“Don’t worry about it,” he said, stroking my cheek. “I’ll find a way to block it.” Bartholomew pulled the pad from the bed closer, then dragged me onto it. Panting, he untied the blanket and draped it over my legs. “Do you have afirst-aid kit?”
“A what?” I understood all of the words, but not what they meant together.
He frowned, and a divot appeared between his eyebrows. I wanted to kiss the mark away.Wait. What?
“Medicine?” Bartholomew asked. “I need to do something about the wound.”
I gestured to the panel on the wall.
He popped it and pulled out a metal container. “This?”
“Yes.”
When he settled next to me, I removed a laser surgical tool, claspers, injectors, and two vials. I knew how to treat small injuries; I’d been trained to do basic medical care. I had to be able to take care of myself in case one of my long-haul races went wrong. Some lasted over six months with no other shuttles, stations, or planets nearby.
I had no way of knowing if the piece of metal had nicked anything important, like my bowels or one of my organs. If ithad, I would bleed out when we removed the shaft, but I couldn’t leave it in either.
“I’m going to need your help,” I said.
“Tell me what to do.”
I pulled out an injector and filled it with antibiotics, then another one with a blood inducer to help my body replace the blood I’d lost. “Press this into the side of my neck.”
Bartholomew took it from me and pressed it against my scales without hesitation. I grimaced when the needle stabbed me and the liquid burned going in. “Rub the site, please.”
His long fingers circled the puncture and kept up the even pressure until I said, “Next one on the other side, and do the same thing.”
He leaned over me, arm brushing my chest and pushed the injector against my scales. I winced. Bartholomew squeezed my hand, and I returned the pressure as I breathed and he massaged the injection site. The pain would vanish soon enough.
After a few moments, the burning dimmed, but I didn’t let him go. His hand in mine was nice. I had seen Kalvoxrencol and Zoltilvoxfyn hold their mates’ hands—it was a human thing. I slid my fingers through his, pressing our palms together.
What did it mean? Neither of my mate-brothers had exactly explained it, and I never cared to ask, as humans didn’t interest me in that way.
“Vince likes me to hold his hand when he’s in pain as well.”
I frowned, releasing him with a growl building in my chest. “I need you to pull the metal out.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“Do it,” I snapped. Who was this Vince? Then I recalled the other human he’d mentioned. Why did he feel the need to talk about the other human right now? I was the one holding his hand. I was the one he was looking at.
“Fine. Die if you want.”
He yanked the shaft out mercilessly, and I was unable to suppress the yelp that escaped my lips. I grabbed the claspers and ripped out the broken scales near the gash, whimpering with each pull. Blood gushed out of the wound, non-stop. My fingers shook and my vision spun until I couldn’t see straight. I dropped the clasper, shaking.
“No,” Bartholomew said, grabbing my chin. My eyes opened. I hadn’t even realized I closed them. “What do I do?”
My fingers fumbled on the laser. He seized it from me and pushed the buttons until the tip glowed bright blue. I tried to point to the bleeding wound, but my vision was tunneling and my hearing was turning into static. Bartholomew slowly dragged the laser over the gash, and the mottled skin knitted together, making me cry from the intense burning.
I fought to stay awake for as long as possible, but the pain dragged me away.
Chapter 6
So it's fucking cold.
After I cleaned the blood off my face, I started to dig through every panel to search for anything useful. I found plenty of rations and water cubes, so we wouldn’t starve or die of thirst as long as someone found us in a reasonable amount of time. From the passionate way the big drakcol had talked, I assumed he and Serlotminden were in a relationship. He would come searching; I wasn’t too concerned about that. It was more about whether we were in a place that could be found.
That thought sent a tremor down my spine and a needle to my heart.
