“What if I promise to be a good boy and stay very still?” He asked, mocking a soft, young voice starkly different than his usual rumble.
“Would you behave?”
He sighed heavily. “That’s a lot to ask of me, you know.”
“I do know, but you’re just going to have to do it anyway. We’ll have plenty of sex when you are all better.”
“Promise?” he asked, again like an eager little boy.
“Yes, I promise. Now be still so I can clean these wounds without hurting you too much.”
Carefully, I cleaned the poultice off and dumped it into the trash can as well. Then, I gently wiped the blood around his stitches that had seeped out. The area was still tender, as he winced at my ministrations.
I carefully mixed the poultice, trying to make it the same pasty consistency that Dr. Ursa showed me yesterday. It came out better than I had expected upon starting. I put a thick covering on each of his wounds and covered it with a gauze pad. Then, I taped everything up.
He had a sheen of sweat all over his face by the time I was finished. His bottom lip had a tiny trace of blood on it from where he had bit it to keep from hollering. I used the washcloth that I had kept for his fever to wipe his face down. He was back asleep again before I finished cleaning up.
My mind was at ease because I knew that he was going to be okay. The first twenty-four hours were always the roughest and most dangerous.
After watching him sleep for a few minutes, I decided to work on my book.
I really need a baby monitor.
A month ago, I would have laughed at that thought. Now, looking at my husband, still pale from his injuries and the accompanying pain, I thought that would be the perfect solution for me. I could work in my study and still keep an ear out for him. Deciding I would simply check on him every so often, I settled down to work. I had just typed my first word when my phone rang. It was Dr. Ursa.
“How is our patient?” she asked, after greeting me and asking how I was doing.
“He is himself,” I answered.
She laughed. “I completely understand that statement. Describe his wounds to me.”
I told her what I saw when I changed his dressing and that I had put new poultice on them.
“Excellent. He’ll be fine. And the wounds probably did look like they happened a week ago. Shifters tend to heal a little sooner than full-humans.”
“That’s good to hear. I won’t be able to keep him in that bed for too long,” I said.
“I don’t imagine you will.”
“How do you do it, Doctor? I’ll never forget looking into the holes on his body while you calmly plucked a bullet out. You were as composed as if you were taking a splinter out of a child’s finger.”
“I know that what I am doing is to make someone else better. Sometimes, I see things that are so awful that it takes me a while to get over. I once treated a cub who had got her foot caught in a bear trap. It was awful. But I knew that I had to do my best to help her not lose her foot or even her leg.”
“Those things are awful,” I said. “I can’t believe people can be so cruel.”
“I’m with you, sister. But you did a great job yesterday. If you ever decide that you want to try a different vocation besides writing, let me know. I can always use a good assistant.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. I don’t think that’s in my cards.”
She laughed and told me to call her if there were any changes.
I managed to get a couple of chapters written when I heard Gage calling out for me. He was hungry and thirsty, which was an excellent sign. I gave him some water and soup. He said he needed some real food. I told him he could have that tomorrow. He growled at me and told him to settle his rowdy butt down.
“Could you do me a favor?” He asked me.
I raised my eyebrows. I learned a long time ago never to agree to do anyone a favor unless I knew exactly what it was first.
“I left my truck down the lane with the keys in them. Could you bring my truck up here? Also, I had packed all my worldly belongings in two suitcases, since I figured you wouldn’t mind if I moved in here with you. Would you mind grabbing this for me?”