Jackson leaned against the wall and walked into the emergency room. Taya’s petite body lay on the operating table, looking lifeless.
If it weren’t for the fact that her eyes, which were covered by her long eyelashes, were still moving, she would have look dead.
The blood on her face had been wiped clean, revealing her sickly pale complexion. She was as beautiful as ever, like spring flowers under the sunlight. Jackson knelt on one knee before the operating table and whispered in her ear.
His gentle voice pulled her back to reality. She slowly opened her tired eyes and wanted to look at him last, but she still couldn’t see anything. “Silas…” She struggled to utter the word.
Her consciousness was unclear, and her voice was indistinct. He moved closer to her lips and heard her call his name.
“I’m here.” Jackson held her hand tightly, giving her a little strength. Taya took in the last breath of oxygen and told him in a stuttering whisper, “Take good care of Harper.” Taya had nothing else to ask for. Jackson lowered his head and kissed her forehead. He replied softly, “Okay.” Taya smiled.
“Silas… in your next life… don’t forget me…..” Jackson felt a sharp pain in his heart, as if he was suffocating, making him unable to breathe.
Indescribable pain shot through his body as if he had been tortured.
Every cell in his body was torn apart. He’d heard the mates felt like this when one of them died. He took a deep breath, and his chest was slightly relieved. However, the regret still wrapped him tightly, making him guilty and unable to extricate himself. He grabbed the pair of cold, trembling hands and put them over his heart.
As if he were making an oath, he solemnly promised, “Wait for me.” Taya had promised to wait for him in his next life, which was the best ending or the latest beginning.
He hoped that they would not miss each other again in the next life.
Now that Taya had done what she was supposed to, she should close her eyes and sleep well. However, she was unwilling to give up. She rolled her dim eyes and looked in the direction of the emergency room as if she was waiting for someone…
“Are you waiting for Harper?” Taya smiled. “Yes…” Harper walked in with Stella’s help as soon as she finished speaking.
Seeing the weak woman lying on the operating table, Harper’s mood collapsed again. “Taya!” Harper rushed over and cried her heart out. Her sister, her only family member, was about to leave this earth.
What should she do in the future? She wanted to touch her face, but she had no strength at all. She couldn’t even open her eyes… She breathed in the oxygen to prolong her life and used all her strength to comfort Harper.
“Don’t… be… sad… take care of yourself…” She had tried her best to speak with just a few words, so she had no strength to speak again.
Harper’s cry gradually disappeared from her ears in a trance, replaced by a gruff voice.”Taya…” She struggled to open her eyes again and looked in the direction of the voice hand tighter.
The blood stilled in Taya’s body, her heart stopped, and the breath in her lungs froze. Part of her thrilled at the thought of a union with her true love, and the other part was so very angry that it took her dying to make it happen.
She wanted to punish him and tell him no, to make him pine for her the way she had pined for him for so many years.
But at this point, she had no reason to hold onto those old resentments. The young girl from so long ago took hold of her heart.
If she had to die so young, so unfulfilled in life, why not end this life on a happy note? Perhaps in the next life, the goddess would be kinder to her, and this blip of content at the end would transfer into her reincarnated self.
“Yes,” she whispered and squeezed his hand back. “Yes. Hurry, before I’m gone.” The sound of Harper’s hushed weeping grew a bit louder when Taya spoke, and then she could feel Harper’s hand grasping her other hand.
A rustling came from across the room, and then Taya could feel the presence of another person near her bed.
“I am Elder Stiln, Taya,” came a gentle, older man’s voice. “I know this won’t be a standard mating, so I have modified a mating ceremony.” Taya nodded, tightening her grip on both Jackson and Harper’s hands.
This was how she’d always dreamed it would be. The three of them, together. Her sister and her mate by her side through the end of life.
In a matter of minutes, the elder had performed the mating ceremony and then quietly left the room to leave them alone. Jackson caressed Taya’s forehead and cheek, then softly kissed her lips, as if he was afraid he might hurt her. What she was afraid of was how much he was going to hurt when she was gone.
She couldn’t bear the weight of it. So even though Taya wanted to spend her last moments with him, she wanted him to remember his last moment with her as those of them being mated, not of her dying.
“I don’t want you to remember me dead,” Taya whispered. “I know,” he whispered against her cheek. A tear dropped onto her face, and then he was gone.
She lay there after Jackson had left, sobbing silently, Harper clutching her hand and caressing her forehead while she wept. Taya’s chest ached, and breathing became harder. She couldn’t force out any words.
Her time was almost here, and panic started to overtake her. She wasn’t ready. Oh goddess, she wasn’t ready to die. “Wait! I’m here to save her!” a woman’s voice screamed out as someone ran into the voice