“That’s enough!” Laddin said, slapping the fairy away. It was surprisingly hard to do, given her tiny size, and the firecracker exploded against his hand, making him clench it in pain. But as long as he was bigger than them, he would break Bruce free if he had to burn the shit out of both his hands.
So that’s what he did. First he studied the white lines, looking hard to find where they seemed to be pinned to the ground. If he squinted really hard, he could make out tiny pins. Maybe? It was all he had to go on, but there was no way he could pull those out with his fingernails. He needed…
The toolbox. Good thing he knew exactly where it was in the van. He looked down at Bruce and mouthed, “Hold on.” Then, before Bruce had a chance to react, Laddin leaped up and ran straight for the van.
The fairy lights followed him. He knew it because little fireworks explosions kept going off around his head… and because he could smell his own burnt hair. But he didn’t let that stop him as he grabbed the box and ran straight back to Bruce. A moment later he had the thing flipped open, grabbed the pliers, and used them on the nearest rope pin. Then he hauled on it with all his might.
The thing was like concrete. While the firecrackers kept going off, Laddin squeezed the pliers hard and used all his back muscles to haul upward. He felt like a young King Arthur pulling on the sword set in stone. Below him, he watched Bruce flinch. His eyes were squeezed tight against sparks, and he looked haggard. But he didn’t cry out.
And then—hallelujah—the pin gave way. It came out with what felt like a sudden pop, and Laddin almost lost his grip on the pliers as his arms flew up. The white rope flew to the side as well, coming off Bruce’s neck to expose a dark red burn underneath.
Shit, that looked awful. But it didn’t matter. Laddin focused on the next pin, this one tied to a rope that restricted Bruce’s shoulders. Fortunately, this one didn’t take as much work. He wasn’t sure why, but that pin came up faster and easier. As did the next and the next.
Finally Bruce was free enough that he could help, and he started by batting away firecrackers. He levered himself upright and hissed as one of the white lines burned into his belly.
“Don’t move! You’ll cut yourself in half!” Laddin snapped.
Bruce stilled, his abs tight as he held a half sit-up. A quick glance at his eyes told Laddin that he was watching the fairies, ready to knock away any incoming firecrackers. Good. That freed Laddin to go to the next pin. He worked as quickly as he could, pulling pins with steady progression down Bruce’s body. But his hands were swollen, and sweat wasn’t making it any easier to grip the pliers.
“Goddamn fucking….” Bruce swore as he continued to bat aside fireworks, his bulging muscles only making the remaining ropes burn deeper into his legs.
Eventually, after long eons of agony, Laddin got the last rope unpinned, tossing if off Bruce’s right ankle. And when it was done, he whipped around to confront the fairy assholes. Except there wasn’t a single fairy in sight. None. The only thing he saw was the flickering flames of a barn fire.
Fucking hell.
Chapter 14
FIGHTING FIRES AND BUNNY RABBITS ALIKE
BRUCE SMELLED the fire before he saw any flames. It was a scent he had trained for, and he knew just what to do. The problem was, he knew what to do while wearing protective clothing and carrying gear. Right now he was buck naked and cursing from more than a dozen burns. His training told him to get out now. He grabbed a shovel instead.
“Go!” he bellowed at Laddin. “Get help!”
He started shoveling a perimeter around the flames and dumping the dirt on whatever smoldered. The biggest danger in a barn fire was the dust in the air. That stuff ignited like kindling and could bring the whole place down on them in seconds.
Fortunately they’d already had the spring rains, so there’d been some dampness in the air. It was probably the only reason the whole building wasn’t currently ablaze. That meant his main worry now was the straw. So he shoveled and stomped in his bare feet, and he flinched when one of the car alarms started blaring like it was the second coming. The van went off next.
“What the fuck?” he growled as Laddin came running forward with a small fire extinguisher in his hand.
“Getting help,” Laddin said as he pulled the pin on the fire extinguisher.
“Get out!”
Laddin ignored him as he started spraying.
“Over there!” Bruce said, pointing to the nearest bale of hay. It didn’t look like it was on fire yet, but if it caught, they were screwed. Thankfully, Laddin didn’t argue. He went where he was told and sprayed with quick efficiency while Bruce took care of the rest. He even had a moment to notice that Laddin—also stark naked—had some handsome muscle definition and a tight ass. His backside was currently sporting ugly burn welts and that bothered Bruce, but there wasn’t time to tend to wounds while he was shoveling dirt onto straw as if he was digging a trench. Which he was.
When he finally looked up, he realized the work was pretty much finished. He and Laddin had done it. And at the very same moment, Josh and Nero opened the barn doors.
“Wait!” he bellowed. The sudden inrush of air could be a problem. He didn’t want a breeze stirring any flames back to life. They didn’t listen to him, of course. So he stood with his shovel ready as he scanned for flames. Fortunately his nose seemed to work better
