Chapter 31: Chapter Thirty-One--Enter The Chaos

“Take her to my tent,” Kalvyn said. Or I imagined it—I’m not sure. We were running.

Or they were. I just lobbed along in his arms.

No, hospital! Take me to people who can help me.

The outlines of Quinn and Syber’s faces bobbed as they turned back to check on me. If I’d been conscious enough that if I’d had anything left in my stomach, I would’ve expelled it.

I blacked out.

Next time I woke, I laid in Kalvyn’s tent, head bent at an awkward angle. They stood over me.

“Fix her, Carmen. Do it now. She is getting cold.”

Soft, gentle hands fluttered over my neck, to my forehead, back of my head.

“Kalvyn, for fuck sakes, back off,” Carmen snarled right back. “Give me room to work.”

“If she dies,” he roared. Something ripped. Clothing? “So do you.”

“Alpha, you need to calm down. Katrina is writhing, because you’re yelling,” Syber, the voice of reason, said soothingly.

A sickening thump of flesh upon flesh. Had he decked Syber?

“That wasn’t necessary,” Quinn admonished.

“Do something about it,” Kalvyn dared.

“Shit,” Carmen swore. “Wait, didn’t Katrina have Valium? Quinn, go get it out of their tent. Get me towels, water, and my kits. All of them. They’re in my car.”

A rustle, silence.

“What’s wrong with her?” Kalvyn said distantly, as if he’d traveled to the moon. Or maybe, it’s me going away. So tired. Body so heavy. My eyes closed, weighed down by anvils.

“Her brain is hemorrhaging, swelling. I don’t know how she stayed awake and aware as long as she did.”

“Was she hit that hard?” Kalvyn said hollowly.

“Who has the medical degree here?” Carmen smoothed my hair back from my face. “Fuck, I don’t have a drill.”

Drill? Medical degree?

“I don’t trust human medicine,” he replied.

“She is human, Kalvyn. I need to be careful. But you also have to understand that I have to utilize the tools at my disposal, without you going off the handle. By the end of today, if this archaic situation comes through, you will thank every higher power that I was once bored enough to put myself through medical school and get my PHD.”

“Save her, I will do anything you ask. Anything.”

“Has she come to mean that much to you over the short time.”

“She means everything.”

“And if I do manage to save her, and she walks away from you?”

“That is her choice. I will not take away her will, regardless of the cost to me.” Kalvyn touched my back. I’d know his heat even knocking on death’s door.

“It would be easier if you just…”

“No!” He growled. “You said you could save her. She must have the chance to make the choice. If you cannot do anything for her, tell me now.”

“I will try, but you need to do something for me.”

“What do you need?”

“Got it!” Quinn cried.

“Good, crush two of the pills into a small glass of water.”

Black out. My head was tipped back, bitter tasting water poured into my mouth. I coughed, which was murder on my head.

“Drink, Kat,” Carmen whispered. “You’ll need it. Kalvyn, now or never.”

He sighed. “Are you sure this is going to work?”

“It’s better than nothing,” she muttered under her breath. “You’re the only one who can shift just a part of you. Even so, your body is made of stronger stuff than the rest of us. Better than any old drill. Just one claw, a quick, small incision through her skull.”

Now I was dreaming. No other explanation for it. This couldn’t be happening.

Carmen held my head by the temples. “Right here.” Did she point at something? I couldn’t feel a damned thing.

Fortunately, I blacked out.