Page 7 of Free Me

“Okay, let me text Emory to come in,” Omi said. Miko glared at his profile while he typed, furious at his silence and terrified of what no one was telling him about Linus. He shot one glare atthe young beta in scrubs, who he assumed was a nurse, but who hadn’t said a word so far. Miko wasn’t attached to any sort of monitors or an IV, so the nurse seemed like overkill.

“Can you tell me anything?” Miko snapped at the nurse.

“Barry isn’t involved in Linus’s care,” Omi replied. “He’s an orderly we asked to be here in case you did something that might hurt yourself.”

“Like get out of bed and demand to know what’s wrong with my best friend?”

“Pretty much. You’ve already got a bunch of bruises from the crash, plus all the energy you expended during heat. You’re in no condition to race to anyone else’s bedside.”

“You’re not a doctor.”

“Your doctor agrees with me, and so does your father. Even Jaysan agreed with me.”

Uncle Jaysan was Morgyn’s omegin and one of Omi’s best friends, along with Liam. Linus’s omegin Liam, who was probably a mess right now, and Miko’s own omega instincts to comfort his loved ones hurt for Liam. But he hurt for himself more.

Someone knocked and then Emory Cross slipped inside. A year older than Miko and an omegin to three young sons, Emory looked perpetually exhausted, but he managed a bright smile for Miko. “I’m so glad to see you awake,” Emory said. “Unconscious isn’t how anyone wants to spend their first heat. Trust me, I should know.”

“That was your second heat,” Miko replied.

“Close enough.” He leaned past Omi and hugged him gently. The movements reminded Miko of the bruises Omi had mentioned, and he let out a soft grunt. Emory pulled back. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, I need someone to stop treating me like glass. Omi won’t tell me why Linus is in Intensive Care.”

“Because he’s in a medically-induced coma.” Emory immediately teared up, his empathic streak overcome by delivering that sort of news, especially about a good friend.

Miko’s breath caught and his chest went cold. When Emory didn’t add anything else, he stared at Omi. “Why? From the crash?”

“Indirectly,” Omi replied. “The way the cars collided caused the door and part of the front passenger seat to crush and trap Linus’s right leg. You were apparently trying to comfort him while you waited for help, but when emergency workers arrived on-scene they pulled you out. They wouldn’t let you stay with him, even though you were screaming at them to let you back in the car.”

Miko couldn’t picture himself acting like that, but he had no reason to doubt Omi’s words. Everything had been off-kilter that night, his emotions already running at top speed even before the accident. “But they got Linus out of the car.”

“Yes, but it took a while because the EMT’s were afraid of arterial damage. They had to be careful so he didn’t bleed out once he was free. They got Linus to the emergency room, but there had already been severe damage to his leg and foot. He also had a concussion, so they had to be very careful about surgery and anesthesia. His parents had some impossible decisions to make.”

The careful explanation made intellectual sense but a cold blanket of dread settled around Miko. His heart tore in two as he asked, “How’s his leg?”

“They couldn’t save it, baby.” Omi choked. “They had to amputate just below the right knee.”

“But…” Miko’s brain filled with static and he looked between Omi and Emory’s tear-streaked faces. “That’s not right. He can’t play soccer without his leg.”

“There are all kinds of prosthetics out there now,” Emory said. “He’ll walk again. He’ll just have to relearn some things, like how to run and play soccer.”

“Not in time for his professional offers. He’s supposed to…oh fuck.” Miko swallowed hard, afraid the acid in his throat was about to surge out of his mouth. “This is my fault. He’s going to hate me.”

“Hey, no,” Omi snapped. “This accident is all the fault of the taxi driver. He ran the red light.”

“We wouldn’t have been in the tax if I hadn’t gone into heat. I wouldn’t have needed to rush home if I’d just stayed home after the game, instead of going to that fucking party! Linus would be home safe right now!”

“Stop, baby, please. You didnotcause this. You both survived a horrible accident. The doctors did their best to save Linus’s leg, and he still almost died from a post-op infection.”

“He what?”

Omi stood to fetch a box of tissues off a side table. When he paused to blow his nose, Emory took over the information dump. “He spiked a very high fever and they had a hard time getting it under control. He was having bad reactions to the antibiotics, so they chose to induce a coma to, um, prevent possible brain damage.”

Miko listed forward and covered his face with both hands, shivering uncontrollably. Two pairs of arms wrapped around him, one from each side, and he let himself be selfish. He soaked in the love and support of his omegin and his best friend, absolutely sick to his stomach and so full of grief he wanted to vomit. All he could do was sit there and shake and rage over the unfairness of it all.

This past weekend should have been a celebration, not only of Linus’s big soccer win, but also of Miko’s first heat. Now, theirlives were irreparably broken and nothing would ever be the same.

And it’s all my fault.

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