Page 82 of The Pakhan's Forced Bride

“I’m driving with him. I don’t care what you say. I’m not leaving his side.”

Chapter 24 - Ardalion

The pain is staggering.

My entire body feels like it’s covered in needles that are spiking into me continuously. Every moment, every breath screams agony through me.

Hands beneath me, lifting me.

I blink, and bright light pierces into my eyes. I squeeze them shut again.

I’m unable to bear the pain. “Let me die,” I murmur, my words distorted and distant. It doesn’t even sound like my voice.

“Don’t you dare,” she replies instantly.

Belle? Is that really Belle? Am I dreaming?

A sense of urgency floods me. I have to open my eyes. I have to see if she’s really here. How long have I been waiting to look at her face again?

My chest heaves with effort, and my eyes flutter open again.

“Belle?” I groan.

She leans over me, her face blurred, but as beautiful as ever.

“Is it really—" I can’t say anything more. My stomach tightens around the bullet embedded inside me.

“Don’t talk. You’re in an ambulance. I’m right here with you, okay? You aren’t allowed to die, Ardalion,” she says calmly.

Tears roll down the sides of my face. It’s really her. All I wanted was to see her again, to hear her voice.

I won’t die. I don’t dare let go now that there is a chance for me to see her again.

I fight the heavy darkness that settles over me, I fight it to catch another glimpse of her beauty, but it’s too much, and I fall unconscious again.

Even in my dreams, I can sense her close to me.

I refuse to die.

Just one more chance with her.

One more chance is worth all of this pain and a hundred times more.

I open my eyes to hear people urgently shouting directions. I’m being wheeled somewhere on a bed.

“Get him inside.”

“Careful.”

“Gunshot wound to the abdomen.”

“Theater is prepped, get him straight there.”

“He needs a transfusion.”

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

There. The sound of an angel.