𝐃𝐞́𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐫 || 𝐒𝐞𝐨𝐤𝐒𝐨𝐨

Chapter 23

Joshua had pulled many an all-nighter since starting his job as a legal advocate. There was something about the stillness of the early hours that just made the words come easier. Maybe his uncle was right and they really couldn’t fight this injunction, but Joshua would give it everything he had before he gave up the ghost.

But the week of nights spent easing Seokmin through his changes had worn him out. Sometime around two, his eyes drooping closed, he put his head down on the desk for a nap. He was distantly aware of noise and heat, the smell of smoke, and the urge to cough. But he was too tired for the little tendrils of alarm to bring him back to consciousness. He slept through the spreading fire and the choking smoke, oblivious to it all.

He was woken by a hand roughly shaking his shoulder and lifted his head to see a figure standing over him, their face obscured by something tied over their nose and mouth. What was happening?

“Huh?”

It was then he became aware of the smoke-filled room around him. He coughed violently as he tried to get a breath of air.

The alpha standing above him pulled the cloth away from his mouth.

“Seokmin?” Joshua tried to say, his eyes stinging as another round of coughing stole his voice.

The alpha covered Joshua’s mouth and nose with the cloth, tying it behind his head. Joshua knew he needed to move, but he was so tired and confused, his limbs uncooperative. He didn’t protest when Seokmin lifted him up over his shoulder and carried him from the room.

Through eyes blurred with stinging tears, he caught sight of flames licking at the walls mere feet from them, running up a curtain and spreading to the ceiling. He could feel the heat singeing his skin. But then they were moving away from those terrifying flames as Seokmin jogged along the corridor. The smoke was still thick, but the heat was fading as they moved farther and farther away. They burst through a door out into the night, the cool air almost painful against his skin.

He was lifted off Seokmin’s shoulder and laid on the ground.

“I need a paramedic over here,” the alpha shouted.

Joshua grabbed for his hand, trying to speak. Seokmin pulled the cloth away from his face.

“Just take it easy. You’ve inhaled a lot of smoke.”

But it wasn’t himself Joshua was worried about.

“The kids,” he grated out, surprised how much it hurt to say that little.

“They’re fine,” Seokmin promised. “I got them out myself. Eunbi and Yuna have them.”

Vernon jogged over, crouching down next to them, an oxygen canister and mask in his hand. “The paramedic is on his way. Put this on him.”

Seokmin put the mask over his face, and they started the oxygen flowing.

“Take nice, slow breaths,” Seokmin urged. “In for three, out for six, okay? You’re going to be fine.”

“What happened?” he tried to ask, his voice croaking.

“It started at the front. None of the alarms went off,” Seokmin said. “The sprinklers never kicked in.”

“You were lucky we were passing by,” Vernon added, his face pale but streaked with soot.

“Everyone’s okay,” Seokmin added, giving Joshua’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “That’s what matters.”

The paramedic arrived, and Vernon moved away, but Seokmin stayed right there by his side, holding his hand.

The paramedics insisted on taking him to the urgent care clinic for evaluation, and Joshua didn’t feel like he was in a position to argue. He fell asleep during the ambulance ride, waking sluggishly to a doctor trying to examine him.