5. Melody
Waking up feverish and in pain seemed to be a thing that was going to happen to her more often. Well, at least for as long as Melody kept trying to defy her aunt.
She felt so weak, it was all she could do to lift her head and roll it from one side to the other. Her neck was stiff and she wondered how long she had lain in that position.
“Mel?” Dean’s voice was beside her.
“Mmm?”
“You with me, baby?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh thank fuck,” he cried hoarsely, kissing her forehead gently.
Warm, salty drops landed on her skin. Was he crying? She knew the bond was affecting him, but she hadn’t realised it was that bad. He shouldn’t be subjected to her pain like this. Damn her aunt for doing this to him, to them.
Melody opened her eyes, but couldn’t see anything.
“Nick’s got that spell on you again, you’re all blacked out, and the rest of them are back in the shifter dorm so that they’re not too noisy.” Gently, Dean swept her sweaty hair from her face.
“Hot,” she managed to say, and then she felt something weird on her cheek, so she tried to scratch it off.
“No, baby, leave that. It’s a feeding tube. You were out a bit longer this time, we had to use it to feed you. And you can’t sit up, either. There’s a catheter collecting urine,” he told her.
“How long?”
“Eight days,” he said. She could hear him swallow hard. “You were right, the fever was more fierce this time. Thankfully you had the feeding tube from the start, so we’ve kept you nourished and hydrated, and Nick even used it to give you the potions. I was able to monitor your pain levels, so I could tell him when it was getting too much again.”
He was silent for a moment. “Nick’s on his way over, he wants to check you out and give you another dose. You’re not out of the woods yet, but at least you're conscious again.”
“Tired,” she mumbled.
“I know baby, just try to hang on until Nick gets here, okay? He’s running, he’ll be here soon,” Dean coaxed her softly.
“‘Kay,” she murmured, and tried not to fall back asleep, but the darkness was so soothing, and her body ached so much that she never got to say hello to Nick. She was out when he got there.
The next time Melody woke, she was still hot, only now it was the good sort. She could feel the sweat drying on her skin, making her shiver a little. Her body ached, but not in the bone crushing, sucking-out-life way that it was before. There were still vibrant streaks of pain down her back, and she suspected that they would hurt more when she really moved, but at the moment they felt on a par with the worst beating that she’d had back at her coven.
Carefully, she rolled onto her side, the pain making the whole process agonisingly slow. Sitting up, however, was simply impossible. Her muscles refused to work, and there was an odd tugging sensation between her legs.
“Hang on Mel, don’t move. You’re wired up to a few things, let me call Nick, and we’ll get you sorted,” the voice behind her wasn’t Dean. Melody thought it might be Ryan, but she wasn’t sure.
He got up and sprinted out the door, returning moments later with a person she presumed was Nick. A firm cool hand was on her brow, and then the fingers moved to clasp her wrist for a few moments. “Okay, Mel, it looks like the fever has well and truly broken this time. You had a bit of a relapse the other day. How do you feel?” He lifted the spell from her eyes a little and she winced, but could see enough to tell that it was the dragon.
A relapse? The other day? Surely it was only last night that she had first woken up?
“Sore, my back is killing me, but my bones don’t ache anymore. My mouth is dry, but I’m tired of lying on my belly, I’m all stiff and my skin feels chafed.”
“Yeah, we were worried about pressure sores. We’ve been moving you as much as we dared, but each time we rolled you on your side, the wounds opened again and you ended up losing more blood.” He moved around behind her. “Yeah, it’s happened again, but it’s not as bad. If you feel up to it today, we really ought to get Asher in here and let you bond him, that might speed up the healing, it seemed to help a bit after you re-bonded Dean.”
“I doubt I could change a cricket, but I’m willing to try,” she said.
Nick came back in front of her again and smiled. “That’s my girl.” He stroked her head. “Now, I don’t know if you remember the other night, but Dean said he told you that you had a urinary catheter in. We’ll need to remove that before you sit up properly, are you okay with us doing that? I can try and get Mrs Hardinger in to help if that’s better?”
“No, it’s fine.” These men were doing so much for her, the least she could do was trust them. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d been tended to by male shifters. Some of the beatings her aunt had given her were worse than the ones the shifters got. “Nick, you keep saying the other night, wasn’t it last night that I woke?”
“No, love, that was three days ago. You’ve been out of action for almost two weeks. The asshole is going a little stir crazy, but we wouldn’t let him come in until he had your permission. He’s been sleeping on the front porch, he
