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He left and Lucy sat down in the chair that was next to the bed. She reached out and held Micah’s hand tightly.
“You’d better heal from this,” she said through gritted teeth.
Micah wanted to look at her, but his eyelids were so heavy. Instead, he let the darkness fall over him again.
23
Lucy
Lucy watched Micah as he slept, reliving the events. It seemed like it had been years from the moment that he had been shot until now. She hated to leave him as she and Dean had taken the bodies to the mine shaft and then scrubbed the snow with branches, leading off into a million different directions everywhere from the spot where they had shifted. The snow had started to melt some from the direct sunlight hitting it, in spite of the cold air. Normally, Lucy would have admired how the glistening snow looked like dancing diamonds beneath the bright skies, but her heart was full of fear.
The trip down the mountain was torturous. Micah was no light weight, and although Dean had born the majority of the weight, Lucy felt as though her body was going to crumble. Micah hadn’t been able to help at all. In fact, she was sure that he was unconscious for most, if not all, of the trip.
She had called Clara as soon as she and Dean had gotten Micah settled in the inn. Dillon got ahold of a shifter doctor, who hurried to the inn. Lucy and Dean had both held their breath as he examined Micah.
“He’s lucky that he is still alive. The good thing is that since he is, he will likely survive this ordeal. He is a shifter and he will heal a lot faster than a mundane human would. The biggest challenge is to make sure he doesn’t get an infection.”
Lucy listened attentively as the doctor explained every medication to her, including the poultices. She made notes as he told her when to give the medications and how to do the poultices.
She held his hand tightly as he moaned. Her heart nearly stopped when she felt how hot his skin was. His face was flushed, he was shivering, but at the same time, he was sweating profusely. She took his temperature. It was a hundred and three degrees.
“Take a deep breath. The doctor said that this might happen.”
She managed to shake him awake enough to get a couple of pills inside of him. Then, his eyes fluttered closed and he went back into a deep sleep. She walked back and forth all night between the bed and the bathroom, getting cool rags to put on his forehead.
Finally, about four in the morning, his fever was down to a hundred degrees. He was breathing evenly. Relieved, Lucy managed to fall asleep in the chair.
When she woke up the next morning, she had a serious crick in her neck. She rubbed her neck and moved her head in a circle, trying to loosen up the muscles.
Lucy ordered breakfast to be sent up for her and some broth for Micah. She figured that he probably wouldn’t be able to eat a full course meal, but he would need something in his belly. She answered a bunch of texts from Dean and Clara, wanting to know how Micah was doing. Not ready to deal with the drama, she hadn’t told anyone back home what happened.
A documentary about the deserts around the world and proof that they were once under water played in the background. Lucy half-heartedly listened to it, as the narrator explained that paleontologists had found a previously unknown extinct species of whale that had four legs, sharp teeth, and lived exclusively in the water.
She leaned back in the chair, a splitting headache pounding between her temples and the back of her skull. Her eyes were burning and felt gritty. She closed them for relief, but the sensations remained. Her body screamed for sleep, but that seemed impossible.
“What happened?”
A deep voice startled Lucy out of her stupor.
“Micah. You’re awake,” Lucy exclaimed.
He tried to sit up, but he groaned in pain and fell back to the bed.
“You were shot yesterday,” Lucy said. “We had gone for a run and when we got back, there were four hunters there. One of them shot you. The bullet nicked your liver and caused some damage.”
“I need to get out of bed,” Micah said.
“You need to lay still.”
“Unless I’m wearing a diaper, I need to get out of bed,” he insisted.
“Good to know you haven’t lost your sense of humor,” Lucy said, as she helped Micah up.
“It’s a little embarrassing to have to be like a woman.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” Lucy promised.
A few hours later, there was a soft knock on the door. Dillon was there.
