Alpha Dom and His Human Surrogate (PDF) novel Chapter 348

Chapter 348 – Triage

Ella

“It’s been too long,” I mutter, twisting my fingers together with my eyes fixed on the hard iron door of the bunker. I have one hand on Rafe’s little carrier as he sleeps peacefully beside the two uncomfortable chairs that Cora and I dragged down the hall, wanting to be as close to the entrance as possible so that we get news as soon as it comes.

“Ella,” Cora seethes through her teeth. “You have got to stop saying that. You’re making me freak out.”

“It’s not me that’s making you flip out,” I retort, angry. “It’s our idiot mates, who insisted on leaving here four hours ago and haven’t called once to let us know that they’re all right -”

But then, as if my words are magic, the door bangs open and Cora and I instantly leap up from our seats.

I gasp, almost breaking into tears when I see that the first figure through the door is my mate. I hurl myself towards Sinclair, intent on wrapping him in my arms, but I come to a skidding stop as I realize that he’s carrying one of his men, unconscious and bloody and

“Oh my god,” I gasp, my hands flying to my mouth as I stop and actually look at my mate 1 notice the burns that have ripped through his clothes, leaving red welts across his exposed skin

Notice the horrible burned flesh of the man in his arms –

Sinclair’s eyes linger on me for half a longing second before moving sharply to my sister. “Cora,” he gasps, “help – it’s bad -”

She rushes to him in a moment, a*sessing the soldier, but Sinclair jerks him away, shaking his head. “No, Cora,” he insists, making her look up at him. “We need – we need space them-” all of

I gasp again, horrified now as I understand what my mate means, as I see my sister’s face go pale. But she snaps immediately into her professional demeanor, looking to me.

“Ella?” she snaps. “You’re my nurse now, all right?”

“Y-yes,” I hurry to agree, eager to help and reaching down to grab Rafe’s carrier and sling it over my right arm.

“Your largest room,” she demands, turning her attention back to Sinclair. Then she turns, pointing down the hall. “Go, now.”

As Sinclair begins to move, more of the men begin to stumble through the door. The hall is immediately filled with the sound of pain – moans, and groans, cries –

But to her credit, Cora doesn’t look back, storming forward, ready to get things prepared. I can’t help myself from turning towards the injured men who stumble through the door, my attention immediately going to the red- haired young man the one who spoke in the meeting, who noticed that my attackers didn’t shift as he falls hard against the wall, gasping.

I move to him immediately, working to sling his arm around my shoulder, taking as much of his weight as I can. Lean on me,” I demand, beginning to move forward as I feel his body shift hard against mine. It’s heavy,

struggling under his weight, trying to also balance Rafe’s carrier against my other arm, hoping to hell that he doesn’t collapse against me and squish the baby when we both fall –

But we make it – following the men who can walk by themselves through the door into what looks more like a

And then, the moment pa*sed, Cora’s eyes fly open again and she’s all business. She nods her chin towards the door, urging Sinclair forward, and he moves quickly away. Then she turns to me. “I need you to start moving clockwise around the room,” she says, a calm efficiency setting over her. “You call out to me if anyone looks like they need me desperately – otherwise, you ask each man his name and what’s wrong. Take notes,” she says, looking around and then grabbing a pen and pad of paper off a little bookshelf.

“Okay,” I exhale, and as I take the writing materials from her I realize that my hands are shaking.

“Hold it together, sis,” Cora says quietly, stepping close to me for a moment and taking my face in her hands, looking at me steadily. “You’ve got this. All right?”

I nod to her, anxious, and then we both move at once, her left and me right, to begin to help.

Time pa*ses in a flash as I move from man to man, asking each what they need, getting it for them if it’s in my power but otherwise writing down what each man says before moving to the next. The only thing that interrupts my attention is Cora’s brief cry – just once as Roger comes into the room. He, too, is carrying a soldier who cannot walk and Cora is at his side in a second.

There’s a brief moment, after Roger gets the man to a bed, where Cora kisses him, pressing her body flush against his, but then it’s done –

My sister is the doctor again, ready to care, to help –

And I’m so grateful for her in that moment that I can barely breathe. And as I look at Roger’s face as he takes a second to watch her, I know that he feels precisely the same.

As I turn to the next man in my rotation, I feel a little hope swell in me, so glad that Roger and Cora found each other. Because the four of us, as a team? We can do this. I have so much faith that we can.