Page 175 of Scars of Fate

“I’m trying to protect you!”

“And I’m trying to protect you!”

“I don’t need protection.”

“Neither do I!”

The enemy remained silent, still waiting for the copilot to respond.

Lucas stared at me.

I stood despite the pain in my leg.

“You think your life is worth less because you’re trained. It isn’t. You run toward bullets. You climb mountains to save strangers. But when I take a risk, you act as though I’ve betrayed you.”

“It isn’t the same.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t lose you!”

His voice cracked through the trees.

I stepped closer.

“And I can’t lose you.”

Lucas stopped.

Tears blurred my vision.

“That’s what you still don’t understand. I was terrified every time you left. Every telephone call. Every knock at the door. Every night I slept alone and wondered if I would ever hear your voice again.”

His face changed.

“I didn’t leave because I stopped loving you. I left because loving you hurt so damn much I couldn’t breathe.”

His expression crumpled.

“I thought you wanted a different life.”

“I wanted our life. I just wanted to know it mattered as much to you as the mission.”

“It mattered more.”

“You never said that.”

“I’m saying it now.”

My anger faded.

Fear took its place.

“What if we hurt each other again?”

“We will.”

“That isn’t very reassuring.”