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He did and eyed me cautiously while he eased the human into his arms and laid him on the floor at our feet. There were things I needed to do, but I stood there watching the medic evaluating the human instead. I couldn’t make myself look away.
“He has a severe concussion,” the medic said up to me. “Should I treat him now, or wait for him to be conscious enough to consent?”
He shouldn’t have even asked me, and I knew what I should do, but I didn’t hesitate to say the opposite. “Do it now.”
The medic nodded and prepared a syringe. I couldn’t stop the growl that left me when he stuck it into the man.
“I apologize,” I said when the medic looked up at me.
“It’s alright, sir. I understand.”
Did he? Why didn’t I?
“Now let’s see to you.” The medic stood and moved around behind me.
“There’s nothing wrong with me.” Except for the fact that I needed to pick the human up again and was trying to resist that urge.
“You’re bleeding, sir.”
I followed his pointing finger to see a small pool of blood under my left boot. “Fuck,” I said as the pain suddenly registered. I made to reach back, touch where it hurt, but the medic grabbed my wrist to stop me.
“There’s a piece of something embedded in your lower back. Just be still for me.” He let my wrist go and came around in front of me again, scanning me with one of his devices like he’d done with the human at my feet. “I need a gurney!” he yelled over his shoulder.
“I can walk,” I protested, but the instant I tried to, my left knee buckled like it wasn’t even connected to the rest of my body.
The medic caught me under my arms, and I couldn’t help the yelp that left my throat as the sudden move pulled at whatever was stabbing into me. I wanted to reach back and rip it out of me, but even the pain didn’t let me forget how badly I might bleed if I did.
A moment later and two more medics arrived with gurneys, the three of them settling me on one and the human on the other.
“Keep them together,” my medic told everyone.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to ask what he knew as I kept my gaze on the unconscious young man being pushed down the corridor beside me.
CHAPTER 2
OWEN DEVIN
Iwoke up slowly, blinking a lot under bright lights that dimmed a moment later. The wall over my head was covered in symbols and words I couldn’t read, lights flashing and… It was medical information because that red dot was pulsing with my heartbeat and that line lifted up every time I took a breath.
Oh fuck. Oh god. I was in an alien hospital. On a space ship. Because my…my fucking father was a lunatic bomber piece of shit who’d tried to kill us all! A sob ripped out of me and I covered my mouth as I tried to fight back the horror inside me.
“Easy,” a low voice said beside me. “You’re alright.”
Gasping, I looked to my right and found a giant fox staring at me. I knew what his type was really called, but nope, I couldn’t remember it right now. Something that started with an L? Whatever. His sort of golden orange eyes gazed at me steadily as he laid on his side facing me. Someone who looked like a huge snow leopard was behind the fox and… Shit, were they performing surgery? While the fox was awake?
“I’m fine,” the fox said. “Don’t worry about me.”
I swallowed hard and couldn’t resist saying, “I thought you guys used nanobots for everything.” I knew they had nanobots that could heal all kinds of things, but the fact that the leopard behind him was making moves like they were stitching him up was alarming.
“There was a piece of debris in my back,” the fox said oh-so-calmly. “While the nurse stitches me closed, the nanobots are working on repairs on the inside. How’s your head?”
“Fine?” I reached up and touched my head, sifting through short black curls like there might be something to find. “Why?”
“You had a severe concussion. I approved the medic’s use of nanobots on you.”
The leopard nurse stitching him up paused to look between us, and I thought maybe I knew why.
“Without my permission?”
