"Yes. The families love it.” She pointed to a set of picnic benches. “The parents stay over here and grill. Then, they spread their food on the picnic tables while the kids play. And then afterwards everyone splashes in the edge of the lake.”
"What do you do?” he asked.
“My main job is to make sure all of the campfires are out. And then I'll make sure that everyone staying is calm and not getting rowdy if they’re drinking a lot, and I make sure that there are no fights. I also make sure that no one's left their trash out. Campers are pretty good about that; they know there's a fine if they don't follow the rules.”
“That sounds like a great job,” he said. He inhaled the night air. Overhead the moon hovered low in the sky. The light danced across the lake; there weren’t any sounds except for a few small noises from the forest. In the distance, all of the humans were asleep. It was a very romantic setting. Tristan decided to try his luck. “I'm here for a few more days. Would you like to go out with me?"
She hesitated. She looked down at the ground and then back up at him. "I'd like that. I would like that a lot.”
He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers.
The kiss was sweet. He couldn't quite call it innocent, at least not on his part, because there was nothing innocent about the thoughts he was having. But on her part? Yes. It seemed very innocent.
He tried to push the thoughts of his own arousal from his mind. Yes, she was gorgeous and yes, he was attracted to her, but she was obviously skittish, and she seemed uncertain.
Was it possible that this was her first kiss?
That seemed really unlikely. But if she had grown up in a repressive pack, then he supposed it was possible. He was going to be careful and take this slowly. There was just something about her, something appealing that he could not describe, and he didn't want to blow this and scare her away.
He brushed his lips over hers again and this time he put his hand on her cheek, just barely touching, no pressure. She let out a soft little sigh and the sound alone made his cock throb. He was careful to keep his hips angled away from her, and instead ran his hand through her hair while he pressed his lips against hers again.
Their lips moved together, and he was just about to break the kiss when he smelled smoke. He stopped, not wanting to push her. "Do you smell that?" he asked.
Her eyes widened. “That’s smoke! Oh my God. I didn't finish my rounds!” She took off running and he followed her.
He took off after her and grabbed her arm. "Violet, if the flames are bad, let me handle it."
It was a smell he'd hoped to never be near again. But living in forests meant forest fires.
His pack had been lucky in the last few years that they had been able to extinguish any fires that had gotten close to them. That was one thing their scouts and guards kept an eye out for.
They didn't just look for supernatural threats or humans who might want to hunt them, but they watched out for fire. It was one of the few things that could kill a wolf shifter.
As he saw the flames, for just a split second he froze.
He was taken back to that night years before when Roman’s father had died.
They could've very easily lost the whole pack. Roman himself had been a hero, saving them all. He had been seventeen years old, but he’d kept a cool head. One thing their pack had done right was have an evacuation system in place.
He jerked himself out of the past. Now was not the time to get lost in memories. Surely this campground had an evacuation plan as well.
He was not going to lose Violet just when he'd met her. And he wasn't going to allow her to suffer through watching anyone else die either, human or shifter.
"No way,” she said with heat in her voice. “I’m not letting you handle this. This is my responsibility, and I am not staying back. They told me what to do. So let me do it."
“I've done this before, so I’ll help."
She nodded tightly. At least she didn't waste time arguing. He was going to keep her safe.