Page 35 of Matched By the Dragon

“Eh, it’s like one third of a bear’s dose. A lot of the time in the hospital we dose by weight. In the ER you can dose by species plus alpha/beta/omega status. You’re an alpha bear if I give you an alpha wolf’s dose of a med, it’s not going to work as well. That’s bad if the med is to save your life. If it’s to help you relax enough to shift back, it’s perfect.”

“I’ll do whatever you think is necessary. Is Brad okay? The baby?”

“Brad and all three of your kids are fine. I’ll probably try to get some food into him too. He’s the reason I’m trying to speed your healing up. Otherwise, I’d say sleep it off here overnight and shut up. I don’t want him to have to choose between staying at the hospital with two bear cubs and spending the night away from you. He’s my patient and I don’t think either option is healthy enough for him.”

Doctor Shan walked into the room and gave Clyde a dirty look.

“You were running behind,” Clyde said to the other man, his voice level.

“Room seventeen had a baby with a bead stuck in his airway,” he said.

“You got it out, I’m guessing, because you didn’t page me,” Clyde said.

“I did. Then had to spend some time calming down the parents.”

“Good job with the kid. You still gotta learn to call your timed scan orders in ahead of time in case something happens. Working in the ER means you never stop thinking. Let me get him back to his room and we’ll talk about it. His scans are good. I’m gonna dose him like a wolf with some edge-off to see if we can get him to shift back.”

“Sounds good,” Doctor Shan nodded, running his fingers through his dark hair.

“Edge-off is that the drug’s real name?” I asked Clyde over the group link.

“Nope. The ER has a language all of its own,” Clyde said. “Let’s get you back to Brad before he eats someone.”

It turned out that most people didn’t know how to give a bear an IV if he was in bear form. Somehow the one they put in while I was in the ambulance had come out during my great escape to get back to Brad. Two nurses tried twice each and then I nearly took a swipe at the nurse who was an alpha coyote. Okay, okay. I took the damn swipe and would’ve followed through if the fox omega hadn’t slid in between us. It wasn’t even that the little needle hurt all that much. Brad was already upset and with every failed stick he smelled more desperate. Then Resin started growling and that was all it took.

“I’m sorry,” the fox man said. “We don’t have to do this often. I know that isn’t an excuse, but maiming us won’t help you right now.”

“It’d make me feel better,” my bear grumbled inside his inner sanctum.

“I’m going to get Bennie,” Alby said.

“To maim us?” the fox blinked at Alby as he left.

The fox and the coyote made quite the pair. They both wore forest green scrubs and smelled like peppermint. For a moment I thought they were mates but the fox might’ve bitten me if they were.

“Why don’t you know how to do bear IVs?” Brad asked, breaking the silence. “Like don’t they train you?”

“They do, but mostly it’s wolves and dragons who come in and for whatever reason don’t shift back,” the fox said, running his fingers through his short blonde hair nervously.

“I mean this in the kindest possible way, but if either of you try to stick him again, I’m shoving my babies the bathroom and will handle you personally. I’m requesting that you find someone who knows how to perform this task properly on the first try,” Brad said.

Both of the cubs let out their little bark-like sounds. The coyote man glanced at the fox and opened his mouth to say something, but Clyde came back in.

“Clear out!” Clyde said, a growly undertone to his voice.

“Sorry, Clyde,” Brad apologized.

“No, if the first one didn’t get it and the second one knew he didn’t know how, they should’ve found someone,” he said, washing his hands and gloving up. “I knew I should’ve done it myself. I swear, they act like they’ve never seen a bear before.” Clyde got to work setting up my IV. “Ashley says that I have to give them grace for being young and never working as a battle medic. I don’t know about all that.” He said after clearly talking to his mate via their mating link.

“They’re lucky I didn’t chuck them out on their tails,” Brad mumbled, rocking the babies in their little bear cub form.

“You’d have been well within your rights,” Clyde said. “Get another nurse who you’re not vibing with for whatever reason – hit the call button. Request a different one. I’ll make sure the knowledge gap is noted but for now, the IV is set up and hopefully Durin will be back to his human form soon. Once that happens, we can run a scan and make sure he’s okay enough to go home.”

“Thanks, Clyde,” Brad said and rested his hand on his belly.

Yeah. I needed to get my shit together and go home. I wasn’t dumb enough to go home before being cleared after a head injury because that might just cause Brad more trouble. Still, staying here wasn’t good for him or any of the kids.

“Have you eaten, Brad? Did you get a chance to at the party?” Clyde asked.