Page 29 of Fighting for Ella

Someone had hurt Miguel.

The man who had risked so much for her, who had believed in her even when the people who knew her best hadn't.

A growl that kind of sounded more like a baby lion than the king of the jungle rumbled out of her, and she threw herself at the man emerging from the trees.

Caught by surprise, she managed to knock him down, and the next thing she knew they were rolling down a decline in a tangle of limbs.

Ella lost count of how many times her body slammed into things, and by the time she and the man landed with a splash in a river, she was dangerously close to losing consciousness.

February 7th

1:13 A.M.

Pain radiateddown from his shoulder.

Damn it.

He’d allowed himself a moment of distraction and it had gotten him shot.

Miguel cursed his own stupidity. It was his feelings for Ella that had done it. When she’d thrown herself into his arms, everything other than the feel of her against his body had fled from his mind.

Like the open book that she was, he’d felt the myriad of emotions flash through her. Desire had warred with fear, and with it had come rising panic. Even though she’d been the one to initiate contact, she’d quickly needed distance and he’d given it to her. While he would have loved to hold her, soothe her fears, reassure her that she was safe and that he’d never hurt her, he’d given her what she needed and set her down.

The mumbled apology almost had him rethinking that decision.

He would never disrespect a woman by touching her when she indicated she wanted space, but the urge to hold her and make her take the apology back, force her to accept she had nothing to be sorry for, was almost more than he could stand.

Soothing her was a need.

When she was upset, he felt unsettled in the strangest of ways.

Now knowing that Ella was in trouble again had panic settling in his gut.

Because he’d been more focused on soothing Ella, he hadn't noticed someone sneaking up behind them until it was too late to do anything about it.

Ignoring the burn in his shoulder, he flexed his fingers. They all moved on command, and while it hurt, he was pretty sure the wound was nothing more than a flesh one. Nothing that would inhibit him from doing what he needed to do.

His little lioness had thrown herself at the man who had shot him with the most adorable roar he’d ever heard. Even as he wanted to spank her cute little butt for doing something as crazy as tackling an armed man, Miguel couldn’t deny that he also felt a whole lot of pride.

As scared as she was, as rough as the last couple of days had been for her, she hadn't hesitated to put herself in the line of fire to protect him.

Protecthim.

The only person other than his team who had ever done that for him was his brother.

Now, a woman who stirred up feelings he was determined to do his best to ignore was in danger, and his chest felt so tight he had to actually rub at it to try to alleviate the sensation.

Unprepared for the tiny warrior to attack, the man who’d shot him had lost his balance when Ella’s body collided with his own and they’d both gone down a small hill. Scooping up the guard’s weapon, which he must have dropped before he fell, Miguel started down the decline.

It was fairly sharp, and it was easy to make out the trail the two bodies had taken even in the dark. There were enough obstacles along the way that by the time he reached the bottomand found a fast-flowing river, he was genuinely concerned about whether or not Ella had been conscious when she’d gone in the water.

Scanning the river, searching for signs of Ella, when he saw none, he started jogging along the bank in the direction the current would have taken her.

Aside from whatever injuries she may have sustained in the fall, she was also there with a man who wouldn't hesitate to kill her, or at least incapacitate her and take her back to Raul.

Even if she survived this dip in the river, Raul now knew something was wrong. Luckily, Miguel had been able to kill the guards shooting at them, but that was only because there were just a few of them. Even with the four he’d killed before jumping the fence and going after Ella, there were still at least twenty men on the estate.

Enough to outnumber them.

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