The Water Dragons Box Set: Books 1 - 4 (Complete)

by Charlene Hartnady

  Then she picked up a bottle of rubbing alcohol. It was small but would have to do. She used the alcohol to clean the knife and used some more on her hands. Then she donned a pair of rubber gloves. She poured a little of the remaining alcohol rub onto the wound itself to try to disinfect it. Silly since the bullet inside certainly hadn’t been disinfected before that asshole shot the gun, but she did it anyway.

  She inserted her finger into the wound first, feeling for the bullet but knowing, realistically, it probably wouldn’t be so close to the surface. Try as she might, she couldn’t feel anything that felt like it could be a bullet. She was going to have to cut into the hole to widen it for better access.

  Paige sucked in a deep breath as she held the knife poised over the wound. His chest wasn’t moving.

  Nothing to lose.

  There was absolutely nothing to lose, she told herself again as she made the incision.

  There was still hope that he would come back though. It sounded stupid but she had to try. The incision didn’t bleed. A bad sign. Focus! Both Mike and John had said that she should hurry. The quicker she was, the more chance he had. It just seemed so unlikely. She cut again, over the same wound, the knife came up against bone. His ribcage was in the way. Paige tried sticking her finger back into the wound but still couldn’t feel a thing. The ideal would be to crack open the chest, remove the bullet and repair any damage to the organs. There were two problems in that scenario. She didn’t have the tools required. She would need power tools to get it done. Even if she did have the tools, she wasn’t equipped to cut through bone. What if she damaged his organs? Did even more damage than before. So, no way!

  She needed to focus on what she could do, not on what she couldn’t. All she had been instructed to do was get the bullet out and get it out she would. If she couldn’t get in through his chest, she would need to cut below the ribcage and navigate up, into the cavity that way. She needed to hurry. Without dwelling on it too much, she made a long incision below the ribs, as close to the gunshot site as possible. Luckily, the blade was very sharp. It cut through all of the layers easily.

  Using the knife, she pried the wound open. Thankful she’d seen enough surgeries in her time, she didn’t feel squeamish or sick. She could do this. Paige inserted her hand, it was a relatively tight fit. She needed to be careful of doing more damage.

  She navigated her way up, the tops of her fingers rubbed against his ribcage. She could also feel what had to be the bottom of his left lung. It was smooth and flat and…there, a hole. The opening wasn’t small like the one on his chest. It was big and gaping. She stuck her fingers inside, pushing, down until and she felt something hard. It was sloshy inside him. The cavity felt like it was filled with blood and bits of— She swallowed thickly, suddenly feeling queasy. She didn’t want to think about the bits.

  Paige rooted around, until she felt it again, hard and small. Almost too small to have done so much damage. Paige focused on getting her fingers on it, on getting a good grip, then she pulled, slowly removing her hand from the opening. The slug was about the size of the tip of her pinky finger.

  Paige looked down at the shifter, waiting for something. Anything. Some sign of life…but there was nothing. She felt for a pulse. Nothing.

  Maybe it would take some time. She looked down at the now gaping wounds. Two of them. If only she had something to sew the wounds up with. There was gauze and tape. She’d use what she had and make it work. Paige spent the next couple of minutes dressing and sealing them as best she could.

  She felt for a pulse again and was disappointed to find none. He was dead. It was stupid to think anything would change. Her eyes stung and her nose wanted to run so she sniffed hard, trying to hold the tears back.

  She cleaned up as much as possible. Washing her hands and the knife in the basin. She put the knife on top of the first aid kit near the cell door. As much as she would love to ‘try her luck’ as Mike had put it, she didn’t want to risk one of the others getting hurt. Besides, all of them were armed. What chance did she have with a knife when faced with a gun?

  Paige sat down, leaning against the wall opposite the mattress. There wasn’t anything more she could do for the shifter. He was beyond saving, beyond prayer even. She pulled her knees towards her chin and hugged herself.

  Chapter 4

  An hour later…

  “Fuck!” someone cursed. “He’s dead isn’t he?”

  Paige looked up at Mike and nodded. “He was dead when you brought him here, so yeah, he’s still dead. No change!”

  “You didn’t get that slug out quick enough.” Mike scowled at her.

  “He’s dead because he was shot. I took the bullet out within ten minutes of arriving here,” she argued, getting to her feet. Her back ached from sitting on the hard floor.

  “You sure you didn’t leave any bullet fragments in there?”

  “I checked as best I could. Ideally, we would have x-rayed him first to be sure.”

  “We don’t have that kind of equipment.” Mike shook his head.

  “And I forgot to pack my crystal ball. I did my best.” She quickly added the last when she saw his face turn red.

  Mike felt his left breast pocket and then moved to the right one, removing his keycard. “If he’s really dead, there’s no need to keep you in there.”

  Paige pushed out a breath and moved to the exit. It was unnerving being cooped up with a dead person. Mike closed the cell door behind her and grabbed her by the elbow. “I think we’ll start the interrogations off with you.”

  “What interrogation?” she asked, not liking where this was going.

  “We want to know everything you saw. Everything you know.” His voice was deep. “I suggest you speak up and that you talk quickly. John is in a bad mood. He’s going to be pissed when he finds out that thing died for real. He’s going to be itching to take it out on someone. Two guesses who that someone will be.”

  “Can I come too?” Tim asked as he sauntered up to them, that same cruel smirk on his face. “I’d like to help. Did you know, nipples are one of the most sensitive places on a female’s body?” He licked his lips, his eyes drifting to her chest.

  “You shut the hell up.” Mike pointed a finger at Tim. “You should lay low for a couple of days. John is going to hit the fucking roof when he hears the dragon didn’t make it. There’s going to be hell to pay when management gets here a little later as well.”

  Tim was looking past them, frowning heavily. “It’s not dead.” He shook his head. “Look.” He pointed into the cell.

  Paige sucked in a breath and she turned to look back into the cell. Sure enough, the shifter was breathing.

  Breathing.

  Good lord!

  It didn’t make any sense. How was he alive? How was this possible? The problem was, he was taking small shallow breaths. Fighting for each one. At this rate, he still might not make it. It took her a couple of seconds to realize what she was seeing. Paige had seen this before on quite a number of occasions. “His chest cavity is filled with blood,” she blurted. “It’s putting pressure on his lungs, making it almost impossible for them to expand.” It happened sometimes when there was massive trauma to the chest. “I need to go back in there.”

  “You’re just trying to get out of being interrogated,” Mike growled. “The thing will be just fine.”

  “Shit!” Tim muttered. “It’s stopped breathing.”

  “What?” Mike let her go, gripping the bars so that he could peer into the cell.

  “I’m telling you. It’s called a tension hemothorax,” Paige tried again. “I need to make an incision into his side so that the blood can drain. I’ll need a pipe or…” her mind raced, “the outside of a pen. Something to drain the blood, or he won’t make it.” She spoke quickly.

  The shifter didn’t take another breath. His chest was still. “Please!” she yelled. “We need to hurry! If his heart stops again, we might not get him back.”

  “Fine!” Mike pushed
out. He opened the cell and pushed her in. “Get her that pen,” he said to Tim, urgency etched into every word.

  Paige grabbed the knife and the first aid kit. She dropped to her knees next to the shifter. There was no time to disinfect anything. This was a tension hematoma. She knew exactly what needed to happen, in theory. In practice, she had absolutely no idea. Had never done this before. Had never seen it done on a human. How different could it be? He was going to die if she didn’t try.

  Paige felt for an area between two ribs. Praying she didn’t hit any vital organs, she pushed the knife into his side. When she pulled the knife back out, blood leaked from the wound in big gushes. Within seconds the gushing stopped. She heard quick footfalls and Tim came into the cell, handing her a pen.

  Again, there was no time for disinfecting anything. Hopefully, he didn't end up dying from a massive infection. She stripped the pen and inserted the outer shell into the wound. More blood gushed out and the shifter pulled in a breath. And then another. And then another. She pushed out a sigh of relief.

  “Good job,” Mike said. “Stay with the animal and make sure it survives.”

  She nodded once. “I’ll do my best but he’s not out of the woods just yet.” Not by a long shot.

  “You see you do,” Mike said. “I’ll take that knife.” He looked pointedly at the weapon on the ground. “Nice and easy,” he said as she picked it up.

  Tim stood at the entrance to the cell. She could hear the voices of more men in the distance. She handed the blade back to Mike, handle first.

  “Good girl.” Mike winked at her.

  Asshole!

  She watched as the men left, locking her back in the cell.

  “Thank you,” a soft croak.

  Paige sucked in a sharp breath. The shifter had spoken. She looked down at him, seeing no change. His eyes were still closed. “Are you okay?” she asked. She went on when he didn’t respond. “Is there something I can do to help you?”

  Nothing. Just the gentle rise and fall of his chest. That and a slight wheezing noise. She was shocked he was breathing so easily, breathing at all for that matter. Somewhere across the hall, a woman screamed. It was broken by yelling and more screaming. Paige rushed to the bars of the cell, trying to get a look. Although she couldn’t see into the cell holding the other women, she could see into the wide hallway. She watched in horror as two men dragged Hayley out kicking and screaming. The other women were shouting and screaming as well. Trying to get them to leave Haley alone.

  “Stop that.” One of the men backhanded Hayley, who fell to one knee, still screaming. “Shut up!” He hit her again.

  The other two women screamed louder. She realized that she was shouting too. Telling him to stop. To leave Hayley be. The men ignored their pleas. They dragged a sobbing Hayley away through a set of doors down the hall. She heard them click shut.

  “Where are they taking her?” she yelled.

  Kelly and Sydney were crying and talking in shrill voices. They ignored her.

  “What did they say to you?” Paige tried again. “Why have they taken her?”

  “They said they were going to interrogate her.” It sounded like Sydney’s voice. “He said it was my turn next.” She broke down in tears.

  “What do they want from us?” It sounded like Kelly this time. Her voice sounded panicked.

  A lump formed in Paige’s throat but she swallowed it down. “I don’t know but we need to try to stay strong.”

  The sobs from down the hall only grew louder. When she turned back, she saw that the shifter was still breathing. That gave her hope. It was a tiny bit of light in an otherwise very dark and dire situation.

  Chapter 5

  Flood inhaled a second time, his nostrils filling with the sweet scent of human. He could feel her warm and soft against him. One of her legs draped over his. Her breasts were mashed against his side. One of her hands was splayed on his stomach. By the rhythm of her breathing, he could tell that she was sleeping.

  Despite the burning in his chest and the sheer weakness of his limbs, his cock stirred as he took in another deep breath. Then again, maybe it was because of his weakened state that his cock stirred. That and her delicious scent. Sweet and decadent. Yet with a tangy edge. He wondered if she had a personality to match. Another sharp pain pierced through him as his chest expanded. Damned silver. He wasn’t immune yet. Not even close. He was alive though and that told him that the allergy therapy he had been subjecting himself to was working. A silver bullet to the chest. A damaged lung, a pulverized artery. He’d died with the silver inside him. He shouldn’t be here and yet…he was.

  It took a considerable amount of energy to fold his arm around her and to pull her in a little closer. Blast! The female stirred, her eyes fluttering. “Don’t move,” he whispered.

  “You’re awake. Alive,” she whispered back, doing as he said and staying completely still. “I can’t believe it.” Her eyes widened when she realized how close she was to him. “Sorry, I was cold. The floor is freezing.”

  She tried to move away but he gripped her hand to stop her. “I’m going to assume that since you drained my chest that you were the one to save my life as well?” he let her hand go when she relaxed.

  “How do you know that?” She turned her head to him.

  “Be careful,” he growled, feeling her shiver at his deep animalistic voice. “I won’t hurt you,” he quickly added. Hardly, he was as weak as a day-old lamb. He could already feel sleep descending. His thoughts becoming slow. His voice turning thick. “Might be cameras,” he mumbled. “Watching.”

  “Oh shit!” she whispered. “I never thought of cameras. Never even looked for them.” Although he could hear what she was saying, he had a hard time understanding her.

  “Must sleep,” his words were slurred.

  “Wait,” she said. “What’s your name?” she asked. “Your name?” she urged.

  He couldn’t remember. Wasn’t sure what she was asking. He passed out.

  Chapter 6

  The next morning…

  Loud screams woke her up. It was Kelly. “No!” the younger woman yelled.

  Paige jumped to her feet and raced to the bars so that she could see out. She clasped them until her knuckles were white. Had to squeeze her face through to try to see what was happening down the hall.

  "Don't!" Kelly added, even louder. "Please." She wailed as Tim gripped her by the hair and pulled her along with him. At least, by the tall, wiry frame and longer hair, she was sure it was him even though she couldn't see his face.

  “Leave her alone!” Paige screamed. “What are you doing?” Within seconds they had disappeared down the hall. There was the telltale sound of a door clicking shut.

  It was only then that she realized Sydney wasn’t at the bars calling. She could hear talking. “Sydney!” Paige yelled. “Sydney!” she called again, more frantic this time. Two sets of hands clasped the bars. “Is that Hayley?” she asked.

  “Yes.” She heard Hayley’s voice.

  “Are you okay?” Paige asked.

  The other woman burst into tears. Heavy wracking sobs that seemed to fill the voluminous space.

  “What happened?” Paige asked after a long half-minute, worry eating at her. “What did those bastards do to you?”

  “They,” she sniffed, “hit me… They…” It went silent.

  She waited a few beats. “What happened?” Paige tried again. “Are you okay?”

  “I had to tell them,” Hayley choked out between sobs. “I know I signed that confidentiality agreement but they were going to hurt me. I mean, really hurt me and I had to do it.”

  “It’s okay,” she heard Sydney say.

  “Yes, it’s okay!” Paige yelled. “Listen to Sydney. No-one would expect you to keep quiet in the face of…that.”

  She heard Hayley sobbing. “They’re going to hurt Kelly. I hope she tells them everything.”

  “Me too,” Paige agreed. “I’m sure she will. It’s not like we know
anything. Nothing those guys don’t know already.”

  “Exactly,” Sydney said, her voice shrill. “They seem to know more than we do. Why would they do this?”

  “I don’t know.” Paige shook her head. “Are you okay though? They didn’t hurt you too badly? They didn’t touch you or anything?” She thought about that creep, Tim. About the way he looked at them sometimes.

  “She has a shiner!” Sydney said. “And a bruise on her jaw but otherwise—”

  “I’m okay!” Hayley yelled. “Just shaken up, and no, Tim wasn’t even there. They didn’t try anything. Not like that.”

  “Good!” Paige said.

  “Do you think they’ll bring us some food soon?” Hayley asked.

  Paige’s stomach grumbled at the thought of eating. “I hope so. We should try to conserve our strength.”

  “It’s my turn next,” Sydney sounded petrified. “I’m going to tell them everything I know. Screw that contract.”

  “They kept asking if I could show them where the dragon lairs are,” Hayley sobbed. “They wouldn’t let up,” she added. “They asked me over and over and over. They left me tied to a chair the whole night. I thought I would pee in my pants.” She sniffed. Paige could hear that she was still crying. “Tied up in the dark. They kept asking me again this morning. Eventually that John guy hit me.” Paige could hear her crying softly. “Punched me in the face. I thought he was going to kill me.”

  Sydney said something to Hayley that Paige couldn’t hear.

  “We can’t tell them anything we don’t know,” Sydney spoke up this time. She sounded petrified. “We were blindfolded every time they took us anywhere. We didn’t see anything.”

  “Exactly,” Paige said, feeling nervous as well.

  “That’s what I told them but I don’t think they believed me,” Hayley said. “I heard one of them say they would keep trying until it recovered.” She sounded unsure. “Were they talking about the shifter?”