by E. M. Leya
"Hello?" he called.
When no one answered, he tried to find the latch to the belt around his waist, but couldn't reach far enough down the side of the slab. He cursed as he rubbed his hands over the bandages that covered his stomach and hip. He was still in merman form and didn't dare try to shift without the doctor with him.
He rolled his head to the side, trying to see around him. There wasn't much to see. The cave chamber was small, and only a single tree stump stool and several furs sat to the side of the room. A small stone table, covered with medical supplies at the foot of the bed.
"Anyone there?" he called louder.
"You're awake." Barron appeared in the chamber entrance. "You scared me to death, Randy. You didn't need to go and get yourself nearly killed to get me to stay. You could have just asked."
Randy grinned at his youngest brother. Barron was a historian and traveled around the world, visiting clans and recording histories. He'd been home for almost a year now, and had talked of leaving this week to continue his exploration. "I'm fine. You don't need to stay for my sorry ass."
"I'm not leaving until I know you are okay." Barron pulled the tree stump closer to the bed and sat down. "How are you feeling?"
Randy combed his fingers through his long, brown hair and cringed as they caught in the tangled mess. "I'm alive. That's better than I thought I would be when I saw that shark coming at me."
"You fool. What were you thinking when you cut yourself." Barron reached over and pinched Randy's arm. "I should kill you myself for doing something so stupid."
"Hey! I'm injured here." Randy slapped Barron's hand away. "I didn't have a choice. If I hadn't, the shark would have killed several of the younger ones."
Barron shook his head. "I've never been so worried in my life."
"You have three other brothers to torture if I die."
Barron grinned. "They aren't as enjoyable as you. You get worked up more than they do."
"Ah, you're finally awake." Tevon walked into the chamber. He looked tired. His long, brown hair was tied back behind his head, but several strands had fallen from the tie and now hung over his shoulders. His eyes, usually bright and cheerful, appeared heavy and dark.
"Hey, Doc." Randy reached for the belt around his waist. "Can we get this off?"
"Been trying to move already?" Tevon came to stand beside Barron.
"I just wanted to roll on my side. My ass is numb."
"It should be with the amount of pain killer I pumped into you." Tevon reached for the strap and undid it from the stone slab. "You have to promise me you won't try and stand once you shift back to human form. Your hip won't support you, and you will only damage the bone and muscle more."
"Can I shift now then?" Randy glanced up at the doctor.
"Yes. If you feel strong enough." Tevon reached out and pulled the fur from on top of Randy's body. "Don't force it if you are still too weak."
Randy nodded. "I feel okay. Think that stuff still has me numb." It was a lie, but he wasn't about to risk having to stay still longer.
"The effects will last for a few more hours. When it starts to wear off I want you to let me or Melan know so we can give you more. Don't try and deal with the pain. Your body needs to heal and it won't do that if you are hurting."
"You don't know Randy very well, Doc. He will suffer it out before he will admit he hurts." Barron stood and stepped back.
"He better not. The only way he is going to heal is if he gives his body time." Tevon nodded. "Go ahead and try and shift."
Randy took a deep breath, ready for pain. He remembered shifting once when he was younger after being injured by a steel rod at a dive site. He figured this would be a lot worse. Closing his eyes, he willed the change. His body stirred, but he felt no pain as he shifted. Opening his eyes, he let out a relieved sigh.
"Good. That will help you heal faster. Something about the shift causes the body to mend faster. In a day or two we will get you to the pool and have you shift again so you can soak." Tevon reached over his naked body and pulled back one of the bandages to look at the wound. "Hurting at all?"
"Like it's bruised, but not really pain. Just tender, some burning." There was no shame being naked in front of others. His people often walked around naked after shifting.
"It will turn to pain as the drug wears off." Tevon returned the fur to Randy's body, covering him from chin to toe.
"I'll be here and make sure he is okay, Doc. Why don't you go rest?" Barron stepped up to the bed.
"You sure?" Tevon glanced over at Barron with tired eyes.
"Yep. Sage and Everest are talking to Heath now. I'm sure all three of them will be over soon. We will take care of him and come get you should he need anything."
Randy frowned and playfully grabbed onto Tevon's robe. "Don't leave me with them, Doc. They won't let me hear the end of it."
Barron rolled his eyes. "It's not like we are going to kick your ass. We'll wait until you're better to do that."
"No one will be kicking anyone's ass." Tevon cast a hard glare at Randy. "Even if he does deserve it. As stupid as he was cutting himself, he probably did save a couple other lives. He's just damn lucky he didn't get himself killed in the process."
Randy sighed, closing his eyes. At the time, he was sure he would die, and somehow in the few seconds before the shark attacked him, he had time to come to peace with dying. Now that he lived, he wasn't quite sure how to take things. "One death is better than several others."
"Not when it's my brother's." Sage stepped into the chamber.
Randy opened his eyes and sighed. "Any one of you would have done the same thing." He reached for his brother's hand. "You didn't have to come." Sage was his eldest brother and in charge of the teams working the digs on old shipwrecks around the ocean. He lived inland with his human boyfriend.
"The hell I didn't." Sage bent down and gently hugged Randy. "When I got the message, we didn't know just how bad it was."
Randy wasn't sure how to take all the attention. "You see I'm okay, you can go back to Gary."
"Gary will be fine without me for a few hours. Everest and Heath are helping butcher the shark that attacked you. The men took it down almost instantly when they saw it had hold of you," Sage told him.
"Good. I'm glad they got the bastard." Randy glanced back and forth between Sage and Barron. "You two should be helping them."
"No, we should be here with you so Tevon can sleep." Barron gave the doctor's shoulder a squeeze. "We won't leave him alone. Go rest."
Tevon wiped his hand down his face and nodded. "I think I will. If he is in any pain or has any problems, come get me. Don't let him sit up or roll to his side. He needs to keep that hip straight for a couple days."
Randy sighed. He would go nuts lying around for days on end. "You can't be serious. I can't just lay here."
Tevon shook his head, his eyes deadly serious. "I'm not kidding. You can't move for a few days, and you won't be walking for probably a couple weeks. This is severe, Randy. You might feel like you can take on the world, but if you do anymore damage to your hip, there is no guarantee you will walk ever again. You have to take this seriously."
Randy bit back a curse. There was no point in arguing now when he couldn't move anyway. With his brothers here, he wouldn't put it past them to tie him back down to make sure he stayed still. "I'm not going to risk anything. Go rest. Later you can explain to me exactly what damage the shark did to me."
A troubled look passed over Tevon's face as he placed his hand on Randy's shoulder. "That will be a long conversation." He turned to Barron and Sage. "He can have fluids, but nothing solid yet. I want to give his bowels a few days to heal. Don't let him talk you into anything solid." He cast a warning glance at Randy.
Randy was too weak to argue. With a small nod, he gave the doctor his most innocent face and then smiled. "Honestly, thanks, Doc. I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you."
"You rest, too. Sleep is your best friend right n
ow." Tevon waved to the others and left the chamber.
Randy watched him go before looking back at Sage and Barron. "You guys can go, too. I don't need a babysitter." He wasn't used to the attention and the sooner things were back to normal, the better.
"One of us will be here until the doc wakes up." Sage moved to sit at the foot of the stone bed. "Besides, Heath wants a full report from you on what happened. The others gave him a run down, but they were pretty shook up after watching you get attacked."
Randy sighed. "Some of those kids have only been transitioned for a week. Not a great way to introduce them to the clan."
"Best they know the trials upfront." Heath walked into the room, followed by Everest.
Heath might now be king, but he would always be his brother first. Randy raised his head and smiled. "You two gut that damn shark?"
Everest laughed as he opened his hand and showed Randy a handful of bloody teeth. "We saved the best for you. Thought it would make you a great necklace."
Randy grinned as he reached out and took one of the teeth from Everest's hand. He looked at the large tooth and nodded. "I will wear it with pride."
Everest spent most his time inland, living among the humans. He ran the coral shop on the coast and found it easier to live in a small apartment near his shop. Randy missed seeing him as much as he used to, but he understood how much easier it was for him to live close to his work.
He lived near Sage, who had recently bought a house with his lover, Gary. Randy still found it hard to believe the once future king, now enjoyed a simple life living with a human. His mate Gary was one of the few humans who knew of the merman's existence. Still, having his brothers live away from the clan still took getting used to.
Heath reached for a tooth and held it between his thumb and another finger. "He was huge. I haven't seen one this close to the caves in years. We need to keep an eye out for others. Make sure this was a random case and something didn't attract him in."
"I thought we would be safe there. We weren't too far from the caves. Some of the boys just learned to shift and I was teaching them how to hunt. You know I take their safety seriously." Randy rubbed his hand over his jaw. "He came out of nowhere. We had no warning. He went right for the boys. I tried to distract him. The only way I could save them was to draw the shark to me."
"I want to be so mad at you for slicing yourself, but I know any one of us would have done the same thing to save those kids." Everest reached over and ran his finger over Randy's bandaged arm. "We almost lost you today."
Randy closed his eyes. There was nothing to say to that. It was the truth. He came seconds from death. Somehow, his life felt different now. All the things he thought important before didn't really seem to matter. As he opened his eyes and looked at the worried expressions of his brothers. He knew what mattered. Family, friends, and making sure everything he did in his life now made a difference. The feelings were too fresh for him to really understand them, but something was different. He was different. "I was willing to die to save them." Randy sighed, closing his eyes again.
"I know, and you are a hero for it." Heath told him. "Rest now. I'll drag these guys out of here and let you sleep. We will discuss it all later when you are stronger."
Randy nodded, sleep already pulling him under. The last thing he heard was Sage saying he would stay, and the others leaving the chamber.
CHAPTER FOUR
Tevon glanced at the clock as he woke. He jumped up, suddenly wide awake, seeing he'd been asleep for four hours. He had a patient just out of surgery. There wasn't time for long naps. Angry that he slept so long he tossed some water over his face, quickly changed his robe and headed from his chamber to the medical center of the cave.
Of all cases to fuck up, it would be the king's brother. He brushed his hand through his uncombed hair as he stepped into the patient's chamber. He smiled, seeing the patient asleep and his brother Everest with his head resting on a pile of furs on the stone bed.
He slowed his pace as he made his way to Randy's bedside, not wanting to wake either brother. Going around the other side of the bed, he watched Randy's breathing to make sure he wasn't having any complications. It was rare for his people to have problems after surgery. If they made it through the initial injury, things usually went well after. They healed faster than humans did, but with injuries like Randy had, and bones that were crushed and broken like his, Tevon worried this might be the one case to throw a complication his way.
Checking the pulse in Randy's foot, he took a moment to really look at the man. He was strong. His arms and chest thick from years of training and teaching the new clan members how to swim, fight, and protect themselves in the ocean. His long, brown hair was just a shade lighter than black and he guessed it would reach the middle of his back if he was standing. At the moment, it lay in a matted mess around his head.
His chest was tan, covered with a thin mass of hair, something that was rare for the people. Very few mermen had body hair. Tevon resisted the urge to reach up and run his fingers through it. Quickly, he recovered Randy with the fur as his face heated for even having any attraction to a patient. He always had liked men more than human women, and enjoyed a night or two with some of the other clan members from time to time, but never before had he let himself become attracted to one of his patients.
As he placed the fur back over him, it caused Randy to stir. His eyes opened and he blinked several times.
Tevon put his finger to his lips and pointed to Everest asleep on the edge of the slab. "You in pain?" he whispered.
Randy shook his head. "Not bad."
"No point in being in any. I'll give you another shot to keep it from getting worse. Trust me, you don't want the medication to wear off. I'm going to check your arm." He tugged the bandage loose and ran his finger over the already healing cut. As he continued to hold Randy's arm, he glanced up meeting Randy's gaze. "You heal fast. Faster than most. You are lucky."
Randy lifted his arm and looked at the scabbed wound and stitches that covered it. "Will it scar?"
"I'm afraid you might have some scaring. On your hips, stomach, and…" He let his voice trail off, unsure if Randy was ready to hear the extent of the damage.
"And?" Randy's eyes went wide.
Tevon took a deep breath. He needed to talk to the patient alone. There were certain things he wouldn't discuss with anyone else around, even if it was family. "When we have a chance to talk alone, I will tell you the full extent of your injuries. You should heal fine. It's nothing to worry about. There was a lot of damage."
Randy cursed and tossed back the fur as his hand went to his groin. It was covered in thick bandages and he started to pull at the tape holding the gauze in place.
"Easy." Tevon grabbed his hands. "I'll let you see it all when I change the bandages. Now's not the time." He nodded to Everest who was sitting up, rubbing his eyes.
Randy sighed, but allowed Tevon to cover him once again with the fur. He bit his lip as he blinked at Tevon. "It's there?"
Tevon smiled at Randy, understanding his fear that his penis was injured. "Yes, it's there." He glanced over at Everest. "Sorry to wake you. I didn't mean to be gone for so long. I apologize."
Everest pulled his long blond hair back from his face. "You needed the rest, Doc. We don't mind trading off and keeping an eye on him. He slept the whole time."
"Well, I still should have been here." Tevon adjusted the IV that hung over the bed. "Why don't you head out and get some rest? I'm going to be here the next few hours. I think after that he'll be fine on his own. He's out of risk now. We just have to keep him from getting restless the next few weeks and getting bored."
"Oh, that'll be easy. I'll talk to Heath and have him send over some books on shark fighting." Everest winked.
"Shit. No more sharks," Randy groaned. "If I never see another it will be too soon."
"I'm sure we can find things to keep him entertained." Tevon once again wished they were among the humans and he cou
ld at least offer his patient a TV. He did have a small battery operated radio he could use. He glanced around, wondering where he put it.
"The boys you saved wanted to visit you. I told them to hold off a couple days while you healed." Everest stood, pushing the stool back with his foot. "You need me to bring you anything?" He reached up and pulled gently on Randy's hair.
"Nah, I'm good for now. Just tired. Probably sleep most the time away the next few days. After that, I might have you bring me a book or something. Sage had one back at his and Gary's place that looked good. See if he's done with it yet." Randy tried to turn to his side.
"Hey, none of that. You've got to stay flat for a while. You'll mess up your hip if you don't." Tevon laid a hand on him.
Everest laughed. "Glad you get to deal with him and not me, Doc. I'll see about that book. Send someone to us if you need anything. Sage and I are staying the night just to make sure you're okay."
Randy shook his head. "Go home. I'll be fine. There is no sense in you two staying."
"We just want to make sure. Believe it or not we love you." Everest blew him a kiss.
Randy raised his hand and flipped him off. "I'll remind you of that the next time you two decide to put crabs in my bed."
Tevon frowned. "They didn't?"
"Yep. A full dozen baby crabs. And like a fool, I climbed into bed without even looking. Could have used some of your painkillers that day."
Tevon laughed as Everest left. "I guess I should be happy I'm an only child."
"You have no idea." Randy motioned to the table beside the bed. "Can you hand me that water?"
"Sure thing." He grabbed the cup and slid his hand behind Randy's head to help him sit up a bit to drink.
Randy took several swallows, then nodded. "Thanks. So now that my brothers gone, you going to tell me what's wrong with my cock?"
