I take him straight to the living room and ease him down onto the carpet, supporting his weight even as it strains every muscle in my body.
He groans, collapsing onto his side. I kneel behind him to inspect the wound. The ivory carpet begins drinking in his blood. Because of the dark color of his jacket, it wasn’t clearly visible how deep his wound is, but now, with the speed the carpet is soaking it up, it looks really bad.
My head spins. I shake it, trying to force the dizziness away, but it doesn’t help. My limbs tremble, tears streaking down my cheeks. I wipe them away harshly and peel off his jacket.I can’t panic right now. If I do, he’ll die.The thought sends another wave of tremors through me.
“Try to keep your eyes open, okay?” I manage, my voice thick with tears. I can’t see his face from this angle.
He turns onto his back.
“Don’t—” I protest, but he doesn’t listen.
His bloodshot eyes stare up at my face. All the color has drained from his skin, leaving it cold and waxen. The way his jaw clenches is enough to tell me how much pain he’s enduring.
“Why are you crying?” His voice comes out low and hoarse.
“Why are you asking such a stupid question? A man is dying in front of me, what do you expect me to do?” I half cry, half yell at him.
His eyes fall shut, but he forces them open. A ghost of a smile touches the corner of his lips.
“You would have cried the same for any other man,” he murmurs, more to himself than to me.
“Don’t talk nonsense, Hunter.” I cup his face. “Now is not the time. Your life is in danger.”
He stares at my face like he’s committing me to memory, then whispers, “Leave me.”
“What are you saying?” My voice scrapes out raw.
I know he’s giving up on me and on life. I can see it in his eyes, the same look I’ve seen in my own countless times. Now I understand what it must have been like for my family to see me this way.
The helplessness of watching someone you care for want to die is a poison that won’t kill you, but will eat you alive from the inside. I feel the rotting void it leaves behind as he stares into my eyes with his dead ones.
“I’ve loved you since long before I ever met you, and I’ll keep loving you until life leaves me. So let me die.” He closes his eyes, his words growing fainter and more labored. “Because if I live, I won’t let you go back to him.”
I keep staring at his barely moving lips, his lifeless face. No words come out of my mouth, only tears keep falling, one stream after another.
He forces his eyes open one last time, looking at me the way he’s always looked at me, like I’m his whole world.
“Leave me, baby. Go to the man you love.”
My chin trembles with the effort of holding back my sobs. Why is my heart splintering inside my chest, causing an ache so unbearable I want to rip it out?
“What’s the password of your phone?”
“Eleven... twenty-seven,” he whispers, and his eyes fall shut.
Chapter 30
Elowen
The light of the operation theatre glows red, an indication that someone inside is battling death.My eyes are fixed on it. My mind is blank, exhausted from conjuring the worst that could happen. I’m no longer crying; there are no tears left to shed.
The light turns green, and I’m on my feet instantly. My legs carry me to the door as it opens from inside. A doctor steps out. I can’t find my voice, I’m trying to speak, but no sound comes.
“I’m sorry. We couldn’t save him,” he delivers the words in a professionally calm tone.
Death in that room is not new to him. But it is to me. My feet stumble backward. I’m forcing myself to move forward, but my body refuses.
“Hunter.” I cry out, finally, my voice breaking free from my burning throat.
