Chapter 82

Erin’s POV

It was like I was never stabbed; the wound that was once on my chest was completely gone.

But how was that possible?

It was a silver dagger that plunged into my chest; even if my wolf had been able to heal me from it, it wouldn’t have happened this quickly. I touched my chest and felt no pain; my breathing had strengthened.

I stared up at the night sky with a racing heart.

I sat up, searching around my perimeters and that’s when I saw him.

I couldn’t help the gasp that escaped my lips. My entire body trembled as I realized what had happened.

It was Gavin!

He healed me.

But how?

I scrambled to my knees so I could crawl over to him; he was completely unconscious and there was a gaping wound on his chest. His clothes and the dirt surrounding him were filling with his blood at a rapid speed.

He was hardly breathing.

“Gavin…” I spoke in a broken whisper.

I ran my fingers over his chest and attempted to stop the bleeding with my hands.

“He transferred your injuries to himself,” Emily said as we continued to stare down at our mate who was bleeding out before my eyes.

“No…” I whispered as tears fell down my face.

I bit onto my bottom lip to keep from making any whimpering sounds.

This couldn’t be happening.

Gavin reached up and grabbed my hand, which surprised me because I thought he was unconscious.

“Don’t leave…” he whispered, locking his eyes onto mine.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said in return, trying to sound confident through my tears.

He closed his eyes again.

“Stay awake,” I ordered him. “You can’t fall asleep.”

I looked behind me at my backpack. I had first aid material in there; he just needed to be okay for a little while as I searched the bag for supplies to help him.

“I need you to apply pressure to your wound with your hands,” I ordered him, moving his hands over his chest.

“I don’t know if I can,” he said weakly.

“Yes, you can,” I said in return, firmer than I meant but my tone worked because he did as I said instantly.

I scrambled over to my backpack and grabbed the necessary supplies from it before going back to Gavin.

“Move your hand,” I said quickly.

I had a bottle of isopropyl.

“This is going to hurt,” I warned as I poured it on top of his wound.

To my surprise, he didn’t even flinch.

I was relieved by that.

“That was nothing,” he said with a faint and weak smile.

I gave him a small smile in return as I grabbed some large bandages.

“I’m going to wrap your body in this,” I told him.

He was still bleeding badly, but this will buy me time to get him to a hospital. I helped him sit up against a tree as I wrapped his body tightly in white bandages. He had some sweat forming on his forehead, I knew he was struggling to stay awake.

“Erin…” he whispered as I finished tying off the bandage.

“I’m going to call an ambulance,” I said, rushing to grab my phone, but he grabbed my hand, stopping me from going anywhere.

“Gavin I—”

“Please stop for a minute,” he whispered, meeting my eyes.

My heart grew heavy in my chest as more tears poured from my eyes. I couldn’t lose him, not like this. Not ever. It was like he was giving up already; he needed to at least try to fight.

“Do you remember the first time we kissed?” He asked to my surprise.

I rose my brows, unsure of why he was talking about this all of a sudden.

“This is hardly the time,” I said to him.

“It was at a tree kind of like this,” he said. “I pushed you against it… ran my fingers through your hair and told you there was no one in the history of the world that was like you.”

My face reddened at the memory; of course, I remembered our first kiss. It was one of my favorite moments together.

“Then I kissed you so passionately it took both of our breaths away. And do you remember what I said afterward?”

Tears filled my eyes as the memory ran right into my brain at full speed.

“You said that nothing will ever take you away from me,” I said, sadness hidden in my voice.

“At the time, I didn’t think anything could take you away from me,” he said. “But something did…”

“I know,” I breathed; I had already told him why I broke up with him, but I knew it still pained him to think about. “I’m sorry…”

“But I meant what I said… nothing will ever take me away from you. There’s never been a moment in my life where I doubted what I wanted when it came to you. You’ve always been my entire world and I don’t think I’ll ever stop truly loving you.”

“Gavin—”

“If you want me to, I will leave and not look back. I will let you live your life with your fake husband and let you be with him. If that’s what you want…”

He paused for a moment as he stared around my face.

“But I don’t know how much longer I have to live. It was a silver dagger wound I had taken from you, and I feel so weak… it might only be a few moments before I die completely. I just wanted you to know how I felt…”

“Oh, Gavin…” I whispered, blinking away the tears in my eyes. “Let me call the ambulance so we can save you… please…”

“I don’t want to waste another moment without you…” he said in return; he reached his hand up and ran his fingers down the side of my face, sending goosebumps across my flesh. “I love you so much…”

My heart leaped in my chest at his words and this time, I didn’t want to deny him what he wanted.

“I’ve always loved you too…” I whispered to him in a broken whisper. “And I will love you forever…”

I leaned down and kissed him. His kiss was soft and sweet at first; it wasn’t meant to be a large kiss. But his hands draped in my hair and sent tingles throughout my body. I breathed into his kiss, feeling the warmth of his breath on my features and his soft tongue sliding into my mouth.

His tongue explored me curiously and hungrily. I couldn’t help the moan that escaped my lips as he playfully tugged at my bottom lip. A smile played on my mouth as I pressed myself into him, completely disregarding the wound on his chest.

I only disregarded it for a moment though; I remembered how injured he was, and I quickly fell backward onto my back.

He was staring at me with hunger and lust in his eyes; he was breathing heavily, and he looked to be back to his normal self.

A smirk appeared on his lips.

Then, his words caught me by surprise.

“Got you.”