Love at War | Aonung 🤍

🤍 Chapter 26

Lia's face paled, her heartbeat coming to a stop as those words escaped her brother's lips.

She was wrong.

The blood on the rock was both Aonung's and Neteyam's.

"What has happened?!" Tsireya cried as she approached with her ilu.

"Brother!" She gasped, her eyes falling on Aonung.

"They've been shot! We need to take them to a safe place." Loak informed her.

Tsireya nodded, hopping off her ilu as Loak and Spider hoisted Neteyam onto it.

Taking hold of either side of the ilu, the group rode towards a stranded rock.

Lia's heart broke into tiny pieces. It was the rock she saw in her vision.

Aonung wiped her tears with his thumb as they continued to flow down her cheeks. She seemed so afraid, so sad, and there was nothing he could do for her.

From the other side of the rock, Jake approached them with his skimwing. The concern on his face was evident as he walked over to them.

"What happened?!" His eyes darted toward Neteyam and Aonung.

"Dad!" Lia cried in a trembling voice. "Please, help! Aonung and Neteyam are both shot."

"Damn it! Come on, move them to the rock," Jake instructed, assisting Loak and Spider as they pulled Neteyam onto the rock.

"Pressure here," He took Loak's hands and placed them on top of Neteyam's chest wound.

Loak nodded and did as he was told.

As Lia held onto Aonung, he managed to push himself up with his hand.

"W-What are you doing?" She asked.

"It's fine. I can get on by myself, baby," he assured her, struggling to climb from the ilu to the rock.

"Hey, hey, easy!" Jake demanded, wrapping Aonung's arm around his shoulder and helping him to the rock.

Following them, Tsireya held onto Lia as she dismounted the ilu. As Jake lowered Aonung to the ground, Lia immediately raised his head on her thigh.

A gush of blood oozed out from between Aonung's hands as pain shot up his arm and shoulder.

In a fit of horror, Lia removed his hand and began applying pressure to his wound with both of her hands. The small scream he let out hurt her heart as another teardrop rolled down her cheek.

Nearby, Neteyam was lying flat on a rock, his breathing gradually becoming faster. Tsireya, Spider, and Loak surrounded them with sullen expressions.

"D-Dad," Neteyam breathed, his gaze fixed on his father hovering above him.

To examine his son's wound, Jake kneeled beside his him, panting heavily. As well as the front, he was bleeding in the back.

The bullet had pierced through him.

"It's okay, son. I'm here. How did this happen?" He looked from Loak to Lia.

"Sir, it was my fault—" Loak began, but Lia cut him off.

As she recalled the incident, she let out a shaky breath. "They came to save Spider and me. Loak hadn't done anything wrong. Aonung and I... we were standing behind Neteyam and he jumped in front of us. But I... I don't know how Aonung was shot too."

"Damn it." Jake cursed. "Can you tell me if Aonung is bleeding from the back?"

Lia shook her head in response, despite not understanding where her father was going with this.