Page 12 of The Eternal Choice (The Eternal Mafia #3)

– LILLIANA –

Without thinking I dive over the cliff right behind him. I hear Nario’s laughter, telling someone how easy it was to kill one and get the mate as a bonus before his laughter abruptly stops. Everything drowns out as the wind rushes by me.

My mate is seconds away from death. Okay, he might be dead already, but his head is still slightly attached to his body. When he hits the ground, though? The impact will rip it off completely. He’s too damn injured to shift and save himself. Nario knew, otherwise he would have never thrown him over the edge.

Thank fuck I’m lighter than my mate and tumble faster. This allows me to get to Ernestino, wrap my arm around his body and head, right before I force my wings to come out. We jerk to a stop mid-air and it takes all of my strength and focus to hold him steady and guide us safely to the ground.

I gently press his head back on and wait for the skin to heal. The part where it’s still connected to his body is small. My heart stutters inside my chest and it’s getting hard to breathe when I realize he’s not healing.

“Don’t you dare leave me, Tino,” I croak and place my hand over his injured neck, willing it to heal.

Still nothing happens. My emotions are all over the place. Why the hell could I heal Nario and not Ernestino? My mate is the one who deserves to be healed while the one who killed him didn’t deserve it.

“Please,” I desperately cry while I watch the crimson seep through my fingers.

Still nothing. My touch should be able to heal. He can’t be too far gone. Yet, deep down I know the injury is too severe. Doesn’t matter; I’m not willing to give up. I should have never stopped using the ability to bring butterflies back to life. Maybe if I trained it, I would know how to bring Ernestino back.

I swallow hard and remove my hands, only to see the injury hasn’t started healing.

Fear hits me when I realize his dragon side might self-destruct when he realizes they are past healing. “Don’t you dare detonate, Ernestino.”

No response.

I close my eyes and press my lips against his.

“Please,” I breathe as I open my eyes.

My heart skips a beat when I see the sparks of light dancing on my breath. I remember placing the butterflies on the palm of my hand and breathing the life into them with one sigh. I move down and breathe on the gaping wound. The flesh starts to connect and melt into smooth and healed skin. I breathe once more and pull back to take his face in my hand and wait for his eyes to open.

“Come on, darlin’, look at me,” I muse. “Come on.”

Still nothing. The skin is healed, but there’s no life in him. Why isn’t he waking up? Panic hits me. Did I only heal the injury and lose him anyway?

I grab the front of his bloody shirt and shake him. “You owe me a lifetime together. How dare you leave me? Leave the baby inside my belly? We need you. I didn’t even have a chance to get to know you and now you won’t even get to see or meet your own freaking child?”

My hand turns into a fist and I bring it down hard against his heart, making the night light up with a burst of golden twinkles. I can feel my eyes widen and I quickly place both my hands on top of his heart. The golden glow intensifies and I can feel the warmth seep from my body into Ernestino’s.

Hope blooms inside my veins while it’s still caged in by the fear of the lack of life in his body.