Page 36 of Matched By the Dragon

“I…” Brad said. “That seems like a lifetime ago.”

“The hospital food isn’t that bad. I’ll have someone bring something up for you unless…” he stopped speaking as Bennie opened the door, smelling ready for a fight. Alby was on his heels. They both stopped and looked around as if the nurses that were here when Alby left to get Bennie might’ve been hiding under the bed or behind the door.

“Unless you all want to go and pick up take out for them,” Clyde finished as if he expected the duo to show up.

“Of course,” Bennie said. “If you want and you don’t need us here.”

“Brad needs to eat,” Clyde said. “I’ll note that they don’t want either of those nurses back in here.”

The older wolf looked like he was ready to bite someone. All of his years as a midwife had only given him patience for those under his care and not his coworkers. I guessed that was why he worked alone most of the time.

He left muttering to himself about how anything he wanted done correctly he had to do himself.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Alby asked Brad.

“Yeah. I’m okay. It’s the nurses you should worry about,” Brad said, smelling irritated.

Alby and Bennie looked at each other. Their expressions changed rapidly as they obviously argued over what to do on their mating link.

“We’ll be okay,” I said over the group link.

Bennie shot Alby a told you so look.

“They need some time alone to calm down,” Bennie said aloud. “If I had a concussion, I wouldn’t want Raziel up my ass the whole time. He’d probably be there, but I’d like two minutes of just being with you and the kids to get my bearings.”

“Fine!” Alby said to Bennie, smelling defeated. Then he turned to Brad, “But if you need me – poke me over the pack link and I’ll be here as quickly as I can! And don’t hesitate to yell for Grandpa either!”

Brad held an arm out and Alby crossed the room to give him a one-armed hug before leaving. Once they were gone, Brad did smell less stressed out. He put Baby Oaklan and Baby Resin in bed with me and closed the door and drew the shades down. He sat back down in his chair next to my bed and leaned forward just enough to rest his head on the mattress. I’d never understand how pregnant people spread their hips far enough to bend like that, but then Brad always found new ways to leave me in awe of him.

The cubs leaned against my sides and stared up at me as if waiting to be told what to do. Had they eaten enough at the playroom before everything happened? Were they hungry? Technically we were all on our own little family link, but mostly their confusion came through.

“I really need my thumbs,” I said to my bear.

I was the one inside of our inner sanctum at that moment. There had been other times where I could’ve bullied my way out, but this wasn’t one of them. My bear was firmly in the driver’s seat, and I was just along for the ride.

“I could go bring down a deer for them,” my bear said.

“I’m sure they’d figure out what to do with a raw deer eventually but being able to press that call button and ask for a watermelon would be easier.”

“Are you hungry?” Brad asked.

I nodded and then looked at Baby Resin and Baby Oaklan and nodded harder. It no longer hurt my head to move. That was probably a good sign.

“Uncle Alby will bring you something back,” he smiled at the cubs who still stared up at me as if I had grown a second head. Then he looked at me. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been worse,” I said over our mating link. “Seriously, I have. Resin’s okay. All the kids are. I’ll survive. I feel a bit hungover to be honest. It doesn’t even hurt that bad anymore. Clyde’s only making me stay because my bear won’t let me out to have my actual head scanned.”

“I’m still scared,” Brad said. “Today… I thought I was going to lose you. You looked so out of it when I walked in.”

“I was, but my bear wasn’t. Not really. He was confused. He wasn’t sure what had hurt us, but it wasn’t getting the kids,” I told him. “I’d rather be the one with a cracked skull than Resin. Mine has had more time to learn how to knit itself back together.”

“Knock, knock,” Clyde said, coming back in and checking the IV levels. “Maybe you need a little more than a wolf’s dose. Should’ve worked by now.”

“Don’t you drug me to sleep,” I said to him over the pack link.

“I’m not. What’s bothering you?” he asked.

“The cubs are hungry. Brad is afraid. I’m not allowed to eat nurses and my bear’s not allowed to hunt a deer. So, everything?”