Page 270 of Hate Mates

Rachel rushes to me. “Bracken!”

She looks so beautiful, like an angel.

“Still hate me?” I eke out.

But darkness falls over me before I hear her reply.

Chapter Seventeen

RACHEL

“Bracken!” I scream again, dropping to my knees next to him. His eyes are closed and his breaths are shallow. What am I supposed to do? How do I help him?

“Still hate me?” he murmurs, a ghost of his usual smirk on his face.

I don’t get a chance to reply before his eyelids flutter shut and he falls unconscious.

“No, no, no,” I whisper, pressing my hand to the wound, trying to apply pressure like they show in the movies.

Blood seeps between my fingers, but I don’t flinch away from the sight. He looks so helpless. I need to call an ambulance. Need to get help.

I take off my shirt quickly and tie it tightly around the wound. I hope it will keep enough pressure on it for me to get to my phone and make the call.

I guess I should wrap the other guy’s wound up, too.

But I’ll deal with him after I call the cops.

I return to Bracken’s side and touch his pale cheek.

“No, Bracken,” I say. “I no longer hate you.”

How can I hate someone who just saved my life?

It’s all mixed up in the loss of my virginity and the eclipsing climax and the fear when he crushed my glass cases.

I don’t know what I feel.

But I know one thing.

I don’t want Bracken to die.

Chapter Eighteen

BRACKEN

The sensation of a cold void.

My thoughts are murky, fragmented pieces of the last moments before everything faded to black.

Then Rachel. Her terrified face as she hovers over my body.

It’s enough to force my eyelids open.

Pain flares up in my torso.

Right. I was stabbed.

“Bracken! You’re awake.” Rachel reaches for my hand and gives it a gentle squeeze.

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