Worlds on Fire (Guardians Book 1.5) Read online

  Worlds on Fire

  Guardians 1.5

  By

  Lexi Ostrow

  Published by Hot Ink Press

  This Book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  ©Text Copyright 2015 Lexi Ostrow

  Cover By:

  Dreams2media

  Edited By:

  Elizabeth A. Lance

  All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.

  Dedicated to all the firefighters who risk their lives to keep the rest of us safe.

  Chapter One

  Looking both ways across the living level of the firehouse Julian quickly stuffed his hand under his pillow and pulled out the book hidden beneath it. He’d never hear the end of it if the boys caught him reading a book like this.

  Romance novels. He’d been addicted ever since his powers as a Word Speaker continued not to work right since he’d turned twenty-seven; not that they’d ever worked right at all. Supposedly, he should have pulled a Guardian character a long time ago, someone to help him in a fight he’d been drafted for against his will. A fight to save humanity. He hadn't pulled it off yet and the failure weighed on him to the point where he had switched reading material. Anything he could think of to try and produce a Guardian.

  But a firefighter reading romance novels was pathetic. A joke. Forget the harassment, the boys would probably announce it all over the small town and any shot he had of finding someone to share his life with in this world would vanish. Ever since he had called off his engagement with his ex fiancé, Nicole, she had made his life hell. Lies and slander ran amuck and with the town being so small, he'd been forced to ignore both the desire he had for a family and the lust riding him every time he read a damn romance novel because she'd ruined him. He'd be lying if he didn't admit that a part of him read the romance novels because he hoped if he did get a Guardian that was a female, he’d stand a chance at starting the whole family thing over.

  “You are pathetic Michaelson,” Julian chided himself for his ridiculousness, but it didn't stop him from turning to the dog-eared page in the latest romance he'd ordered off Amazon. He needed to switch to an eReader if he was going to keep ordering them because sooner or later someone was going to open his mail.

  Being able to draw life from novels had seemed like such a great way to have more purpose in his life. Firefighting was great, he enjoyed helping those who were trapped or saving them either from a huge raging fire or stopping it before it got that far. So the possibility of getting to do it double time had been intriguing.

  Producing a Guardian had been the difficult part and he had no clue why. He was only told he needed to form a connection. He'd figured, if he couldn't connect with a warrior character, why not try and connect with someone he might be able to settle down with. Wouldn't desire lead to a hell of a good connection? He wasn't one hundred percent positive of the rules, but what the hell. He'd envisioned the perfect woman, since he could really have his pick, based on the novel he’d chosen. She’d be strong, but loyal, a free thinker and an adventurer. Of course he’d had plenty of time to think about the physical elements as well. He wanted someone smaller, not necessarily in weight, but in height, someone he could easily sweep off her feet with blonde hair and deep green eyes. And her legs, he loved a good pair of legs.

  Time ticked by and no one joined him from the world of books and he began to seriously doubt his sanity. It was the idea of being of Word Speaker that had ended his life with Nicole. He'd been buried in books the few instances he wasn't staying at the firehouse and it had put such a wedge between them that she had found herself another bed to warm.

  He’d been semi ok with it when he’d thought he could play a role in saving the world, not so much anymore, since it seemed it would be a fight that he could never participate in. So he really couldn't help it if he questioned his abilities. It had been almost six years since a man in a trench coat had come to him. The tale had been crazy for sure. It had been late the night he'd learned his destiny, and young, only twenty-two. He'd just passed his paramedics test, so he was fully ready to fulfill his destiny of saving lives. Nicole was long asleep and a book she'd left out on the nightstand caught his eye. Bored and a little buzzed he'd picked it up. Julian had never been a reader prior, but it was almost as if the book on the nightstand was calling to him like a siren lured sailors to their doom.

  Time had stood still as he read, he could only tell any had passed at all because the small snoring from Nicole had ceased. An oddly attractive man in a trench coat had shown up talking crazy about books and fictional characters and a war to end all wars. He wasn't sure whether to write the crazy story off as too much alcohol or having inhaled too much smoke during the test. So he'd passed out with the book on his chest and hadn't given it any thought the next morning.

  Then the guy appeared right next to him in the car as he'd been driving home the following night. After almost wrapping his '94 Ford Ranger around a light pole, he'd gotten it together enough to hear the man out. He believed him that time, about being able to create life from books. Why shouldn't he? The man had appeared out of nowhere into a moving vehicle while Julian was one hundred percent with it.

  At first, he had Googled the crap out of Word Speakers, what he had been told he was. A big fat zero in the search results didn't shock him too much. Who would willingly share what he’d been told? They'd look like a lunatic. God knew Julian sure as shit felt like one for believing the crazy tale.

  It hadn't stopped him from trying to find his Guardian and train to be ready for the fight. He'd never been successful. From the minute he decided to believe the guy, he'd picked up every type of book imaginable. Not once did he manage to pull a damn thing from them. He was also a slow reader, but forced himself to push through each and every one he started. That was all he’d focused on, almost losing his job at the firehouse. After three years of failure since he was supposedly able to release one at twenty-seven, he was slowly losing hope that any of it had been real after all. The guy never showed up again either. His thirtieth birthday was around the corner. His desperate and pathetic attempt to finally do good with his gift was what led him to romance novels. He'd been told he needed an emotional connection for his gift to work, so what better way to connect with someone than to find a female he would desire? That had been the logic at least. Almost six months later and he didn't have a thing to show for it, except a raging hard on every time he read a steamy sex scene.

  Pulling out of his thoughts, once more his eyes swiveled to take in his surroundings before dropping his weight onto the bed he used while on duty and let the novel wash over. He tried to avoid reading at the firehouse, but shit had been quiet and it was another few days before he'd be off rotation.

  Medieval Britain had become an obsession. He'd never left the itty bitty town of his, so why not time travel across the Atlantic Ocean in a book? Something about the idea of having an ultra feminine woman by his side, someone he could pamper and protect, really turned him on. Growing up he'd had to sit back and watch as his mom took swings from his alcoholic dickhead of a dad. He knew he would treat his woman like a princess, so why not look for an actual princess?

  His eyes d
ropped to the page, his mind silently offering a prayer to the guy in the trench coat that with this book it finally worked. He just didn't know how much more failure he could take.

  Why would this one be any different? You're a dud, Michelson. An absolute stain on the fantastic world you were given entry too. A growl pushed past his lips at his own thoughts. Surely he couldn't be the only Word Speaker to fail to produce a Guardian ever. "Yup, you tell yourself whatever it is that will help you sleep at night, buddy. One way or another you're failing in the real world with the ladies and you're failing to help the crazy fight because your magic trick is broken.”

  Frustrated, he threw the book across the room, not caring as it skidded and scraped along the floor only to land in front of the worst possible bed, Andrew Davies. Davies was the firehouse douchebag and would never ever let it go if he thought Julian was reading anything less than the Bourne series in his down time. Guy was a Grade A prick and naturally had a new girl every night with his 'I'm a fireman line'. Naturally.

  Grunting, Julian pushed himself off the twin sized bed and stalked over to grab the book. Abruptly he scooped it off the floor and walked back to his own bed. He could feel the pages bending and folding in his uncaring grasp, but he didn’t change how he held the book.

  “You all good over there Michelson?” Tyler Moscot's voice drifted from the other side of the room. He hadn't seen the guy come in and he nervously slipped the book behind his back.

  “All good man. Sorry I dropped something and was just too damned lazy to want to stand up and get it. Sorry to disturb.”

  Tyler chuckled back. “Oh please do disturb, I cannot think of anything more dull than a firehouse with no fires to respond to.”

  Julian dropped the book on his bed and tugged the pillow over it before heading toward Tyler. “Bite your tongue, dude. You know how lucky we are nothing is burning in this heat?”

  “What could possibly burn? It's muggy as a swamp out there.”

  Julian dropped down on the bed across from Tyler as he bitched.

  “Don't get me wrong it's a blessing, I'm not in this business cause I like watching shit burn. But we can't even get a cat up a tree rescue call.”

  Both men laughed. It was true. Clanton, Alabama wasn't the smallest town ever, but it was small enough. A nice sized main street and a great residential area kept the town afloat. Plus there were the average amount of big businesses, but for the most part he kept toward the original town area when he could. He liked the smallness, it had a certain intimacy about it.

  A certain intimacy that made it impossible for him to get on with his life since Nicole had told everyone who would listen that he couldn't get his dick up after he'd called off their engagement three years ago. An absolute lie, but in a town like this, no one could tell the lies from the truth because everyone believed everything to be gospel.

  “Who knows, maybe someone will need a ride home from a bar and someone other than Davies can get some.” The bitterness that laced his voice was unavoidable and Tyler caught it.

  “Dry spell still on the home front?”

  The laughter in his friends voice irked him but brought a smile to his lips. Tyler wasn’t being a dick, they were just close friends. Grabbing the pillow from the bed he was on he threw it at Tyler’s face. It connected just as he’d wanted and flopped lifelessly to the floor.

  “Nicole seriously fucked me. I mean, I get that we all have to do our time. Woman scorned and what not, but I swear she's going to turn me into a hermit and it's not as if she hasn't moved on. Shit, she was the one who moved on long before I called it off. She just thought she could pull off being with a hometown man and a big city boy.”

  “I hear that. I made the mistake of doubling with her and the lawyer last week. The wife tricked me into it or I swear I wouldn't have gone.”

  Julian shrugged to indicate it was no big deal and Tyler let out a long whistle.

  “Man does she still like to bitch about you.”

  He groaned. “Don't I know it. I'm not getting any younger here and you would think I did a bad thing ending a relationship that neither of us wanted to be in.”

  “You'll find her when you're ready. Maybe you'll even get lucky and get a city girl up in Birmingham and leave this little area for good.”

  The idea intrigued Julian. He'd often wondered if a change in scenery would help with the whole Guardian thing. He'd thought up a million theories in his head though and he couldn't go off half cocked chasing all of them to find one that fit his failure rate.

  Tyler got off the bed and crossed to his dresser, tugging out workout clothes. “Hit the gym with me?”

  Julian shook his head. “I'm good man. I need a little R & R. I’ve got a good book and a bottle of beer with my name on it.”

  “You're going to turn into a book if you keep reading them as quick as you do. Not that I'm judging. Can't get into books myself, but you seem to have some sort of balance going with the nerdy book reader and the studly fireman.”

  Julian rolled his eyes and flipped his friend off as he tugged on the workout clothes. “Yup my big biceps and I know how to run the nerd card. Go enjoy your workout, tomorrow I'll show you how a real man works out.”

  Ignoring the profanity from Tyler, he went back to his own bed and took out the book once more. Could he get anymore nerdy? He was a man's man sitting on a bed reading a romance novel because he was so desperate to prove he was special he'd resorted to the kind of book he'd sworn he would never read. Actually, it was pathetic, but he couldn't care anymore. The annoyance at not being able to do this crazy super power thing ate him alive some days. If he could connect with any character, from any type of book, it would mean he wasn’t a failure.

  Failure didn’t work for him. His whole life felt like a string of failures with an occasional successful story. He’d failed to save his mom the night his dad had been so drunk he’d bashed her head into a wall until her skull caved in. He’d failed to be what Nicole needed. The idea of failing something as large as fighting in a war that he’d been specially chosen for made his stomach churn. He’d had enough failure. Julian was ready to succeed.

  Leaning back and getting comfortable he propped his arm up under his pillow to lift his head and descended into the world of the beautiful Serena.

  Serena carefully mounted her horse and smiled at the stable boy. She offered him a bit of extra coin for his trouble, as well as his silence. Her blonde hair was carefully tucked away under a blue woolen cap and a shabby matching cape hung over her shoulders. An escape was what the princess wanted and she had already been seen by more people that she wished.

  Marcado galloped out of the castle gates with the speed and grace of a warhorse. A smile of freedom on Serena's lips transformed her face, not even the hooded coat she hid under would hide her beauty if any came to pass before her on the path. Her blonde hair tore free from its coiled bun and strands flew in the wind as they fell from the cap from the speed. Her green eyes danced with as much happiness as the smile on her full lips.

  Julian didn't get to read another word because a shrill siren sliced through the firehouse. “Shit.” Dropping the book on the bed he didn't have time to cover it. Cursing that and the fact that they finally had an emergency and he'd been about to fantasize about a girl. He reached his fire suit at the same second as the other six of them on duty did.

  Speaking wasn't even an option. Within two minutes they had all suited up and were racing down the steps to the fire truck. The pole hadn't been used in years as the stairs exited right at the garage. They all jumped on silently and then Chief began to shout orders as the truck pulled away from the firehouse and off to the burning inferno.

  Julian was doing his best to focus, he was the biggest of them and normally went in first to check the damage with Tyler at his back. He needed to get the mental image of Serena and her blue dress far away from his thoughts.

  “Where are we going?” He was holding onto the steel bar on top of the fire truck a
s it raced down the small main street. The wind would have been annoying, had he not been fully covered from head to toe in his fire suit.

  Davies was the one to answer him. “Nothing big, I don’t know why we’re racing. Small fire in the park. Two trees max.”

  His casual tone and annoyance at doing their job had Julian seething and dying to stand up and shove him off the truck. There was no such thing as a small fire. Fire’s grew with oxygen and greenery, or furniture, or anything that wasn’t plastic or metal. Two trees being on fire could easily leap to ten or twelve and the fire could ravage the park and keep going.

  Tyler beat him too it. “Son of bitch, Davies, wake the fuck up. Fire in a park? Maybe you should go back and play pick up another lady because you sure as shit aren’t a firefighter. You’re an asshole.”

  Julian smirked at Tyler’s words and he watched the anger burn out of Davies’s eyes. But he didn’t do anything. The man was smart, he knew bait when he heard it and instead he turned his head to look away from them.

  Sometimes Julian wondered if he actually heard the conversations that went on or if he had grown really good at lip reading. Sure they had mics in their suits, but they never turned them on until they could see the flames, to be safe about the batteries. So it made sense that he wasn’t really hearing anything over the screaming siren as they drove.

  “There!” He was up and pointing about two hundred feet away. Six trees danced with flames. From root to leaves the poor things were engulfed. There would be no saving them, no resuscitation for the great Oaks. But they could still save the rest of the park.

  The truck slammed to a stop and he turned on his mic. He wasn’t often involved in landscape fires. His size and tenacity normally had him leading the charge into the buildings, but no one here needed saving, just a fire to be put out. Like the rest, he was running off the back set of steps and racing toward the fire.