JAXON With my speed, I don’t even feel myself moving, but suddenly I’m slamming into Luke, tackling him backward into the cold hard concrete. His knife skitters across the floor, clanging loudly as it slides out of reach. I’m on top of him, blue wide eyes stare up at me. Molten rage courses through my veins, poisoning my blood, ridding me of every form of common sense, every bit of humanity. My fists crash into his face, one after another. I hit harder and harder. Hearing his bones snap beneath my knuckles gives me so much pleasure, yet it fuels my anger at the same time. I will beat him to a pulp. His face would be absolutely unrecognizable by the time I’m done. Uncle won’t be able to salvage any part of him, I swear on it. My right fist locks against his broken nose, and a pained laughter tears from his throat. “You’ll never make it out with her alive, you know that, right?” he spits out. His saliva and blood hits my cheek. My stomach revolts, twisting my internal organs into a tight knot. “Fuck you,” I snarl, my hand locking around his throat. I pull his head up and bang my forehead against his. Once, twice, three times. His loud screams are drowned out by Sarah’s. By God, I want to crack his skull open with my fucking hands. Luke sneers at me when I stop to take a breath, to see what damage I have done to him. I can taste my own blood on my tongue, feel the warm trickle down my forehead as it seeps into my mouth. “You keep this up boy,” he breathes heavily. “And she’ll die before you can kill me.” I frown at him. What the fuck is he talking about? He looks away from me and turns to Sarah. I follow his gaze. She’s still tied to her chair, which is now on the ground. Her left side is soaked with blood, no doubt from the cut on her shoulder. She looks dizzy, almost…gone. “You were so blinded by your rage towards me that you forgot all about her. And yet…” he coughs. “Yet you claim you love her. With a lover like you, who needs enemies?” My fingers grow limb against his throat. I can’t move no matter how hard I try. His words are true. “Face it, Jaxon. You and your brothers were never destined for anything good. Look at it, everything you have now was acquired by blood, innocent lives you sacrificed for whatever reason you gave yourself. And even now, when you tell yourselves you’ve found love…she was right there, waiting to be rescued, but you…you decided to kill me first. Nothing matters anymore, just my death, right?” Tight lipped, a single drop of tear falls from my right eye. “That’s a lie,” I turn to him. “That’s a fucking lie!” “She’s going to die in your hands, and you’ll be the one who killed her cause you chose revenge over her life.” “Shut the fuck up!” “You don’t deserve anything good. You ruin…everything!” “I said, shut.” One punch. “The.” Another. “Fuck.” Again. “Up.” He laughs. The bastard fucking laughs! “I’ll see her on the other side, bastard.” “NO!” I tear off him and stumble toward her. She’s soaked with blood. Everywhere. Body, hands, legs. Trembling fingers work to untie her as I keep my eyes on her face. With every second that passes, her eyes look further away, like she’s drifting…away from me. “Fuck, no, no, no—stay with me, baby,” I choke out, kneeling beside her. My hands hover uselessly, I pull her up to my body, resting her face against my chest as I cup her right cheek. Luke scrambles behind me. How can he even afford to still walk after…? Fuck this. “If that man escapes, I’ll take your lives in exchange for his!” I bark at the girls without looking up. Gunfire bursts behind me as the girls chase him into the darkness. I can’t move. “Stay awake, Sarah,” I whisper, my voice breaking on every syllable. “Don’t you dare fucking leave me. Please.” Her lashes flutter. Her lips tremble around my name. “Jax?”My heart plummets deep, down into the pit of my stomach. It terrifies me more than anything Luke could’ve done. “Hey baby,” she coughs. Lord. What is this? Her right hand slowly comes up. She narrows her tired eyes as she searches my face. “Why are you crying? You came, I’m here.” I sniff in, nodding my head. “I know. I…I came with a bike. It’s right outside. Just stay with me, alright? Ronan and Mal will be here soon. We’ll take you to the hospital.” A tired smile lights up her dying eyes. “I won’t be here that long.” “You will.” She slowly shakes her head. “I don’t feel so good.” “Stay with me, I swear to God, just—just stay with me…” “I didn’t mean it, you know.” She cuts in. I feel my own heart cease to beat. “When I said I hated you…” her smile turns even brighter. “I didn’t mean it.” “Sarah.” “I love you.” The words come out strangled. She’s fighting to stay awake, to stay with me. “I…” Fuck me. How can I say it? How can I dare to utter those words when I’m the reason she’s here? If we had never crashed into her life… It’s almost impossible to see, but I capture the hurt that flashes in her eyes as she buries her face into my chest. She scoffs. “I guess…that solves it.” Then, she goes quiet. I swallow hard. “Sarah?” No response. “Sarah?” Still none. Where the fuck are my brothers when I need them? I can’t drive her anywhere on a fucking bike when she can’t sit up! Is this really it? The warehouse is silent except for my ragged breathing and her weak, shallow gasps. Time stops. The air is heavy and still, pressing me into the ground, crushing my lungs. Then, the lights come. Blinding white lights burst into the room, cutting through the dark. Boots thunder across the concrete, as voices overlap in the chaos. I can hear Ronan shout my name, Malachi calls out every swear word in the English dictionary, and Kevin screams for Sarah. It’s his hands that reach for her, and lift her from mine. His words are muffled in my ears, like he’s screaming at me and I’m under water, drowning. I try to stand but my body refuses me. My legs are locked, cemented to the ground as Sarah’s blood spreads beneath me. I’m frozen, numb, watching them carry her away while my entire world leaves with her. Someone’s shouting at me, holding me up. Ronan maybe, or Mal, or both. Everything’s muffled. Faded. Distant. Suddenly, I’m flat on my back as bright ceiling lights burn into my eyes. I don’t know when I got here. The world tilts sideways, my chest rises once, twice, before the darkness swallows me whole.