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BONUS
Chapter
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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 co from the flas; it ca from the body enveloping mine.
As I shifted slightly, a sharp pain shot through . 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 mories ca crashing back in an instant: the ambush, the gunfire, and how he had thrown himself to save .
"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 tightened as if afraid I might disappear. "Don't . . . go," he rasped, voice hoarse and weak. His arms circled around , pulling 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 in place.
"You've lost so much blood. We need help!" I exclaid, 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.
He shook his head slowly, grimacing. "I've already signaled for backup . . . They should be here soon." His breath ca in shallow, labored gasps. His skin looked almost translucent in the dim firelight, the blue veins stark against the whiteness.
My mind reeled. We were in the middle of nowhere, in a freezing cave, hiding from the n who had tried to kill us.
Cole had managed to camouflage the entrance with rocks, branches, and snow. Despite his severe injuries, he had dragged us both here, setting up a small fire and using his own body to keep warm.
The weight of what he had done hit like a tidal wave. He had risked everything, sacrificing his own safety to protect .
Any normal person would have been dead by now from the blood loss and exhaustion alone. But he hadn't given up. He had fought to stay alive, to shield from danger, and his body was paying the price for it.
Tears welled up in my eyes despite my efforts to hold them back.
"Why?" My voice broke as I tried to speak. "You shouldn't have co after . . . You should have saved yourself. I was dead the mont I was thrown off that cliff. You didn't have to die with ."
His breathing hitched, and he reached up, his hand trembling as he wiped a tear from my cheek. His touch was icy cold, yet it soothed in a way I couldn't explain.
"I'm your bodyguard," he whispered, his lips curving into a faint, pained smile. "Rember?"
I shook my head, biting my lip to keep from sobbing. "No, Cole. I don't want you to sacrifice your life for mine. I can't bear the thought of you dying because of ."
He looked at then, his eyes clearer for a mont, filled with sothing I had never seen before—raw, unfiltered emotion.
"I'm not doing this because it's my job," he said, his voice almost a whisper. "I'm doing this because a world without you in it . . . isn't a world I want to live in."
The tears I had been holding back finally spilled over. My chin quivered as I clutched his hand against my cheek. "You fool," I choked out. "Why would you go this far? Why would you risk everything for ? Why now?"
Cole's face softened as he smiled, a sad, painful smile that made my heart ache even more. He brushed his thumb gently against my cheek, wiping away my tears as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"I always thought I was the oblivious one," he murmured, his eyes closing briefly before he opened them again, and seed to be struggling with sothing. "But it seems I'm not the only one who's blind."
I was confused, but I couldn't stare away from the intensity of his gaze.
"Isn't it obvious? . . . I love you, Eve. I know I'm late in saying it, but I do. I think . . . maybe I've loved you all along. I just didn't realize it, because it happened so naturally. You beca a part of without even noticing . . . until you decided to pull away. And that's when I knew—I couldn't bear a single day without you."
My breath caught, and I stared at him, my heart shattering and nding at the sa ti.
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 dread 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 mont, the fear of losing him gripped 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 apart from the inside.
Death has a way of putting everything into perspective, of making you realize just how fragile and fleeting ti 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 ant to —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 .
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