“Still in high school?”
“No, I got my GED last year.” He hissed when the cotton made contact, instinctively flinching back.
“Impressive. Sorry, I know this hurts, but once it’s clean, I’ll numb it before I stitch it up.”
“No numbing.” Kellan shook his head, his face still grimacing. “The stuff Doc uses makes us feel like ass for days.”
I had to fight back a chuckle.
“I won’t use what Jenkins uses—it seems that he and I have verydifferenthealing styles,” I soothed, focused on cleaning the wound. “I use a natural herb mix—place it on the skin for ten or so minutes, and it numbs everything. Makes getting stitches a breeze. Does that sound okay?”
I looked up at the young dragon. His first shift was probably only a few years ago. There was so much life ahead for him, and it frustrated me that he’d already been treated poorly by a doctor who was supposed to do what was best for him.
Kellan thought for a moment, face still tight with pain, then nodded. “Yeah, okay.” His whole body was rigid, with visible nervousness on his face. What the hell had Jenkins been giving this horde that they would rather be in pain than take the numbing?
Satisfied with my cleaning of the wound, I searched my bag until I found the jar of the green, pine-scented paste and smoothed a liberal amount over the wound.
“Give this ten minutes to work, then I’ll get you stitched up and good as new.” I smiled at him. “I’m betting Jenkins uses human anesthetics on wounds like this. I’ve found that those can linger in a dragon's body for several days. Does he use needles?”
“Yeah, they’re horrible and itch like hell.”
Griffin chuckled, nodding to the paste I was slathering on the boy's hand. “I remember that smell well. That’s good stuff she’s using, Kellan. Rowan used it on me several times.”
“Really?” Kellan raised his brows.
“Yeah, that gash on my upper arm? She put that piney paste on it to numb me up good before sewing me back together.”
Kellan nodded, relaxing. “It actually feels good,” he commented, surprise lacing his tone.
“That’ll be the anesthetic,” I said.
Within minutes, he was numb enough for me to stitch up and send him on his way with a clean bandage and some basic care instructions. He’d calmed down by the end, happy with my work, even mentioning that he was relieved it was me taking care of him, and not Jenkins.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy that, smirking as I looked away and put my equipment back in my bag.
“I couldn’t feel it at all,” he said.
Dragons healed fast, so the neater the sutures, the better their wounds would heal. If the stitches were even slightly crooked, the injury would likely scar. A straight line typically meant no scar and better overall results.
“The benefits of good, natural medicine. You guys heal so darn fast, you just need a little helping hand from Mother Nature.”
“And you’re looking after Rory, aren’t you?” Kellan asked, flexing his hand, an impressed look on his face.
“I am. I only just arrived, though. It may take some time.”
“That’s great. Doc’s been saying he’s critically ill. He says all the young here have ‘weak constitutions.’” There was no mistaking the sarcasm in Kellan’s voice, and I waved away Jenkins’ words.
“Load of crock, if you ask me.” I snorted. “I’ve seen you and your brother. I wouldn’t say you two are weak in the slightest. You seem like healthy young horde members to me.”
Griffin grumbled unintelligibly from the doorway while Ma frowned.
“They’rehealthy boys, but the dragons born more recently have struggled with sickness. We haven’t had any births in a while, and it’s not from lack of trying,” she admitted.
That’s odd. I finished taping the bandage over Kellan’s hand. “Hmm, Griff mentioned there hadn’t been any births recently. I’ll take a look at the records andsee what I can find out. You’re the only horde I know of experiencing that—the horde I just visited in Montana had atripletbirth while I was there. There must’ve been at least ten toddlers wandering around the place.”
“Anything you can do would be much appreciated,” Ma said, fussing over Kellan.
“It’s the least I can do, given you won’t stop feeding me.” I smiled, standing and turning to my patient. “Keep that clean, and I’ll check on you tomorrow, okay?”
