Chapter 166 SURGERY

Chapter 166 SURGERY


The doors hissed shut.

Fluorescent lights hit Alex’s face. Cold. Sterile.  
"Gunshot to torso and thigh," a paramedic yelled. "BP’s dropping. 90 over 60."

Alex didn’t feel the pain, that was the worst part.  
He could feel the wet. The blood. The way his shirt stuck to his skin.  
But not the hurt.  
Because the hurt was 30 feet away.


In the waiting area.

Mia screamed.

It tore through the ER.  
Raw. Animal.  
"ALEX!"

Jenna was already running with her. Wheelchair wheels squealing.  
Sara clung to Jenna’s neck, crying.

"Clear the way!" a nurse shouted.  
They slammed Alex onto a gurney. Oxygen mask over his face.  
IVs in both arms.  
Monitors started beeping.

Alex turned his head. Found Mia.

Her eyes were squeezed shut. Both hands pressed to her right side.  
Right where his ribs were.  
Blood wasn’t there. But her shirt was damp with sweat.

"Mia," Alex tried to say. The mask muffled it.

She opened her eyes and they were pure gold.Not human gold. Wolf gold.  
Tears cut down her face.

"It hurts," she whispered. "It hurts so bad."

"I know," Alex's wolf said through the mate bond.

"No you don’t," Mia shook her head. "You’re not feeling it. I am."

A doctor cut Alex’s shirt open with shears.  
Rip.
Cold air hit his skin.  
Across the room, Mia arched in the wheelchair and gasped.

"Goddess!," a nurse said. "What’s wrong with her?"

"She’s his mate," Jenna said. Voice hard. "She feels everything he does."

The doctor looked between them. Then at Alex’s wounds.  
"Get her a bed. Now. And page surgery. We need him in theatre in 2 minutes."

They wheeled Alex away.  
Fast.  
Wheels clattering on tile.

Mia tried to follow. Her body jerked like someone was pulling strings attached to her ribs.  
"Wait," she choked. "Don’t take him—"

"Ma’am," a nurse said. "You need to lie down."

"I’m fine," Mia lied. Blood in her mouth.  
She bit her lip to keep from screaming again.

The gurney disappeared through double doors.  
Surgery.
Red light above it clicked on.

Mia’s breath hitched.  
And the pain hit.

……

Inside theatre, it was bright. Too bright.  
Six people moved around Alex. Gloves. Masks. Steel.

"Local won’t work," the surgeon said. "He’s a wolf. His system burns it off."  
"Then he’ll feel it," another nurse said.  
"No," the surgeon said. "He won’t. Check his vitals."

Alex stared at the ceiling.  
White tiles. A light directly above him.  
He could feel hands inside him. Tugging. Cutting.  
But nothing.  
Just pressure. Distance.

Like his body wasn’t his.

"Bullet’s lodged near the liver," someone said. "Forceps."  
Clink.
Metal on metal.

Across the hall, Mia screamed again.  
It echoed down the corridor.

Alex’s jaw clenched.  
"Stop," he said to no one.

"What?" the surgeon asked.

"Nothing," Alex said. "Just... hurry."

Because every second they were in him, Mia was burning.

……

Room 203. They’d moved her there.  
IV in her arm now. Oxygen on her face.  
But it didn’t help.

The second the surgeon touched Alex, Mia’s back bowed off the bed.  
"AH!"

Jenna held her down. "Breathe. Breathe, baby." She didn't know how or why she was doing this, all she knew was,she was helping the family the best way she could because she didn't understand the strange pull she felt towards them. By now,her mother would be very worried but that could hold for now. 

"I can’t," Mia sobbed. "I can feel it. I can feel the knife."

She grabbed her stomach.  
Her skin wasn’t cut. But it felt like it was.  
Like someone was pulling her insides out.

On the monitor, her heart rate: 172.  
"She’s going into shock," a doctor said. "From sympathetic pain."

"Give her something," Jenna snapped.  
"We can’t," the doctor said. "Not until we know how much is his and how much is hers. If we sedate her and he crashes, we won’t know."

Mia clawed at the sheets.  
"Alex," she gasped. "Alex, please."

She saw it then.  
Flash.  
Bright lights.  
Hands in blood.  
His blood.  
But she felt it in her.

Another cut.  
Mia screamed and passed out.

…………

Outside. Parking lot.

No one had opened the boot yet.

Ivan sat in the dark. Hands still tied. Mouth still gagged.  
Blood dried on his face.

He heard the sirens. The noise and despite all,he smiled inwardly. He had envisioned this long long ago, if they didn't all die, how was he supposed to take over?

The car rocked as someone walked past.  
Footsteps.  
Then stopped.

A cop peered through the back window. Frowned.  
"Were you guys transporting someone?"

No answer.  
The cop opened the boot.

Click.

Light hit Ivan’s face.

Ivan looked up. Gagged. Tied.  
And winked.

The cop jumped back. "We’ve got him! We’ve got the suspect!"

Handcuffs. Again.  
But silver ones this time.  
They dragged Ivan out. He didn’t fight.

As they walked him past the hospital doors, Ivan turned his head.  
Looked right at the window to Room 203.

Mia was unconscious.  
But Ivan could smell her pain.

"Curse is a bitch, isn’t it?" Ivan said to the cop.  
The cop shoved him harder.

Inside, Alex’s monitors beeped.  
Steady.  
He wasn’t in pain.  
But Mia was.

……..

Back in theatre.  
"Got it," the surgeon said.  

Clink.
Bullet dropped into a metal tray.

Across the hall, Mia’s body relaxed.  
Like someone cut a wire.

Her breathing evened out.  
The screaming stopped.

Jenna sagged in relief. "Thank goddess."

But Mia’s eyes opened.  
Still gold.  
Still looking at the door.

"They’re stitching him now," she whispered.

How did she know?  
Because she felt the needle.

Each pull. Each tug.  
Not pain this time. Just pressure.  
Like someone sewing her skin.

Tears ran down her face.  
"Don’t let him feel alone," she whispered. "He hates being alone when he’s hurt."

Jenna squeezed her hand. "He’s not alone. I’m here. Kane’s here."

"Not you," Mia said. "Me."

…….

Surgery took 40 minutes.

When they wheeled Alex out, he was pale. Bandaged.  
But awake. Eyes open.  
Looking for her.

Mia was already being wheeled into the room next to his.  
Glass wall between them.

The second they were side by side, both of them exhaled.

"Hey Mia," Alex said. Voice rough.

"Hey Alex," Mia said. Her voice was wrecked.

They stared at each other.  
No words.  
Because words didn’t matter.

He’d taken bullets for someone else.  
And she’d paid for them.

Kane stood in the doorway. Arms crossed,staring at them both. Earlier,  he had gone to save Alessia but it happened that Seraphina had lied,Alessia wasn't where she said she was at all,no traces of a living being there. 

Seraphina sat in a chair in the corner. Still under compulsion.  
Still staring at the floor like a dumbo.

No one spoke for a long time.

Finally Alex broke it.  
"I’m sorry," he said to Mia.

"Don’t," Mia said. "Don’t you dare apologize for saving me."

"It wasn’t for you," Alex said. "It was for Kane."

"I know, he told me earlier before you were brought in" Mia said. "And I’d do the same for you."

Alex reached out. His hand was shaking.  
Mia reached back. Their fingers touched through the glass.

Warm.

Outside, thunder started.  
The sky went dark.

In a holding cell, Ivan laughed weakly, he looked half dead and half alive. 

Because the curse wasn’t broken.  
And neither was he.