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“That’s plausible.”
It was obvious that Kai was just as worried as I was, which gave me solace that I wasn’t just being ridiculous, but he moved on quickly, finally joining us at the table.
“We should plan on what to do next,” he said, grabbing one of the few pork buns left and taking a large bite.
“First, I’d like to know if any of you need healing,” I said. “I assume you would've told me already, Darla, but Mad Dog? Tristian?”
“I’m good,” Tristian said, his mouth crammed full of an impressive amount of food.
“Actually, I got something here.” Rolling up his sleeve to above his elbow, Mad Dog the warrior revealed a deep, gangrenous wound that was leaking a sludgy, black puss.
“What the fuck, man!” Tristian blurted while actually putting down his sandwich. “You had that the entire time and didn’t say anything?”
“What would you have done about it, you lush?” Mad Dog said playfully. “Spit wine on it and tell it that it’s a good girl?”
“I realize you’re teasing me, but you’d be surprised how well the good girl thing works for me.”
“I’m surprised at anything that works for you given that face you’re sporting.”
“This coming from a guy whose actual, literal name that he prefers to go by is Mad Dog.”
I cleared my throat. “I think you were hurt by a silver weapon dipped in wolfsbane.”
“Yeah, makes sense. It forced me out of shift for a while. I shouldn’t have gotten away, but I threw myself in the closest body of water and let it carry me pretty far, then I climbed up a weeping willow and tied myself off there. Think I passed out for a full day before I woke up and started hiking back.”
“No wonder you were so hungry,” I said with a low whistle. We all knew how many calories our bodies demanded whenever we were wounded. “I’m going to clean this, but it’s not going to feel good.”
It was a rookie mistake to heal such a deep wound right off the bat. While that was fine if done in the moment on the battlefield or immediately after, Mad Dog’s poisoned wound had been festering for over a day. Healing it outright was an easy way to trap harmful poison, bacteria, and other diseases underneath the skin where they could even get into the bloodstream.
“If I’m being honest, it doesn’t exactly feel like roses, Medic Everton.”
It was going to be so much worse, but I didn’t need to say that and frighten him.
It took a few minutes to get all the supplies I needed. We put together cloth, warm water, and gauze. I figured it’d do us well to pack the wound for a few hours before fully closing it up, provided that cleaning out the wolfsbane poisoning didn’t put Mad Dog’s healing abilities into overdrive.
Despite giving a few hisses when I used the sterilization and cleaning potions in my bag, Mad Dog seemed relieved when I stepped away. The wound in his arm was no longer leaking black pus, and the red slowly faded to an irritated pink.
“That’s a relief,” he said with a long sigh, wiggling his fingers. “Felt like I was burning from the inside out.”
“Most likely you had a fever.”
“That’s pretty rare for our kind, isn’t it?”
I nodded. Because of our healing, fevers weren’t really a necessary part of our immune system’s evolution, so when a shifterdidhave one, it certainly was a big deal.
“Well, that’s a double thank you from me, then. I was acting tough before when you said it would hurt. I thought I was gonna cry like a bitch.”
I rarely heard it phrased that way, but I heard the kindness in his voice, nevertheless. “Despite what some people think of us healers, I don’t actually like causing people pain.” I paused, and maybe it was lack of sleep, or maybe it was just Kai’s charming influence leaking through our bond, but my mouth kept right on going. “Well, unless they ask nicely.”
“All right,” Kai cut in. His tone remained normal, but I was still amused at the sensations I felt from him: surprise, as well as a teensy drop of jealousy. I hadn’t been flirting with Mad Dog, but I knew that I was definitely being cheekier than normal. “You’ve done excellent work, Medic Everton. Once more, we all owe you.”
“Yeah, thank you, Medic Everton,” Mad Dog tacked on. “Excellent bedside manner, would recommend.”
“Let’s keep things professional, shall we?” Kai cut right back in before continuing on. “I think we should spend the rest of the day trying to track down Irina, and if we can’t, give her one more night to show up. You know how vampires are when they’re wounded.”
That was a point I hadn’t thought of. Vampires had the curious aptitude to heal both incredibly slowly or at super speeds, depending on what they were wounded by and how much blood they’d had lately. The fuller they were, the better they did with mending themselves. So, if Irina was stuck in a cave somewhere, too hurt to hunt, she'd just stagnate in there until she either went dormant or…
No, she wouldn’t die. It would take more than a scuffle to take her out.
