Chapter 2 - Day 1

AMBER.

“Take me to him!” I said as my chest heaved.

“That’s my plan, but I need to find out how to attach this dextrose to the stand…” She was not able to finish her words, and her eyes grew bigger when I clutched the tube attached to me and peeled it off my skin. I felt a tinge of pain, but it was nothing compared to the pain in my heart.

I couldn’t understand anything. My head refused to think why Zach would not visit me or why I was not allowed to visit him.

Was Dad or Mom upset with him? Are they blaming him for the accident? I have to tell them it was an accident and no one wanted it.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay? I don’t have shoes for you…”

“Just take me there,” I replied as Eva helped me get into the wheelchair.

“We need to be careful, as you’re not allowed to leave the room,” Eva said, and I nodded in response. I was grateful she was the exact opposite of me.

While I followed all the rules to a T, Eva was more adventurous. She broke curfews and rules but never complained when she got disciplined or grounded. She always owned up to her act. Not that I was jealous because I had no reason to break the rules—I was happy just being me. And Zach had always played by the rules, too.

After Eva made sure no one was in the corridor, she pushed my chair out, and we headed for the elevator—all the while, my heart was thumping loudly, praying no one would catch us.

I glanced at myself as we passed by the glass windows of another suite, and I could see my face was too pale. My hair was a mess from the ponytail I had, and I still have a bandage on my ear.

They said a metal cut a portion of my ear, but I was lucky it missed my head. I raised my hand and looked at my arms. I had bruises and scratches—nothing major. Mom said those were from debris from the broken window and some metal that hit me.

What made me unconscious was the big piece of glass that struck the back of my head. I was lucky the glass remained there until they were able to take me out and able to stop the bleeding, or I would have bled profusely.

After what felt like forever, the elevator finally pinged, and Eva rolled me out. Instead of going to the main entrance, she took the side exit. Someone was about to stop her, but she glared at the security. We were let out, but I heard him radioing someone that I went out of the building. So I was sure that at any moment, someone would come for us.

“Do you know exactly..:” I was about to ask her if she knew where Zach was parked when she cut me off.

“In that ambulance.”

“Is he still not okay?” I asked, and I realized my voice was trembling.

Why did he need to leave if he was still not one hundred percent okay?

“You need to see it for yourself, but I can explain later.” She said as we rushed forward until we finally reached the vehicle.

Eva maneuvered my chair to go to the back, and Zach finally came into view.

He was inside the ambulance, in its bed. His upper body was slightly raised up, and a blanket was covering the lower part of him. He had a full bandage on his right arm, and it finally hit me that it was the arm that was around my head where my earlobe was cut.

Zach protected me. If he hadn’t, my head would have been hit by that metal.

My tears kept rolling down my cheeks as I looked at him. Trying to take it all in.

I looked worse than him. He had bandages on his arm and a few bruises on his face, but he looked like he had gone to shower and had shaved his beard. They cut his hair. His long hair was gone.

But he was still my Zach. And I was so happy he was alive. We were both alive.

“Are you done appraising me?” He asked in a cold tone, but I didn’t immediately realize that.

“I miss you…” I blurted out as a smile slowly cracked my face.

But the smile was gone in an instant.

“I’m ready, let’s go.” He said to the nurse standing beside his bed, adjusting the paraphernalia attached to him and completely ignoring me.

“Alpha, we need to wait for your parents, as they are waiting for your release papers,” the man answered politely.

“I said, let’s go!” Zach growled at him, and it made me jerk back in my seat. His eyes dilated, and on the way the man beside him flinched, I could tell he rolled off an Alpha command.

Zach never used his Alpha command unless necessary to make people admit crimes but never to order anyone like this. He was too good to abuse his power.

“Zach… Wait,” I said as I pressed my hands on the armrest of the wheelchair and pushed my body to stand up. Eva immediately went to my side and assisted me as the man inside the ambulance hopped off and was about to close the backdoor.

“Wait!” I shouted. “I want to talk to him!”

The nurse looked at Zach, but he was looking at me. “We don’t need to talk about anything. You did this to me. Fuck off!” He said it in a low voice, but I heard it loud and clear.

My eyes blurred as more tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn’t believe the words he used on me.

I remained staring at him, watching as the nurse closed the door until all I saw was the white color of the door. My mind was running at full speed, trying to make sense of everything he said.

But the moment the ambulance drove away, it snapped me back to the present.

“NO!” I screamed as I pushed Eva away from me and began running after the ambulance. I could hear Eva calling for me, but I ignored her.

“Zach!” I yelled as I pushed myself to run after him, but the ambulance didn’t stop. Instead, it sped away.

“Please!” I cried as I continued to run. I couldn’t see anything anymore because my eyes were blurred with tears, but I kept going.

Until I stumbled and fell to the ground, my face almost hitting the ground if I was not able to anchor my hands. My whole body was trembling as pain shot everywhere. I cried harder as I pushed myself up, but I was restrained by warm arms that wrapped around my body.

“Let me go!” I yelled, pushing away the arms that had always been my solitude since I was a little girl.

“Amber, baby, please, calm down.” Mom’s voice was so soft as she whispered in my ear. Her arms wrapped around me as she cradled me while I kept struggling to break free.

“Mom… What did I do wrong?”

I couldn’t understand why he was acting like that. So many thoughts were running in my head. Did he lose his memory? Couldn’t he recognize me anymore?

“Nothing, baby… Nothing.” She kept kissing my head.

“He hates me.”

I tilted my head and looked at her. She was crying, too. Her eyes were closed as she kept whispering consoling words to me. “You’ll be okay, Amber. You’ll be okay. I promise, one day, everything will be okay.”