Page 17 of Bond of Passion

Chapter 6

Everything hurt.

Eyes. Muscles. Bones.

But why?

Tavin squinted into the searingly bright lights over his head. Looking at them was like having daggers thrust into his brain, but closing his barbed wire lids hurt just as much.

“Look who’s awake.” A female voice reached him through the din in his ears, which seemed to be the only parts of him that didn’t hurt. Instead, they rang with an incessant, low-level drone that made the speaker sound like she was underwater.

He tried to turn his head toward her. What the hell? He was immobilized? That meant he was hurt. Bad. Heart tapping out the Morse code pattern for oh, shit on his rib cage, he felt around his neck and wasn’t reassured to find a neck brace.

Those things were bad fucking news.

A firm hand came down on his wrist, and a face filled his vision. It was the nurse he’d met earlier. The gorgeous one with the warm gray skin and sterling hair. What was her name? He couldn’t remember. Did he have a broken neck and a brain injury?

“Hey, it’s Deja,” she said, filling in that blank. Was she psychic? He wasn’t sure if the Neebless race had those kinds of abilities. “You’re in a recovery room. I volunteered to sit with you today.”

“Today?” His voice sounded rusty. And maybe a little drunk.

“You’ve been in a coma since the explosion last night.”

The explosion. The patient. The smells. It all came back to him in a rush of colors and blurry memories. Deja had gone back for the patient, and he’d tried to get her out of there.

Then there was just blood and pain. How bad had it been? How injured was he?

“Tavin?” Deja patted his shoulder. “I need you to calm down a little. Your pulse is racing. I can’t have you dying yet.”

“How…how bad?” And had she said…yet?

“Twelve injured, four seriously, including you. Two dead now, plus the bomber. One instantly. The other succumbed to his injuries about an hour ago.”

“Who? Staff? Patients?”

“Nevex was killed in the initial blast,” she said, and he gave a mental curse. The young X-ray tech had been here for even less time than Tavin. “The other was a patient who was brought in with a heart condition. She was already in bad shape when she took bone shrapnel. She came out of surgery but passed away shortly after.”

“Fuck.” He wiggled his fingers and toes and was relieved as hell to find they worked. “What’s my deal?”

“Your spinal cord was nearly severed. Three ribs sliced clean through. Lacerated liver and spleen. Punctured colon. Severe concussion.” She shifted on her rolling seat so he could only see the silver crown of her head. “You should have died. If not for Doctor Eidolon, Shade, and Gem, you would have.”

For some reason, she sounded almost disappointed. “What’s my status now?” he asked. “Shit, how’s Grim?”

“He’s your brother, right?” She rolled the chair closer so he could see her face again, but she was looking at what he assumed was some monitor he was hooked up to. “Grim took some minor wounds. He’ll be here in a few minutes.”

Relieved that his brother was okay, he jiggled her hand to get her attention. “What about you?”

“A little sore from hitting the floor so hard, and I have a knot on the back of my head, but all things considered, I’m doing great.” She turned to him, her azure eyes focusing on him like lasers. Stunning. He’d only seen eyes like that a handful of times, and they drew him like a wraith to a heartbeat. “You saved my life. Why?”

“Why?” He blinked, wondering how his eyelids could hurt that much. “I work at a hospital. I’m a paramedic. Saving lives is kind of in my job description.”

“Mmm. I see.”

I see? “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” She stood and fiddled with something that beeped. “I’m new at the hospital. Just trying to figure people out.” She moved out of his field of vision. He heard light footsteps and rustling paper. “It’s pretty cool that the hospital trains its medical personnel for the jobs it needs.”

Grateful for a distraction, he let himself quit obsessing over the fact that he was lying immobile and in sketchy condition. “It also pays to send anyone who can pass as a human to the best medical schools in the world.”