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My attacker was on top of me before I could recover. I grunted as I was rolled onto my back, about to launch an elbow at the bastard’s face—only to find Lachlan staring back down at me.
Surprise made me hesitate. I missed my chance to bash his nose in as he went for the bag in my hand, an irritating smirk on his face despite the effort it was obviously taking to hold me down.
What a fucking cock.
I gritted my teeth and narrowed my eyes, yanking the pack from his grip as I bucked my hips, throwing us off balance. We rolled again and struggled harder, each scrabbling for anything we could get ahold of to push the other off.
He managed to climb on top of me and straddled my waist, reversing tactics suddenly. Instead of trying to yank the pack out of my hands, he put all his weight on it, pressing the heavy bag against my chest and making it hard to breathe.
“Just give in,” he grunted breathlessly. “Ye’re too weak to beat me, and ye know it.”
Sure, whatever you say, asshole.
He had the upper hand, but I wasn’t going to give in. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I wheezed. “You’re still underestimating me? Where do you think I got this pack from in the first place?”
It took all my strength, but I threw him off me, putting a little extra effort into it so he hit the ground hard. I answered my own question as I jumped to my feet.
“I stole it from your fucking bestie, Merrick.”
Then I grabbed the pack again and made a move to sprint toward the cave exit.
But before I could make it two steps, Lachlan’s hand shot out like a whip, grabbing me by the ankle.
“Fuck! Let go, you cocksucker!”
I shook my leg, trying to knock him off, but he half-climbed up my body and pulled me back down on the ground. We rolled, tumbling over and over—
“Shite! Aria, look out!”
We stopped, just inches from the fire.
Heat flared on one side of my face, and I swore I could smell burning hair as a few flyaways were absorbed by the flames. My heart thundered, and my eyes went wide as I stared at it.
Holy shit. Lachlan had stopped us just in time.
Arguably, he’d done it just to save his own skin. But like it or not, he’d saved mine too.
We stayed frozen like that for several long heartbeats, his body resting on mine, heavy and firm and smelling faintly of leather and musk. The pack was sandwiched between us, but that didn’t stop me from feeling everywhere else we were connected, our bodies pressed together practically from head to toe.
Slowly, I turned my head away from the flame and looked up at him. He was staring down at me, something almost like shock in his green eyes. Shock and… heat.
An answering warmth spread through me that had nothing to do with the fire, and I cursed myself inwardly.
Dammit, Aria. Now is not the time!
The tense silence hovered between us for another moment, and I struggled to keep my breathing even, to not let him know he was affecting me like this. That he was affecting me at all.
Annoyed with myself for about a dozen different reasons, I finally sprang into action, grabbing him in a headlock and rolling him off me.
I didn’t roll him toward the fire, at least.
See? We’re even.
We ended up with me on top of him, and I tightened my grip on the pack as I leapt up, sprinting toward the exit for a second time. I hated to abandon a fight early, but the smarter course of action was to get the fuck out of here right now.
Unfortunately, for the second time tonight, Lachlan took me down before I could get more than a few yards away. This time it was in a full-body tackle that hit me with the force of a speeding car.
The pack flew from my hand and skidded across the floor.
