“Not her fault.” Aaron’s voice came wearily from under the blanket.
“No,” the alpha said, but he held Ember’s gaze a long moment before setting his hand on Aaron’s shoulder. “Okay, I know the main points—get this leg to stop bleeding, clean it up, and prevent shock. What don’t I know?”
“Uh…” Aaron stirred, and the blanket was pushed halfway down his shoulders. His brown eyes were clearer now, though his pallor remained. “Water. This much blood loss, I’m dehydrated. Can be a factor for shock.”
“What’s more important?” Ember said. “Two people applying pressure or one person getting water?”
“Is it still bleeding fast?” He pushed up and craned his neck to see.
“Stay down,” the alpha barked.
“I’m not getting up, man.”
“You try it again, I’ll knock you out.”
“I just said—”
“And I didn’t see bone, but yeah, you’re losing too much blood. Going to worry me in a minute.”
“That’s the priority then,” Aaron said, lowering himself back to the table.
After a few more minutes the alpha lifted his hands from the gauze and gently checked beneath. He let out a long sigh and pushed the back of one bloody hand across his forehead, leaving a smear he didn’t notice.
“Bleeding’s done.”
“I’ll get the water.” Ember hurried to the kitchen and halted. “Oh, um, where…?”
“Cabinet above the coffeemaker,” the alpha said.
She reached to open said cabinet and stared frozen at her hand. Coated in blood. Aaron’s blood. No time to clean up now. She maneuvered a paper towel from the roll without spoiling the next one and used it to open the cabinet. There she found a row of twenty-ounce hand-blown glasses, simple but unique. She filled one from the tap and brought it to Aaron, who was still able to push himself up. He leaned on one elbow and took the glass with his free hand, which trembled but not too badly for him to drink.
When he had downed the entire glass, he said, “Now you’ve got to clean it out, Mal.”
Ember carried the empty glass to the sink while the alpha brought out a small plastic bottle with a pointed nozzle, along with fresh gauze. He peeled back the saturated stuff from the wound, and Aaron flinched a few times but remained still and quiet.
To Ember the alpha said, “Do you have experience with anything like this?”
“Medical experience?”
“Wound irrigation.”
“No.” But she had no experience with profuse bleeding in general, and he hadn’t asked about it before.
“Wash your hands. Might as well.”
She did so as quickly as she could, and her breath came easier when the blood had washed away. The alpha washed his hands as well, then donned gloves from the med kit. With a nod Aaron locked his right arm around the edge of the table, gripping some supporting piece underneath.
“Can I do anything?” she said.
“Keep back,” the alpha said. “In case he fights.”
Oh… A quailing passed through her belly. The worst wasn’t over yet.
“Lidocaine?” he said to Aaron.
“We’ll save it for the kids.”
Ember had never been squeamish. She watched from the kitchen as the alpha squirted antiseptic into the laceration. At Aaron’s direction he scrubbed the outer edge of the wound with antiseptic and a smooth cloth.
