergency department entrance, right before the squeal of brakes signaled the end of their journey. A team of nurses opened the doors and pulled Carter Price out of her hands. Jordan followed, giving the notes.

Melanie Harrigan, who went by Mel and was Laura’s favorite ER nurse, hustled over in her blue scrubs. “This my car crash? Laura?” 

What had gone wrong? She sat there, searching his features, trying to think of why this might be happening. 

Mel waved her hand in Laura’s face. She snapped out of it and nodded. “Sorry. Burns, broken leg, and a few gashes. Patient has a history of drugs and alcohol.”

Mel’s eyebrows furrowed as she reached up to play with her wedding band, which was strung on a necklace. “You tested him?” 

“No, I knew him a long time ago.” Mel’s eyebrows rose. Laura kept going. “Ash needs blood alcohol; she’ll be here soon. Thinks DUI.”

“Gotcha. Fire out?” 

“Not when I left. Megan was there though.”

“It’s electric,” Ash said, coming up from behind them. “Those fires can go on for days. All those battery cells.” 

“Damn technology,” Mel said with a shake of her head. “I’ll get your test results, but you know I don’t like to do a blood draw on my patient when they’re unconscious.”

“Supreme court authorized it, and I’ve already called in for a warrant.” 

“Yeah, well, the warrant would make me feel better, but I still don’t have to like it,” Mel said over her shoulder as she walked through the sliding doors into the golden light of the emergency waiting room. 

 “He’ll fail,” Ash said to Laura. “He reeked of alcohol.” 

“If he’s anything like I knew in high school, yeah, he will. Big time.” 

“I’ll read him his rights when he wakes up. When do you think that’ll be?”

“He might wake up tomorrow, but he’ll be out of it for a few days.” 

“Surgery?” 

Laura shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’m thinking a fracture.” 

Ash nodded and folded her arms. Her badge glinted in the light from the ambulance behind them. “You okay?”

“Me? Yeah, why?”

Ash’s violet eyes stared at her close enough that Laura felt like Ash was looking into her soul. “Tough running a call with someone you knew.” 

Laura shrugged. “Business as usual. It was a long time ago.” 

“How’d you know him?”

Laura paused. There was no getting around it. Ash could sniff out a liar, and they had been friends for years. Lying would just piss Ash off. “We dated for a bit.” 

“Ouch.” 

“Yeah.” 

“You sure you’re okay?” Ash asked with a pointed look. 

“Yeah, rock steady. I mean, come on. Do I look like I’m that type?” 

Ash shrugged. “Old feelings—”  

“Yeah, no. There’s no need to worry about that.” 

Ash didn’t look convinced. “If you’re sure.” 

“Yep. I am.”

“Where’s Holden? You don’t normally run nights.” 

“Yeah, I got a sitter for tonight. He’s good though. All about Elmo right now, and Mickey Mouse.”

“Good. I needed ideas for his birthday.”

“Yeah, I gotta plan that.” Laura pulled her hair into a knot on top of her head. Birthday parties seemed to creep up out of nowhere. Did she need to invite kids? His birthday was just over a week out. Crap.

“Yep. Good luck with that. Let me know if there’s anything I can do,” Ash said, heading to her cruiser. 

“What about that whole hating kids thing?” Laura leaned back against the bumper, still waiting for Jordan to come back. 

“Holden’s not a kid. He’s my lil dude. Totally different,” she said, walking backwards. “I’m going to call you later. Check in.” 

Laura would’ve told her not to bother, but Ash wasn’t going to listen anyway. Instead, Laura waved her off. With a salute, Ash walked back to her cruiser, no doubt to call the cops who had stayed behind at the scene of the crash, leaving Laura to wonder what had gone wrong.