Chapter 38 38. Mine To Protect
The rain woke me.
Cold drops hit my chest and face, pulling me from a half-drunk stupor. Whiskey burned at the back of my throat. The bottle lay on its side beside the lounger, empty. The storm was fitting. The night had earned it.
How long had I been out?
I pushed off the chair, water dripping from my hair as I stepped inside. The villa was too quiet.
"Mama Cortez? Camila?"
Nothing.
I moved through the villa, checking every room. Kitchen, Living room, Garden, all empty. The silence felt all too wrong.
Then I saw the shoe rack. The flats she'd worn two days ago were gone.
"Shit." My chest tightened. I didn't even know why yet.
I crossed to the living room and pulled up the security feed. Rewound to sunset.
6:47 PM - Rafael drove off in my spider-webbed Mercedes.
7:00 - Javier left in his convertible with Mama Cortez.
8:15 - Camila walked out the front gate wearing the tee I'd given her earlier, and my shorts.
Two hours ago.
"Fuck!" I grabbed a blanket, found an umbrella in the hall closet, threw on shorts and a shirt. Rafael's keys were on the counter.
The rain came down harder, hammering the windshield as I pulled through the gate.
What the hell was she thinking? Out there alone in the dark with two crime families hunting me and anyone connected to me.
I wasn't one to pray. Never saw the point. But as I hit the highway, I found myself muttering something under my breath that might've been one.
"Let her be okay. Just let her be okay."
The rain blurred everything as I sped through, and I almost missed her. Almost.
The small soaked figure walking along the shoulder, arms wrapped around herself.
I braked hard, grabbed the umbrella, and got out.
"Get in the car."
She didn't stop walking.
I caught up, holding the umbrella over both of us. "Camila-"
"Leave me alone."
"You're freezing."
"I don't care."
"This is stupid. Get in the car, Camila." My voice came out rougher than I intended. "Now."
"Why do you even care?" she shouted. "You said it yourself. I'm just another tool. So let me go!"
"I can't."
"Why not?"
Because looking at her like this made something in my chest crack. Because the thought of Kassim's men finding her first made me want to burn the world down. Because somewhere between the pool and this moment, this stopped being just a test.
But I couldn't say any of that.
"I can't," I repeated, stepping closer. "You're soaked through and hypothermic. If you collapse out here, I'll have to carry you back anyway. You're making this harder than it needs to be."
She laughed. "You want me to spy for you. To risk my life-" Her words shook. "I'd rather die out here-"
Her eyes rolled back.
"Camila!"
I caught her before she hit the ground. Her skin was ice, her lips a faint blue.
Throwing the umbrella aside, I lifted her into my arms and ran for the car. I laid her in the back seat, tucking the blanket around her.
"Come on. Stay with me."
I floored it. Eighty. Ninety.
My visual wasn't clear, but I didn't slow down.
"Why did you do this?" I muttered, glancing at her in the rearview mirror, still unconscious. "I was just testing you. Just needed to know-"
Her chest rose and fell. Barely.
"Breathe, Camila."
At the villa, I kicked the bedroom door open and laid her on the bed. Her wet clothes clung to her like another layer of skin.
She didn't move when I lifted her. Her skin was clammy, her breath shallow. I peeled the soaked shirt from her body, worked the shorts down her legs. She was completely bare and pale-so pale it scared me.
I spread a clean blanket on the dry side of the bed and laid her on it, wrapping her tightly. Her skin was still so cold it burned to touch.
"Come on, Fiera. Come back to me."
I ran to Rafael's room, grabbed a hoodie and sweatpants, and dressed her quickly. The hoodie swallowed her frame; the sweatpants had to be rolled three times. Her hair was dripping, so I towel-dried it as best I could and threw every blanket I could find on her.
I rubbed warming balm into her hands and feet, cursing under my breath and bargaining with a god I didn't believe in.
I'd wanted to break her guard, not her body.
Her shivering returned, violent but alive. I'd take that over stillness any day.
Then the fever came.
Her forehead went from ice to fire within minutes. I made compresses, changed them, watched her breathe.
Hours passed. The storm died outside, but it was still raging in my head.
I'd moved a chair beside the bed at some point, waiting for those big green eyes.
My own eyes grew heavy. I leaned forward, resting my head on my arms at the edge of the mattress.
Just for a minute.
"Lucien..."
The whisper pulled me awake.
"I'm cold..."
Her eyes stayed closed, her face flushed and damp.
I pressed my palm to her forehead. Too hot. She turned her face into my hand, nuzzling against it like she was seeking warmth.
My heart was hollowed out completely.
I sat on the edge of the bed and gathered her into my arms. She came willingly, even unconscious. Her head fell against my chest. I pulled the blankets over us both.
Her damp hair stuck to my skin. I ran my fingers through it, slow, untangling strands, feeling the silk slide through my hands.
Why did she put herself through this? Why run into a storm with nowhere to go?
Because I'd terrified her. I'd pushed her too hard, treated her like a pawn when she was so much more than that.
I pressed my lips to her forehead without thinking. She exhaled softly.
I did it again... and again... and again.
Holding her like this wasn't part of the plan. But I couldn't stop.
I was supposed to be getting information, not memorizing the sound of her breathing, not noticing the way her eyelashes trembled when she dreamed.
Her fever broke near dawn. I brushed her cheek as her breathing steadied.
She stirred, her fingers curling into my shirt, her face pressing closer.
"Lucien?"
"I'm here."
Her voice was hoarse. "Don't leave."
"I won't."
She looked up, unfocused but soft, and something passed between us that I couldn't name.
"You came for me," she whispered.
"Of course I did."
"Why?"
Because somewhere between control and chaos, you stopped being the enemy and became mine.
Because holding you like this feels more right than anything else in my life.
I brushed a strand of hair from her face and said, "Because you're mine to protect."
"Even though I ran?"
"Especially because you ran."
Her eyes glistened. "I don't understand you."
"I know."
"One minute you're cold. The next you're..." Her gaze dropped to my mouth.
I saw the moment the shift happened. The way her pupils dilated slightly. The way her breath caught.
"The next I'm what?" I asked quietly.
"Whatever this is."
The urge hit me like a punch. To taste her. To know if her lips were as soft as they looked.
Her thumb traced my jaw and I stopped thinking entirely.
I leaned down cautiously, giving her time to pull away if she wanted.
She didn't.
I captured her lower lip between mine. Just a taste, enough to feel the warmth of her, the slight tremble, the way she inhaled sharply.
But before I could deepen it, before I could lose myself completely, she pulled back...