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"Get her on the floor and give me space," the clan's physician instructed as she climbed into the truck.
Dagor laid Frankie down on the floor with the utmost care, his eyes lingering on her for a moment longer before he climbed up to sit beside Negal in the back. From there, he could observe everything without being in the doctor's way.
Jin, who had jumped out of the truck the moment she'd pulled to a full stop, watched the doctor from the side with a concerned expression on her face. Even the injured driver propped himself up so he could watch what Bridget was doing.
There were too many eyes on the doctor and Frankie, and Dagor worried that the onlookers might distract the physician, but she seemed unfazed, and her focus remained laser sharp as she worked.
"I'm giving Frankie a morphine shot first to make sure that she doesn't wake up from the pain." She administered the shot with a practiced hand. "I'm going to take out the bullet now, so if anyone is squeamish, I suggest that you look away."
Dagor usually wouldn't have been fazed, but this was his mate's body that the doctor was about to poke into, and his stomach roiled. Still, it was his duty to watch over Frankie, and hopefully, he wouldn't puke.
As the doctor started cutting off Frankie's shirt, Dagor glared at Luis, who was watching from the front. "Turn around," he commanded.
Negal didn't need to be told and shifted his gaze to the side.
As the doctor ignored the exchange and removed the bullet with steady hands, Dagor swallowed the bile that had risen in his throat, and when she stitched up the wound, he had to look away for a moment to settle his stomach.
The physician's confidence and singular focus calmed him, dulling the sharp edges of his fear, but evidently the effect didn't extend to his stomach.
"Now I'm going to give her blood to replenish what she's lost." The doctor opened the cooler, revealing its contents. "These are units of packed red blood cells and plasma, and both are universal, so don’t worry. We were lucky to have them on board. I ordered several units of them because of the human crew."
As Dagor watched the doctor begin the blood transfusion, he felt a strange sense of detachment, as if it wasn't Frankie lying there and receiving a stranger's blood to save her life. It was as if he was watching a scene from a movie.
Throughout the procedure, Dagor remained by Negal's side, his eyes never leaving Frankie. The doctor worked efficiently, her hands steady and sure.
She looked up at Dagor. "I need you to come back here and hold the IV bag up so it doesn't fall."
It was hanging from a portable stand that the doctor had assembled, and it looked flimsy, but he could see the blood begin to flow into Frankie's veins, and that was a relief.
"This will help stabilize her," the doctor said with a comforting note of confidence.
"Tell me the truth," he said. "Is she going to make it?"
The doctor smiled. "Frankie won't die from this injury. But we need to get her to the clinic."
As Bridget turned her attention to Luis's injuries and took her equipment with her, Dagor and Negal exchanged loaded glances as they both realized that they had missed the opportunity to secure the syringe without alerting the physician.
It seemed like it wasn't needed at the moment, but they still had to get Frankie back to the ship, and things might take a turn for the worse.
"I need to take a piss," Negal said with a wink as he jumped down from the truck.
Was he planning on swiping the syringe from the doctor without thralling her, Jin, Anandur, and the driver?
They had too many witnesses to pull it off without employing mind tricks.
Anandur, who had sidled up to Jin and had been observing from the sidelines, stepped closer and offered Dagor a reassuring smile.
"Trust the doc. Bridget wouldn't have told you that Frankie was going to be okay if she didn't believe it a hundred percent. You can take her word to the bank." He chuckled. "Though in her case, it would be the blood bank."
Jin snorted as if the redhead had just told her a joke, but Dagor failed to see what was so funny about it.
"All done," Bridget said. "Let's get these two to the ship where we can properly clean them up."
She closed her bag and looked back to where Negal had been sitting. "Where did he go?"
"He needed to relieve himself," Dagor said. "He should be back in a moment." Hopefully, before the doctor took her bag back to the motorcycle.
It seemed like Negal had really needed to take a piss, and it hadn't been an excuse to steal a syringe.
