Paul cut the guy’s bloodied pants leg open. The dark-haired Species woman put in an IV line and the human guy she guessed was a doctor flashed his tiny penlight in the patient’s eyes after opening each lid.
“What happened?” the doctor asked.
The two New Species who’d brought him stayed against a wall, keeping out of the way. “He picked another fight and ended up stumbling onto the balcony. He fell from the second floor but landed on the grass. It was the tree he hit on the way down that did most of the damage. He hasn’t woken since,” one of them muttered.
“Fuck,” the New Species woman growled.
“The leg doesn’t appear broken,” Paul muttered. “Just a deep laceration.”
“He might have struck his head on a branch or two on the way down,” the other New Species added. “We found him under the tree.”
Paul turned his head and spotted Dana. “Get your ass over here and apply pressure to this.”
She hesitated. “Where are the gloves?”
“Second drawer to your right,” he snapped. “But they don’t carry any blood diseases, and they easily fight infection.”
After putting on gloves, she clamped her hand down over the cut. Paul tore open the patient’s sleeve to examine his arm. Dana glanced up and found the doctor frowning at her.
“That’s my sister,” Paul informed him. “Dana, meet Doc Harris and Midnight. The two along the wall are Snow and Book.”
“She can’t be in here,” Doc Harris protested.
“She’s cool, and she did a year of nursing school. She’s also done a shitload of home health care. She won’t faint over seeing some blood. The arm doesn’t seem broken but he’s going to need stitches.”
Midnight turned toward the door. “I’ll get the portable X-ray machine for his head.”
The doctor examined the patient’s skull, probing, probably checking for fractures or lacerations. “It’s okay, Midnight. This son of a bitch is too hardheaded. He probably just has another concussion, but we’ll run a CT scan just to be safe. Let’s deal with the issues we see right now first.”
Midnight yanked a bag of saline from a cupboard. She growled low, a scary sound. “Who did he fight this time?”
“Darkness. Suicidal bastard,” Snow muttered.
“I won’t ask if Darkness is okay then.” Doc Harris sighed. “I’m surprised he’s not the one who brought him in.”
“He will be along.”
“Great.” Midnight spun away after hanging the IV bag and killed the blaring alarm. “That’s just what we don’t need. He’ll be angry. Please tell him not to bother. You two can go.”
Snow and Book shot curious glances at Dana. She forced a smile but they didn’t speak directly to her before they quit the room.
Doc Harris changed positions with Paul. “Let me see his arm.”
“I’ll grab a suture kit.” Paul opened a drawer.
Midnight caught Dana’s gaze. “You’re Paul’s sister?”
“Yes.” She tried not to stare. The New Species woman was the first one she’d seen up close since she’d arrived. She was pretty, with long dark hair. “I’m visiting him and Becky this weekend. He wouldn’t come home so I came to him.”
“Welcome to Homeland.” She stepped closer. “Let me take over. This is Mourn.” She glanced at the patient, and then back at Dana. “He’s a troublemaker. He comes in here every few weeks. Don’t be alarmed.”
Dana released the cut on his calf and backed up, doing what she was told. She tossed away the used gloves and made sure blood hadn’t gotten on her skin above them. She turned and kept out of the way while they worked on the patient. Mourn needed six stitches on his forearm but his leg just needed to be cleaned and bandaged.
“Should I put restraints on him before he wakes? You know he’s going to just get up and walk out the same way he did last time.” Paul stared at the doctor.
“Yeah. I hate to do it but Snow had a point. He is suicidal.”
“Why?” Dana regretted asking as soon as three pairs of eyes swung her way. “Sorry,” she added. “It’s none of my business.”
“His mate died.” Midnight helped Paul use thick, padded restraints to secure the patient’s arms and legs to the hospital bed. They even wrapped a few across his chest and thighs to hold him in place. “You helped work on him. I’d be curious as well. He picks fights with other males, hoping one of them will kill him. We won’t end our own lives the way humans do. It’s a matter of pride.”
Dana stared at the patient, really taking a good look at his face. He was feline. The shape of his eyes was a dead giveaway. His black hair was cut short. He had the over-the-top manly features that all the New Species possessed. Their bone structure was denser than a normal human. He was handsome, despite the bandage on his forehead. Midnight cleaned off the blood and backed away from him.
It pulled at Dana’s heartstrings, hearing that he’d lost the woman he loved. She knew what the term mate implied, thanks to some of the things Paul had felt free to tell her. Some of the New Species were married, but they called their wives mates. They didn’t require a ceremony, but instead could just share a promise of commitment, sign legal documents and make it official.
“We’ve got this handled, Paul.” Doc Harris glanced her way. “You should take your sister back to your house.”