His gaze flicks to Max and Ryker.
“Max. Ryker.” He swallows, coughs, blood on his lips. “You two are the brothers I never had.”
Max’s lips part, but no words come. Just a choked sound and the kind of look that breaksme. Ryker drops to his knees, grabs Knox’s hand, and squeezes it like maybe that’ll stop the bleeding.
Then his eyes land on me.
I fall apart the second he reaches for me, bloody fingers brushing my cheek, a smear across my jaw. He grips my shirt, pulls me close, chest rattling beneath mine.
“You,” he breathes.
One word.
Like, it means everything.
“You were the first thing I ever wanted that I didn’t want to destroy.”
A sob rips from my throat.
“I’m not scared to die, pet,” he whispers, mouth near my ear, breath trembling. “I’m scared of not being here to protect you,to love you.”
“No, don’t say that, please,” I press my forehead to his, tears falling freely now, mixing with the sweat and blood on his face.
He chuckles.
“Your love made me stronger,” he murmurs. “And I fucking loved every second of it.”
He presses his lips to my cheek.
“Fight,” he growls, the last edge of command. “You hear me? You fight,pet. Burn the fucking world if you have to.”
My chest caves in.
I can’t breathe.
“I love you,” he whispers. “Always. Fucking. Will.”
Dante
The rage,
Itroarsin me.
It’s all I can hear, all I can feel. My hands clench as I watch Knox’s head loll to the side, Aspen sobbing over him, trying to keep him here.
No.
No fucking way.
I drop to my knees and grab for his neck; he’s still breathing.
My belt’s off in a second. I wrap it around his waist, pulling tight, just above the wound. My hands are slick with his blood,but I don’t let go. I cinch the strap like I’m holding his soul inside his goddamn body.
“Dante!” Max grabs my arm. “It won’t work; he’s losing too much,”
I shove him. Hard. He stumbles back, eyes wide, but I don’t care.
“I’mnotgiving up!” I snap with something I haven’t felt since the plague. “We get the base. We get the doctor. All we have to do is keep him alive long enough.”
