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A long pause and the sound of the va e, ready to take them all on and see if I can make theet back up?"

Moments tick by

"I think I’ht on to the side of the rock before I hit the ground, but "

I squint through the dark "I can’t see you How far down are you?"

"Not too far, I don’t think" he says, keeping his voice quiet "Look to your left a little"

I follow his instruction and spot him, not too far below, just like he said But it’s too dark to see the situation he’s in, just how badly he’s stuck I shuck off , so it won’t e, turn, and back down, praying that the vampires don’t spot me--or worse, spot him Gradually, I maneuver my way down to him Instantly, I realize that he’s in aupside down, blood rushing to his head, stealing circulation fro to the ground--to the vaed aardly between a fracture in the rock

"Can you get yourself turned upward?" I ask, bracing myself on the rock beside him

He tries to lift hiht be broken"

I shift ht silently "Broken?"

"Yeah, bones broken," he etwithout falling to the ground Warers and drips down the back of roan

"Why isn’t it healing?" I wonder

He only groans again and I rush to free his leg, knowing if the vampires smell the blood, they’ll turn him into one of them And even I won’t be able to stop the," I instruct, one hand on his bleeding leg, the other securing round "There’s nothing to hold onto"

I extend "

"Are you crazy?" He says "I’ll yank you doith th," I say, hoping I’ently takes ertips I inchHe yells out in pain and the sound carries for entle I yank on it and when it slips loose, the weight of hiers onto the rock, round

Just before we hit bottoe The force of the stop al,ing Aiden up with

"Are you okay?" I whisper, rushing to his side

"I’e "I think we’re fine"

He’s lying I lie down, staring up at the cliff, wondering how in the world I’et him back up to the top He crawls over to me and lies breathlessly besideI don’t ask hie or e should do Because I know all we can do is wait until

And hope none of them smell the blood before then

I’ray and then vaht, out ofthicker and see, so thatcloser Aiden’s fast asleep, curled up, his head resting on , but afraid I’m already dead But his fear is twisted because his heart rate is steadily decreasing with every passing hastly shade of white I’ve been watching hi for the wound to heal Whenever someone is hurt, they heal within a few ? I think about how exhausted he hile ere running and worry there ive him a soft shake "Can you hear me? Are you awake?"

His eyelids flutter open, honey eyes glossed with pain, lips dry and cracked, voice nothing but air

"Why aren’t you healing?" I ask "Your leg--it’s still bleeding"

His eyes roll shut and he wraps his arms around him "Because I’m human," he ers along the rim of his wound "And we’re supposed to heal on our own"

"Not always" He lets out a sigh "The only reason I ever did before was because of The Colony … they pump us up with a bunch of thisprocess"

"I don’t re back his hair fro with sweat and I wonder if the pain ishim delusional

"It was done daily," he answers, squir "At least to anyone as a Bellator"

My daily injection "I thought that was only done to ht have," he h" Then he stills, soft breathing as his heart fails