21. Things Get Messier

*Rebel POV*

I always wondered what death would feel like. Cold? Peaceful? Or just void.

Not that I planned to die this young.

Though the future is uncertain. Who would have thought I would die young? It seems so unfair. I didn’t get to spend more time with my brother, I didn’t finish college, and I never got to solve the mystery of my birth—the list goes on.

However, the moment it happened, I gracefully accepted it. I surrendered to my fate for once. It was peaceful, dark, cold, and there was that void as well. It was as if I was floating in space with no worries in the world.

Although it lasted less than a millisecond because, the next moment, I found myself pulled back into the world of the living.

Lying on the beach with a guy over me was the last thing I could imagine myself doing after cheating near death.

The manly face hovered over mine, drenched in shadows cast by the setting sun behind him. Saltwater dripped from his hair onto my cheek, and his chest heaved as if he’d just run a marathon. I blinked, my vision hazy, the world around me spinning in dizzying circles.

Xavier? I could recognize his handsome face anywhere, but what was he doing here?

He said something, but I couldn’t hear a word over the loud ringing in my ears. However, from his facial expressions, I could read confusion but also relief.

I opened my mouth to speak and ask him the millions of questions rushing to my head, like the wave that hit me in the cave, but only a choked cough escaped, followed by a rush of water from my lungs. He turned me on my side with practiced ease, letting me expel what felt like the entire ocean.

I felt my body weaken as another fit of coughs wracked me, each one dragging me further into exhaustion.

Xavier’s firm grip on my shoulder kept me steady as I gasped for air, my throat burning from the saltwater. My chest ached, my limbs felt like lead, and the sound of the crashing waves faded into a dull hum.

“Rebel!” His voice finally broke through the ringing in my ears, sharp and filled with urgency.

I barely managed to lift my head to meet his gaze. His stormy gray eyes were locked onto mine, wide with fear and something I couldn’t quite place. Anger? My vision blurred again before I could make sense of it.

“Stay with me,” Xavier urged. His hand brushed the damp hair from my face. “Don’t you dare faint on me.”

But his words seemed to come from somewhere far away, as if I were sinking underwater again. My body betrayed me, growing heavier with each passing second.

I tried to fight it, tried to stay awake, but the darkness came anyway, pulling me under like a riptide.

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*Xavier POV*

Have you ever felt like the whole world is against you? In a single moment, you lose your purpose to keep pushing another day?

And wonder what’s the point of all that?

I did all the work to get where I was today. I was closer to my goal than I had ever been. The goal that once seemed impossible. Everyone told me I was not made for it, but I stayed stubborn and proved that I have what it takes to fulfill my promise. The promise I made to my parents on their dying breath.

And all it took was one second for my world to flip upside down. It all happened so fast for my brain to make sense of it.

One moment, I was going with my plan and saved Rebel from drowning in that cave and got her out to a safe place.

I won’t lie—I had a thought of letting her die there, but it would have been an easy death for her. She deserves the worst for what she has done, and I was so sure I would be the one to deliver that worst to her.

However, that confidence wavered the moment my lips touched hers in order to save her life. I had to perform CPR.

I was not prepared for what happened next. My body ignited with strange energy.

My mind went blank, and flashes of images started to fill my mind.

I saw myself standing at the tallest building in New York, admiring the view, the fresh wind blowing on my face, and I was smiling, enjoying the moment. It was not much of a big deal seeing myself smiling in a long while until I realized what the reason behind it was.

Two arms snaked from behind me, hugging my midsection, and I turned to get face-to-face with the person. My smile deepened.

Seeing the woman there—and from my expressions, it doesn’t look like I hate the way she was hugging me and smiling at me.

It was all still digestible until I saw the face of the woman I was with.

Long hair, milky white skin tone, and those sharp eyes that had gone soft when she looked at me.

No fucking way!

The vision was replaced by the next, in which I was walking on the black sand, a wave soaking my feet in foamy water. The same woman was holding my arm, walking side by side with me, and we were laughing at something I had no idea about.

In a flash, the next vision started to play. I was sitting on a small bed inside a pink room filled with all types of cute toys and decorations. There was a kid’s storybook in my hands, and I was reading it to the little girl lying on the bed, tucked in her marshmallow pink blanket.

She had the same color of hair as the woman I was with earlier, but the color of her eyes and her nose were exact replicas of mine.

She smiled at me and said, “Goodnight, Dad.”

I gasped as the fog lifted from my mind, and I came back to reality with a push.

Reality, where the very same woman from the visions was lying on the shore, looking at me in disbelief. I didn’t need to see my face to know I wore the same expression.

Still trying to wrap my head around what I had seen. That can’t be true.

Rebel couldn’t be my mate!

And did she know about our connection?

From the look on her face it seems to be a ‘No’ that means it would get messier than I thought.

And I had no idea what I should be doing from here.