Rebirth: Love me Again

[EVE]

As the gunfire blazed around us, my desperate prayers shifted. I wasn't just praying for my safety anymore.

I was praying that Cole wouldn't get shot, that he would survive this madness.

They exchanged a series of blows, each one more intense than the last. The forest around us seemed to blur as they fought, the trees swaying as if they, too, were caught up in the chaos.

Cole's eyes burned with a ferocity I'd never seen before, a wild determination that sent shivers down my spine. He was fighting for me—fighting with everything he had.

Then, something changed. My captor's gaze flickered with a strange, dark resolve. He took one more step back, his foot skidding dangerously close to the cliff's edge.

And in that split second, I realized what he was about to do.

"

No

!" I tried to scream, but the gag muffled my voice.

Cole lunged forward, reaching out to grab me, but he was just a second too late.

With a sinister grin, my captor's grip on me loosened—only for him to shove me backward with all his strength. I felt the ground disappear beneath my feet as he hurled me off the cliff.

The world tilted, and everything seemed to slow down. I was falling, the wind rushing past me, whipping my hair into my face.

I could see Cole's expression twisted into a mask of pure horror as he dived after me, his arm outstretched, fingers grasping at empty air.

The gag in my mouth came loose, falling away just as I managed to suck in a ragged breath. But all I could see was Cole's desperate face, twisted with a raw, frantic need to save me.

Without a second thought, without a hint of hesitation, he threw himself off the cliff. He didn't flinch when my captor's shot struck him in the back, nor did he falter at the sight of the deadly drop below. His focus was solely on me, his hand reaching out desperately, determined to pull me back from the edge.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Only . . . there was no more ledge to come back. We were falling down into a raven. Continue reading on empire

Idiot . . .

Hot tears welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision as the pain and fear I had bottled up finally came loose. The dam I had built around my emotions shattered.

I had wanted him to come for me, had prayed desperately for someone—anyone—to save me in the past. But not like this. Not when it meant he would risk everything.

The sight of him, reckless and desperate, made my heart clench painfully. He was fighting with everything he had, and it was all for me.

"What an idiot . . . ," I choked out, my voice breaking with a sob.

The words were bitter, laced with frustration and anguish. I had wished for this rescue, dreamed of the moment he would sweep in and save me, but I had never imagined the cost.

I had wanted him to be my hero, but not my martyr.

Cole's hand reached for mine, and I saw the sheer determination in his eyes. He wasn't just fighting to save me—he was willing to die with me if it came to that. And that realization hit me like a punch to the gut.

Why couldn't he just stay back on the cliff, where he was safe? Why couldn't he leave me to face the consequences alone? I was dead the moment I was thrown into the cliff. There was no need to follow me.

My chest ached as I watched him, his face twisted in agony and fear. His fingers stretched out, desperate to grasp mine, as if just holding on would be enough to pull us both back from this nightmare.

"You idiot!" I screamed, tears streaming down my cheeks. "Why did you come? Why didn't you stay on the damn cliff?"

He didn't answer. He didn't even blink. His focus was entirely on me. In that moment, I realized he would rather fall to his death than give up on saving me.

And I hated him for it.

I hated him for making me feel this way, for making me realize how much I still cared for him.

The thought of him dying here, in this cold, desolate place, because of me—it was unbearable.

I wanted to scream at him, to shout at him for being so reckless. But the words wouldn't come. Instead, a sob tore through me, my body shaking uncontrollably.

My fingers fumbled, desperately trying to loosen the ropes that bound me, and for some reason, they had started to slacken. I didn't know when it had loosened, but that wasn't important right now.

My hands trembled as I reached out for him, my own desperation matching his.

Our hands met, and in that brief contact, it felt like time stopped. The world around us faded away, leaving only the two of us in that fleeting, fragile moment.

His grip was warm, strong, a lifeline I never knew I needed until it was too late.

And for the first time in a long time, I felt something break inside me—something cold and hard I had built up over the years.

Maybe I didn't hate him after all.

Maybe I was just scared to love him again.

He pulled me close, his arms wrapping around me with a desperation that spoke louder than any words. His body pressed against mine, as if he could shield me from the world, from everything.

I could feel the steady, urgent thud of his heart against my chest—each beat a silent promise that he would protect me, that we would survive this together.

His grip tightened, fiercer than I'd ever known, as if his very touch could stop the world from falling apart. His breath, shallow and ragged, mixed with mine as he held me tighter, his body a wall against the howling wind.

In that moment, everything else faded. The wind, the fear, the dark abyss before us—they all disappeared, and all I could feel was him.

I realized, with a sudden, sharp clarity, how much he cared. How far he was willing to go for me. He had abandoned his own safety for mine, his life now entangled with my own.

Then, in a cruel twist, the weightlessness hit us like a punch to the gut. We were falling—plummeting into the unknown.

My breath caught, my throat tight, my scream swallowed by the rushing wind. I couldn't hear anything but the frantic thumping of his heart, louder than the world around us, and the deafening silence that surrounded our descent.

The impact came without warning—a deafening splash. The icy water swallowed us whole, a brutal shock to my senses, an explosion of cold that ripped the breath from my lungs and sent my body spiraling into chaos.

The cold wrapped around me, suffocating, dragging me deeper, pulling me under. I fought to stay conscious, to keep my mind above the surface, but the force of the fall, the crushing cold, the relentless pressure—all of it blurred together in a dizzying, disorienting rush.

And then, nothing. Complete darkness.