Surviving the Heatwave：My Ice Warlord’s Lethal Obsession

Five seconds ago, I was whining about the sweltering heat in the RV, begging Hudson to use his extremely precious powers just to make me a damn popsicle.

Then the memories flooded in.

I was nothing but a piece of arm candy in a sweet romance novel, clinging to others to survive. Hudson was the overpowered male lead. Before the world ended, I had chased him relentlessly until he caved. After the apocalypse, I hadn't changed a bit—I was a total brat.

In the story, right before we reached the government's underground bunker, Hudson abandoned me.

Without laws, the monsters roaming the wasteland were far more terrifying than the heat. I fell into the hands of raiders and met a miserable end.

The sudden download of information made my head spin. As Hudson reached out to hand me the ice, I instinctively swatted his hand away.

"Don't! I... I don't want it anymore."

Silence fell over the RV.

Maybe he was so used to my dramatic mood swings that nothing surprised him anymore. He looked at his reddened hand and shook his head in resignation.

"Weren't you just whining about the heat? You sure you don't want it?"

He reached out to stroke my hair, but I flinched, shrinking back to put distance between us.

Hudson's eyes darkened instantly as he watched me avoid him like the plague. "What's wrong?"

"You're the leader," I said, keeping my eyes glued to the floor. "Your powers are precious. You need to save them for emergencies. You can't... you can't waste them on me."

At this completely out-of-character display of maturity, Hudson went dead still.

After a long moment, he said softly, "Okay."

He agreed, but he didn't pull away.

Instead, his long fingers reached out, carrying a trace of frost, and clamped precisely onto the back of my neck. The touch was gentle but held absolute dominance. There was no escaping him.

The icy relief sent a shiver down my spine, feeling so heavenly I nearly moaned.

We were too close. I couldn't help but stare at his flawless face. He used to be an untouchable Ivy League elite—stoic and calm. I had hounded him for three whole months before he finally agreed to date me.

To be fair, he treated me well. Extremely well. And his endless indulgence was exactly why I had become so spoiled.

But the memory of my gruesome death was a wake-up call. Hudson was a lethal killer who could freeze a man solid in a heartbeat. My past tantrums and unreasonable demands were basically me dancing on the edge of a knife.

The moment he got sick of me, my nightmare would become reality.

Fear sent a violent tremor through my body. I instinctively tried to pry his hand off and back into the corner of the RV.

"Hold still," Hudson's voice dropped an octave.

He didn't give me a chance to escape. His arm shot out, wrapping around my waist like a steel band, yanking me flush against his chest. I could feel the cold radiating from his body.

"Enough," he murmured, his lips brushing my ear. His tone was low, yet carried an undeniable authority. "Just lean on me and sleep. Be a good girl."

I didn't dare fight him anymore. I lay stiffly against his chest.

It wasn't until the early hours of the morning, when I was finally drifting off, that Hudson let me go and headed to the driver's seat for his night watch.

The second he left, the stifling heat wrapped around me like a snake, making it hard to breathe.

Normally, I would have whined and begged him to come back and hold me. But now, my mind was made up. I couldn't walk the path of my nightmare.

Staying away from Hudson and staying out of his way—that was my new goal.