I dropped low and crawled inside.
Visibility was almost nothing. Smoke rolled thick and gray, the heat pressing in from every surface. My lungs burned. My head swam.
“Madden!” I shouted, though I couldn’t hear myself over the fire.
No answer.
I swept my arm out blindly, and my hand hit something soft.
Her.
She was on the floor near the kitchenette, collapsed on her side. Unmoving. Her skin was hot to the touch, her breathing shallow and uneven—smoke and heat had taken her down before the fire could finish the job.
“Fuck,” I rasped.
I didn’t waste time checking responsiveness. I hooked one arm under her shoulders, the other under her knees, and lifted.
She was limp.
Dead weight.
Her head lolled against my chest as I turned back toward the door. The fire outside roared louder, the structure of the boat protesting as flames climbed higher, heat slamming into my back like a shove.
I ran.
Across the deck, fire snapping at my legs, the planks melting the soles of my boots. I hit the edge and jumped, landing hard on the dock with a jolt that rattled my teeth.
Hands reached for her immediately.
“I’ve got her,” someone shouted.
“Clear!” I barked. “Get her clear—now!”
They moved fast, dragging her farther down the dock as I dropped to one knee, chest heaving, lungs screaming, skin burning where the heat had kissed it too long.
Behind me, the Second Wind finally gave up.
The fire breached the cabin in earnest, flames tearing through as the interior ignited, heat blasting outward and driving everyone back. The sound was violent, final.
I didn’t look.
Instead, I crawled to Madden’s side, shaking hands finding her pulse, counting shallow breaths, my entire world narrowing to one hard, undeniable truth?—
Someone had tried to kill her.
And I’d gotten there in time.
Twenty-Six
MADDEN
“—I’m fine. I don’t need a bed.”
The voice cut through the dark before anything else did.
Firm. Controlled. Strained around the edges.
Rios.
