Dragon's Prisoner: A Curvy Girl Military Romance (Dragon Blaze Ops Book 4) Read online

  She slapped away the hands coming at her and darted for the bedroom. Adam wasn’t in sight and so that was where he had to be.

  He lay on the bed, his breathing shallow, his hands limp by his side.

  “What happened?” she demanded, dropping to his side. She pulled back the lids of his eyes, relieved to find that neither was dilated. She found his pulse and more relief—it was steady and strong. Elevated, but not too bad.

  “He was hit in his face and as he went down, he hit his head,” Maura said. “We stabilized his head and neck before moving him, but I’m not this kind of a doctor.”

  “Aren’t you a doctor?” Karey glanced at Fiona.

  “Not this kind.”

  Karey glared at both of them. If she didn’t have other things to worry about, she would have asked just how Adam had gotten hit in the face. She shoved her suspicions aside as she checked him as best as she could. They shouldn’t have moved him. They didn’t have the equipment to stabilize his head and neck properly. When she pricked his feet with a pin and got a flinch in return, though, she let out a sigh of relief.

  “He needs to go to a hospital. How long has he been out?”

  “A few minutes.”

  That wasn’t a good sign. Even if he didn’t have the signs of a bad concussion, the fact that he was still unconscious could only mean there was something bad happening. Karey checked his pulse again, trying desperately to think of what she could do now to help him. She owed him that much.

  “When was his last injection?”

  “Half an hour ago.”

  Karey let out a swear that would have earned her a slap from her father. They didn’t have time for it to wear off. And it was going to take at least four hours for the dragons to get the equipment they needed and bring it back for him. She dug her hands into her hair. Four hours and then another two to get him to a hospital. By that time, the blockers would be wearing off and his fires would be healing him—if he was still alive.

  “Which one of you is the fastest flyer?” She turned to the dragons.

  The smallest of them rose his hand.

  “Get to the nearest hospital. Get a stretcher and a cervical collar. We can’t move him without the proper equipment. If he’s had spinal injuries, flying him around without having him secure could kill him. Go as fast as you can. I can’t tell if this is getting worse or not, but he’s still unconscious and that is very serious. Go. Now!”

  The dragon nodded and took off. Karey turned back to Adam, holding his hand tightly as she continued to check his pulse. It was difficult to determine with the furious beating of her own heart.

  They were getting the equipment needed to move him, but what could she do in the meantime? She took a deep breath, then climbed onto the bed. She stabilized Adam’s head between her knees, preventing him from moving if he started to regain consciousness. She should have done this to start with.

  Father was right. Medical training was wasted on me. I’m useless and—

  Karey cut off that spiraling thought. Hating herself wasn’t going to help Adam. He wasn’t bleeding visibly, but she couldn’t bear to think about what might be going on in his brain. How much blood and pressure could be building up there—

  Wait.

  Blood.

  “There might be something we can do.”

  Stephen pressed a little closer. “What?”

  “There’s an old wives’ tale in the Pack. That vampires are a perversion of ancient shifter remedies. It’s said that shifters used to be respected healers all across the world.” And that it was humans’ jealousy and desire to control them that made up the story of vampires, so they’d have an excuse to drive stakes into the hearts of whoever they didn’t think belonged. “If a human was injured or sick, they could drink the blood of a shifter and it’d heal them.”

  Stephen growled. “How does that help us?”

  “Before Utopia, my father did experiments with blood transfusions and it always made humans heal faster for a period of time. If we can give Adam blood from you who don’t have blockers in your system, it might kickstart something in him.”

  They glanced at each other, disgust, disbelief and worry on their faces.

  Karey snarled low. She understood them not trusting her. Fine. But when Adam’s life was on the line, how could they be so hesitant?

  “He was shot in the throat and survived,” she snapped at Maura. “Do you really want him to die here because you won’t try something that you think is weird?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then get a knife and feed him your damn blood!”

  Maura gestured to Patrick, who pulled a large knife out of his belt. It would have been a terrifying sight, only it was drawn over his own wrist. Karey grimaced as blood oozed through the broken skin. The sight made her feel slightly nauseated. Her mother’s wrists had bled like that when she took the blockers and…

  She pushed it aside. “Now feed him your blood.”

  Patrick pressed his bleeding wrist to Adam’s mouth. Karey’s heart beat harder. What if she was wrong? What if this was only going to make Adam choke? What if this killed him?

  But as the first drops of blood splattered his lips, his eyes fluttered open. One of his hands rose, then dropped again. He grimaced, but Patrick’s wrist was already bleeding into his mouth. Karey held her breath as he swallowed.

  “How much?” Patrick asked, his voice tense.

  Karey opened her mouth then closed it. How much indeed? She had no idea! Silence stretched on and she shook herself, forcing herself to concentrate. “Keep going until you heal.”

  Adam grimaced. He pushed Patrick’s wrist away, but Karey pulled it back and pressed it back over Adam’s mouth. They both glared at her, but she only put her hands on Adam’s shoulders, keeping him from trying to sit and shook her head.

  “I’m the nurse here. You keep drinking that blood until I tell you to stop.”

  Several minutes went by before Patrick’s wrist had healed itself. He pulled back as Fiona came to help him clean himself up. Adam’s lips were stained red, and he looked utterly disgusted. He tried to move away from her again, but Karey didn’t let him.

  “You are going to stay still until we’re able to take you to the hospital. I don’t care if you feel okay, we are not taking any chances here.” She narrowed her eyes at him until he dropped his hands back to his sides.

  Adam sighed. “You know, when I thought about my head being between your thighs again, I didn’t think it’d be like this.”

  Karey’s cheeks flared with heat. “Not the time for that, either,” she squeaked.

  “But all you have to do is—”

  “That’s enough.” Karey wished she could just melt away and hide beneath the floorboards. “I think you must be concussed to be talking like that in front of your teammates.”

  Adam blinked. “Oh, are they here? Well, I don’t want them to watch.”

  Stephen burst out laughing. Liam and Eugene grabbed his arms and dragged him out. Patrick tapped Karey’s shoulder.

  “I think it might be best if one of us keeps him stable now.”

  Karey hesitated. On one hand, Patrick might be right. With Adam in this condition, she should be in a position where she could check his condition a little easier. Not to mention staying like this for several hours was going to be difficult. On the other hand, she was certain if she left now, she’d just be put back in the basement and how could she help then?

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said with more confidence than she felt. “It’ll jar him too much if we try to change who’s stabilizing him. So I’ll stay as long as I can. Once I’m too uncomfortable, then we’ll change.”

  Patrick still looked suspicious, but Maura nodded. Adam hummed, his eyes starting to flutter shut. There was no way Karey was going to let him fall asleep again, not when they had just gotten him awake. She tapped his cheek, leaning down over him.

  “Stay awake. I know you’re tired, but you have t
o stay awake for me, okay? You’ve suffered a bad blow, and you need to stay awake.”

  Adam let out a sigh. “But I don’t want you to go. If I’m dying maybe they’ll respect my final wishes and not send you back.”

  Ice flooded her veins. So, they were sending her back. To face her father, whatever he had planned for her. She was certain he’d punish her for being kidnapped in the first place, no matter what else happened. For a moment, the world spun away and all she could think of was being sent back. The best she could hope for was a life where she was kept at home, barefoot and pregnant, for the rest of her life.

  There would be no more times just sitting and reading. Watching TV. Playing some silly made-up card game with Adam. Talking with Adam. Laughing with Adam. There would be no Adam. There’d be no Karey, either. She wasn’t a person in the Pack.

  Adam reached for her face, but Patrick took his hand and pressed it back into the bed. “You shouldn’t move.”

  “He’s right,” Karey said and hated how her voice broke. She cleared her throat, realized there was a tear on her cheek and wiped it away, then focused on Adam again. “Stay still. I don’t want you getting hurt anymore than you have to.”

  And I’ll figure out what I’m going to do later, when you can’t see. When I don’t have to worry about anybody calling me weak for not knowing how to get away from my father without you.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Karey was right about drinking Patrick’s blood. It really did kickstart the return of his own fires. It was fairly disgusting, and Adam tried his best not to think about it—although he had to wonder, did this make him a vampire or a cannibal? Not that it mattered much. What mattered was that he wasn’t killed because Stephen hit him.

  Stephen, it was clear, felt terribly guilty for the whole situation. He apologized a dozen times, even though Adam told him it was fine. If he wasn’t on blockers, he could have shaken off that blow like it was nothing.

  Being on blockers, though… while the initial blow did a number on him, what really got him was hitting his head on the way down. His fires were returning by the time Evan returned with the things Karey sent him for, and he felt almost back to his old self when they reached the hospital. After Karey explained to the doctors how long he’d been unconscious, though, they insisted on taking a bunch of tests.

  It wasn’t long before Dr. Erica Bennet showed up, Cooper by her side. After taking a look at his charts, Erica advised Maura to keep Adam in the hospital and put him back on the blockers. He was healed enough, it seemed, to be out of danger so he could have his advanced healing taken away but not so healed to be taken out of observation.

  Unless it was just a plot to keep him here, so that he couldn’t stop them from handing Karey over to the Pack again.

  Adam swung out of the narrow bed. It was too small for his muscular body, and he nearly toppled off just turning over. He slipped his feet into the hospital slippers and pulled on the long overcoat that Stephen had brought him. They were keeping him in the hospital gown—barf—and he didn’t want everybody to see his butt.

  As he headed for the door, though, it swung open. Stephen came in, carrying two cups of coffee. He frowned when he saw Adam up.

  “Get back into bed,” he snapped. “The last thing you need is to fall down and hit your head again.”

  His balance did feel a little off, but Adam strode toward the door. “I have to talk to Patrick and Fiona. They’ll be able to make Maura see reason.”

  “Adam.”

  “Don’t! It’s a mistake to hand Karey back over to the Pack, and I’m going to make sure they don’t make that mistake.” Adam shook his head, regretting it instantly as a dull throb wound around his skull like a snake, squeezing his brain. “Get out of my way, Stephen. She’s not going back there. I won’t let them do that to her.”

  Stephen walked past him to put the coffee down. Adam had barely reached the door, though, before Stephen caught him again.

  “Adam, it’s too late for that.”

  Adam tried to pull away, but his arms were weaker than normal. Damn these blockers! Why did they have to put him back on them? It wasn’t like he was going to go on a rampage! But then Stephen’s words hit home. Too late. His body went even colder than it already was. He staggered, slumping into Stephen.

  “No.”

  “I’m sorry.” Stephen tugged him back toward the bed. “But the Alpha contacted us and told us to give her back or he’d start killing people today. That’s not enough time to protect them. We didn’t have a choice.”

  Adam snarled even as his heart sank to somewhere around his toes. “Bullshit! There was a choice. You just chose to throw Karey under the bus. We have to get her back; she can’t go back to that monster. You don’t know what he’ll do to her!”

  “Adam.” Stephen forcibly pushed him back onto the bed. “You can’t go anywhere. You still have a concussion, and if you could see the way you were staggering around, you’d know you’re not in any condition to leave this room.”

  “Then get Maura to come here so I can yell at her. It’s not right!”

  Stephen held him in place, ridiculously easily. Adam snarled in frustration. When had he become so weak? He whacked one of Stephen’s hands off him, but Stephen responded by picking Adam’s legs up and putting him all the way back onto the bed. Adam made to roll off the other side, but the crib-like siding was up over there and he didn’t make it before Stephen grabbed him and pulled him back.

  “Stop fucking touching me!” Adam snarled at him.

  Stephen held up both his hands but glared right back. “Then stop trying to fucking hurt yourself! Shit, man. You don’t think that this is hard enough for me? You nearly died before and then I went and nearly killed you again. Just stay the fuck where you are so you can be properly taken care of.”

  “Stop them from giving me the blockers, and I’ll be fine by sundown,” Adam shot back. “You think someone who can survive a bullet through his throat can’t survive a little tap on the head? If I had my fires—”

  “I’m not the one in charge of that.”

  “Then go get—”

  Stephen barked out a laugh. “I’m not going anywhere. Not when it’s already proven that you’re not thinking straight here. If I left this room you’d be trying to walk around and hitting your head and fracturing your skull again. Then you’d bleed out internally or your brain would get squished and you’d die, and it’d be my fault.”

  There was no mistaking the guilt in Stephen’s voice. Adam glared at him for a bit longer before he sagged back into the bed. Fine. If Stephen really felt that bad and if he was really that worried, then he would just lie here and use that to his advantage. Get him to bring Karey back, if nobody else would.

  “Handing Karey back over to the Pack was wrong. She was asking us for help. What we just told her is that she can’t trust anybody but the Alpha. Do you think she’s ever going to be able to get away from him now? We just took away her only chance at escape. Do you think she’s ever going to trust anybody enough to fight against the Alpha now?”

  “That isn’t our responsibility.”

  “Like hell it isn’t.”

  Stephen narrowed his eyes at Adam. “It’s not. Our responsibility is to look at the big picture. To put the good of many over the good of one. We had to think about the lives of the students and their families as well. If Karey is genuine then I feel sorry for her, but that’s not a risk we were able to take.”

  Adam would have liked to sock Stephen in the jaw for that. He clenched his jaw tightly, forcing himself to breathe evenly. Otherwise, this pain in his brain was too much to deal with. One thing was certain, though—he was in no state to go save Karey himself. That had to be why they put him on the blockers. They didn’t trust him to be the good little soldier that always followed orders. Even though he was the one who more often than not referred to the others by their ranks. Even though he was the one who always followed the rules.

  Well… until recently.<
br />
  A grimace crossed his face. Maybe they were right not to trust him. He hadn’t been acting like himself. He never broke the rules and yet with Karey, he had. And not just little rules that didn’t mean anything. He broke the big rules. The rules that nobody should ever bend. Even before that, he’d been being stupid—leaving her alone without the blockers while he went to report in? So what if he didn’t know that she had fires. He never should have left her unsupervised in the first place, should never have agreed to take her off the blockers at all.

  He scrubbed his face with his palms, trying to think straight. The good of the many over the good of one. That was how he justified attempting to Stockholm Syndrome Karey, wasn’t it? And… he was successful.

  “Oh, god…” he moaned.

  Stephen leaned forward, alarm in his eyes. “What is it? Do you need a doctor?”

  “No.”

  “Then what—”

  “Stockholm Syndrome. It’s the only reason she wanted to…” He stared up at the ceiling, hating himself. “Why was I so stupid? Why didn’t I think… I took advantage of her. She’s right not to trust us. She’s right not to trust me; I should never have touched her. Even if she said that she wanted me to, even if the reasons she gave were—"

  Stephen put a hand over his mouth. “Stop. I saw the tapes. Maybe she did ask you to help her because she was getting Stockholm Syndrome, but I don’t believe it. If anything, you agreed because of reverse Stockholm Syndrome.”

  Adam pushed away his hand. “That’s not a thing.”

  “Then why are you more worried about her than you are about all the students who could be murdered if we didn’t hand her back over?”

  “Because…” For a moment he couldn’t remember. “Because it’s about more than just the students, isn’t it? Karey could have given us so much information about the Pack. Not just about the logistical stuff but also who the players are and what their personalities are. She could have given us the options to save more lives than just those students.”