Hades Titans {BOOK 2}

XXXVIII. King

Hayden P.O.V.

I lunged for him like there was nobody between us. The fury I felt burning inside me was beyond my own comprehension. I couldn't process the feeling of watching my fiancé kiss another man, let alone a titan. The titan I warned her about. Chase. My skin felt like it was covered in a thousand red ants, eating away at me, while the rage was burning me from the inside. There was nothing on my mind but the image of Chase's dead body beneath me. That was all I wanted.

The only sound was the sound of my fists hitting the wall with nothing in front of me. Evelyn's body had collapsed onto the floor and pieces of chalk had fallen from the dents I had made in the wall onto her unconscious body. It took me a second to catch my breath and comprehend what had happened. I wasn't a fool. I'd warned her that all titans were the same and I was right. This was proof.

There was a split second where I was furious with her too. I had told her about this. I told her that titans could not be trusted, how could she doubt me? Why would she risk it? She'd put our baby's safety even before her own yet felt comfortable enough to be around Chase. It was ludicrous.

But there was no one to blame but myself for failing to protect her once again.

Chase was gone. Nothing new, considering he'd been on the run this whole time. I warned Eve that he was only here to collect information for Teo. If only she listened to me even for a moment. Instead of showing pity and mercy to him and his brother.

I couldn't sit still in those awful hospital chairs. They had refused to let me go with her or care for her at our home like I usually did. I was beginning to feel anxious. A feeling I didn't think I could feel. My palms were sweaty, and I was pacing the floor. I wasn't used to being told no, or to wait, unless it was Eve. But I'd do anything she asked.

Others were watching me, judging me. I'm the King. I'm supposed to be cool, calm and collected. My clothes were dusty from the wall I had punched. I looked like I was lost. My eyes were jumping from the door to the other patients around me that watched me mercilessly. My chest felt crushed with the weight of waiting. Nothing serious could have happened. We've had our fair share of it all. So, what's taking so long?

"King Hades," a young nurse walked out into the waiting room, not meeting my eye even for a second. She walked closer with her hands trembling and I felt rage stew inside me. It was uncontrollable. Like I knew that something was wrong. She continued to look at the floor and inhale deep breaths, getting ready to speak, but not uttering a word.

"Spit it out!" I raised my tone, loud enough for others to turn their heads to look at us. She flinched, meeting my eye finally with her glossy eyes. My heart – if I have one – sank deep into my stomach. She wasn't afraid of me. She wasn't about to cry because I had raised my tone.

"I'm sorry sir, she's in a coma. We're not sure what happened..."

"What are you talking about? She just fainted. It's happened before." I was frustrated. I could hardly understand what she was saying.

"I'm afraid it is more serious this time. There – there is no activity in her brain." A tear rolled down her cheek, which was a rare sight and it made me instantly think of Eve. The way I had hurt her before. The way I couldn't protect her again. The tears I had seen roll down her cheeks.

I looked around me, everyone bowing their heads as soon as my eye meets theirs. To them it meant she was dead. To me – I don't know what it meant to me. I couldn't process the words that had come out of her mouth. Her heart was still beating. She was still warm. She was still alive.

Did I hit her? Did I do this? Had I unknowingly hurt her in my rage.

"The baby," her voice rose slightly as my eyes darted back to her. Of course, my baby, how could I forget. I felt like everything was crumbling around me and I had no idea what to do or how to hold on to the pieces of my family that was left. What is happening?

"The baby is okay; the doctor thinks we can bring the baby to term which shouldn't be any more than a month, if we consider his accelerating growth spirts." She smiled giving me the good news. I stared at her unsure of what she meant or how that would even work.

"What happened?"

"Sir?"

"She just fainted." She stared at me, her eyes widening further. She clearly had assumed I knew exactly what had happened. I had also assumed I knew what had happened, but clearly not.

"We assumed that the war had begun. There is no real explanation to what happened to her, but we suspect titan tricks. It's easy to harm a human with even the smallest of their poisons. We can't confirm until we do an autopsy." She held her head low, only meeting my eyes for a split second as she finished.

Titan tricks. The rage that had accumulated in my chest, sank deep into my soul. It felt like I was on fire. Titan tricks. The same tricks that resulted in her death last time. Titan tricks. Titan tricks.

"Sir? Would you like to see her?" The nurse suggested. I glanced at her soft expression for a moment, before my glance darted to the door behind her where I knew my lover was. Lying in a hospital bed, with her warm skin and her heart pounding inside her chest, yet according to everyone around me – she was dead, but alive enough to give birth to our baby. In my head none of that made sense. But if it were up to Eve this would be her perfect scenario, if our baby got to live on, it didn't matter what happened to her or me or anybody.

How could I look at her like that. Full of life and yet hardly alive. I couldn't.

The easiest way for me to gain access to Chase was to take Luca with me, so, I returned home.