Gabriella
When she heard the boots crunching leaves, she knew she had been a fool. The other woman hadn’t brought her here to enjoy the springs like Mateo had instructed. This had been a setup to have her ruined or killed.
Leaves crinkled, and a twig crackled under boots. Her head snapped up towards the direction.
Four men stepped out of the darkness as if they’d been waiting for the exact second she relaxed.
Lantern light caught sharp cheekbones, hollow eyes, the dull sheen of sweat, and something darker beneath it—something starving.
One of them couldn’t have been older than twenty.
The others looked worn down to bone and instinct, their humanity stripped to something jagged and dangerous.
These men didn’t look like they were part of the original group. Stragglers, or maybe men who had been injured and left behind previously. Regardless, they were not celebrating with the others tonight, and it felt like they blamed her for it.
As they moved closer to her, she caught the unmistakable outline of a gun riding low on one man’s hip. Her pulse spiked as she began to move away from them.
One jerked his chin towards the bank, fingers flicking in a sharp command. “Get out.”
She sank deeper into the water instead, arms crossing over her chest, heart pounding so loudly she was sure they could hear it. “No,” she whispered, then louder, shaking her head. “No.”
A low snicker answered her.
One of them started stripping—shirt first, then his pants—like this was nothing more than an inconvenience. Like she wasn’t a human being, only a problem to be solved. He stepped into the spring, and the water sloshed violently as he waded towards her, eyes locked on her like prey.
“Come here,” he said in broken English, reaching for her.
Full body tremors took over as fear detonated within her chest, somehow turning her blood to both liquid fire and ice.
Gabriella spun, scrambling backward, slipping on smooth stone underfoot as she tried to climb the opposite bank. Her fingers clawed at wet earth, nails tearing as she hauled herself halfway out—
A hand grabbed her ankle.
She screamed then. A raw, animal sound that ripped out of her chest. She kicked blindly, heel connecting hard with a cheekbone, but not hard enough to deter him. Her earlier fatigue had caught up to her, and she was paying the price.
Is this how you’re going to die? Raped and drowned? Her mind raced to understand what her options were, feeling helpless. No! Her mind screamed. Move! Fight back! You are not who you used to be!
The man swore as he lost his footing, grip loosening just enough for her to twist free. She bolted—half swimming, half crawling—towards the trees.
She made it three steps onto land before someone else grabbed her hair and yanked her head back. This is it, she thought, desperately wishing she had kissed Mateo one more time.
Then everything exploded.
A body slammed into the man holding her, knocking him sideways, thankfully not taking her with them. Her head screamed in agony at being held taut, but she paid it no heed as she turned to witness the violence before her.
Mateo came into her view, and he descended like a ravaging storm.
Straddling the man who had held her, his knees pinning the other man’s arms, Mateo’s fists pummeled an unguarded face.
Punch after savage punch, each hard and precise, hammered into the downed man’s eyes, nose, cheeks, and mouth.
Somehow through the noise of it all, she heard bones crack.
The youngest of the group came around and jumped on Mateo’s back, scrambling to get an arm around the bigger man’s neck.
Mateo reached up, grabbed the other man by a fistful of his hair with one hand and his wrist with the other, then pitched forward hard as he yanked the young attacker off his back and tossed him into the spring.
The next two assailants were approaching Mateo.
He dashed to the closest one, ducked a punch, then slammed his fist into the man’s throat.
No sound came out, but pain lined the man’s face as he grabbed his neck and dropped.
The last man standing followed in vain attempts to strike Mateo.
He swung twice and caught nothing but air before Mateo’s fist connected with his face—an audible crunch sounded as blood sprayed into the dirt.
That man did make noise, she thought as he went down screaming.
The youngest was scrambling to get out of the spring and continue the fight until Mateo’s boot crashed into his face. She was pretty sure he might drown in the spring from that.
Chaos had ensued, and she’d been the root cause.
No, she reminded herself. Sally set this up. Not you.
As men lay groaning and wheezing, Mateo turned his dark eyes to her. They seemed nearly bottomless, she felt like she would get pulled under by him as he screamed into the night. “No one fucking touches her!”
Gabriella collapsed to her knees, shaking, arms wrapped around herself.
“She is mine,” Mateo roared, standing over her like a shield. “I will kill the next person who touches her!”
The man who Mateo had only struck once in the face scrounged himself into a sitting position. His nose was running like an open faucet, face already starting to swell enough that it made Gabriella’s eyes water just to look at him.
The man pulled the pistol from his belt. Both men stared at one another. Mateo didn’t flinch.
“Do it,” he snarled. “See how fast this camp burns.”
For a long moment, no one breathed. Only the sound of one man wheezing and another gurgling broke the tense silence.
Eventually, the men limped away. Afraid. Terrified. One of them had jumped into the spring to pull out the youngest so he wouldn’t drown. No one looked at Gabriella as their footsteps receded. After a time, all that was left was the insistent buzzing of insects and howler monkeys.
Mateo dropped to his knees beside her, shrugging off his ebony shirt and wrapping it around her shoulders. His hands were firm but gentle.
“You’re safe,” he said harshly, like he was convincing himself. His lips were split, crimson sliding down his chin and dripping onto her splayed legs. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
When did he even get hit, she found herself wondering. It had all happened so fast.
She clutched the fabric, breath shuddering, tears finally breaking free.