Blaze (Virtues & Lies 3)

The lowest groan echoes loudly in my ears, the pain in it haunting.

“Shhh…”

Fleur shakes her head, her other hand grasping my top tightly in her fist. A thick, bulging tear collects in her mascara-smeared eye before it rolls down her temple. It’s only then I realise she’s cut her hair again.

With every breath another heavy tear bulges and rivers into her hair. She’s in pain, and there’s nothing I can do to fix it.

“You’re going to be okay, baby.” Unsure of whether the assurance is for me or her, I cradle her a little harder to me.

Maybe I’m fucking shit up. But I’m a soldier, and my instinct is to pick my men up from the ground. Fleur is so much more than one of my men—she’s my everything. Holding her, I’m holding my entire world in my arms.

Stupid fucking moment to put everything into perspective. But the sight of her like this—bloodied, battered, and bruised…

“We’re going to find them.”

I glance up to find Freddie looking at my wife with something other than indifference in his eyes.

“We’re going to fucking find them all,” he repeats when her lips pull into a faint grimacing smile.

“Yeah, we are,” I tell her, swallowing down the brine collecting at the back of my throat.

“Cam-Cameron,” she coughs again. This time a gurgle chokes out her pained groan.

I tilt her up in my arms, trying to mop up the sputters of blood that coat her lips and chin. There’s no way I can tell her he’s gone. It would be another blow that I won’t let her suffer right now.

With her hand clenching my bicep, she stares up at me, almost blankly. “T-t-tired.”

“I know, but you have to stay with me. Please. See? I’m asking nicely and…and everything.”

She needs to stay awake. But her face is so bloody and puffy that touching it to draw her back to me pains me.

“She can’t…no, no, Casper, don’t let her…” Arabella looks at me completely and utterly choked, tears streaming down her face.

She’s drowning. I’m drowning, and I can’t. I can’t let Fleur leave me.

“She has to be okay. She has to,” Arabella repeats. “She has to be okay.”

The Range comes to a stop, and I’m jumping out of the car. I don’t bother going to the check-in desk. They’ll ask a tonne of questions rather than helping her. Instead, I head straight through the paramedic entrance. A nurse that’s standing outside chatting to a paramedic rushes after me.

“Excuse me! Excuse me,” she yells behind me, footsteps getting louder and faster. “Sir! Hey…”

The triage area is rammed. There are monitors and trolleys everywhere. The place is fucking chaos.

“Excuse me, sir!” Her gritted authoritarian tone has me turning to her so fast that she stumbles backwards.

“You’re going to get me a fucking bed now.” She fluffs up like a fucking peacock at my order. “You’re going to get me a doctor. The best one you’ve got to see to my wife.”

“It’s…you…that’s…”

“Do it!” Arabella ushers her quickly towards the emergency bays.

“You have to—”

“Do you know who I am?” I never pull rank or use my family name for anything, but today…

“I don’t care. This is for ambulances only.”

“My father is the fucking Deputy Prime Minister…I don’t give a flying fuck!” My growl has her eyes widening as they flicker between me and Arabella.