Novels by Aemon

Derek survived. Barely.After the explosion hurled him and the elderly owner of the West estate through the second-floor window, Rodriguez drove them back to the emergency camp like a man possessed.The doctors managed to stabilize Derek, but only just. He had two cracked ribs, burns along his left arm, a deep gash near his temple, significant smoke inhalation, and bruises covering nearly every inch of his body.The doctor ordered him to remain in the recovery tent. But Derek lasted less than twenty minutes.He could no longer fight the fire, but he could still carry supplies. He could still sort equipment. He could still help the medics bandage men whose injuries were worse than his.He had just finished helping a firefighter change the dressing on his shoulder when he stepped outside and saw Erin.His wife on paper. His ex-wife in every way that mattered.At first, he thought the pain medication was playing tricks on him.She looked impossibly out of place among the ash, emergency te

Erin followed the address Kitty had sent her and drove as if the road belonged to no one else.The navigation app said the trip would take an hour. She arrived in forty minutes.For most of the drive, she kept telling herself that she was overreacting.Derek was a firefighter. Disappearing during an emergency did not mean he was dead. His phone could have been damaged. He might have been working without rest. He might simply have been somewhere with no signal.There were dozens of reasonable explanations. But the closer she came to the wildfire zone, the harder they became to believe.Blackened trees stood along the highway like charred bones. Entire stretches of ground had been burned bare. Road signs had warped from the heat, and the remains of abandoned vehicles sat along the shoulder, their windows blown out.Erin tightened both hands around the steering wheel.By the time she reached the coordinates Kitty had given her, the road ahead had been blocked by emergency vehicles and tem

For five days, Erin heard nothing from Derek. No calls. No messages. Not even a reply to the texts she had sent. That evening, she stood by the window with her phone clutched in one hand. Beyond the glass, the sky glowed an ominous red, the distant wildfire staining the clouds like blood.Suddenly, a key scraped against the front-door lock. Erin turned sharply, and froze. Derek stood in the doorway. He looked exhausted, his face pale and his clothes rumpled, but he was alive. She crossed the room before she even realized she was moving. “Where have you been?” Her voice broke. “I was so worried. I thought something happened to you.” “I was in the hospital, babe,” Derek said. “But I’m fine now.” His expression softened. “I'm home now.” He pulled her into his arms. The familiar scent. The warmth.The tension inside Erin finally gave way. Derek held her tightly, pressing her face against his chest as relief washed over her. When he lifted her chin and kissed her, she closed her ey

The estate had been beautiful once.Derek could tell even now with the iron gates buckled by heat, the cypress trees reduced to black spires, the fountain in the courtyard cracked and dry. Someone had built this place with the idea that it would last.Unfortunately, the fire had other plans. The east wing had already begun to fold in on itself. Flames moved behind the windows, bright and restless, while smoke poured through every opening in thick black waves.Derek pulled his mask tight and plunged inside.“Derek.” Rodriguez’s voice crackled through his earpiece, strained despite his effort to remain calm. “Backup is on the way. Are you hurt? If you can’t find him, pull out now.””Derek glanced toward the stairs, then down the corridor. He knew a man was dying dozens of feet away.“Just give me three more minutes.”“Derek—”He released the transmitter and started up.The smoke grew denser with every step, not just wood, but synthetics, treated materials, the chemical cocktail, every ex

After six punishing hours in the back of a fire engine, Derek finally reached hell.Flames towered above the ridgeline, advancing in a rolling orange wall. Pine trees exploded in the heat, each blast cracking like a rifle shot. Above them, smoke devoured the sky until the whole valley burned beneath a blood-red glow.And the air, the air reeked of scorched timber, melted plastic, and something else he could not identify. Only later would he understand that it was the smell of houses, cars, and people.“Derek? Man, Is that you?” A middle-aged firefighter in yellow turnout gear was striding toward him.Rodriguez Hale. Fire chief of Los Vangees County.“Yes, sir.” Derek raised a hand.Rodriguez glanced past him as the rest of the firefighters climbed out.“Where’s Christian?”“Behind us,” Derek said. “His truck broke down. He told us to keep going.”Rodriguez’s expression hardened, but there was no time to dwell on it. He spread a damp, smoke-stained map across the hood of a truck.“The f

"Derek." Brett's voice was stripped down to essentials, no greeting, no preamble. The voice he used when things were bad. "You're seeing the news?""I'm looking at it now." Derek’s eyes stayed glued to the TV. The flames cast a red glow in his pupils."Our neighbor county, Los Vangees, is gone. The fire’s jumped multiple ridges and is sweeping into residential areas and resorts. The state’s activated cross-county mutual aid."Derek straightened. "What does that mean for us?"“We deploy at 0200. All available personnel.”A pause. "It's bad, Derek, some even say this is the worst wildfire in history. They've already got casualties."Another pause, heavier than the first. "Say goodbye to your family. Properly."Heavy, deep breaths echoed there. They both understood what that meant.The call ended.Derek stood still for a moment, phone in his hand.He wanted to leave. Now.Yet after three years under the same roof, some stubborn part of him still believed Erin deserved a few parting words.