Part of him wanted to yell at Maggie, but he looked to Jane holding her hand over her shoulder.
There was a lot of blood.
Kai roared, “Nurse, help!”
But no one came. Odd, since dragon-shifter nurses always kept an ear out for trouble inside the surgery.
Kai reached up to one of the restraints on the bed next to him and tore it off. Quickly tying Maggie’s hands to give him a few minutes before she tried shifting, he moved to Jane’s side. “This is going to hurt, love, but I need to get you out of here and find a doctor.”
She sucked in a breath. “Then do it.”
Gently as he could, Kai scooped Jane up and held her against his chest. Not wasting another moment, he moved to the door, kicked it out, and took Jane into the corridor.
As he ran toward the reception area, he expected to run into one of the nurses or Dr. Perry. However, he saw no one, not even when he reached the reception area.
Something was wrong.
He chanced a glance at Jane. Her pale skin made his stomach twist. If he didn’t find somewhere safe where he could use his field medic training to staunch the bleeding, she could die.
Racing out of the surgery’s front entrance, he barreled down the hall, searching for an open door.
~~~
The throbbing pain in Jane’s shoulder almost made her forget about Kai kissing Maggie.
Almost.
She knew he’d done it to save her. Maggie may not understand Kai’s body language, but he’d clenched one of his fists as he kissed Maggie. Compared to when he kissed Jane, his actions had been wooden.
Jane wasn’t prone to pettiness or hysterics, but if Maggie ever appeared in front of her again, she would chance it and take the bitch down.
Kai turned a corner, and the motion jolted her shoulder. Jane hissed as pain shot through her body.
“Hang on just a bit longer, love. I just need to put distance between us and the surgery, to make sure we’re safe,” Kai murmured.
She was about to say she understood when he stopped suddenly. She bit her lip and turned her face toward Kai’s chest to keep from screaming.
It was only when Kai placed her on something soft a minute later that Jane realize she’d closed her eyes. She tried to open them, but they were unusually heavy.
Kai said, “One second and I’ll help you, love. I just need to reinforce the door and fetch a few supplies.”
For the brief moment his heat disappeared from her side, Jane shivered. Just as she finally managed to open her eyes, Kai was next to her again. “I need to check your shoulder and see if I can stop the bleeding. I won’t lie, it’s going to hurt. Are you ready?”
She bobbed her head and steeled herself for what was to come.
Kai ripped the remnants of her shirt to expose the wound. Jane glanced down and her previous meal threatened to come up.
While she could handle seeing a little blood, she had a gaping wound with more exposed tissue than she wanted to see. No wonder she was on the verge of passing out. “Am I going to die?”
“No fucking way I’m going to let that happen.” He took some towels with him as he raced inside a small room adjacent to what she surmised was a toilet and came back with wet towels.
He dabbed around her wound and spots started to fill her vision. “Kai, I’m going to pass out.”
“Stay with me as long as possible, Janey.”
“I—” Lightheadedness made the room sway. “I love you, Kai. I hope you know that.”
“Don’t you dare say goodbye to me, Jane Hartley.”