Mated to my Victim

Chapter Sixteen

Trae

My phone rings persistently, I turn down the music and answer, "Hello"

"Mr. Wise?" A female voice asks

"Yes, this is him," I reply, stopping at a red light.

"A Ms. Kyna Zikler is in the ER in critical condition...." is all I hear. My heart jumps, and my blood turns to ice at the words "critical condition". My thoughts start racing. All I hear is my heart pounding in my ears.

"Where?" I ask.

"Thirteen forty-eight Maple Drive-" the woman starts, but I hang up and punch the address into my maps app. The hospital is about an hour and a half away, in the opposite direction I was headed, I rev my engine, do a burnout donut on the slick asphalt, and roar down the road toward Куnа.

About three-quarters of the way there, a Canadian Mountie starts tailing me with lights flashing.

"I don't have time for this!" I shout, glancing in the rearview mirror I speed up to dangerous levels, especially In this heavy downpour. Fifteen minutes later, I pull into the ER parking lot, get out of my car, and start running towards the building when the cop slams into me, sending me flying a few meters.

Getting up, I hobble to the entrance, my mind dead-set on Kyna, the cop shouts something, but I can't catch it. I turn and see the barrel of a Glock aimed at me.

"Listen, I gotta get to my girl," I begin, but he interrupts.

"Ah, I don't want your excuses. Walk to my cruiser and place your hands on the hood," he orders, making my anger rise.

"Listen, mothafucker, my girl's in there probably dying, and you want me to do what you say? You know what say? Fuck you and your rules!" I shout and continue toward the building. The cop's nightstick comes around my neck, trying to choke me.

'So this is how he wants to play,' I think as I drive my right elbow back into his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Then I kick back, taking his left shin out from under him. As he drops I ball up my left fist and hit him hard in the nuts, making him release his nightstick I grab it and curl an arm around his neck, constricting his windpipe until he goes limp. I hold on a few seconds longer then check that he's still breathing.

I put him back in his cruiser, then run into the ER to the receptionist.

"Hello, may I help you?" the receptionist asks, his voice soft despite his worn, tired face.

"I'm here for Kyna Zikler," I huff out.

For what seems like an eternity, he looks at a computer screen, then up at me. "She's in surgery right now, but you're welcome to stay and wait for the head doctor to update you," he says. I nod and thank him, then sit in the waiting area.

After what feels like three hours of nothing and constantly bugging the receptionist, Mikael, a wiry Indian man, comes out of the operating theater.

"Mr. Wise?" he says in perfect English.

"Yes! I mean, yes," I answer, eyes wide.

"I'm Dr. Kalic," he tells me, a sorrowful glint in his eyes.

"Is she going to make it?" I ask, my voice rising.

"She... she isn't going to make it through the night," he says softly, "Metal shrapnel pierced her left lung, collapsing it. We had to remove an exploded kidney and stitch her intestinal wall, which was leaking fecal matter. We also removed a piece of sharp plastic from her abdominal aorta. I'm sorry. You can stay or leave," he finishes.

I collapse under the weight of his words, tears streaming down my face, gathering every ounce of strength, I stagger into her room, my heart shattering with each step.

I fall to my knees beside her bed with a heavy thud, the pain unbearable. Clasping my hands together, I look up towards the heavens, my vision blurred by tears. Through my sobs, I cry out, "I'll give you anything! Just don't take her! Take the breath from my lungs! Take the heart from my chest! Take my life instead of hers! Please, I beg you!"

My voice breaks, and the room fills with the sound of my desperate pleas. As I rest my head beside her, the warmth of her fading presence is all I can cling to. The world around me crumbles, and I am left with nothing but the echo of my despair, willing to trade everything just for a few more moments with her.

I grasp her right hand and run my thumb gently across her knuckles listening to the steady beep of the heart monitor. Beep... beep... beep. What feels like hours go by when her parents, Sophia and Kaiden, come in.

"What the fuck happened?!" Kaiden roars his eyes crazed while her mother is much more calm.

"She had a crash, but I don't know-" I start.

"If you had anything to do with this Traeger! I swear to the gods I will feed to the dogs and floss my teeth with your bone splinters!" Kaiden shouts stomping over to me making my anger flare.

"Excuse you!? If it was me that caused the crash I'd be in a bed in another room you fat fuckin bastard!" I bark back making his eyes narrow and walks up to me then leans down to my face level.

He growls and bares his teeth that elongate, "I'd watch my tongue if I were you, little punk bitch!"

"Honey he's just a-" Sophia tries to tell her husband.

He looks back at her and snaps his jowls making her emit a low growl from her throat then he yells, "No if he had something to do with our daughter's crash I will end him!"

After he yells that a security guard steps in and asks, "Excuse me, ma'am, sir, sir, is everything alright in here? The nurses and doctors heard yelling and they wanted me to check it out and see if everything was ok?"

Kaiden turns to him and is about to say something when Sophia speaks up first. "Yes, officer. Everything is fine my husband just is tired and in shock because he isn't a morning person," while she's telling the guard this Kaiden turns heel on her and glares icy daggers at her.

"Alright just checking. But I will say this if I catch word of this again I will stay in here until everything is calmed, ok?" The guard tells us then leaves and shuts the door behind him.

"What the fuck was that for Sophia?!" He exclaims through gritted teeth.

"I just saved your ass Kaiden, the least you could be is a little grateful!" Sophia hisses back.

"Need I remind you that our fucking daughter is in a hospital bed fighting for her life because of a fucking crash!"

"No, you don't but need I remind you who birthed her and went through all the pain and shit for the whole six months of pregnancy! My gods Kaiden Ross I can't believe you!" Sophia screams stamping up to Kaiden and slapping him across the face hard enough to leave a nice-sized bruise. He loudly growls and storms out of the room after glaring into Sophia's eyes clearly challenging her.

After he slams the door Sophia takes a deep breath in then lets it out slowly, then walks calmly over to me putting a soft hand on my back, and tells me to tell her everything that happened.