Wild Men of Alaska Collection

by Tiffinie Helmer

  She had to swallow past the fear in her throat in order to respond. “Getting gloves and supplies so I can assess the situation.”

  The gun wavered, and then he dropped it back to the exam table. Was it getting heavy for him to hold?

  “Tell me everything you’re doing before you do it, and we’ll get along just fine.”

  “Okay. Just relax.” Stupid Neanderthal. She snapped gloves on, never happier than right now not having actual skin to skin contact with someone, and grabbed a handful of gauze pads. She held up the gauze for him to see before wiping blood from the wound for a better look.

  “Tell me how you got this wound.”

  “No.”

  Her eyes flicked to his. “You realize I need to know what happened so I can figure out the best way to treat you.”

  “Just patch me up and stop the pain.”

  She tightened her lips and examined the wound. She’d only seen a bullet wound once, but that was enough to know exactly what this was. She hoped to God, Lynx had been the one to shoot his sorry ass. But what if he’d gotten to Lynx first and he lay bleeding to death out there right now while she was wasting time nursing this guy?

  “Ouch! Watch what the hell you’re doing.”

  She jumped back when he’d hollered. “There is no exit wound.”

  “So.”

  “I know this is from a bullet. You need to go to the hospital.”

  “I’m not going to any fucking hospital.” His hand tightened on the gun, and he pointed it back at her, resting the butt of the weapon on his thigh. “Now fix me up.”

  Oh, she’d do that all right. “You want me to dig the bullet out, or sew you up with it still inside?”

  The direness of his situation finally dawned on him, and he swore.

  “You could have internal bleeding,” she said, piling on the bad news. “I’m not equipped for surgery here.”

  He swore some more. “I’m going to kill that fucking bastard.”

  Did that mean Lynx was still alive? Her heart swelled, and she had to glance away or chance revealing the rush of feelings coursing through her.

  “Can you tell where the bullet is?”

  She met his eyes. “It’s going to hurt if I probe in there, but I’ll be able to tell fairly quickly if it’s something I can treat or not.”

  He studied her for what felt like another endless night. “Do it.” He released a deep breath out of his nostrils.

  She placed gauze pads over the wound to help with the bleeding. “Here hold these in place, and could you put the gun somewhere else? I don’t want you to ‘accidently’ shoot me if I hurt you.” And she planned on hurting him.

  “Don’t hurt me, and I won’t shoot you.”

  “Seriously? What’s your name solider?” She’d recognized the marine tattoo. That seemed to get her somewhere with this redneck.

  “Pete.”

  “Okay, Pete. How about you let me give you an injection. I have locals here for stitches and such. Nothing stronger than that.” She lied when he went to shake his head. “This is a small clinic. I can’t have hard drugs here. People would be breaking in all the time.” She said that with enough deadpan that he bought it.

  “Do it.”

  She pointed to the cupboard above her. “I’m going to open the door and grab medicine. I should give you a shot of antibiotics too.”

  “Yeah. Good idea.”

  She relaxed her breathing, trying to show a calm she didn’t feel as she turned and opened the door, slowly going through the vials of medication, looking for something that would knock this douche bag on his ass. She couldn’t go for anything that he’d recognize or anything that would take too long, since he’d feel the results and probably shoot her dead before the drugs completely took affect.

  “Nice ass,” Pete hummed. “The higher you reach the better your ass looks.”

  Oh yeah, he was going down. In the back, she found what she was searching for.

  Ah, that would do nicely. She opened the other cupboard and pulled out a vial of penicillin. “Are you allergic to anything?”

  “No.”

  It seemed the more medical in nature she kept the conversation, the more he lowered his guard.

  “I’m grabbing a syringe.”

  “Let me see the meds.”

  Holding her breath, she carefully picked up the bottles and showed them to him. He studied the bottles, barely glancing at the penicillin which was clearly labeled. “What’s this?” He pointed.

  “A common local, used to deaden the area so that it doesn’t hurt when I dig into you with tweezers looking for that bullet.”

  He winced at her words, and then gestured with his hand. “Get to it then.”

  She turned back to the cabinets as relief flushed through her in a hot rush. Her hands shook, readying the two syringes. She faced him again, placing the full syringes on the tray next to the table. She carefully peeled back the gauze pads to see the angry wound. Yeah, this wasn’t going to be pleasant for either of them. Him, it was going to hurt, and if she wasn’t careful, he’d kill her for hurting him. Talk about a sticky situation. She bit her lip and wiped the area with alcohol. “This is going to pinch,” she warned before sticking him with the needle.

  He hissed through his teeth.

  She depressed the syringe watching the narcotic disappear into his body. She’d doubled the dose not taking any chances on it not being enough. He was a big man, probably tipping the scales at over two hundred with the amount of muscle on display. The double dose might kill him. But, surprisingly she was okay with that. Served him right for hurting Lynx and threatening her, besides if she didn’t get him under control, he’d kill her or worse.

  She finished injecting him and set the empty syringe on the tray. “I need to inject the penicillin in your behind.”

  He grunted and leaned over so she could reach his ass.

  She stabbed the needle into him, really loving her job when he swore.

  “Shit, woman.”

  “Sorry.” She pulled out the needle and didn’t rub the injection site like she usually did with any other patient. No way was she touching him any more than she had to.

  “Now what are you doing?” he hollered, when she turned back to the drawers.

  “Sorry, gathering instruments to probe the wound.”

  He winced at her choice of words, which is why she’d chose them. No reason to sugarcoat anything.

  She took pleasure in dropping the wicked sharp, long tweezers on the tray and enjoyed his skin paling when she next picked up a scalpel.

  “Whoa,” he said, the gun rising again. “Is that a knife?”

  She glanced down at the scalpel in her fingers. “I guess you could call it that.” She looked at him as innocently as she could, praying she was pulling it off. “I might need it to make the entry site bigger in order to dig out the bullet.”

  “Shit.” He nodded, and she noticed his head seemed to flop more than it should. “Put it on the tray, but don’t reach for it without asking me first.”

  “Okay.” Slower, she added disinfectant, sutures, needle and bandages. “I’m going to need you to lie on your side.”

  He looked at the door and around the room, much like a cornered animal who wasn’t willing to lower his guard. “No.”

  “Listen, Pete.” She used her most convincing nurse-maid voice. “I need the light in order to investigate the wound. Your body creates a shadow. It will be more comfortable for you to lie down, and I’ll be quicker.”

  He seemed to war with himself, and then gave in and lay on his side, keeping his arm free with the gun still glued in his hand. She noticed his eyelids dip and stay closed longer than normal.

  Come on drug, do your thing.

  “What are you looking at?” he demanded, when he opened his eyes to find her watching him.

  “Nothing.” Keep working, Eva. Don’t give him a reason to suspect that you shot him up with narcotics. He was feeling the effects. She needed him to
think of another reason to explain the tiredness that would hit him any minute. “We really need to get you to a hospital. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

  Maybe she’d taken it too far or he’d finally wised up. “You bitch. Whatdaya give me?”

  The gun came up, and she knew she was toast. With nothing to lose, she made a grab for the gun. It went off, putting a nice hole in her ceiling, and had plaster raining down on them. They struggled, and she fell on him, making sure her elbow dug into his wounded side. Pete screamed, and she freed the gun from his hand.

  The door to the room slammed open against the opposing wall, and Lynx rushed in, his gun raised with another armed man in a navy and gold trooper uniform right behind him.

  Reflexes had her swinging the gun toward the new interruption.

  “Eva, honey, hand me the gun,” Lynx soothed, reaching out his hand.

  She stood frozen for a moment, the gun still trained on Lynx as Pete threatened and cursed her heritage.

  “Eva, hand me the gun.” Lynx slowly inched toward her, letting the guy standing behind him cover Pete in case he decided to give them any trouble. Lynx’s hand enclosed hers. “That’s it. Let go. I’ve got it.” He talked to her in a calming voice, like he was talking down a jumper.

  She didn’t realize how tight she was strung until Lynx had Pete’s gun and yanked her into the warmth and safety of his arms. Then she started to shake like a dried, golden birch leaf ready to fall.

  “You got this?” Lynx asked the uniform over her head.

  “What’s to get? Your woman took him out.”

  Eva disengaged herself from Lynx’s comforting arms. She wanted to stay and never leave the protective circle, but she still had a patient.

  “I drugged him up. We need to call an ambulance or air flight him to Fairbanks. I might have overdosed him.”

  “You are quite the woman,” the uniform said with an appreciative look. “No wonder Lynx is ready to call bachelor life quits.”

  “Nate,” Lynx growled the warning through his teeth.

  “What? You haven’t finalized the deal yet?” Nate turned toward Eva and gave her a smile that twinkled. “Hi, I’m Nate Lewis. And if you’d like to have dinner with me, I’d love to feed you.”

  “Back off. She only eats dinner with me.”

  “I’ve yet to eat dinner with you,” Eva said. “You stood me up, remember? Besides, I don’t belong to anyone.”

  Nate choked on his laugh, and Lynx’s expression darkened. Then he grasped Eva’s arm turning it to see better. “Are you bleeding?”

  She shook her head. “It’s not mine.”

  “Nice,” Nate said.

  “Let’s get this dirt bag out of here,” Eva said. “He’s mudding up my clinic.” Eva turned back to Pete. He was out cold but still bleeding. She moved to stanch the blood, but Lynx grabbed her arm.

  “You don’t have to do this. He held you hostage.”

  “I’m okay.”

  “You might think you are.” He held up his hand when she went to interrupt. “I can bandage him until the paramedics get here. I’m a registered veterinarian, and he’s basically an animal.”

  “Let me help. I’ll be fine. Seriously. I can do this.”

  He smiled at her with what she interpreted to be pride, and it made her heart swell with that teenage excitement. She did her best to tamp it back. There was too much going on to let an infatuation with this man stay in the forefront. “After we take care of him, and you get him out of my clinic, I need an explanation on what the hell this was all about.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Lynx returned to Chatanika after delivering the poachers to the jail in Fairbanks. The paperwork had seemed endless, and a new day had begun by the time he was finished. Pete was handcuffed to his bed in the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital with a guard stationed outside his room. Last Lynx had heard, Pete had come to cussing about the demon nurse in Chatanika. Lynx liked the description, so proud of Eva and the way she’d handled herself, though he never wanted to see her in danger again.

  That was one woman with a level head on her shoulders. And a very pretty one at that. He passed the clinic on the way to his place, badly wanting to pull in and see her. But a shower, shave, and a few hours of sleep would do him some good. He tended to get a little stupid when he didn’t get enough sleep, and he’d need all his brain cells for the conversation he knew they’d be having later.

  He parked and got out of his truck. He’d have to get it cleaned, since Pete had bled all over the front seat. For today, he’d grabbed a tarp from the precinct and covered his seat. Climbing the stairs to the deck, he felt the many hours he’d gone without rest, and entered the unlocked cabin to find Eva curled asleep on his couch.

  His heart flipped seeing her sleeping in his place. It was never clearer to him than right now that she belonged here with him. Quietly, he walked over to the couch and knelt down. She’d tossed and turned during her sleep. The blanket she’d covered herself with pooled at her waist, probably due to what she’d endured the night before. He should have had Raven come and stay with her so she wasn’t alone. He tugged the blanket up to her shoulders, tucking the edges in around her.

  Her eyes fluttered open, and his heart did that stuttering thing again. He loved this woman.

  “Hey,” she greeted.

  “Hey, yourself.”

  She went to smile, doing a half stretch when she caught site of her surroundings. Everything must have come crashing back to her, for she sat up quickly and wrapped her arms in the blanket, keeping it close to her body.

  “I’m sorry for making myself at home. It’s just after you left, I couldn’t stay at my place.”

  “I understand. I’m glad you came here. I should have called Raven, or gotten you a room at the lodge.”

  “No. I would have been mortified if everyone knew I was freaked out.”

  “Eva, you were held hostage, threatened at gunpoint. I don’t know of any civilian who could’ve handled themselves better than you did. You kept your wits about you and defeated the bad guy. Pretty ingenious of you too. Nate’s singing your praises. So am I.”

  She glanced down, her fingers plucking the material of the patchwork quilt his Grandma Coho had made for him last Christmas. “Thanks for that.”

  He tilted his head toward the bedroom. “Want to catch a few more winks with me in a more comfortable place?”

  “Uh, about that. We need to get some truths out in the open before whatever this is between us goes any further.”

  “What kind of truths?” This is not where he wanted to go. He wanted to lift her up in his arms, carry her to his bed, and after loving her, fall asleep in her arms.

  “You’re keeping a secret from me,” she accused. “The past has taught me one thing very important, never to abide secrets.”

  He really could have used some sleep before this confrontation. But he could see in her eyes how serious this was to her. How did he tell her without making her run screaming from him? He took a seat on the couch, faced her, and covered her hands with his. Looking deep into her eyes, he told her the truth. “I can talk to animals.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Can you be serious?”

  “I am.”

  “What, you’re like a Dr. Doolittle or something?” she scoffed.

  He winced. It wasn’t the first time he’d been called that. Didn’t help that he’d first gone into veterinarian science.

  “You’re being serious?” she asked as though she’d been waiting for the punch line to a joke.

  He nodded and quietly waited her out as the dots connected.

  “Okay, then why is BW stalking me?”

  “Near as I can tell, he thinks you look like a pretty flower. He’s partial to flowers.”

  “He told you that?”

  Lynx couldn’t tell if she was humoring him or giving him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe a little of both. “It’s more of an image or feeling than actual words exchanged.” That would be crazy. “And
then I went and told him I’d like to get to know you back when you first came to town. I believe he thinks he’s helping me.” This was going to sink him. He should just shut up.

  “So, he’s playing matchmaker?” Her eyelids lowered, and she freed her hands from his.

  “Kinda.” He rubbed the back of his neck and decided he might as well jump in with both feet. She could obviously see if he wasn’t telling her the whole truth. “BW and I go back a ways. I rescued him when he was born. His mother died giving him birth, and I, well, raised him.”

  “You’re the moose’s daddy?” Her brows rose in disbelief.

  “No. Maybe. He’s fond of me. He likes to check in and hang out every now and then. I asked him to stay close to town because of the poachers.”

  “You realize this is a moose we are talking about?”

  “I know.” Any minute now she’d vow never to see him again. Or worse, pack her bags and head back to Cincinnati.

  “Do you talk to more than moose?”

  He could talk to all of them including the birds in the sky. “Yeah, but I can’t seem to reason much with mama bears or wolverines.” He shrugged. “Listen, Eva, I know this sounds crazy, especially to someone from Outside, but if you live here long enough, this doesn’t seem so weird. Alaska is a magical place, and I come from a long line of Native Alaskans. Athabascan with some Tlingit mixed in there. There is...enchantment, for lack of a better word, in my lineage.”

  “Are you saying all of the Maiskis can talk to the animals?”

  “No, we each have our own gifts, and they manifest themselves in different ways.”

  “Fox?”

  “We don’t know yet. But he’s a hell of a lot smarter than most ten-year-olds.” It was downright unnatural. “I know this is a lot to comprehend, but I really like you Eva. More than like you. I’m falling in love with you.” Already fallen and landed hard. He didn’t think she was ready for all that until she’d digested his “gift.”

  She shook her head. “One thing at a time.” She rubbed her face and stood up. “I need caffeine. Lots of it.”

  “Eva—”

  She held out her hand to stop him as he got to his feet and reached for her. “I don’t know what’s worse. Loving a man who loves men or loving a man who thinks he talks to animals.”