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“Aye, although right now, I’m Dr. Innes, and I’m here to take care of you. Open your eyes if you’re able, lass.”
As Sid slowly opened her eyelids, she tried to wiggle her fingers and toes. However, nothing happened. Wishing she could articulate herself and get to the point, all she could manage to ask was, “What?”
Gregor Innes’s strong jaw, dark blond hair, and gray eyes filled her vision. As he leaned down to check her pupils, she reveled in the heat of his body. For a split second, she wanted him to lay on top of her.
Get a grip, Sid. Since Gregor still hadn’t said anything, she grunted. The bastard chuckled and leaned back. “You were right before. Doctors really do make the worst patients.” She frowned, and he continued, “I’m still not sure what happened to you. There aren’t any physical injuries apart from the bruises associated with falling over. The test results didn’t show any poisons or toxins, just a sedative. Everything is normal, apart from your dragon-shifter hormones being low, but you usually take a supplement and I don’t think that’s what caused your unconsciousness.”
“I can’t move.”
“Your lips are moving just fine, lass.”
Growling, Sid said, “I’m not a lass.”
“Ah, but you are to me. That’s all that matters.” He took her wrist and looked at his watch as he took her pulse. Most doctors’ hands were smooth, but Gregor’s held a hint of roughness. She wondered what caused it.
But she pushed that question aside. “Do your job.”
While he raised his brows, Gregor never took his gaze from his watch until he finished taking her pulse. “You’re awake, aren’t you? Even though I’m curious as to why I had to fight the nurses to give you any drugs at all.”
“I don’t like drugs,” she answered quietly.
He searched her eyes for a second and she thought he might ask why. But he shrugged and picked up her chart. “I rarely use them, but sometimes, they’re necessary. If I think you need them, I will pin you down and administer them myself if I have to. My job is to ensure your health and look after Stonefire until I deem you fit for duty.”
Sid tried again to wiggle her toes, and the big ones moved. “Believe me, I will be out of this bed in two days.”
Not looking at her, he jotted something down. “Even if you can get out of bed and walk, you need my permission to return to work.”
Sid wished she could clench her fingers. “I need to work, Innes.”
His sharp gray eyes met hers and his pupils flashed to slits. “And why is that, Cassidy?”
Since her dragon had fallen silent, no one but Gregor had called her Cassidy. After all, Cassidy was a carefree young dragonwoman with a playful dragon; that part of her had died as a teenager. Calling herself Sid had provided a clean break.
However, for some strange reason, she liked how he said her full first name.
A brief pounding went off in her head and she gritted her teeth. She couldn’t afford to have an episode. Gregor would ask too many questions and delay her return to work even longer, if ever.
Drawing on every bit of strength she possessed, Sid roared inside her head. Stop!
~~~
Gregor itched to touch Cassidy’s soft wrist again but focused on writing his notes. The menial task kept him occupied. More importantly, it was a good distraction.
His dragon spoke up. Toss aside the bloody papers and touch her skin again.
No.
Throwing his beast inside a mental maze, he waited to see if Cassidy would answer his question. However, when she clenched her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut, alarm bells went off inside his head. “What’s wrong, lass? Tell me.”
She remained silent a second more before her body relaxed. “It’s nothing.”
“Stop being bloody stubborn, woman. I can’t treat you if you don’t tell me what’s happening.”
Opening her eyes, she met his gaze and sadness flashed. “There’s nothing you can do, Innes.”
When it came to dragon-shifter patients, there were times to push and times to be gentle. Cassidy Jackson would deny it with her dying breath, but she needed gentleness.
He lightly brushed a strand of hair off her face. “There might be, lass. If there’s one thing to know about me, it’s that I never give up on a patient of mine. That now includes you.”
