Rebirth: Love me Again

Chapter 149 In the Shadow of Death, Love Blooms

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[EVE]

I woke up feeling like I had been run over by a truck. Every part of my body ached, weighed down as if I were made of lead.

My vision blurred, but I slowly realized I was inside a cave. A small bonfire crackled nearby, casting faint, dancing shadows on the walls.

Yet, the warmth I felt didn't come from the flames; it came from the body enveloping mine.

As I shifted slightly, a sharp pain shot through me. I glanced over and saw Cole—his face pale, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead. He was panting heavily, eyes half-lidded and unfocused.

The memories came crashing back in an instant: the ambush, the gunfire, and how he had thrown himself to save me.

"You're hurt!" I gasped, my voice cracking with panic. "Cole, you've been shot! We need to get you to a hospital right now!"

His grip on me tightened as if afraid I might disappear. "Don't . . . go," he rasped, voice hoarse and weak. His arms circled around me, pulling me closer despite the pain it must have caused him. Enjoy exclusive content from empire

I tried to free myself gently, but his strength, even in this state, held me in place.

"You've lost so much blood. We need help!" I exclaimed, my heart racing.

Only then did I notice the makeshift bandages wrapped around his chest, torn from his own shirt. They were soaked through, barely stemming the bleeding.

My breath caught, and I stared at him, my heart shattering and mending at the same time.

Oh, how I had longed to hear him say those words. For years, it had been my deepest, most desperate wish.

But now, as they finally left his lips, I found myself torn in a way I never imagined.

I wasn't in the right state of mind to respond, trapped in this whirlwind of chaos and fear.

How could I even begin to understand what I was feeling?

Do I love him? I had never allowed myself to entertain that question—because deep down, I already knew the answer.

He was my first love, the one I had cherished silently, hoping against hope. I had dreamed of a future with him, wishing that my first love would also be my last.

From the very beginning, my heart had always known what it wanted, and it had always been him.

In this moment, the fear of losing him gripped me harder than any fear I'd ever known—even more than the terror I felt when I was abandoned on that island, left utterly alone.

The thought of losing him now, watching his life slip away right before my eyes, was unbearable. It was a kind of fear I had never experienced before—a fear that tore me apart from the inside.

Death has a way of putting everything into perspective, of making you realize just how fragile and fleeting time truly is.

And I couldn't let another second pass without letting him know the depth of my feelings.

Before it was too late, I needed him to understand just how much he meant to me—that he was my everything.

"Cole . . . I . . ."

Before I could even finish, his lips crashed into mine, silencing every word that was on the tip of my tongue.

The world around us vanished in that instant; the storm outside, the cold biting at my skin, the fear gripping my heart—it all disappeared.

All that was left was the warmth of his kiss, a desperate, raw need that stole every breath and thought from me.