AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I run faster, tearing through the trees, ripping through the underbrush, my breath coming in ragged gasps. I can’t think, can’t process anything except the need to find her. My eyes dart around wildly, searching for any sign that tells me she’s alive.
Then I see it.
The other half of her bike, twisted and mangled, resting against a tree. And just a few feet away, slumped beneath the shadows of the branches, I see her.
“Freya.”
I breathe her name as I rush toward her. My knees hit the dirt as I drop beside her, my hands shaking as I touch her face. She’s pale, her body curled in on itself as if trying to shield herself from the world.
Her helmet lies cracked open a few feet away. The backs of her hands are red and blistered from the sun where she’s clinging to her ripped jacket, trying to keep it wrapped around her. But she’s moving.
Her eyes flutter open, and when she sees me, a weak smile tugs at her lips. “Mal...”
I exhale, my chest tightening with relief. She’s alive.
Without thinking, I pull off my jacket and throw it over her, shielding her from the sunlight filtering through the trees. I pull her into my arms, cradling her against my chest. “I’m here,” I whisper, my voice rough with emotion. “I’ve got you.”
Freya’s fingers clutch at my shirt, her body trembling as she leans into me. Her breath is warm against my neck, weak, but steady. “I thought... I thought I was going to?—”
“No,” I growl, cutting her off. My grip tightens around her, fierce and protective. “You’re not going anywhere. You can’t.”
I hold her close, my mind already thinking about getting her back to safety and making sure she’s okay. I press my lips to her temple, the words slipping out before I can stop them. “I’m never letting you go.”
With Freya in my arms, I climb back up the embankment, my body running on pure adrenaline. When we reach the top, Kenzo is on his phone, barking orders for backup and medical help. None of it registers.
All I can focus on is her.
Freya is still cradled in my arms, underneath my jacket. Her breathing is shallow, but she’s alive, and that’s all that matters.
My fear hasn’t faded, though. If anything, it’s intensified. The idea of her being taken from me, of her getting hurt again—it terrifies and claws at me in ways I can’t even articulate.
I look down at her, my emotions crashing over me like a tidal wave. I’ve been fighting this—fightingher—for so long. Telling myself that she was the blood of the enemy, that I hated her for that. But it’s all a lie.
I care about this woman more than I’ve cared about anyone or anything in a long, long time.
And it scares the fuck out of me.
29
MAL
A low,tense hum reverberates through my bones as I hold Freya close, her body trembling in my arms in the shadow of a massive drainpipe by the side of the road.
The sun is just about down. Until then, I’m keeping her here.
Safe.
I feel her heartbeat, her chest rising and falling against mine. It’s too rapid. Her breath is shallow, her body still trembling from the crash, and no matter how tightly I hold her, it feels I’m seconds away from losing her.
“You found me,” she whispers, her voice weak and breathy, her eyes glazed over in exhaustion and pain. Her hands got the worst of it when she went over the guardrail. The backs of them are red and raised with angry burns, as are a few places on her legs and by her shoulder where the branches tore at her clothes before she could scramble under the tree and cover herself.
I grit my teeth, pulling her tighter. I can’t say anything—can’t form words that would even come close to expressing how I feel inside.
I could have lost her.
The thought sits like a leaden weight in my gut, a cold knife twisting deeper with every fragile beat of her heart.
I could have lost her.
