Page 29 of They Will Burn

CAMILLA

Istruggle to drag in a breath, but Kovu’s strength never wavers around me. But then, has it ever? Hasn’t he been there for me since the first day? Wasn’t he the one who never tried to hold himself back from me? Isn’t he the one who dotes on me despite the shit he gets from the others for it? Wasn’t he the one who held me through my nightmares?

A rough sob tears from my throat, and I bury my face into his neck, reveling in the warmth as water cascades around us. What we just shared was intense, but it’s not what has my chest heaving and tears rolling down my cheeks. No, it’s the safety he provides. The place in his arms I know is reserved only for me.

“Little lamb?” he murmurs against my throat, pain etched into the nickname he gave me my first day here. I know he struggles to see me in distress, but I need it.

I try to speak, but instead, another sob escapes, and he holds me so tight against him it borders on pain. But it’s exactly what I need.

Kovu eases out of me, and as soon as he slips free, I miss the brutal stretch of him. Another wave of tears fall against my cheeks, which only makes him hold me tighter.

“I’ve got you, Little Lamb,” he promises. “I’ve always got you.”

The familiar scent of my favorite shampoo fills the shower a moment before his deft fingers move through my hair, carefully washing the knotted strands in a way that seems foreign to him. But he doesn’t hesitate.

Kovu moves through washing and conditioning my hair, as well as washing my entire body, all while I cling to him like he’s the only thing keeping me together. And right now, he is.

He steps out of the shower with me and quickly wraps a towel around me to protect me from the cold morning air. He props me up on the vanity with my arms still holding onto him as he dries himself before dropping the towel into the hamper and lifting me back into his arms.

I feel their eyes on me as soon as Kovu steps back into the room, but I can’t pull my face from Kovu’s neck. I don’t want them to see me like this. I don’t want them to see me as weak.

“What the fuck did you do to her?” Kaos snaps. His heavy footsteps draw closer, and it only makes me cling tighter to Kovu.

“Back off,” Kovu growls, his voice menacing despite how gentle he’s being with me.

Another set of footsteps comes from the edge of the bed, and a rough sob escapes my throat. At this point, I’m not even sure why I’m crying, but I can’t stop the tears now that I’ve allowed them to fall.

Kovu moves me toward the bed and sits on the edge with me still clinging to him like a koala bear, and he holds onto me just as tight. “It’s okay, Little Lamb. You can let it out. You’re safe here. You’re with us.” His gentle words only make me cry harder, and I feel a hand that doesn’t belong to him rub down my back.

My bleary eyes shoot up to look at them, and I’m met with vibrant green.

“We’ve got you, love. No one is ever going to take you from us again.” It’s a promise Bishop shouldn’t make, not when there’s no way to look into our future filled with uncertainty and violence, but I lean into his words anyway.

I catch sight of Kaos by the door, his gaze staring at us like he’s not sure what to do or where to put himself, but right now I wouldn’t know either. Our lines were always blurred, but never more so than they are now.

Another hand touches my back, and I know without looking it’s Crew. I’d know his touch anywhere, even if this one isn’t full of his usual confidence. Even if his touch is as unsure as I feel.

“Let it out, Little Menace. We’ll catch you. We’ll always catch you.”

But the declaration only makes me cry harder, and a moment later, I hear the door open and click shut, reminding me once again that all this is temporary. Kaos will never accept me. He’ll never feel for me what the others do, and that’s why I can’t stay.

I need to make a plan, but for right now, I allow the three of them to drown me in their affection.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

BISHOP

Seeing Camilla cry makes my chest ache in a way it never has before.

I don’t know what it is about watching the strong, capable woman who so easily stole our blackened hearts cry, but I fucking hate it. Perhaps it would be different if her sobs were the result of a spanking or too many denied orgasms, but when it’s something I have no control over, I fucking hate it. Her tears seem never-ending as she chokes on the rough sobs that escape her chest, and I’m terrified to know what brought them on.

One minute her screams were lighting up the room, the three of us that were left out of their morning plans sitting in the room jealous and hard, and the next Kovu was carrying her out wrapped in nothing but a towel and her entire body heaving.

But I know Kovu didn’t hurt her. He’s a lot of things, but he would never force himself on a woman.

I glance over my best friend’s shoulder at Crew on his other side, his brows tugged together as he stares down at Camilla. It’s a strange thing to care about a woman for the first time. Truthfully, I don’t think he’s cared about anyone since my mother died, and even then, their relationship was complicated and fractured long before she slid that final needle into her veins and overdosed.

The women who have walked these halls in the past have been temporary, and even the ones we thought would be around long-term, Bianca included, never felt like this. When they cried, I could have easily walked out and not thought about their tears again, but not Camilla.

---