The nurse waited for an answer about calling the doctor to amputate Gabe's hand while Rile and Galen hovered around her. Her expression remained both professional and unphased by two humanoid draconic aliens crowding her personal space.
Dr. Czacinski replied, "Yes, the ortho hand specialist, two anesthesiologists, and then call Grange. I prefer Dr. Dividi for the amputation anesthesia. He loves to perform local blocks."
Grange strolled in, his black suit and white dress shirt immaculate. "No need to call me. Proceed, doctor. I'll catch up."
Dr. Czacinski walked towards the wall of computer displays and tapped at one with her finger. Three came to life: a display of each of the x-rays of each patient. The x-ray of Rafe's chest was the first on the screen. "Damn lucky that you escaped a pneumothorax. I mean, collapsed lung," she told Rafe after studying his.
Rile stepped up to the doctor, his face etched with worry. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he asked, "What can you do for my son?"
"We'll lavage the wound until it's surgically sterile and I'll suture and staple his wounds closed. Nurse, please set up the lavage and start it while I examine the belly wound patient."
Dr. Czacinski pushed a button and the x-ray of Caleb's enlarged. The doctor scrutinized it and said, "Another lucky one. No free air means that the intestines weren't punctured. We'll perform a diagnostic lavage, so the surgeon has that information. Now for the amputation."
The doctor looked at Gabe's glowing x-ray image and shook her head; a single finger remained on Gabe's mangled right hand. It twisted at an impossible angle, like a bent twig. She clucked in dismay and Grange leaned in to inspect it.
Dr. Czacinski pointed to the x-ray. "That's a lot of pre-existing damage. We can't save the finger. It would be better functionally if we amputate at the wrist and prescribe an artificial hand."
Gabe's lips pressed together as he fought off a grimace of pain.
Galen's face lit up with the possibility. "Dad, the Portal Guardian could give you a hand like the Steel Claws! Wouldn't that be great?"
Gabe's mouth softened into an unsteady smile and he nodded, clearly not wanting to dash Galen's hope.
Dr. Czacinski motioned to a nurse. "Morphine for all three patients. Now, what else do we have here?" She leaned in, studying the children that Alex was cradling in her arms.
Grange laid a gentle hand on the closest boy, and his blank demeanor shifted to sadness.
Alex murmured softly, her hand glowing with a faint golden light as she ran it along their skin. "Their life force was being drained and given to another. They're pale and lifeless. I can hardly feel their beating hearts, so I'm giving them what energy I have."
"Electric heating pads and blankets," the doctor said, and a guard nodded and left the room. The doctor ran a hand over the smallest sleeping boy and then pinched his hide, which stayed in the wrinkle. "Dehydration. We'll start subcutaneous fluids for them. I'll examine all of them, but maybe they just need some heat and fluid and when they wake up, we can feed them. Carnivores or herbivores?"
"Omnivores," Alex said.
When the doctor finished examining the last of the seventeen Anolis boys, she turned to Alex. Her voice was firm, yet strangely gentle when she said, "Your turn."
Alex shook her head vigorously. She ran a hand through her hair, matted with sweat from all the exertion. "I wasn't in the fight. I was just gathering the children and getting them away from the danger."
The doctor's mouth opened, preparing to speak, but before she could utter a word, the alarms went off. Red lights bathed the room in their glow as loud sirens filled the air. The computer's robotic voice broke through the noise, echoing ominously, "Trans-dimensional being detected."
Alex had hoped to see the Portal Guardian, not the massive beast that appeared before them. He was a lion with eyes like scalding embers, a mane of coal-black fur, and the tail of a scorpion.
The room suddenly grew still as he spoke in a deep baritone. "Time to collect my new servant," he said, his voice like melted dark chocolate.
Alex stepped forward with the determination of a warrior, but Daddy Rile shouted a denial. She held up an unsteady hand for peace and looked into the eyes of each of her loved ones, her voice trembling with emotion. "Stop. It's true. I couldn't let you all die."
The cobalt falcon appeared as if from nowhere and let out an ear-splitting shriek that caused the floor to tremble beneath their feet. His words were clear and deep, tinged with wisdom and authority. "You will not take my timeline-jumping Guardian."
The lion's red eyes flashed with anger as his mane bristled. "She has agreed, and I kept my end of the contract, bird."
Alex hung her head in submission, but when she raised it, a malicious smile had replaced her gentle expression. Her voice was no longer Mama Alex's soft tones, but carried the menacing edge of her counterpart. "But I did not. You may have your pound of flesh, but you did not bargain for the blood, now did you?"
The room electrified with the tension between them.
"Fool! I can wrench a soul out of a body without a drop of blood." The lion's mouth gaped open and roared, saliva dripping from its massive fangs as it swiped a powerful paw at Alex.
She dodged and yelled, "That was a Shakespeare reference, cretin!"
The Portal Guardian lunged forward, his sharp beak slashing a long, deep wound down the lion's leg and paw. Flaming red blood splattered on the ground and the lion roared in pain as it yanked back its injured limb.
The falcon's voice held a note of malice as he spoke. "But can you wrench an entwined soul from another without harming the other? You know that if you harm a soul that is not yours, you forfeit the Final Battle. Are you willing to risk that?"
The lion roared in fury and malice, and venom sprayed from his gaping maw. His scorpion tail whipped back and forth, and his burning red eyes narrowed with sinister intent. "But I can harm all the bodies I wish!"
***
A/N
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Dangerous Prodigals and Adopted Children : Book 6 of the Guardians Saga
Fantasy#3 dragon romance, #2 girl hero, highest rankings. Gabe's dangerous daughter returns home. But will she follow in her father's footsteps or continue In her murderous mother's ways? An unlikely father figure steps up to adopt Gaala and Hexei. Will t...
