Page 97 of My Only Luna

I pull off the torn shirt I am wearing and press it against his wound, but it is futile, becoming soaked in seconds.

He is losing too much blood.

“If dying means I get to see you strip for me, I would have done it sooner,” he says cheekily, winking at me, and this time he’s able to muster a weak smile despite the pain that consumes his body.

I shake my head, not able to play along, trying to fight the tears that are welling up in my eyes.

Dying.

He knows he’s dying.

“Don’t say that! You can’t die, Liam. No…” My voice is breaking, trembling, the words cracking as they leave my mouth. My hands are shaking uncontrollably, drenched with his blood, and my chest feels tight. I can barely breathe. Why can’t I have the power to heal? Why isn’t that my gift?

Useless. I’m so useless.

“Don’t waste your tears on me, Scarlett,” he murmurs, his voice so soft, so fragile, as if he’s already slipping away. His faceis pale, too pale. I know his life is creeping away, fading with every shallow, laboured breath he takes.

“Don’t say that! Please, Liam, don’t let go. Don’t let go!” My whisper is shaky, desperation clawing at my throat as I scan the chaos around us, searching for something, anything that can help him! There’s nothing. Just the sound of wolves clashing, the howls and snarls as they tear one another limb from limb.

I look down at him, my vision blurring. He smiles faintly. It’s weak as he raises a blood-stained hand to my cheek, brushing my tears away. I didn’t even realise that they’re now streaming down my face.

“Hey… it’s alright,” he murmurs, his voice cracking. His touch is so warm, so gentle, and it breaks me. He’s dying, and yet he’s comforting me. “I wish I didn’t have to go…” he whispers, his voice barely audible. “But it’s okay. If I had to die… I’m glad it was saving you.”

His soft words tear painfully at my chest, and a loud sob escapes me.

“No,” I sob, shaking my head violently, clutching his hand as if I can tether him here, anchor him to life. “No, no, you have things to do, Liam! Dreams to accomplish… a mate to find…” My words crack, the pain is overwhelming, my voice splintering as the tears blind me.

I feel the cold tendrils of regret clawing at me. I wish I had more time with the friend I had barely gotten to know. A man who has always wished me well from the sidelines. I choke on my guilt, flashes of him replaying in my mind. The quiet, steady way he always supported me, the water bottles he always had ready for me, or giving me one of the shaded spots in the glaring heat, the kind words, the concern in his eyes when no one else was looking, complimenting me when I looked good or asking ifI was okay when I was quiet, and I had taken it all for granted.

His blood coats my hands, staining them with the price he paid for me, but what sears into my soul is his gaze. His gentle, tender gaze, filled with a love I never deserved, as even now he tries to hide his pain to make it easier for me.

“The only dream I ever had was you.” My heart thunders as his fading voice whispers that confession. Our eyes meet, soft brown against sage green. My heart thundering with pain.

The sounds of the fighting around us are drowned out and I feel my heart break as I shake my head, unable to form words.

I can’t speak. My voice is gone, stolen by the pain of the raw emotions coursing through me at the strong love that still burns in his eyes as he gazes up at me.

Instead, I lean down, my lips trembling as I press them softly to his. I hear his soft gasp of surprise, and for a fleeting moment, I feel him, alive, warm, and with me. He kisses me back, ever so tenderly, as if even now worried he’ll hurt me. Tears stream down my face, mingling with the taste of salty tears, a hint of blood and honey. He tastes like honey.

I don’t move back, not until his hand that cups my cheek drops to the ground and his lips become still.

“Liam?” My voice is a broken whisper, shaking as the truth tears through me, sharp and cruel as reality hits me hard. A sob wrenches free from my chest, pained and unrelenting, and I clutch his now lifeless body.

Liam is gone.

May You Never Rest in Peace

Scarlett

Isit there, my body suddenly feeling numb. Elijah’s battle cry of pure rage as he fights against the monsters surrounding us makes the walls tremble, but even as blood sprays across the ground from the wolves who had entered, I feel… frozen. Elijah kills them with no mercy, but it does nothing to calm the pain within my soul.

I stand up, watching Rafael slam Cade to the ground once again. The Beta is covered in injuries, beaten to within an inch of his life. I watch as he shifts to human form, no longer able to hold his wolf form.

He killed Liam, he killed Liam!

Rafael snarls, ready to rip his head from his body, but I step forward.

“Allow me…” I say. I need to do this. Cade looks up at me, fear in his eyes as he looks at the burning anger in my steely, silver eyes. I stand before him in my bra, my body drenched in mine and Liam’s blood. But it is when his eyes meet mine thathis fear seems tenfold, as if I am the very harbinger of death. And for him, I am.

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