Page 17 of Knot A Chance

But I will keep picturing the look on his face because he’d be pissed.

Dr. Tanaka held up one hand. “I know you have concerns about how this happened. It’s my job to heal Felix, Mr. Winchester, not speculate as to how he ended up in my care. What I can tell you is that I see the inconsistency in the track marks on his arms too, and I’ve noted that in his medical record. You should also know that the amount of heroin in his system was twice what most users ingest. Any long-term drug user would know that it was far too much, so when he wakes up, we will need to do a psych eval to ensure that he didn’t intentionally harm himself.”

My canine teeth dropped, and Dr. Tanaka must have felt the shift in my energy because she paused and I scented her fear subtly filling the space between us.

“I can assure you, I will comply with all official requests for information related to Felix’s case,” she said, gently squeezing my elbow. I relaxed slightly and took a deep breath, which she must have interpreted as a sign to continue, because she said, “The paramedics administered naloxone enroute to the hospital and intubated him. The breathing tube you see now is what allowed the trauma team to keep him alive while they dealt with the injuries from the car accident. Do you need me to take a break?”

“No,” I said, desperate to hear the rest of his diagnosis and what it all meant for Felix’s recovery.

“He wasn’t in a position to brace himself when the car hit him, which resulted in a brain injury and a broken leg. We were able to set the bones in his leg during surgery before you arrived yesterday and that injury should heal fine. It is my belief that he will also recover from the overdose, though the possible lack of oxygen to his brain is what complicates things in that regard. We don’t know how long his breathing was impaired by the heroin before the paramedics got there and we won’t know the full extent of his brain injuries until we’re able to start to wean him off the medications.”

“Haven’t you done scans?” I asked.

Dr. Tanaka nodded. “The MRI showed enough brain swelling that we want to keep him in the medically induced coma he is in right now for another day or so. Anything longer than two to three days and we risk doing more damage to his brain by keeping him sedated. The scans look promising, Mr. Winchester. I don’t want to give you false hope, but when I look at this case, I see a lot of things that worked in his favor.”

“Is he in pain?” I asked, running my hand over his cheek as I studied the features of his face. He looked so relaxed he could be sleeping, if not for the tubes and wires sticking out of his mouth, nose, and arms.

“No, the morphine he’s on is preventing any pain.”

“He can’t have morphine,” I said, whipping my head around to face her. “He has an opioid addiction!”

Dr. Tanaka startled and looked down at her laptop, clicking around. The rage I felt made me want to start ripping tubes out of his arms until I found the right one, but I tightened my grip on him and waited.

She furrowed her brow as she looked at the screen. “It is strange that they started him on morphine in the emergency department.” She looked up slowly. “It says here it was requested by a member of the family.”

What the fuck?

“It’s safe to assume that wasn’t you?” she said.

“No. It was not me. Or anyone else who has a right to speak on behalf of his care,” I said, feeling my canines drop again.

“Okay, don’t worry. I can take him off the morphine now and switch him to methadone. If I’d made the connection earlier, I would have suggested that when I came in. It’ll manage his pain and help him to detox from the drugs we’ve already given him.”

“How will that affect him when he wakes up?” I asked.

She took a deep breath. “It’s unlikely to cause long-term damage to his overall recovery if that’s what you’re concerned about. At least, no more damage than what getting a fresh taste of heroin in his system likely did.”

“Just get it out of his body now,” I growled, scenting her fear at the mistake. “And I make his care decisions until he wakes up and can speak for himself. Understood?”

“Of course, Mr. Winchester,” Dr. Tanaka said, standing up. “I’ll put in the medication change orders and a nurse will be in shortly to make the swap. As for his long-term recovery, I hate to say this, but we should be grateful that his car was hit when it was. If that hadn’t happened, it likely would have been too late to save him from the overdose by the time anyone found him.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. All the more reason to find out who gave him the heroin and why.

A tall, dark-haired man in uniform stepped into the room and offered me a small wave. “Hey, Bennett,” Donovan said.

Dr. Tanaka smiled at him. “Hello, Officer. I’ll leave you two alone. I’ll be back to check on Felix in a few hours, Mr. Winchester.”

“You might as well call me Bennett,” I said. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing plenty of each other.”

“Yumi,” she said with a nod.

“Thank you, Yumi,” I said as she stepped out of the room. I scowled at Donovan. “What the fuck took you so long?”

“Good to see you too, Bennett. Wyatt mentioned you were behaving like an alphahole but I figured he was being dramatic since your bark usually has very little bite.”

“When it’s your omega fighting for their life, then you can judge me,” I snapped.

Donovan narrowed his brown eyes at me and they flickered with an annoyance that he masked quickly. He sighed. “Pretty sure you’d be just as much of an asshole then, since that would also mean your sister would be fighting for her life.”