The Savage Mate.

Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

AARON’s POV-->

It’s few minutes past 9 when I get the phone call

“Mr. Banks, I’m so sorry but your wife was involved in a fatal car accident”

“We need you to come identify the body”

My whole world stopped. What did they mean Kendra was in a fatal…..

I can’t even repeat the words.

She’s d-e-e-ead?

“Mr. Banks? Can you hear me?”

“We need you to come identify the body”

The rest of the sentence shattered into static in my ears. I could barely make out the words “fatal collision” and “identification.” My chest constricted, the oxygen in the room thinning as though someone had slammed a fist against my ribcage.

“No,” I whispered, clutching the phone tighter, as if force alone could reverse what he had just heard. “No. Not her.”

The phone slipped from my hand landing on the hardwood floor before I took off into the hallway, racing to get to the garage. As soon as the garage door got open, I entered my car and revved the engine to life.

Red lights blurred past ignored. Horns blared in protest, but I didn’t care. I weaved between cars, barely missing mirrors, the engine growling in tune with my chest that felt ready to split apart.

Every turn was too slow, every mile an eternity. My jaw clenched until it ached, breath ragged, eyes burning but unblinking. I pressed the accelerator harder, the speedometer needle climbing like my pounding heartbeat.

All I could hear over the engine, over the tires screaming around bends—was the echo of those words: fatal… accident… your wife

The morgue was cold, the kind of sickening cold that prickled your skin. With the strong antiseptic smell that filled the air. I’ve been here before but this time it all just felt so personal.

“You’ll need to confirm the identity,” the attendant murmured, voice carefully neutral, as though tone could dull the edge of reality.

The drawer slid open with a long, mechanical hiss.

Aaron’s knees weakened as the sheet was drawn back just enough to reveal her face.

But alas……

It wasn’t her.

“It’s…” My voice cracked. I cleared my throat, tried again. “It’s not her. This isn’t my wife.”

The attendant’s expression didn’t shift, only the faintest flicker of acknowledgment before sliding the sheet back over the stranger’s face. The drawer sealed shut with a dull clang.

I dragged both hands through my hair, lungs burning. The relief was dizzying, almost nauseating, but it carried a cruel weight: someone else’s wife, someone else’s daughter, lay in that drawer. And the call, the panic, the frantic drive all of it had built him up for a death that wasn’t hers… but still belonged to somebody.

I swallowed hard, guilt tightening like a vice. My wife was alive. Kendra was still alive.

I exit the morgue and enter back into my car, to drive to the hospital the wife had said the other victims of the crash were. This time my driving steadier, a small relief that came with knowing Kendra at least still has a fighting chance.

The double doors to the hospital swung open with a hiss. The room smelled of antiseptic and iron similar but more comforting to that of the morgues. The nurse at the reception guided me on where the crash victims were.

She was placed in the general accidents and emergency ward. The look of hopelessness I saw in each bed as I combed through the sea of faces, to find hers….

And there she was…

Lying still on the hospital bed, pale as porcelain, tubes snaking from her arms, crimson stains still faintly visible around the edges of her bandages. Her chest rose and fell—shallow, fragile, mechanical almost but it rose. That was enough to break him.

I gripped the rail of the bed, knuckles whitening, leaning in close as though my nearness could anchor her.

“God… look at you,” I whispered, voice hoarse. “You scared the life out of me.”

“You hold on, you hear me?” His voice trembled. “You don’t get to leave me like this. Not like this.”

For the first time in years, I realize how fragile the thread was between living and gone, how easily it could have snapped tonight. And all I could do was sit there, gripping her hand, begging silently for strength she couldn’t give, willing her to find her way back.

The monitors continued their slow, rhythmic beeping, each note a fragile promise: she’s still here.

A Doctor joined me shortly afterwards, I’d assume the one who was currently managing her.

“Give it to me straight Doc, how bad is it?” I ask

The male Doctor doesn’t respond immediately but instead flips through some pages on his clipboard.

“She has a fractured femur but asides that she’s in the clear though she’d need to undergo a surgical procedure to correct that”

A sigh of relief escaped my lips. Thank God, it wasn’t more than it is.

“What’s your relationship with the patient?” The doctor asks now facing me

“Wife.”

“She’s my wife” I reply curtly

“Okay Mr. Banks, a blood transfusion would be needed for your wife’s surgery.”

He pauses a while and flips through his clipboard again “I can see your wife’s blood type is O negative. That’s a fairly rare blood type. I suggest you get tested or start looking for possible donors if necessary. Our blood bank doesn’t seem to have her specific blood type”

I nod in affirmation. Not long after, he leaves to attend to other patients in the general ward leaving me once again to my thoughts.

A faint cough to my side draws me back to reality, upon checking where the sound is coming from I discover its from a nearby stand. The thought of my wife staying in a general space doesn’t sit right with me.

I signal to my assistant who’s right beside me. He nods, understanding what I say before I even say it.

“Nurse, transfer this patient to the VIP” He instructs a nearby nurse

“Our VIP rooms are fully booked Sir; you’d have to be patient till a room frees up” the nurse answers.

I snap my head towards the nurse “Make it work. Now”

The nurse just nods and scurries away.

Not long after, some hospital porters come in to wheel Kendra to another room. She’s still unconscious but the doctor had already previously told me she’d soon regain consciousness.

The next day somehow seems more chaotic than the last. Visiting hours are from 9:00am – 3:00pm but even before and after official visiting hours, a crowd of people still lined up in the waiting room to come see Kendra.

Who knew she was so loved?

Then again, who won’t love her. She’s a very likeable person.

By this time, Kendra had already gained consciousness. She quickly got overwhelmed with all who been coming to visit that her visitors quickly got restricted to immediate family and close friends. It’s been roughly 24 hours since the accident happened but Kendra’s father hasn’t even dropped by once. I’d never understand that family’s dynamic.

I sat at the chair right across Kendra. I knew she didn’t want me there I could tell by the way her nose scrunched up and eyes avoidant of mine at all cost. If she her femur wasn’t fractured, I’d bet she even try to run.

A soft smile formed on my face as I imagined her waddle her cute feet away. The smile quickly disappears when we’re joined with Thomas

The door banged open with a violence that made the metal handle rattle against the wall. Kendra flinched in her hospital bed, the IV tugging slightly at her arm.

“Finally!” boomed Thomas, sweeping into the room like he owned the place. His voice carried across the sterile hallways, loud enough that a passing nurse paused and glanced in.

“There you are, Kendra,” he said, throwing his hands wide, his coat still half-buttoned as though he’d rushed or pretended he had. “Do you have any idea what it feels like for a father to hear his daughter’s been in an accident and nearly died? Any idea at all?”

He talked as if he’d rushed here immediately after he heard the news but no, here he is just now showing up.

“You know,” Thomas went on, pacing at the foot of her bed, “I should have been the first person here. The first! Not the last. But do you think anyone bothered to call me properly? No. I had to hear it through the grapevine, like some afterthought. Me! Your father!”

I remember clearly telling James to alert all her immediate family and close friends and here he is acting like he wasn’t one of the first to know??

His voice rose again, bouncing off the ceiling tiles. A monitor beeped in protest at the sudden spike in Kendra’s heart rate.

“Dad, please,” she whispered, her throat dry, her voice weak.

But he either didn’t hear her or pretended not to. He leaned closer, his shadow spilling over her. “You can’t scare me like this again, Kendra. Do you understand? I won’t have it. You are mine to protect, and if you get yourself killed, then what am I supposed to do, huh? HUH?”

The nurse reappeared in the doorway; brow furrowed. “Sir, I’m going to need you to keep your voice down. This is a hospital.”

Thomas turned his head slowly, smiling at her like she’d just told the best joke in the world. “Keep my voice down? My daughter almost died! Forgive me if I’m a little loud about it!”

I turned to look at Kendra, she was clearly embarrassed not that Thomas care. She fisted the sheets beneath her controlling herself from either an outburst or from crying, it’s hard to say which.

“You’d need to get tested to see if you could be a possible blood donor for Kendra’s surgery in two days” I say to Thomas. Anything to stop his obnoxious yelling.

“I’ve gotten tested as well, my blood type isn’t compatible but yo…..” before I could even finish the sentence, Thomas interrupts me “I doubt I’d be a match” he says facing Kendra again

“Your blood types O negative right? Mines A positive.” He speaks

My eyebrows furrows, what does he mean he’s A positive. That doesn’t sound right.

“Are you sure? I think you need to get retested just to make sure” I say

“Look, I’d love to do this for you K, but I’m just not a match” he answers.

K? That’s a new one.

He faces me now, taking few steps till he’d finally right in my front “But if it makes you feel better sure, I can get tested. Transparency and all right?” He says the last part menacingly.

A call comes in, I excuse myself and step out to take it. It’s James, my assistant. I asked him to get some documents for me earlier which he called to report he’d done what I ordered.

“James, one more thing…”

“Thomas Langford is going to get his blood tested, see if he’s a good match for Kendra”

“Get the results to me before he does”

‘Yes, Sir.’ James responds.

I put the phone back in my back pocket and turn to head back into the hospital room. As soon as my fingers brushed the door, movement outside the window caught my eye

Zach.

The young man was leaning slightly on the sill, peering through the glass with the kind of nervous intensity that belonged more to a thief than a visitor. His face was pale in the afternoon light, lips pressed tight, as though afraid to breathe too loud and disturb the girl sleeping inside.

My jaw set. I turned fully, shoulders squaring as I stepped back into the corridor.

“You lost something out there?” My voice was steady, low, the kind that carried more weight for not being raised.

Zach startled, straightening up so fast he nearly bumped his head on the frame. He recovered quickly, though, eyes narrowing just a little. “Aaron, right?”

“That’s me.” I crossed the hallway in a few calm strides, stopping just short of the window. I didn’t crowd Zach, but my presence was a wall in itself. “And you’re Zach.”

Zach nodded, dragging his hands into his pockets. “Yeah. I—I just wanted to see if she was awake. I wasn’t going to bother her.”

My gaze flicked briefly to the window, then back to Zach. “She’s recovering. The last thing she needs is someone lurking around making her feel like she’s on display.”

“I wasn’t lurking,” Zach shot back, though his tone lacked conviction. His eyes darted toward the door. “I just… needed to know she’s okay.”

Kendra notices Zach from within and waves enthusiastically, signaling to him that he should come in. Her expression goes neutral again when our eyes lock but she quickly goes back to her happy demeanor when she looked at Zach’s direction.

Zach on the other hand, now ignoring me proceeds to enter the room WITHOUT my permission.

As I turn around to see the site within. I can see them both laughing and smiling, generally enjoying each other’s company.

“How the hell do you know Zachary Young, Kendra”