Chapter Nine
Colt
Thankful for the sleep I'd had during the night, I held Sky in my arms well into the day. Before we left Salem, Sebastian had been adamant that if the transformation didn't work, the Omega would pass shortly after we crossed the border. So in the early afternoon, I took it as a positive sign that Sky continued to breathe and decided to continue on our journey.
Despite the promise not to take him to a hospital, I called Doc – who happily informed me that Colby had just had his baby – and then programmed the route to Wolfsrudel General into my navigation system. I wouldn't leave his side, if that was what he wanted, but I also wasn't taking any more risks with Sky's health.
~*~
"You didwhat?" Doc gasped in abject horror, his jaw dropping.
"I really didn't see a choice," I tried to explain. "I..he was nearly hysterical about avoiding the hospitals there and he was dying.." I held my hands out helplessly. "What happened todo no harm?"
"For starters, you're not a damned doctor," Doc hissed at me angrily. "Second, you know good and goddamned well that an Omega can't consent when they're that sick. What the hell were youthinking, pup?"
Pup?Thathurt, but I bit my tongue. "Look, if he wants to press charges, I'll turn myself in," I told Doc. "But for now, could you please just see what you can do for him?"
I ignored Doc's pointed stare at the door, instead seating myself on a chair in the corner of the room. I watched every move as Doc peeled off the bandages I'd wrapped Sky in and cataloged Sky's injuries on the chart in front of him, one section at a time.
"You stitched his feet?"
"Yep. All I had that was sterile was dental floss."
"Nice job," Doc said grudgingly. "You did good." He hesitated and shook his head. "I don't like that you changed him under those circumstances, Colt, but there's no doubt you saved his life." He traced a puffy, red line on Sky's abdomen. "Even with the starvation and surface damage, I think the real cause of his decline is internal. I'm going to have to open him up."
I swallowed a groan. "I can't leave him, Doc. I promised."
"All right, then," Doc capitulated much easier than I'd have thought possible. "Then scrub up and I'll get you a gown." He shook his head. "But be warned, I don't think that this is going to be pretty."
Twenty minutes later, my fangs were lodged into my lower lip in an attempt to keep from retching as I pressed back against the wall in the operating room, trying to stay out of the way. When he'd reopened the concerning incision, what Doc had anticipated beingnot pretty, was more like a damned horror show.
"Son of a bitch," Doc swore under his breath, holding his hand out to the side. "Get me a clamp and then keep them coming," he ordered. "And get me some suction in here! It's like a swamp."
I watched in horrified amazement as he snipped and clamped, snipped and clamped, removing blackened pieces of flesh and organs as the nurse suction a steady stream of pus and blood from Sky's abdomen.
"Doctor, he's losing a lot of blood," a nurse said suddenly.
"Colt, get over here," Doc snapped. "Hold out your arm." He pinned the nurse who'd spoken with a glare. "Get a line into him."
"But..we haven't even typed him," she gasped out.
"I don't have time to explain," Doc huffed. "Just do it. And get the Alpha a chair so he doesn't pass out." He narrowed his eyes at me. "If you start to feel faint, say something. Got it?"
"Yeah," I agreed weakly, lowering myself to the chair someone pulled up to Sky's side, wincing as a needle was threaded into a vein and taped in place. I watched as my blood began to creep through the clear tube and into the matching needle in Sky's thigh. "Whatever you say."
"I think he'll be okay," Doc observed, patting my shoulder after Sky had been closed up and the transfusion line had been removed. "I don't know when to expect him to wake up – you know how serious blood loss is for a shifter and he was already in bad shape – it could be a couple hours or a couple of weeks, but I have every reason to expect him to pull through."
"What happened?" I asked. "He seemed like he was getting better."
"You know I can't go into it without Sky's permission, Colt," Doc said softly. "All I can say is that before he was abused, someone who didn't know what they were doing operated on him, probably with dirty instruments. That's why he started to crash." He gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm going to have them leave you two in here together," he said. "That way you can keep an eye on him and help him heal." He smirked at me. "No hardship there, I imagine."
I sighed.
"And you need to stay hydrated," Doc reminded me, pointing to the line of plastic pitchers on the table. "I want all of those gone by midnight or I'll have you hooked up to an IV. We sucked a lot of juice out of you."
"About that," I said slowly. "The nurse was really worried about doing it. Why didn't you just get blood from the bank?"
Doc shook his head. "She didn't know Sky is a newly sired were," he explained. "The transition requires several days to settle. Mixing someone else's blood could have been disastrous, but since you're the sire, yours is compatible."
"Oh." I shrugged, feeling foolish. "I've never turned anyone before. I didn't know that."
Doc nodded seriously, but I got the feeling that he was trying not to laugh at me. "I'll let Rafe know where he can find you."
