Writing Lanie - Forbidden Heart Series

57| Fear

Ayden Sawyer

"Nate!" I called in the hot dessert. Where the hell was he? "Nate!"

I wiped the dripping sweat from my forehead. Fuck. Where was our unit? Didn't Nate say they were coming?

I took a few steps forward and almost lost my balance. I could barely stand on my left leg. What the. . . I patted down my leg and didn't notice any wounds. Okay, this was fucking weird.

"Ayden?"

I turned in the direction of Nate's voice. "Nate? Where the hell are you?"

I held my arm up in a failed attempt to block out the blinding light of the sun. I couldn't see shit. How long have we been out here?

"Ayden! Over here!"

I limped in the direction of Nate's voice. Searing pain shot through my leg, but I pushed it aside. I didn't know what the fuck was going on, or what I did to my leg, but I needed to find Nate.

"Ayden!" He called again. His voice seemed closer this time.

I kept going until I saw a figure on the ground up ahead. "Nate?" No response.

I was getting more tired by the second. Dragging my injured leg didn't help, either. Once I got close enough, I saw Nate laying on his back. He was unconscious and unmoving. I couldn't even tell if he was breathing.

I dropped to the ground beside him. "Nate!" I shook at his shoulders in an attempt to rouse him. Nothing. I noticed something wet against my leg. I looked down and the large pool of blood that was coming out of him.

"Oh, God. . ." I looked back at his body and I saw the gunshot wound in his stomach. Where did that come from? "You can't be--" I put two of my fingers to his neck. No pulse. "Fuck! Goddammit. Nate, wake up!"

I don't know how long I tried CPR and screamed for him to wake up. It had to be hours. There was nothing I could do. He was dead. I ran my hands over my face. Why was this happening?

When I opened my eyes a moment later, I wasn't in the dessert anymore. I was in bed. With Lanie. God, had I been dreaming? I must have been. Needing to feel her close to me. I buried my face in her hair and took in the amazing scent that was the women I loved.

That's when I noticed it. She was cold. Really cold. "Lanie?" I ran my hand over her arm and rolled her towards me. Her head lolled to the side and my heart dropped into my stomach. "Lanie!" I cupped her cold face in my hands. "Come on, baby. Wake up. Please wake up." I didn't check for pulse. I didn't need to. I knew the truth-- even if I don't allow myself to believe it.

"You can't be dead. You can't. . ." My hands roamed all over her face and arms. How could this be happening? WHAT was happening? I pressed my forehead against hers. "You know I can't live without you. Come back to me, baby." Baby. . . wait a minute. Fuck.

A new wave of panic crashed into me for my unborn baby. I threw the covers off of Lanie. What I saw was going to haunt me for the rest of my godforsaken life. Her thighs were covered in blood. There had been so much that it soaked into the sheets of the bed. Was this a miscarriage? Is that what happened? There was a strange tightness in my chest. I pressed my hand against it and I started to hyperventilate. I buried my face in my hands. . . and screamed.