Chapter 12 #2
Leah sat up straighter, looking me dead in the eye, resolve spreading across her face. “Let’s do it.”
“Thank you—you won’t regret it,” I assured her, gently grasping her hand before getting up and springing into action.
“The doc mentioned IV medications,” Rory’s mother explained as I hooked up the lines after placing a cannula in his arm.
“I wouldn’t recommend IV meds for a dragon; it’s too much on their bodies.
Actually, I avoid IVs in general because the way a dragon heals, the skin could easily close around the needle.
Rory is just a kid, though, and his need for fluids right now is greater than the risk of potentially having to remove the needle down the line.
I won’t be giving him any medications in this, just some water and a touch of sugar. ”
Nodding, Leah glanced at the clear bag that now hung from the silver pole near Rory’s bed.
“I-is there anything we can do?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“Just be there for him,” I said, giving her a sympathetic smile.
“I’ll stay here all day, keep an eye on him. I need to get my things together, but I’ll just be in the other room. If you need me, I’m next door,” I reassured her before heading to the storeroom.
On my way, I passed Nix. “Looks like we’re here for the day, then, sunshine?”
Pausing, I stared at the floor in the hallway. “I’m here for the day. You don’t need to be. You can leave anytime.”
“I go where you go.” Nix shrugged like it was nothing, totally at ease. “I can entertain myself just fine. What do you need from the storeroom?”
“Some anti-inflammatory herbs, if you’ve got them, for Griff.
I want to see if I can find anything to reduce a fever.
I know Jenkins probably only has the synthesized stuff, but it’s worth a check.
” I didn’t know why I was bothering to say all this.
Nix and his stupid fellow Alphas had been nothing but a pain in the ass to me.
“There should be plenty in the cabinets in Doc's office. He keeps fridges in there. He spends most of our money on new medications, too much to count coming and going, so he can make us ‘healthier.’”
I rolled my eyes again, ever annoyed with the doctors meddling. “I don’t think he would appreciate me being in his office.”
“Well, I am Alpha of this horde, or at least one of them, so my word trumps his. Take whatever you want, sunshine. If it’ll help Griff or the kid, take it. I’ll deal with Jenkins.”
Nix’s voice was so calm and solid, I had to admit I was impressed by the fact that he was taking my word over Jenkins’s. I’d just arrived. Technically, as the resident doctor, Jenkins had seniority. Or I would have thought he did.
“Uh, thank you,” I managed to get out before making my way to the office I’d avoided previously.
The room was old and musty; it smelled like it could do with a good cleaning.
Choosing not to linger longer than I needed to, I headed to the fridges I’d noticed upon entering.
The silver appliances stood out like a sore thumb in the room's otherwise simple decor.
When I opened the doors, my jaw dropped through the floor at their contents.
“Uh, Nix?” I called out, internally cursing the fact that he was the only one around.
“Ugh, I love it when you say my name,” he crooned, smiling until he walked closer and noticed my less-than-thrilled expression. “Everything okay, sunshine?”
“Just how much have you been giving Jenkins to buy medications?” I asked, never looking away from the fridge.
“I’d say it was easily six figures in the last year. Greylen usually balances the books. He’s got more of a math brain than I do, so I’m not a hundred percent sure. Why?”
“This is an insane, and I do mean insane, amount of medication. Half this stuff isn’t even for human medical issues, it’s random compounds and God knows what else.”
There were row after row of small glass bottles containing medications.
“He’ll bankrupt your horde before he makes this shit work for you guys,” I commented, reaching in and looking at the names on the bottles.
“Some of this is for an emergency room, and there’s so much.
A small horde doctor doesn’t need more than ten percent of this, I would say, and even that would be an overabundance of caution. ”
“Why would Jenkins order medication he doesn’t need?” Nix frowned, picking up a vial and turning it this way and that in his fingers.
“He probably thinks he needs it; he’s a purist who seems to think that shifters don’t share DNA with animals. I wouldn’t use any of this on Griff, and I don’t think anything in here would help Rory.”
Going for the pill bottles, I started reading labels. Reprimaz caught my eye. It was a brand-name drug I’d seen before—it wasn’t relevant to the current patients, but I made a mental note to research it further later.
“What do you need?” Nix asked.
“Natural herbs and ingredients. Dragons heal great. They just need a little nudge. But this… ugh. There are some good things in the stores I saw earlier. Can we go look? Or maybe there’s an apothecary nearby? If not, I know some good people in other hordes who will happily send me some supplies.”
“There are a few dragons who like collecting herbs. We can talk to them.”
“Yeah, that could be helpful,” I admitted. “I want to make some willow bark tea for Rory. I need to speak to Ma, to see if she can help me with the brewing.”
“That woman adores you. She would happily move heaven and earth for you, so I’m sure you just need to ask.
” Nix chuckled. This lightness was so different from my interactions with Orsen and Bastian.
I would have said Greylen, too, but I hardly knew anything about him, except that he was apparently the numbers guy, the “logical” one.
I appreciated that Nix was being helpful, but this was giving me a headache. The situation with the meds still didn’t sit right with me, either. But what was I supposed to do about how Jenkins spent the budget? That wasn’t my place. This wasn’t my home.
Sighing, I decided to focus on what I could do something about. “Well, I don’t want heaven and earth, just some bone broth made with specific herbs. That’ll help Rory heal and hopefully recover faster.”
I turned, closing the fridge with a frown, wondering how many of these drugs had already been given to the horde.
“Let’s go find Ma, then,” Nix replied simply, once again gesturing for me to lead the way, and I had no choice but to obey him.