Scarlet Rogue (Book One)

Chapter Eighteen: Silver

Kaelynn

"Can't Finn find anyone else? I'm going to be bored out of my mind if you go!" Avery says to me.

"Kiara will be here to keep you company in a few hours and I'll be back before you know it," I reassure her.

"I'll hunt you down if you are not!"

"I know," I chuckle to her. "I'll see you soon."

After embracing Avery and waving goodbye, I make my way through the plush green grounds passing warriors training, surprised that my guards are not following me today. They must be busy; I wonder if this has anything to do with Finn's call this morning. Shrugging off the though, my focus turns back to my destination.

My pace slows down when I reach the large wooden building which I study, now aware of the cedar trees used to build the three stories. I reach for the handle, twisting to enter and going back to wondering why Finn has summoned me out of the blue. Not that I should be surprised, I did sign up to be a doctor after all.

The intense smell of cedar is now overshadowed by an antiseptic, lemon odour. An occasional cry of pain echoes every few minutes, the beeping of monitors on the other hand remains constant. Dozens of medics in scrubs swarm from room to room, their faces apathetic but their body language and whispers make their worries apparent.

"Kaelynn," I see Finn straight ahead gesturing me to join him.

Hurriedly walking up to him, I ask the question laced on my mind, "What's going on here?"

Finn moves me along into a room; an office by the looks of it, poorly organised too. Documents scattered across any surface available and medication dropped on the floor, mirroring the turmoil across the hospital.

Finn shuts the door behind him, then finally proceeds to answer me, "The queen's attacks have infiltrated into our land, the injured are increasing by the minute. We need all the hands we can get whilst the Alpha fends off the attack."

Too many questions run through my mind but having seen the frantic situation just minutes ago, the time now is for action. I follow Finn out to the A&E ward on the ground floor where he stations me alongside two other medics.

The 23-bed ward now at full capacity makes it clear that tonight is going to be a busy night. My new colleagues instantly start assessing patients, the seriously wounded first, and I follow suit. There is no time to be wasted when lives could be on the line.

"Hello there," I walk up to the first patient picking up his file and glancing over it quickly. "Ben, is it? How are you feeling?"

He lets out a disgruntled groan which is enough to let me know he is alive for now. His file shows no serious medical conditions so I move on to examine him.

The culprit of his pain is evidently beneath the cloth he holds against his abdomen to reduce to bleeding. Moving away the cloth, I see the actual problem, which prevents him from healing. A silver metal chunk laced into his blood. Searching through the side cabinet, I grab a tweezer knowing full well if the silver isn't removed from the deep wound then Ben is a goner.

With sweat pooling around my face and my fingers barely staying steady, my attempts to take out the silver will be shaky at best. I take a deep breath in and in one swift move take out the silver, surprising myself. The wound stops bleeding and starts to clot in true werewolf fashion so I sterilise the area before bandaging and tell Ben to rest up whilst nature takes its course.

The chaos around the room seems to have become more intense by now, with extra beds being put in and walking space becoming limited. My fellow medics remain rushed off their feet whilst cries of pain get louder.