Chapter Nineteen

Chasten

Doctor Dreala did manage to get me into the recovery room with Kirk. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for true-mates to recover quicker while in the company of their other half. Kirk was out cold again by the time she wheeled me in the room. He was breathing on his own and the heart monitor beeped a reassuring pattern. I didn't bother to ask if I could crawl into bed with him on the side of his good leg. I just did it. From now back until him leaving to get ice cream was the longest we'd been apart since meeting. It was too long. Way too damn long.

He didn't wake up right away but lifted his arm for me to crawl in and rest my head on his chest. He held me tight while I listened to the soothing pattern of his heart. The gown was rough against my cheek, but I didn't care.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Nope. Still not doing that. I could've said no. I could've been struck by lightning through the window. I'm here. You're here. The pup is here. That has to be enough. It could've been --- She's dead."

"Are you okay?" I asked. "I don't mean your leg. Obviously, that's not okay."

"That is on the road to being okay and I'm okay. Just as mortal as always, like you said."

"It's okay to be sad. I'm sad too."

"She didn't get to live. Not really," he shook his head.

"I know you're sad if you can be sad while you're still out of it," I sighed.

Kirk kissed the top of my head and dozed off again. Eventually, his still beating heart lulled me to sleep too. I woke up for a moment when two nurses wheeled the bed out of the recovery room and down the hallway. Kirk kissed the top of my head again and I nuzzled my cheek against his chest. He said something about my blood sugar to one of the nurses and she said something back I couldn't make out through the haze of broken sleep. Then I dozed off again, safe with Kirk's arm wrapped around me.

"OUCH!" I woke up with someone biting my ring finger. "DON'T BITE ME!"

"I didn't," Kirk chuckled, and I glanced down at the test strip pressed against my finger. "I pricked you."

"You are a prick. That's heavy machinery. I can't believe they let you operate it under the influence."

"Better me than them. If you bite me, I'll just say kinky. You bite them and they might sedate your wolf," Kirk teased.

"Actually, no, they wouldn't. I've forbade it," Doctor Dreala said from the doorway. "Unless you need emergency surgery for something, they're not to touch your wolf. You're my patient and as the doctor taking care of your unborn pup, I outrank them all."

"Good! Someone needs to have my back. Everyone keeps biting me," I whined.

"Have a milkshake," Doctor Dreala waved something under my nose because I closed my eyes again. "It's high in protein and will get your sugar back up. The baby will probably like it too. It's formulated for patients with wolfen diabetes."

"Thanks, I think," I said, sitting up, carefully avoiding jostling my mate too much. "What about you?" I asked Kirk.

"I can't eat yet. I'll throw up all over everyone," Kirk waved a hand. "You should eat, though. You did want ice cream."

I sighed and took a sip of the milkshake. After last night, I'd never think of ice cream the same way again.

"He'll eat when he feels up to it," Doctor Dreala said. "They won't think about sending him home until he eats, though."

"I'll just stay here with him then," I shrugged.

"We're in here a lot anyway," Kirk shrugged.

"That's not something to brag about," I frowned at him.

"I work here. Over half my time was spent here before I met you."

"That's where all the flowers and snacks came from," Doctor Dreala pointed out, gesturing around all the overfilled surfaces in the room.

"How did they get stuff here so quick?" I asked in between milkshake sips.

"The night shift told them about it probably," Kirk yawned.

"There's jerky," I said, pointing across the room.

"Low sodium too," Doctor Dreala pointed out. "I never could stomach the low sodium kind but it's healthier."

"Don't dragons burn off like twenty percent of the salt and sugar they consume?" Kirk asked.

"Well, we know your brain is working, Kirk," Doctor Dreala laughed and moved the jerky to the bedside table.

I opened it up and Kirk grinned at me, happy to see me digging into food. Only I had other plans for the jerky once I finished my milkshake. He was going to eat one way or another. If his wolf woke up hungry, it'd be a really long day for all of us and I just wanted to go home and go to bed.

"Where did Treg go?" Kirk yawned.

"Home to sleep. They have a date tonight."

"Good for them. I hope they get laid."

"You are high," I said, offering him a bite of my milkshake on the spoon.

"Okay, okay," he said and took the bite.

Bit by bit, I encouraged Kirk to eat. At first it was just a bite or two of my milkshakes and then it was some jerky. Eventually, day shift arrived, and Lar came to visit and brought leftover pizza. I didn't think Kirk was a leftover pizza for breakfast sort of guy, but it got him to dig in.

"Still so much I don't know about you," I teased, nibbling on a piece of pepperoni from his pizza.

"If you're still hungry, you can have it," he pushed the plate toward me.

"No, I'm not hungry. I just like pepperoni. Don't need the extra carbs from the crust right now."

He nodded toward the pizza, and I arched a brow.

"Take the pepperoni, mate."

"You need the protein," I reminded him. "Feeding me and our pup is all well and good but if you don't recover, we're in for a lot more trouble than me not eating all the pepperoni."

"I'll recover. A bit of pepperoni isn't going to make the difference."

"Eat!" I said, picking up a piece and holding the tip out to him.

He bit into it and shot me a dirty look.

"I'd blame your wolf for that but he's out cold," I sighed.

"No, he's not. He's the one who woke me up to tell them to check your blood sugar."

"Oh. He's been quiet."

"Oh, I'm a traitor. The doctor is a traitor. The other nurses are traitors. Everyone is a traitor who knocked him out instead of letting him fight the steering wheel and everyone else around."

"Oh, that attitude."

"You're not a traitor. You weren't there," Kirk chuckled.

"I'd hope he doesn't think I'm a traitor. I'm his mate and they pulled the same dirty trick on me too."

"My poor mate," Kirk sighed and kissed me on the forehead.

"No, my poor mate. All beat up by trucks and poles while trying to hunt ice cream."

"Next time I'm using the delivery service," Kirk chuckled.

"Yeah, you aren't going to be able to drive for a while."

A flash of his broken truck broke through his memory and he shook it away.

"Something more kid friendly will be better anyway," he shrugged. "Trucks are just trucks. People are –"

"Mortal?" I offered when he didn't finish the sentence.

"So very fucking mortal."