Desire Unchained

You almost panted for Gem.

Fuck that, he was not going there. Except his body was going there. It hardened at the thought of Gem, at the memory of how she’d stood in the locker room, her full breasts overflowing in the cups of her black bra, the tattoo of some sort of dragon covering her flat, trim belly, its teeth inked to appear as though they were clamping down on the piercing in her navel.

Gentle and caring, my ass. He’d done that gentle, caring thing with Lori, and look where it had gotten him. Maybe now that he’d made Gem intimate with the lockers, she’d get the message. She’d realize that some scars never heal.

He shoved his patient’s chart into the filing box with more force than was necessary and reached for another as the Harrowgate hummed.

His adrenaline kicked in, and he welcomed the rush that washed away all thoughts of Gem. Technically, his shift had ended ten minutes ago, but he’d be willing to stay longer if something cool came in. Severed limbs and avulsions were always favorites.

The smell of blood preceded the patient, and yeah, this would be a trauma home run. Kynan jogged toward the gate, coming to a shocked halt as Wraith stumbled out. Holy crap. The demon must have gone a couple of rounds with a giant blender.

He was holding one shoulder, the arm hanging uselessly to the side, blood running in a stream to the floor. Deep lacerations scored his entire body, exposing ribbons of tendon and white bone, but he was grinning as if he’d just gotten his first blowjob.

“Page Gem and call Eidolon at home,” Kynan told the triage nurse. “Now.” E had gone home an hour ago, but he needed to be here for this.

Kynan hooked an arm around Wraith’s waist to keep him upright. “Shit, you weigh a ton.” He guided Wraith toward one of the available rooms. “What happened?”

Wraith groaned as he sank down on a table. “Shot.” He peeled his hand away from his shoulder, where blood oozed from a sharply defined hole.

“The other wounds aren’t from guns, man,” Kynan said, as he gloved up.

“Machetes.”

Only Wraith would get himself chopped up by machetes. “Out hunting African rebels again?”

“Maybe.”

“Keep pressure on that bullet wound.” Obviously, Wraith’s airway and breathing were fine, so he quickly checked the demon’s pulses in all of his extremities. Everything looked good, but emergency medicine in a demon hospital was a hell of a lot different from in a human hospital, mainly because every demon species had different normal vital signs, constitutions, death thresholds … for the most part, Kynan winged it.

Kynan cut through Wraith’s shirt with a pair of trauma shears and then carefully peeled the cloth away. Dried blood stuck the fabric to his skin in places, but this was the easy part. Those wounds were nasty.

The curtain separating the cubicles swept open, and Gem entered. “Wow. You get into a fight with a really big cat?”

“Funny, Gem. Now why don’t you get your funny ass over here and suck my—ow! Fuck!” Wraith glared at Kynan.

“Sorry.” Kynan tossed the bloody shirt to the floor. “The fabric is embedded in the lacerations.”

“My ass. You did that on purpose.”

“Can’t prove it.” Kynan probed one of the deeper cuts. Seminus demons healed rapidly, and Wraith’s bleeding had slowed, but not enough. “If it makes you feel any better, E’s on his way. He’ll have you all healed up and back out hunting genocidal maniacs in no time.”

Gem thumbed up one of Wraith’s eyelids. “You been draining junkies again?”

Wraith gave an indignant grunt. “No.”

Kynan hooked his stethoscope’s earbuds into his ears. “But you fed on the Africans, didn’t you?”

“Well, duh.”

When Gem shot Ky a questioning look, he said, “The fighters are feral. Completely wild, half out of their minds on kanif and harder drugs.”

“That explains the glassy eyes.”

“What happened?” Eidolon stalked into the room, dressed in tan cargos and a blue linen button-down.

“The usual,” Gem said. She gestured to Ciska, who was preparing instruments. “Get a unit of blood. Any species.”

“Dammit, Wraith,” Eidolon murmured. “Why do you do this to yourself?”

Kynan slid the stethoscope’s cold bell against Wraith’s back. Wraith winced. “There were only, like, a dozen guys. And then all of a sudden I was fighting the entire fucking army.”

“You were supposed to be looking for Roag.”

“I was. I took a lunch break.”

Eidolon bent to inspect Wraith’s shoulder. “You’ve been shot.”

Wraith snorted. “Cowards. Seriously. Who brings a gun to a knife fight? That’s cheating.”

“You don’t have a gun?” Kynan asked.

Wraith made a face of disgust. “It’s not very sporting to shoot people.”

“So you’re saying that you didn’t shoot the people who shot you?”