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“Let’s get him stitched up,” commanded Dr. Hoffman. Dawn hadn’t even been aware of him coming in. “I don’t think he’s got any internal bleeding. We’ll need plenty of scans, but we can’t do that while he’s dripping everywhere. Nicki, start cleaning. Dawn, get that magic needle of yours. You start on his right, and I’ll work on his left.”
“Yes, doctor.” Dawn’s wolf was going wild now, and the adrenaline rushing through her system wasn’t making things any easier. Her hands were shaking as she prepped her sutures. Shaking hands were the last thing she needed right now.
She snagged a rolling stool with her foot and pulled it close. Her favorite professor in nursing school had told her a long time ago that the first rule of doing anything was to get comfortable. Most of the other students had laughed at the idea, and Dawn had some doubts about it herself at the time. If there was an emergency, how was there time to get comfortable?
Years of experience had taught her otherwise. This patient would require a hell of a lot of stitches, and she wouldn’t be able to do them as well if her back was straining or her feet were hurting. She jumped in at the first wound Nicki had finished cleaning, checking for any damage to major blood vessels. Dawn knew she needed to work fast. She took a long piece of monofilament and began working a continuous stitch. It wasn’t as sturdy as tying individual sutures, but there was no time to get fancy. Besides, Gage didn’t look like he’d be on his feet any time soon.
The next couple of hours went by in a blur. Dawn worked quickly to help close up the wounds, and she stayed by his side as he was given several scans. Her muscles tensed, constantly worried that some slight difference in his physiology would give him away, but the ER staff wasn’t looking for a shifter. They were just trying to keep him alive.
Finally, when it was well past midnight and getting close to the end of her shift, Dawn and an orderly brought him to ICU. Someone else could’ve done it, but she wasn’t going to risk it.
“Oof. This guy’s rough.” Isaiah pushed the button on the elevator.
Dawn gave him a side-eye. “You’ve worked here long enough to know better than that.”
“But you said he hasn’t woken up since he’s been here,” the orderly countered.
She pursed her lips. It was true, and it wasn’t good. He could be out of it for a long time, considering the injuries he’d sustained. None of the doctors who’d looked him over were particularly hopeful about his recovery. All they could do was wait. “That’s true, but you never know. He might be able to hear us.”
“Then maybe he’ll wake up and tell us what happened to him. He looks like he got attacked by a monster or something.”
Dawn chewed her lip and willed the elevator to hurry the hell up. She knew exactly what had happened to Gage, even if she didn’t know the circumstances. Those wounds were all too familiar. “Yeah. Something.”
Finally, the elevator slowed, and the doors opened. Tammy, one of the ICU nurses, guided them into the room at the end of the hall. “I think we’re good to go,” she announced after she’d ensured all the machines were running efficiently.
“I’d like a minute with him if you don’t mind.” Dawn looked down at Gage, or at least the man she knew as Gage.
“Oh.” Tammy’s forehead wrinkled. “Do you know him?”
“Old acquaintances.” It was the easiest way to explain it, even though it wasn’t accurate. Dawn still felt that same fated pull, that tugging of her soul. Isaiah had been right, even though he’d been kind of crass about it. Gage was in rough shape. Every doc that had looked at him had clucked their tongues or shaken their heads. There was only so much they could do, and none of them expected him to make it.
Dawn swallowed. She had gone through all the required schooling to be a nurse, and there was a lot she could do with the same medical equipment that a human would use. As the Glenwood pack healer, she had something else in her arsenal, though, something that would be frowned upon if anyone else in the hospital knew about it. Could she get away with it?
Her wolf urged her on, consequences be damned.
“Okay. Let’s see what we can do.” Dawn took a cursory look around the room before shaking out her hands and placing them on his chest. She tipped her head back and closed her eyes, sending her energy toward him. Warmth radiated from her chest, down her arms, and into her fingertips. She felt it sinking into him, and in her mind’s eye, she could see the green glow others had told her about.
Her magic was strong, she knew, but Gage needed everything he could get. “Selene, please hear my prayer. Bring him back from the brink he hangs on. He’s swaying between worlds right now, between night and day. Push him back to me. Give him back the life he was meant to live.”
Though her powers were strong, they drained quickly when she put them to work healing. The warmth faded, and she opened her eyes. Everything was as it was before. No one had seen a strange light and ran into the room. His vitals were stable, but no great miracle had happened. He lay placidly in the bed, the machines beeping away around him.
“Well, I tried,” Dawn said with a sigh. “If you really can hear me, I’ll probably regret saying this, but you still look just as hot as you ever did, even though you’re all beat up. You may hate my guts, Gage, but eventually, you’re going to wake up and tell me what the hell happened. You don’t owe me anything, but I did help save your life. I think you at least owe me that.”
Her eyes scanned his face, down his neck, and across his chest. A sheet covered everything else. Dawn had been working in the medical field long enough to see bodies of all types. Gage, though. Gage was different. She’d hardly paid attention while she’d whipped her needle through his wounds to keep him from dying, but now her curiosity was up. He’d always had a great body. Waseverythingjust as appealing as it always had been? She knew it was wrong, but her wolf urged her to find out.
She glanced at the door and then lifted the top of the sheet. His chest was wide and strong, the muscles even more developed than they’d been all those years ago. They descended into rippling abs, so he’d definitely been keeping in shape all this time. A trail of curls started just below his navel, leading to—
“Dawn?”
Snapping up her head and dropping the sheet, Dawn gasped when she saw those deep brown eyes looking into hers. “Gage.”
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Marked Over Forty
