Read the first chapter of Blaze in the City

Blaze in the City is an MM MPreg shifter romance featuring a firefighter alpha dragon shifter who moves from a toxic small town to find the life he longs for in the big city, the single father omega who catches his attention thanks to a little help from Fate, his little boy who dreams of becoming a firefighter and steals the entire station’s hearts, true love, fated mates, nesting, meggs, adorable babies, and a guaranteed happy ever ending. Blaze in the City is the tenth book in USA Today bestselling author Jessica E. Subject’s sweet with building heat stand-alone Shifter Towers books and part of the Love Sync Firefighters shared world series.

​Enjoy the first chapter from the book:

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Chapter One ~ Ladon

Mornings were always a struggle to get out the door. If I only had to worry about myself, I wouldn’t have a problem. Trying to get a four-year-old dressed, fed, and ready for the day was the issue. Especially since he had learned that he could chuff smoke, a common habit for young dragon shifters but not acceptable in the metropolis of Saramto, hours away from the small town where our kind originated.

“Kirin, keep that smoke to yourself and let’s go.” I held out his backpack and waited for him to put down the toy car he’d just enveloped in a light-gray cloud. “We’re going to miss the bus.”

With a giggle, he dropped the car then raced toward me, waving his arms and wobbling his head with his tongue out. “Bus. Bus. Gotta catch the bus.”

It was times like this I wondered if I was just as much of a handful for my parents and wished they were around to ask. I hadn’t seen them since I was pregnant when they sold their house in the city and decided to travel across the country in a used RV they’d bought with the money from the sale. They had my number but didn’t have a phone of their own and hadn’t bothered to stop and check in anywhere on their journeys. I had no idea where they were or if they were still alive. First, they moved me away from our dragon community, telling me to hide my beast side. Then they’d abandoned me. From what I remembered, dragon families usually stayed close. For reasons unknown to me, mine didn’t.

After helping Kirin put on his backpack, I ushered him out the door of our apartment before locking up. We didn’t have time for him to doddle, so I raced him down the hall to the staircase then carried him down to the front entrance. Once outside, I noticed our bus was only three stops away. Time to run. Gripping my son tight against my chest, I hurried as fast as I could. Thankfully, there was only one car to wait for before I could cross the street. We made it to the stop just in time for me to set Kirin down and hold his hand before the bus reached us. A close call.

Gripping the handrail, my son pulled himself up onto the bus and flashed his fake bus pass. Kids twelve and under rode for free on all Saramto public transit, but Kirin wanted to be just like all the older kids and adults, and all the drivers went along with the card I had made for him. I scanned my own under the laser reader and then we headed toward the back of the bus to find a seat.

The ride to the center of Saramto took about twenty minutes. We lived on a direct bus route that wasn’t even close to the city limits, the only obstacles in our ride being traffic lights and other vehicles. Kirin watched everything go by as if memorizing all the building faces for future reference. That worried me, but I tried to be thankful instead, that he wasn’t blowing chuffs of smoke toward the other passengers. Sure, some of the alphas who rode the bus deserved a cloud of hot ash in their face for the things they said to omegas, but most had ignored me once I had a kid. It didn’t matter to them that I had no mate mark.

“We’re here, Daddy.” Kirin hopped out of his seat as the bus pulled into the terminal to the side of Shifter Towers.

“Yes, we are.” I held his hand and waited for the bus to stop before I stood to depart along with the other passengers.

“Are we going to have chocolate milk today?” Kirin asked as he raced ahead, trying to pull me faster.

I held his hand tight, thankful it was warm enough to not need mittens. He slipped out of my grip so easily when we had those on. “I’m not sure. You know Emily is in charge of the menu, Bubs.” I had seen it the week before when placing the order from NJ Foods, but I couldn’t remember what was on it.

He stomped one foot while sticking out his lower lip. “We better, or I won’t be happy.”

With a sigh, I stopped him from going any further. “Kirin, that’s enough. You know better than to act like that. You need to be happy with the food you’re given.” He didn’t have any allergies or food sensitivities like some of the children that went to the same day care. “Besides, I know you’ll get chocolate milk sometime this week. I’m just not sure what day.”

“I hope it’s today!” He started skipping as we made our way to the first of the three seventy-story buildings filled with multiple businesses.

I hoped so, too. Not to give him his way but because he chuffed to show he was upset lately rather than any other form of disapproval. I didn’t need him to do that at day care, which was also my place of employment. We both needed to have the security of going every day to ST Kids Care Center. I had learned to keep my dragon side a secret from a young age, letting people believe I was human instead of any other form of shifter. Convincing Kirin to do the same proved difficult every single day. He always asked why, and I didn’t have a good explanation other than, “That’s just the way it is.”

“I want to press the button.” Inside Tower One, Kirin tugged on my hand as he stretched his other arm out as far as he could reach.

“Okay.” I released his hand so he could press the call button for the elevator. “But stand back and wait to let any passengers off.”

He stood beside me, bouncing from one foot to the other as we waited. “I like coming here, Daddy. They have cool toys to play with that we don’t have at home.”

“They do.” I didn’t take that as an insult but planned to use it as an incentive. “All the more reason for you to behave while we’re here and not blow smoke. If you do that here, they will kick you out of the program and you won’t get to play with the toys anymore.”

Kirin stood still for the first time all morning and held my hand. “I’ll be good, Daddy.”

When the elevator doors opened, there was no one in the car, so we boarded immediately.

“Twenty.” Kirin pressed the button for our floor then quickly drew his hand back and glanced up at me.

I nodded, knowing how much he yearned to press all the buttons as he’d tried to do the first time I gave him the opportunity to guide the elevator. “Yes, thank you.”

The ride up always took less time, as we rarely had to stop above the first floor for someone to get on. With no one else riding up with us, the elevator didn’t stop to let anyone else off, either.

Once the doors opened, Kirin raced out and down the hall toward the day care. I didn’t mind since the only other business on our floor was a coding school that wasn’t open yet. The other spaces had recently become empty with no one interested in leasing them yet.

At the entrance, Kirin tried to pull open the door but wasn’t strong enough to get it all the way open. I didn’t want him to pinch his fingers, so I hurried toward him to get it for him. The three early childhood educators, David, Emily, and Sungjae, had already arrived and were busy getting set up for the day.

Sungjae tossed me a container of disinfecting wipes. “For you at the front. Hopefully everyone is over their colds by now, but I’m sure there are still going to be a lot of runny noses.”

“Thank you.” I placed it on the reception desk, where I worked, thankful Kirin and I had yet to catch any virus this year. I didn’t know if dragon shifters had better immunity, but we were never as sick as all the other children and staff who came to ST Kids Care Center. Still, I worked just as hard as the ECEs to keep the center clean from the little ones who loved to spread their germs everywhere. It was the one thing all of them never got upset about sharing.

Kirin hung up his coat then placed his shoes and backpack in the labeled cubbies before racing up to Emily and tugging on her hand. “Emily, are we having chocolate milk today?”

I sighed and braced to scold my son, worried how he would react to her answer.

She ruffled his hair. “I believe you get some, but as you know, not all our students can drink it.”

He nodded with his lips turned up in a smile. “Thank you.” Then he raced to the toy room.

“Don’t make a mess,” I called after him, needing to leave him on his own as I checked the messages on the phone to begin my workday before any of the parents and students arrived.

Overall, the day started off without much excitement. There was a quick test of the fire alarm before all the students scheduled for the day arrived. They showed up on time, and their parents were anxious to leave rather than stand around to chat after dropping them off as often happened. The lunch order was sent up with no issues, and the half-day students all left shortly after noon.

​I hoped the rest of the day went as smoothly, and I expected it to until two alphas walked into the center just after the students were coerced into nap and quiet time. Maybe my thoughts jinxed the day, but I knew none of the students would stay quiet or sleep for long with the two sexy firefighters wanting to inspect each room to ensure we were up to code. Talk about bad timing.

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