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“Rowan!” Travis’s voice cuts through the fog and I cry out, begging the universe that he hears me. Evan glances over his shoulder and sighs.

“It’s time for me to go, sweetheart.” His smile turns wicked. “Make sure you bleed out nice and slow for me, okay? I want this to hurt him.”

And then he’s gone.

Turning my head, I stare up at the branches above me. The pain is overwhelming and I can’t make my mind work as I wonder if anyone is ever going to find me or if I’m going to die right here as darkness creeps in around the edges of my vision and my body jerks to attention.

No.

Stay awake.

Relaxing back into the ground, I call for Travis in my mind even though I know it’s useless. My strength is waning and despite what I want to tell myself, I know I don’t have long. The darkness ebbs and flows around the corners of my vision and the sky above me begins to tilt as I suck in a breath and close my eyes.

“Rowan!” Travis screams, closer than before and my eyes snap open. I must have passed out at some point but there is no telling how long I’ve been unconscious. Gritting my teeth, I use my injured arm to reach down to my stomach and feel the wound there, wincing. “Fuck. Rowan!”

His voice is even closer and I suck in a breath, calling out for him against the gag but it’s too quiet for him to hear and I can’t muster the strength to scream any louder.

“Rowan, baby, please! Where the hell are you?” The pain in each word he speaks rips a sob from my throat and I look down at my injured hand, the one Evan left unrestrained before peeking down at the ground next to my body. There is a large stick not too far from me and if I get it, I can smash it against the tree trunk to get his attention. But, fuck… it’s going to hurt like hell. Sucking in a breath, I lift my arm from my belly and scream, squeezing my eyes shut as pain swamps my body and tears fall down my face into the grass below me.

It’s too much.

I can’t do this.

“Rowan!” Travis bellows, tears in his voice, and he sounds even closer this time. God, he’s right there…It spurs me on and I scream through the pain as I lower my arm and grab the stick before struggling to raise it back up again.

Come on.

Fucking do it.

“If you’re out here, baby, I need you to make a noise.”

The world spins around me as I use the last of my strength to lift the stick into the air and smack it into the tree again and again, sobbing as I pray to everything I can think of that he’ll hear me. Travis bursts through the brush and I cry out in relief as I drop the stick to the ground and close my eyes.

“Jesus,” he hisses, kneeling next to me and quickly removing the ball gag from my mouth. I flex my aching jaw as he pulls it away before turning to look at him as he works on untying my arm. When he’s finished, he scoots closer to me and runs his hands over my body. “Are you hurt anywhere else besides your arm?”

“Stomach,” I whisper, my voice rough from all of the screaming and he glances down, lifting up my sweatshirt as his eyes widen and he turns to look at me. His heart is breaking in his eyes, I can see it clear as day, as he pulls out his cell phone and tries to reassure me with a smile.

“I’ve got you, baby. I’ve always fucking got you.”

“Travis,” I breathe, reaching up and cupping his cheek as he presses the phone to his ear, calling for help but darkness creeps in around my vision again and I know this could be it. This could be the last time I see his handsome face, his green mesmerizing eyes, and his cocky grin and I don’t want to die without telling him the truth. His gaze locks on mine as the darkness grows, pulling me under.

“Stay with me, Princess.”

“I love you, Travis,” I whisper, unable to hold back anymore as I’m swallowed up by shadows once again and if this is death, at least I died with a smile on my face and the love of my life by my side.