Page 19 of Innocent Bratva Virgin

I just looked up at her from my position on the floor, nodding a silent “Hey.”

Chapter 9 - Emory

I’d been deep in notes for another patient when Vlad came tumbling into my office. Adrenaline spiked as I hurried to his side, and I was immediately struck by what he was wearing.

“Are you wearing a janitor's clothes? What’s going on?”

His brow was dotted with sweat, and when he flipped over onto his back, clearly exhausted, a faint red spot was growing on his hip. My stomach dropped when I pieced together what I was looking at, and I went straight for the zipper of the jumpsuit.

“Holy shit! Are you bleeding?”

Vlad met my eyes, but he was having trouble focusing, and all he was able to give me was a subtle nod. It couldn’t be good if he were losing consciousness, and as much as I had a million other burning questions in my mind, I knew that time was of the essence.

My stomach clenched. I needed to see what we were dealing with, which was precisely why I didn’t become a doctor.

I hate blood.

With shaking fingers, I pulled the zipper down over Vlad’s broad chest. His breathing was really fast and shallow. I’d grown up with doctors, and despite not being any good in the field myself, I knew a thing or two. With accelerated breathing and heart rate, sweating, and losing color in his face, Vlad was showing all the signs of blood loss.

“Okay, okay. We’ll get this figured out. Just hang on.”

I wasn’t sure if I was talking to him or myself. The reality that I was dealing with a bleeding patient in my office was fartoo fucking weird, and I tried to focus on getting the jumpsuit off him.

The top was easy enough to get off, and Vlad even helped to a degree. Peeling the fabric away from the injury site posed the biggest problem. My guts churned, and I forced myself to breathe through my mouth to avoid that coppery smell of blood.

I pulled the fabric away, and Vlad let out a barely audible hiss. The fact that he’d made a sound at all, however, was enough to know that he was in a lot of pain. The gore revealed nearly had me throwing up, but I choked it back. It was a deep gash that looked like a massive claw mark or slash.

Knowing that werewolves weren’t, in fact, real, I had to assume that a huge knife or weapon did this.

“Did someone slash you with a knife?”

Vlad shook his head and then struggled to hold up a hand, pointing it forward like a gun and performing the accompanying firing motion.

“You were shot?” My eyes flared wide.

He just nodded, his skin clammy and cold where I held the back of his neck.

“Jesus Christ, Vlad. We need to get you to a doctor. This is too much blood. I can’t—”

But before I could finish, he just passed out, his head going limp in my lap. Time froze as my breath burned in my chest. I needed to do something.

Now.

“Okay, I’m taking you in.”

However, that was a lot easier said than done. The nearest hospital was quite close, but getting the six-foot-two, two-hundred-pound man down the elevator and into my car was hell. Antoinette was dealing with some fire in the trash when I tried to go and ask her for help, and if it weren’t for that janitorial outfit, I wouldn’t have had the best idea of my life.

I rushed down the shorter hall across from my office and snagged the large rolling cart kept in the supply closet. Getting it to my office, I was able to lift Vlad onto the cart with a bit of help from him when the pain forced him to surface into consciousness momentarily.

The trek down the hall and to the elevator was significantly easier with him on the cart, and I didn’t stop to answer any of Antoinette’s questions.

“I’m sorry! It’s an emergency. I’ll have answers when I get back!”

“Of course! Go!”

She really was a wonderful person. I got Vlad down the elevator and to my car. Getting him inside was a challenge, but I managed, and then we were flying across the few blocks to the hospital.

I pulled right up to the emergency bay when we arrived. Practically leaping from the car, I rushed toward the doors and cried out for one of the nurses or doctors to help me.

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