appear anything that I’m not.”
He moved by my side and took my wrist in his hands. His lips stirred, counting the heartbeats, then his fingers lightly touched my stomach. Pain lanced through me. I flinched and drew a sharp breath.
“On a scale from one to ten, how much does it hurt?” he asked, his fingers probing my shoulder.
I grimaced. “About five.”
He rolled his eyes. “Lord, help me. I have another hard case on my hands.”
He jutted something on a yellow legal pad. We were in a small room, with cream colored walls and a paneled ceiling. Two large windows spilled sunlight onto the floor and light blue sheets covered my legs.
The man put down his pen. “Now, whoever told you, little lady, that you can slap on an r-kit and charge right down the mountain into the battle, needs a good wallop. Anything magic hits it and the damn thing will go screwy on you every time.”
“Screwy,” I said. “Is that a medical term?”
“Of course. Follow the finger with your eyes, please. No turning the head now.”
He moved his left index finger around and I followed it with my eyes.
“Very good,” he said. “Count backward from twenty five.”
I did and he nodded, satisfied.
“It appears, mind you, only appears, that you’ve avoided a concussion.”
“Who are you?”
“You may call me Dr. Doolittle,” he said. “I’ve sailed through the night and day, in and out of weeks, to where the wild things are and now I’m their private physician.”
“That was Max.” The pain twisted my hip and I groaned. “Not Dr. Doolittle.”
“Ah,” he said, “what a pleasure to meet an educated mind.”
I stared at him for a moment, but he just laughed at me with his eyes.
“Where are we?”
“In the Pack keep.”
“How did I get here?”
“You were carried.”
I felt an urge to rub my forehead and found an IV dangling from my arm.
“Who carried me here?”
“That’s an easy one. His Majesty carried you out of the building, then you were slung over Mahon’s back and brought to my doorway.”
“How did Curran get a hold of me in the first place?”
“From what I understand, he leaped through some sort of a fire, grabbed you, and leaped back out. Which accounts for his third degree burns. Curiously, there are no burns on you. A mangled hip, some severe injuries to the stomach, massive blood loss, but no burns. Now why is that?”
“I’m special,” I told him.
Curran had gone through the bloodward fire. Twice. To get me.
“You won’t tell me.”
“No.”
“That’s gratitude for you,” he sighed with mock sadness. “After you were brought here, I spent roughly four hours repairing your body, most of which”—he glared—“were spent on fixing your stomach.”
“Third degree burns,” I said.
“Yes. You haven’t heard a word I said.”
“I heard everything: four hours, stomach, hip, blood loss. You didn’t do a blood transfusion, did you?” There was no telling what the magic in my blood would do to foreign plasma.
“Heaven forbid. I do believe you think me to be an amateur.”
He ended “amateur” with a “tuar.”
“What about bandages?”
He shook his head. “I’ve sworn a medmage oath, my lady, and I have yet to breach it. Your bloody bandages, clothes, and all such were incinerated personally by me.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“A third degree burn means that all the layers of skin are burned,” I said.
“That’s right.” Dr. Doolittle nodded. “It looks bad but it feels much worse.”
“On a scale of one to ten?”
“About eleven.”
I closed my eyes.
“Our lord developed a lovely golden crust,” Doolittle’s soft voice said. “I do believe he could have gotten a part in an old-fashioned horror picture. He’s quite comfortable now, floating, I imagine.”
“Floating?”
“I prescribed the tank. It’s an oversized aquarium, filled with a certain solution yours truly developed in his youth. If His Majesty were an ordinary person, the only way to restore his epithelium would be through grafting. Since he’s not an ordinary person, he will float in the tank for a few days and then come out with new skin. His shoulder will take longer. Which reminds me.” He rose, walked to the door and stuck his head out. “Tell the Bear our guest is awake.”
He returned and rummaged through the vials on the table.
“Shoulder?” I asked.
“I gather a small piece of a ceiling had the misfortune to land on him. Crushed his left shoulder blade.”
He turned, a syringe in his hand.
“No,” I said firmly.
“The tech hit twenty minutes after I was done with you,” he said. “You’re in pain and I’m goin’ to give you an old-fashioned pain killer.”
“No, you won’t.”
“This is Demerol. It’s quite mild.”
“No. I don’t like Demerol. It makes me light-headed.” It’s not enough I was weak and in the middle of the Pack compound, now he wanted to mess with my head, too.
“Nonsense. Be a good girl and take your medicine.” He stepped forward.
“You come near me with that needle,” I said, putting as much malice into my voice as I could muster, “and I’ll shove it up your ass.”
He laughed. “Precisely the thing Jennifer said when I tried to put stitches on the cut across her buttock. Luckily for me, I don’t have to stick you with this needle.”
He showed me the empty syringe. I blinked and felt a rush of soothing cool. He must have squirted the bloody Demerol into my IV.
I closed my eyes. I felt light-headed and tired. And I still hurt.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the room. I had a visitor and there was only one shapechanger that didn’t bother to move like an assassin.
I opened my eyes and saw Mahon nod to the good doctor and say in his deep, quiet voice, “Well done.”
Mahon approached, pulled up a chair, and sat next to me, his massive forearms leaning on his legs. His huge back stretched the black fabric of an oversized T-shirt, but despite barely fitting him in the shoulders, the shirt was a foot too long. The shapechangers had a fondness for sweats, and Mahon was wearing gray sweatpants and no socks. His hairy feet rested on the sun-warmed floor.
His brown eyes met my gaze. “The Pack appreciates your sacrifice.”
“There was no sacrifice. I’m alive.” And Curran is burned to charcoaly crispness.
He shook his head. “The sacrifice was intended and we’re grateful. You have earned the trust and friendship of the Pack. You may visit us when you wish. You may ask us for help in a time of need, and we’ll do our best to aid you. It’s no small thing, Kate.”
I probably should have said something formal and flowery, but Demerol kept tangling my thoughts. I patted his big hand and mumbled, “Thanks.”
Mahon’s eyes were warm. “You’re welcome.”
