Page 33 of Awakening His Mate

Dove is mine.

My mate.

And she’s dead.

I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling like I’m free-falling. No. I won’t lose her.

I can’t.

Opening my eyes, I shake my head.

“I’m not letting you die.”

I interlace my left hand over the top of my right and press down hard over her heart. I don’t want to hurt her, but I know CPR. I have to do this hard and fast.

I repeat it over and over, feeling her ribs shift beneath the pressure. My arms are like spaghetti, my strength waning quickly as shivers rack my body, but I don’t stop.

I lose count a few times, but between compressions, I pinch her nose, tipping her head back, and breathe into her mouth.

Please breathe.

I can hear someone crying, but I’m not really paying attention to any of them.

A hand presses onto my shoulder, and I know it’s Cade. “She’s gone, brother; let her be in peace.”

I tear out of his grip without pausing my compressions.

Fuck him. Fuck them all.

Would they just give up on their mates?

I don’t know how many rounds of compressions I do, but I don’t stop. Not for a second. I can’t.

“Please,” I whisper. “Don’t leave me.”

Someone stifles a sob behind me.

“Help me.” I don’t know who I’m asking, but Halle places her hand over where I’m doing compressions. She releases some of her healing, even though she told me she can’t heal the dead.

“Breathe, Dove. Fuck, just breathe.”

As if my words unlock something, Dove’s body convulses suddenly, and water spews out of her mouth as she chokes. I quickly turn her onto her side as she vomits up more water, gasping and sobbing between splutters.

My teeth chatter as I fumble and pull her against me, crushing her to my chest. She feels like a block of ice, and I don’t have enough body heat of my own to warm her. My fingers tangle in her wet hair as I soak her in.

She grips my shirt hard, and I let her. The relief flooding me is more powerful than anything I've ever felt before.

I need to warm her again. I need to take care of her.

Again.

“We’re filling that fucking lake in,” I growl, my hands roaming her back. I don’t care how ridiculous my suggestion is. The lake is fucking massive.

“Jackson…” Dove’s soft voice startles me.

I pull back from her, lifting her chin, and for the first time, I don’t see the milky white orbs that have haunted me since her mind was shattered. Her irises are normal, though not the color I remember from before. Her pupils are blown to pinpricks and surrounded by a light gray ring of color, as if they couldn’t return to what they were. The thing I notice is there’s no glassy glazed expression as they dilate to leave only a slither of iris. She’s alert and she looks at me like I’m her world.

What. The. Fuck. Is. Happening?

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