The moment I seehim, my stomach lurches.
Nathaniel must have pulled him out of the driver's seat. He's bent over him, his hands pressing down hard on Cassian’s stomach, his forearms already slick with blood.
So much blood...
Talon is crouched beside them, his face pale, his hands shaking.
“He’s—he’s—” He doesn’t even get the words out before his voice shatters like cheap glass.
My scythe dissolves into smoke as I drop to my knees.
Cassian’s eyes are half-lidded, his face a shade too pale under the streetlights. His lips part, but no sound comes out.
“Talon,” Nathaniel barks. “Help me.”
His hands are soaked in red. Cassian’s chest rises and falls in shallow, uneven breaths.
My stomach turns.
I’ve seen death before. Hell, I am death. But not like this.
Not him.
I don't know why it matters, but it does. More than I'd ever like to admit.
Hematters to me.
Cassian. That stupid, annoying asshole.
Nathaniel rips open his shirt, revealing a gaping wound low on his abdomen. His hands move instinctively, pressing down again to staunch the bleeding, but the moment he does, Cassian chokes.
A horrible, wet sound.
His entire body convulses beneath Nathaniel’s grip, his hands jerking up like he’s trying to push him away—like he’s trying to fight, like he’s still trying to survive.
Nathaniel mutters a curse, his voice teetering on the edge of frantic.
“Stay with me, Cass. You hear me? Stay with me.”
Cassian gasps. His head tilts, his eyes flickering between open and closed. He isn’t really seeing us anymore.
Panic shoves its claws down my throat.
Cassian isdying.
“Do something!” Talon snaps, his voice raw, desperate. “You’re a fucking doctor, Nathaniel! Fix him! Do something!”
Nathaniel doesn’t look at him. He just presses harder, his expression set, determined. Like he refuses to accept the reality unfolding in front of him.
“I’m trying,” he grits out. “But I—” He cuts himself off, voice catching. Then, through sheer force of will, he shoves the emotion back down. “He’s losing too much blood. I need—fuck, I need a transfusion, I need—”
And then, I feel it.
The moment everything shifts.
Cassian’s pulse. Stuttering. Slowing.
No, no, no—
