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Chapter Sixteen

Lucas

Annika stood there, staring after them, her arms wrapped tight around herself. She looked small like that… too small for the weight she carried, too fragile for what was coming.

But I knew better. She wasn’t fragile. She was the strongest damn person I’d ever met.

Even so, I couldn’t stop myself. I crossed the space between us and pulled her into my arms. She didn’t resist. Just sank into me, her face pressing against my chest.

For a moment, neither of us spoke. I only held her, letting her trembling breaths even out against me. My hand traced lazy circles along her back, trying to soothe what I couldn’t fix.

I brushed my thumb along her cheek, catching the tear that threatened to fall. “I hate this,” I admitted. “I hate that you have to bleed for this. For them.”

Her lips curved faintly. Not a smile. It was more like a sad acknowledgment.

“You’d do it, wouldn’t you?”

I didn’t answer. She already knew.

“You’d bleed yourself dry if it meant keeping me safe.” Her voice cracked, and my arms tightened around her.

“Yes,” I whispered. “And I’d burn the world down before I let it take you.”

Her breath hitched, and I bent my head, pressing my forehead against hers. Her skin was warm, her scent familiar. Grounding.

“I’m scared, Lucas,” she said.

It wasn’t something she admitted often, and it damn near broke me.

“I know,” I whispered. “I am too.”

She leaned up then, her lips brushing against mine, soft and hesitant. I kissed her back, pouring everything I couldn’t say into it, my fear, my desperation, my love.

I couldn’t stop myself.

The moment her lips brushed mine, something inside me snapped. The fear, the anger, the unbearable ache of nearly losing her, it all poured out, raw and unrestrained. I crushed her against me, my hands tangling in her hair, tilting her head back as I kissed her deeper.

She didn’t pull away. Didn’t hesitate. She melted into me, her fingers curling into my shirt like she needed me as much as I needed her. And God, I needed her.

Her lips parted, and I took advantage, tasting her, devouring her. She gasped softly against my mouth, and the sound unraveled me. My hands slid down, gripping her waist, desperate to feel every inch of her, to remind myself she was real, here, alive.

I pulled her closer, as if I could fuse us together, as if holding her like this would keep the world and all its horrors at bay.

Her hands moved to my face, cupping it as she kissed me back just as fiercely, her breath warm and shallow. She wasn’t holding back either. Not this time.

I broke the kiss just long enough to look at her, my forehead pressed to hers, my chest heaving.

“Annika,” I rasped, her name like a prayer on my lips.

Her eyes were wide, glassy, and she looked at me like I was the only thing keeping her standing. Maybe I was.

“I love you,” she whispered, her voice trembling but sure.

My heart lurched, and I kissed her again, slower this time, savoring her. She tasted like hope and desperation and everything I couldn’t put into words.

“I love you too,” I breathed against her mouth. “More than anything.”

I wanted her bad. I wanted her so much that it hurt my entire body. She had always been too much for me… too wonderful, too sexy, and far too innocent.