Chapter 5 #2
“I’d feel better if they did,” Remy admits, sitting beside Hollis. “She hasn’t woken up at all, Adrain. Should I be worried?”
“Not at all,” he says. “She’s healing, which means her body is shutting down to do that. Unfortunately, I have to set these bones, which will wake her up.”
Wincing, I stare at her broken bones, remembering how much it used to hurt.
“Let me go get everything I need to set them,” Dr. Royal murmurs. “She’s still got blood all over her.”
“I can help get it off if you bring me a sponge and water,” I say immediately. I feel so fucking useless standing here.
“You got it,” he says, his shrewd eyes moving toward me. “Her men get a little funny about me doing things like that.”
“Don’t be a dick, Adrain," Remy says, pushing some hair off Hollis’ face.
“I’ll let Dr. Stewart hold that title, thank you very much. I’ll make sure to let Caleb and Lars in as well,” Dr. Royal says, walking out.
“Why can’t someone like that be my scent match,” I say unthinkingly.
Remy chuckles, shaking his head. “I think you have your hands full with what you have. Dr. Stewart is either being purposefully obtuse to fuck with you or an idiot. You know how biology is, Nova. It’s not something you can hide from.”
Wrinkling my nose, I nod. I’m already going to have to figure out something for my next heat. Since I haven’t been sleeping much, my heat has simply pushed itself out to compensate. However, now that I’ve scent matched with at least one of my matches, I’m going to need them.
The scent of chemicals fill my nose, and I think about how I won’t be smelling anything right for days after this. Thank goodness for small mercies.
“I know what you’re going to say, but I really am sorry this happened to Hollis,” I say, coming around to sit beside her.
I can see bruising around her throat where she was strangled, and I wonder who they’re from.
“Are you going to run again?” Remy asks, ignoring my words as he looks up at me.
“What?” I ask, not understanding why he’s asking me that.
“You make it seem like I was running away out of cowardice. I can assure you that’s not what that was.
Over the years, they’ve sent bondsmen after me, and tried to get people to befriend me with the intent to kidnap me. I had no one I could trust.”
“I worded that wrong,” he mutters. “I tend to stick my foot in my mouth. I meant: are you planning to stick around in Minneapolis?”
“I still have clients here. I’d like to be able to deliver their babies and then go from there. I’m kind of holding on by a thread, Remy. There’s just a lot happening,” I say.
“That’s fair,” he agrees. “I think Hollis would like it if you stayed.”
Nodding, I glance at the door as two silent alphas take up their posts on either side. I really do love the silent treatment. I didn’t realize that being told I would be spending more time with them would mean this.
Dr. Royal comes inside with supplies, and puts them on a sterile tray before wheeling over the cart.
“Here we go,” he grunts, picking up one of Hollis’ hands and quickly pulling it back into place.
My eyes widen as Hollis shudders but doesn’t wake up. Fuck. She really does have a high tolerance for pain.
Dr. Royal splints each finger as he sets them, and I find tears falling as I hear her distress.
“I know, I’m so sorry,” he whispers as he continues.
“God, you could at least give her something for this,” Remy says in disgust as he rubs Hollis’s forehead and purrs for her.
I think that’s the only thing that’s helping her stay asleep because she’s whining in pain.
“What the fuck is going on in there?” Lars growls, looking inside.
“He’s setting her broken fingers,” I say, my voice thick with shared pain. I swear, my fingers twinge in solidarity.
Being a twin is really weird. It makes me wonder if the migraine I had in October belonged to Hollis. If she survives those regularly, then she has to have a high tolerance for pain.
“I’ll give her something when I set her toes,” Dr. Royal says softly. “Shit, I was really hoping she’d wake up.”
“Are you experimenting on Hollis?” Lars asks angrily.
“No, not at all. I need her awake to run some tests,” Dr. Royal says tiredly. “Be helpful, Lars, and get me a nurse.”
The alpha mutters under his breath but stomps out of the room.
“What are you really worried about?” I ask. Dr. Royal doesn’t seem like someone who causes his patients pain without a reason.
“She’s been unconscious for about an hour, right?”
“Yes,” Remy confirms. “She passed out at the house. I imagine that the pain, trauma, and lack of care was the reason for it.”
“I worry about the marks on her neck, possibility of damage to her trachea, etc. I’ll let her sleep and get her hooked up to monitors,” Dr. Royal says. “I didn’t want to immediately do it in case she fought me. Fuck, I’d almost rather she fight me at this point.”
“Dr. Royal?” a nurse asks, poking her head into the room. “You called for me?”
“I want to set up an IV please, and need to also push pain medication,” he says. Dr. Royal explains what to bring him exactly before pulling the rest of his materials closer to him.
The nurse and he get her set up with an IV, and my eyes watch them closely. I know they’re more than capable of doing their jobs, but I still hate that he put her through this pain.
Twenty minutes later, the rest of her bones are set, and Dr. Royal reassures us that she didn’t break anything else despite the bruising along her sides.
“Can I start getting the blood off her?” I ask, my fingers itching to do something.
“I can help,” Remy says, his eyes moving over Hollis worriedly.
“I got it,” I promise. “Go update the guys.”
Dr. Royal and I exchange a glance and he nods as he picks up a towel and a change of clothes to place near me.
“If you find anything, let me know,” he says quietly.
I feel sick, because I know he’s asking about rape. I nod numbly, watching as they leave and close the door. The blinds are all pulled shut so it’s just me and the sister I’ve never met before but am going to check for signs of rape.
“Just do it,” I whisper, fingers shaking as I pull off the bedclothes. I pull on a pair of gloves, but it takes a lot longer than it should because even my teeth are chattering in distress.
This is why he wanted to wake her up. I wonder if she had a chance to talk about this with anyone in the house before they blew it up, but I don’t want to ask Caleb or Lars.
Her finger nails are broken, showing signs of struggle, and I push open her legs as I swallow hard.
This feels like such an invasion of her privacy, but there’s no other way to know if she won’t wake up.
A quick check has me breathing out a sigh of relief as I find that while there are belt marks all over her skin, blood that isn’t hers all over her butt and thighs, there’s no signs of forced penetration by a penis or knot.
I can’t imagine how she got blood where she has it, and something tells me that I don’t want to.
My heart pounds as I cut off the shirt because of the IV and monitors, promising I’ll replace it in my mind.
Hollis’s body looks like a horror show. Moving quickly and efficiently, I wash her body until there’s no signs of blood, dress her on a small patch of clean bedsheets, and then call a nurse because I need them changed.
“Yes?” the speaker squawks.
“I need some assistance changing the sheets for my sister, please,” I say. “I can lift her, but that’s about it.”
“I’ll be right there,” she says. “Did she bleed all over them?”
“I gave her a sponge bath,” I explain. “The sheets are a little wet and there’s blood all over them from earlier as well.”
“I’m on my way,” she says.
I know the hospital is doing the best it can, but I’m frustrated. It could be because I can feel phantom pain throughout my body, or the fact that I’m horrified at how badly my sister was treated when they thought she was me.
That’s it. The knowledge that she shielded me from this pain means I can never repay her. I don’t know how to handle this, and my stress receptors are flooding my system. I can’t ground myself, I simply feel as if I’m being shaken around in an endless cycle.
The door opens to the room, and I jump as the nurse comes in.
“Are you sure you can lift her while I change the sheets?” the nurse asks, closing the door behind her. She has a bundle of sheets in her arms, her eyes on Hollis. There’s a strangled sound that’s cut off beyond the door, but we both ignore it.
“Yes, I can,” I say. I’m stronger than I look, and there’s a system that nurses have for changing the sheets. I won’t be lifting her for long.
Working together, we get the sheets changed, and the nurse tosses them into a bag for removal. She looks at the bloody water in the basin and takes it to the bathroom to throw it out and rinse it before coming back to clear everything that I used to clean Hollis with.
“For all the blood, I’d say that Hollis looks much better now,” she says beside me.
“I’m glad,” I reply. “None of it was hers.”
“Even better. Anyone who treats women this way should be six feet under,” she says vehemently.
My eyes widen at the young red headed nurse and she shrugs. “Ignore me. I’m sometimes a little blood thirsty,” she says with a small laugh. “I’m Marie.”
“Nova,” I murmur. “Thank you for helping me with her.”
“It’s not a problem. Dr. Royal seems to be very protective of this patient and said I’m the only one allowed in here as far as the staff is concerned,” she says. “If it’s anyone other than me, tell her guards because they shouldn’t be here.”
“Thank you,” I say with a small smile, sitting beside Hollis.
Marie nods at me as she leaves with an armful of things, and I gaze at my sister.
I don’t understand this twin connection or why I only feel things that she does at certain times. The pain I’m feeling is escalating, and my eyes narrow as I shift uncomfortably in my chair.