Page 89 of Soul Bound

My heart stops in my chest and my lungs refuse to fill with air as I watch Ranger land on the cement with such force, he bounces a couple of times. My world comes to a complete stop when he rolls to his back, and the white button-down shirt he’s wearing slowly starts to turn red.

He’s been shot.

He’s been shot with a bullet that was meant forme.

A pained cry escapes my throat and I sprint toward him, my bare feet move as fast as they can. Strong arms stop me when I’m about five feet away from where he lays.

Alexandre’s arms lock me into place, but I continue to fight his hold. “Let me go!” I scream.

“You really shouldn’t have hit me in the face,” he snarls in my ear. “Now I’m going to make you watch him bleed out. Vance is an excellent shot, by the amount of blood that’s seeping out of him, I would say he hit the aorta.”

Ella cries against my chest, but it’s muffled by the sound of my heart pounding in my ears. My own tears start to fall from my eyes, sliding down my face in hot rivulets. “Please, please let me help him!” I plead.

“No,” Alexandre grunts.

“This is what you two get for sticking your noses in places they don’t belong.” Vance advances on us. Once close enough, he presses the barrel of the gun under my chin, forcing me to tilt my head back at an odd angle. Even with my head back, I keep my eyes glued to Ranger. He’s trying to press his hands to the wound, but I can tell he’s getting weaker. His eyes seek mine out. And when his usually bright ocean eyes hit mine and I find they’re starting to dull, I sob.

I just allowed myself to admit I loved him. I just found out he’s my mate. I just accepted he’s supposed to be my person—my forever. And now I’m going to have to watch him die in front of me.

“Ranger!” I cry.

He tries to talk, but he coughs instead. A spray of blood covers his mouth.

“Oh God, please let me go to him.Please.” I pull against Alexandre’s hold, not for one second caring I have a gun pressed to me.

I’m so overwhelmed I almost miss the smell of smoke filling the air faintly. In the next second, Jax appears behind Vance. His violet eyes glow as he reaches up and grips either side of Vance’s shaved head, with a quick twist Vance’s neck snaps and he crumbles to the ground. Jax vanishes before Vance’s body fully hits the ground. The gun goes skidding under a nearby car.

“What the fuck!” Alexandre shouts, backing us up even farther. “Who was that!”

“You’re in so much shit,” I grit out between sobs.

I don’t see him appear again, but I smell the burning scent. Alexandre’s body suddenly jerks and his body relaxes its hold on me. I slip away from him and turn around to find Jax standing there, his hand pressed to the back of Alexandre’s head. Alexandre’s mouth gapes open in a silent scream and his eyes widen so much I think his eyes might fall out. Jax keeps his hand pressed to his head, and soon blood starts to pour from his eyes, nose, and ears.

Alexandre’s body slumps forward and doesn’t move.

“Jax, take the baby.” I don’t give him time to answer me, I just push Ella into his arms and sprint to Ranger. “Call for help!” I order him over my shoulder.

I collapse on my knees beside Ranger and press my hands over the wound on his chest. It’s right over his heart and I think Alexandre was right, Vance hit his artery. The blood immediately soaks my hands.

His whirlpool eyes look up at me, and I give him a shaky smile. “It’s going to be okay,” I promise him.

Nothing about this makes it seem like it’s going to be okay, but the alternative is an unbearable thought.

His chest shudders as he drags in a breath. “Arizona…”

“I’m here. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you. Do you hear me, Ranger, don’t you dare fucking leave me. You stay with me.” I press harder on his chest, blood oozes from between my fingers.

He coughs more blood up, making it dribble from the corner of his mouth. “I love you.”

While those words wrap around me like a blanket and smooth out those jagged pieces of my broken heart, I don’t want to hear them right now. I don’t want him to utter those words like they’re a goodbye, instead of a promise.

My vision blurs and a violent sob wracks my body. “You don’t get to tell me that right now. You can tell me that when we get you all fixed up.”

“I wish I could have…” He wheezes for a breath. “Loved you longer. I would have loved you for…” He coughs again, and I reach up and wipe the blood from his mouth quickly, but all I do is smear it further. “The rest of my life if I could.”

His words slice me open and while I’m not physically bleeding like he is, I’m just as wounded.

This is the pain I tried so hard to avoid. This is the heartache I didn’t think I would be able to survive. Had I just given in sooner, I would have had more time with him, but instead I was stubborn.

---