Page 23 of The Call of Azure (Unexpected Love #3)

Liam

It’s dry and burning and windy again. Why is it always so fucking windy?

It’s open and there is no cover - nowhere to hide.

Where do I go? I don’t want to watch this.

I can’t save myself. I can’t save them. How am I supposed to sit here and listen to screams and watch the fire scorch and blister and consume and know that there is nothing I can do to stop any of it?

It’s hot and sticky again, but there is no rain.

How can it be so humid for so long without a drop of actual rain?

The sounds of birds and monkeys and god knows what else mix with screaming and cracking and gunfire and there is nowhere to go.

It smells like fuel and flame and blood and metal and I can’t look away and I can’t stop it and I need to hide.

Somewhere.

Anywhere.

Safe…I need to be safe.

To not feel exposed and vulnerable and hurt.

To hear anything other than the rending of steel and flesh and explosions and my own harsh gasping breaths.

Just for once, I need to feel fucking safe.

To feel softness and comfort.

I need to slip below the surface until it’s all washed away.

I need to be held.

To hear…

A voice.