He shakes his head. I pat myself down, thankful my phone is still in my pocket, and send her a quick text.
When we finally get to the tunnel, security tries to stop us. I’m a sobbing mess and none of the words coming out of my mouth are making any sense.
“She’s his mate.” It’s all Mars has to say before they quickly apologize and escort us to the locker room where they took Kodi.
Kodi, please answer me. You have to be okay. I love you!
They don’t let me in for a long time. The only thing I got through the bond was a grunt.
When they finally open the doors to let me in, one of the kinder doctors approaches me with a soft smile on her face. “You’re his mate?” she asks gently.
“I am.” I sniffle.
She nods as she takes me to where he’s lying on a table with his jersey cut off and his body stabilized by straps. The sight makes me sob even harder.
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry. I should have told you he’s going to be okay.” Her eyes are wide as she’s frantic to correct her error at the vast difference between her words and the sight before me.
“Wh-what do you mean he’s o-okay? Look at him!” I hold my hands in the air over his head wanting so badly to hold him but terrified to touch him in this state.
“I didn’t immediately realize that you were human. Has he explained our healing processes to you?”
I shake my head, wrapping my arms around my body.
“Shifters are thankfully much harder to injure or kill due to our supernatural healing abilities. Things that would easily kill humans just really hurt us. He suffered a spinal cord contusion, and he’ll make a full recovery.”
My entire body relaxing with every word she says.
“However.”
Every muscle tenses and I force myself to make teary eye contact with the kind doctor.
“Humans do not make these kinds of recoveries, as you know. A spinal cord contusion this bad, on national television. He’ll likely be forced into retirement. I’m sorry.”
My hand flies to my mouth, barely catching the gasping sob that leaves my body. “H-he won’t be able to play football anymore?”
The doctor sadly shakes her head. “I’m sorry. I’ll let you sit with him until he wakes up. We’ve reset his spine, and his bear will do the rest of the work.” She pats me on my shoulder as I drop into the chair by Kodi’s head.
“Can I touch him?” I whisper.
“Of course. Can I get you anything?”
I don’t answer. I just shake my head and cry for my mate.
“I’ll leave one of our nurses in here in case he wakes up.” Is all she says as she gathers a few things and makes her way out through the double doors of the locker room.
I jolt in my seat when they slam shut.
When I’ve calmed, I scoot my chair forward a bit so my knees are nearly touching his head. I brush his white-blond hair off his forehead so that when he opens his eyes, I have a direct line of sight to those perfect black irises.
He doesn’t stir, so I run my fingers through his sweaty hair a few times, straightening it a bit.
Finally, I pull my phone out of my pocket and am overwhelmed with the text messages and missed calls from my teammates. Coach texted only once letting me know she was only a call or text away, knowing I wouldn’t want to be smothered right now, unless it was by Kodi.
I continue scrolling through notifications, avoiding the sports alerts I had set up on my phone to monitor the Rays because right now the headlines are not what I want to see.
I’m about to turn my phone off when a text from Carrie comes through.
A small, hiccupped sob spills past my lips, that with everything going on, she’s checking on me. Not Kodi. Me.
