Chapter 17

Mira

Between the champagne and the ongoing social interactions, I was exhausted. Luckily it wasn’t long before everyone was starting to drift out of the hall and towards home, and Dominic brought me back to our room.

I had barely lain down in bed before I was fast asleep, Dominic beside me.

In my dream, my wolf returned to me.

The shifting felt so real, so familiar, and all I wanted to do was run freely in the forest.

And I was not alone. There was a massive black wolf with me, and though I wasn’t sure who it was I knew that we were connected. Stronger than a family bond, as if we were two parts of one whole.

We owned the night, basking in the moon’s glow and feeling power coursing through us. We’d made our way onto a precipice overlooking as lush valley. And as we stood and looked out, the wolf changed in to a man.

It was Dominic.

My eyes flew open, and my cheeks were flushed. I was laying on my side, and my arm was draped across Dominic’s chest.

I carefully moved my arm and rolled away from him, being careful not to wake him. I lay staring at the ceiling, wondering why I had such an intense dream about him. Was it because of his Alpha aura at the party?

I convinced myself it was just that we’d been spending so much time together, and sleeping next to each other, and my subconscious was just filling in the gap with the nearest man.

But I had been with Ward for years, and I’d never had a dream about him.

Eventually I went back to sleep for a few hours. I woke up feeling restless and knew I needed to distract myself from last night by focusing on work.

“Gearing up for a big day, Doctor?” Dominic asked me as I got ready.

He looked pleased to see the tools he gave me in the bag.

“Yes, I thought I’d head to the hospital,” I said. “Since people seemed opened to my ideas last night, I want to make sure I follow up so they don’t think I was only trying to impress them. I have to walk the walk!”

“A very good idea, and I am sure they’ll be happy to have your help,” Dominic said, grabbing a jacket to put on. “I will go with you.”

Our arrival caused quite a stir, and it was clear that most of the nursing staff was not used to being in the presence of the future Alpha. And also that many of them found him attractive. Much to my chagrin, Lila was one of the first to greet us.

“Good morning, Dominic, Mira,” she said, sweetness in her voice for his name, annoyance for mine. “So nice of you to escort our new Doctor here, was she afraid of getting lost?”

“No need to be sassy this early in the morning, Lila,” Dominic answered. “I just wanted to be sure my Luna was settling in to this new environment.”

I watched Lila as he spoke, and could see fire in her eyes when he called me Luna. So she was jealous! I wondered if she was behind any of these rumors that were circulating about me.

“I’ll pick you up later, Doctor,” Dominic said, placing an affectionate hand on my shoulder.

“Bye, D!” Lila called after him.

He seemed slightly confused at this nickname, but gave a small wave as he made his way out.

I decided to get right down to business, and pulled out the folder I’d put together with my reform plans.

“I was hoping I could show you some of the ideas I had about updating the hospital. These are some of things we were doing at my previous site.”

I handed out printed copies of my notes, with data showing how certain practices had improved efficiency.

The staff members looked briefly at the pages, then at each other to gauge reactions.

Lila was the first to speak up.

“This is cute, Mira,” she said, “but I think we know how to do our jobs.”

“I’m not saying that you don’t, I just think we can always be improving.”

“I just don’t think it’s really necessary to make these changes,” Lila continued. “Things have been running smoothly here for a long time before you ever came here.”

“Right, okay…”

“I agree with Lila,” it was Jacqueline this time. It seemed they were in cahoots against me again. “Most of us have been working here for years, longer than you’ve even had a medical degree I presume.”

There were noises of agreement from a few other nurses, especially those of the older generation.

“You simply don’t have the experience to be proposing these ‘reforms’ as you call them,” it was the head nurse, Cinda, “even if you are the future Luna.”

I couldn’t hide the shock on my face, but before I could form a response we were all shaken out of the conversation.

The emergency alarm went off, meaning an ambulance was about to arrive bringing us a patient in need of our immediate care.

Everyone started moving, like bees in a hive, and within moments a few EMTs came in wheeling a wounded soldier on a stretcher. It was quickly evident that his wounds were serious, and the color in his face told me he’d lost a lot of blood from a wound in his abdomen.

“We did what we could to staunch the bleeding, but the wound is deep,” an EMT shared. “It could be too late for him.”

The staff was stunned, and most agreed with the assessment.

Lila moved towards the phone on the desk.

“I’ll call the family,” she said somberly.

I codlin’t believe everyone was giving up so easily.

“Wait!”

Everyone looked at me, expectantly.

“I can do it,” I said confidently. “Let me do it.”

“What do you think you can possible do for him?” Lila asked me.

“I’m a surgeon with combat experience,” I responded quickly. “We have to at least try.”

“Alright,” Cinda said. “Prep the operating table, and let’s get him in there, now!”

I grabbed my bag, and went to prep and scrub in for surgery. To my surprise, Lila followed me.

“I can assist you,” she said aggressively.

I didn’t respond, but gave skeptical look.

“Please, let me help you,” she pleaded.

“Fine,” I said, pulling out my new surgical tools. “Please disinfect these and get them set by the table.”

Soon we were both in the room, with a few attending nurses, and I swear I never worked that quickly. Cutting away clothes, assessing open wounds, and having Lila swab and suction to handle the bleeding.

I ended up taking a skin graft from his thigh to close up some of the larger wounds, and was pleased with how everything was turning out. I was just about to add the final sutures when I noticed a grave mistake.

A piece of rubber glove was stuck inside his abdomen, and had it been left there after I closed him up it could’ve led to a massive infection.

I pulled it out and threw it on the table, furious.

And then I looked at Lila, and noticed the finger tip of her left hand was ripped. She didn’t seem to notice that it had gotten caught along the way, and fallen into our patient.

“Lila, step aside” I shrieked at her, “you’re out!”

“Excuse me?” she yelled back.

“Look at your hand!”

It was then that she figured out what happened.

“Oh my god, it was an accident!” she said back to me.

“Out!”

“Mira, please, you have to understand—“

“Lila, that mistake could’ve cost our patient his life!” I couldn’t control my fury. “You are not fit to be in here right now, you are not fit to call yourself a doctor!”

Lila burst into tears and fled the room.

I didn’t have time to worry about her, and instead went back to my patient. I felt myself shaking, but knew I had to focus. I thought of Dominic, how he could remain composed under pressure.

I took a deep breath, and finished.

The surgery was a success.

Once he was stable, I left the soldier in the care of the nurses and went to clean myself up. I took a quick shower in the locker room, only afterwards realizing how late it was.

I made my way down the front entrance, and there was Dominic, calm as could be, waiting for me.

“You’re here!” I said, unable to hide the relief at seeing him. “I thought you’d have gone home.”

“They told me you were in surgery. I told them I would wait.” he said.

This man was full of surprises.

The Pack

Lila stood down the hall, watching the Dominic and Mira as they left the hospital together. She knew there was something wrong with the couple, that it should be her going home with him, not Mira. She knew Dominic better than he knew himself, she could make him happy.

She pulled her phone from her pocket, playing back a recording from the operating room.

Mira’s shouting voice was loud through the tiny speaker.

Without waiting to think, Lila sent the message to Dominic, with a note saying that he so-called-Mate was targeting her and trying to humiliate her at the hospital. Mira was probably just jealous because Lila and Dominic were so close.

He didn’t respond, and Lila worried if she had made a mistake. She went home sullen and cried herself to sleep.

But the next morning, she woke to a message from Dominic: he would talk to Mira about it.