Page 11 of Slick

I glance at Diana before saying, “Can we just list him as a John Doe?”

“None of this is going on record,” Ben mutters, then shakes his head as he stares down at his newest patient. The alpha is naked except for the leather coat, but we’ve both had patients present to the ER in less, so other than a raised eyebrow, my friend doesn’t comment.

The gurney is the newest thing in this part of the hospital, since it was technically closed down a decade ago. The battle against rising damp, old pipes, and faulty electrics just got too expensive for the administrators to keep fighting, especially when they needed every spare dollar for extra beds upstairs. It means we’re working with the bare minimum in terms of a trauma room, and I notice Diana looking around with doubtful eyes as we hurry down the faded green corridor.

“You’re going to have to assist,” Ben says when we reach the room he’s set up. I think he’s stating the obvious until he turns to Diana. “We can take care of the bullet wound, but holding your alpha’s hand will go a long way to helping him get through this.”

“Anything,” she murmurs, and shuffles in closer as Ben starts his admission process – checking vitals, then locating the origin of the blood loss. All the while, Diana clings to her alpha like he’s going to disappear if she lets go.

“Through and through,” Ben says, sounding relieved as he swaps out the gauze pad and directs me to start supplemental oxygen and IV access. “We should X-ray this, but I’m assuming you just want a quick patch job?”

“Just get him stable,” I reply, feeling more than a twinge of guilt. Providing unofficial care to a patient in the basement is bad enough, without all the other stuff I’ve dragged to his doorstep.

We work side-by-side until he says, “Who is he?”

“Unknown,” I mutter, earning a sharp glance from my friend. “He was in the… Serenity Center.”

I stumble over the name, since there’s nothing serene about the facility we just broke out of, but Ben knows enough to put the pieces together. He doesn’t say anything, though, and we eventually finish up, washing our hands in an old sink in the corner.

When we return, Diana is still clinging to Kane’s hand, her scent harsh with fear. “Why isn’t he waking up?”

“The body often needs to rest after trauma of this kind,” Ben says gently. He’s snapped on a new pair of gloves, and he touches her shoulder to turn her towards him. “Now, are you ready to show me what happened to you?”

But Diana brushes him off just as gently. “Thank you, but I’m fine.”

Ben frowns at her bloodstained appearance, and I nod back at the cot. “He used his magic knot to fix her up.”

“Jesus, Dex.” Ben grabs my arm and drags me over to a dusty corner. Diana could probably still hear us over the creaking pipes, but all of her attention is on her alpha. “Are you telling me they just mated? Like right then?”

“In the backseat of that goonmobile outside.”

“Damn.” He sounds both shocked and curious. As betas, mating isn’t something we give much thought to, but as medical professionals, a miracle is a miracle, and it’s obvious he’s intrigued. “You watched?”

“Idrove.” He snorts at my sour tone, and I shrug. “I can give you the highlights if you need them for his chart.”

“I’m sure they’re burned into your brain, but no.” He turns to study them for a moment, and when he glances back at me, there’s a glimmer of sympathy in his eyes. “She’s who I think she is, right?”

The NDA I signed kept me from giving Ben too many details about the facility, but Diana’s name might have slipped out once or twice. “Yeah.”

“Which means she’s also extremely valuable. And not just to the guy on the gurney.” I can feel my mouth tighten into a grim line, and he sighs. “So, they’ll come looking for her?”

“We’re going to lie low for a bit. If they come here, you can say he was dropped off at your door, driver unseen. But if they get their hands on Diana, she goes back to the facility and the rest of us are dead.”

“Jesus.” He scrubs a hand across his forehead. “Well, thanks for picking my hospital basement to come bleed all over.”

I grimace, but he just shakes off his dark mood, which is one of the things I love about Ben. Years in the ER means he can roll with just about any fucked-up situation. “That amount of blood loss wouldn’t usually be an issue for an alpha of his size, but the power exchange could have him out for a couple of days. You really think you can keep them apart that long?”

I glance back at the cot to find Diana asleep on her alpha. I’m not sure if it’s a good sign or not that he has tucked an arm around her while he’s out. “I’ll do whatever’s necessary to keep her safe.”

Ben just sighs. “If you value my advice, you’ll put some distance between you and these two. They’re not going to give you anything but trouble.”

“You gotta admit, it keeps life interesting,” I mutter, because how can I tell him that there’s no going back for me now? Betas don’t get mixed up in alpha and omega business, but Diana ismybusiness, and I don’t plan on stepping aside in a hurry.

“Hmmm.” Ben is clearly skeptical, but he knows me well enough not to argue, digging in his coat pocket for his keys. “You remember my apartment code?”

“Don’t need it.” I wave off his keys, walking over to collect Diana from the cot. “I’ll get rid of the car, but it’s best if you don’t know more than that.” He doesn’t look pleased, but he doesn’t fight me, either. Instead, he helps me get Diana onto a spare cot, pausing to gently brush her hair off her face. Even bloodstained and drugged, she looks like a sleeping angel, and I see that flicker of sympathy in his eyes again. “I know you care about her, Dex, but she’s not worth dying over.”

I just grunt and start wheeling her towards the door. “We’ll be back in a couple of days to check on him. If he wakes before then…”

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