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I admired his dedication and appreciated what he was doing for me. Being a shifter himself, he knew that two lives were on the line, not just one. If she was lost, so was I. That was the way of mates.
The ambulance stopped at the Blackwood Creek emergency room. The doors blasted open as an army of doctors and nurses rushed to grab the gurney and speed Tori straight into surgery.
The whole medical team working on Tori were all shifters or people who knew about our kind. They knew my staying was the safest and best bet for her to recover and not shift in the middle of surgery because she felt threatened or needed to look for me. No one told me to leave.
A nurse outfitted me with scrubs, a mask, and gloves, and positioned me at Tori’s head. I stroked her face so she could scent me and know I was there.
They sedated her and got to work extracting the silver knife. One of the nurses had to handle the knife, as the doctor was a shifter; it would have burned him had he tried. As soon as the blade cleared her body, I’d never seen anyone work so diligently at flushing out the wound and stitching it up from the inside out.
“Mayor, she has nicks against her intestines and stomach,” the doctor said. “I’m stitching that up now, and we will clean the area of any leakage from the open wounds.”
The doctor’s words were soothing, but I couldn’t hold in the rumbling growls. Mentally, I was aware of what he was doing, but my wolf instincts could only see danger to my mate.
Nodding, I stared at my beautiful wolf and watched as the oxygen mask gave her the air she needed. I wondered what was going on in that mind of hers, because her eyes were sporadically dashing around underneath her lids.
“Clamps.”
“Suction.”
“Needle.”
Words were tossed around, but I wasn’t fully paying attention. The doctor and nurses were a well-oiled machine as they went about saving my mate’s life. I’d never be able to thank them enough.
My life was in their hands, and they treated it with such care, I was humbled.
I stroked Tori’s face and hair, careful to avoid the areas of her face that had been burned by the wolfsbane. I didn’t know if she could hear me, but it didn’t stop me from talking to her.
“You’re so strong, my little wolf. You’re gonna make it through this, and we’ll be back to arguing and making up in no time, you hear me? You’re a survivor. The strongest person I’ve ever met.”
“Start the blood infusion,” the doctor said.
I glanced up to see an IV stand with two bags of blood pouring in the life-giving fluids my mate desperately needed.
After a couple of moments, Tori’s pale, grayish tone started to pink up, and she didn’t look so close to death’s door anymore.
That had my wolf lessening his grip and easing down a bit.
The doctor finished stitching her up, and a nurse began carefully cleaning the wounds on her face, placing some cooling gel over the worst of the burns. Once the life-threatening wounds had been dealt with, they all stopped and studied the machines as her blood pressure slowly rose and her heart rate balanced out. The atmosphere in the room relaxed as the medical staff celebrated.
“Mayor, your fiancée is stable,” the doctor said. “We need to let the infusion do its job and let her recuperate.”
My body eased as relief whooshed out of me. I wouldn’t wholly celebrate until Tori’s eyes were open and I could watch her be the stubborn, feisty, sexy woman she was. But I’d take this small victory.
“Okay,” the doctor said. “Let me wash up, and I’ll look at that shoulder while she’s getting the infusion.”
I glanced down at my shoulder, forgetting I’d been shot. I was about to decline when the doctor interrupted me and explained that Tori wouldn’t be going anywhere for the time being and he could look at it here. Knowing I wouldn’t have to leave her side calmed me enough to allow it.
“Thank you, Doctor, and all you nurses. You have no idea what you just did for me.”
Their eyes crinkled at the corners, their smiles hidden behind their surgical masks.
The doctor chuckled. “I think we have an idea.” I appreciated that he headed to the adjoining room to clean himself up. I hated seeing Tori’s blood on his hands and clothes. It reminded me of the heart-stopping moment when I’d first caught sight of her on the library floor.
Several hours later, my shoulder was patched up and I still hadn’t left Tori’s side. She’d been unconscious and resting the whole time, but I refused to leave. Nobody could convince me otherwise. I left once to use the restroom, but other than that, my ass was firmly in the chair beside her bed. With her hand securely held in mine, I kept a close watch. I felt the weight of responsibility settle heavily on my shoulders. Something had happened to her once under my watch. I was determined it wouldn’t happen again.
My responsibility to keep this town safe had flooded in and out of my mind for the last couple of hours. The townsfolk were bound to be afraid and confused, especially hearing wolves in the middle of the day, gunshots, and who knew what else at this point. I was the mayor. It was my job to ease their fears.
I also needed to find out why the hell Tori had been harmed like this. I wondered whether I’d injured Mrs. Marrow when my wolf tackled her and tried to get my head around the whole situation. What the fuck had gone down in that library? Where did that meek little old lady get that strange-looking gun that fired silver, and why was she using it in the first place? It was like a twisted game of Clue.
