Page 52 of Omega's Heart

Kaden rolled the sock down over his stump and winced at the purple and screaming red of the flesh. In the week and a half since Bram and Adelaide had both frowned over his stump, the skin had scabbed up and started to heal, but it was still ugly.

The doctor made a noise of dissatisfaction and crouched down in front of Kaden for a moment. “I think we’ll get you up on the table, if you don’t mind. I’ll give you a hand over. But this is much more inflamed than I was expecting.” He frowned and gently manipulated the lumpy flesh before standing up and offering Kaden a hand.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kaden saw the slight widening of the student’s eyes, then she stepped forward to help steady him on the other side as he hopped across the room and up onto the padded table. The doctor worked Kaden’s jeans back up his leg until the stump was in plain view again.

“Most of the skin seems to have healed well,” the doctor mused. “So, what’s going on over here, then?” His fingers skated over the hot red edges of Kaden’s aching leg bone, gentle as a butterfly as first, then firmer and firmer until Kaden wanted to snap at him. “That hurts, doesn’t it?” he asked. His expression said that he knew it did.

“It does,” Kaden said calmly.

“It feels like you have a little bit of bone growth down this side. Rarely happens with humans but I’ve noticed it’s more common with shifters, particularly with severe trauma.” He crooked a finger at the student and had her run her fingers over the sore patch, poking and pressing until Kaden had to grit his teeth not to yell at them. “You feel that?” the doctor asked his student. “Right here.” He moved her fingers and pressed down. “Odd that it was only the one bone, though. Usually if one starts that extra growth after an amputation, the other one does too. Interesting. “

Kaden gripped the edge of the table, squeezing until the metal creaked while his blood thrummed in his ears. And then, suddenly, the pressure was gone and the only thing left was the usual deep ache he used to feel at the end of the day. Yes, it was only mid-morning now, but he’d take any improvement at the moment.

Stanford stepped back and picked up Kaden’s chart again. “I’m going to send you for x-rays. It looks like you’ve got some overgrowth there but I’ll want to have a closer look and make sure that it’s just that one spot. Then, we go back in and nip that off again, you take a week or so off your feet and we get you back up on that leg.”

“Is this going to come back again?”

“Oh, it shouldn’t. I think I’ve only had two other fellows have it come back twice, and the second time wasn’t at the same site.” He turned to the student. “You’ll find that when you’re working with a shifter that you have to expect more overgrowths or uncommon reactions to medications. In general, they’re far more sturdy than our human patients, but you do need to take more care in certain areas.”

That was interesting—and not something Kaden had ever heard before. He wondered what Bram was learning in his nursing school about this, and considered whether it might not be a good idea for the young omega to spend some time here... No, maybe not a good idea. As much as it would be a relief to have someone who understood, someone the same species, to help treat your injuries, he’d be worried about an omega surrounded by all these humans and strange non-omegas, in their drugged and stressed out states. PTSD was real, and so was pack attitudes toward the proper employment for an omega.

He’d been so lost in his thoughts he hadn’t even noticed the student leaving the room, but when he did, the doctor’s casual chatter about looking after his leg made him realize she’d been sent to get him a wheelchair.

“Damn,” Kaden muttered.

Stanford put a hand on his shoulder and offered to help him down off the table. “Only for a couple of weeks. Then we’ll get you back up and walking again. How is the new style leg, anyway?”

“Seems good. When it’s not hurting.” Kaden grinned at the doctor’s expression. “I’ll let you know for sure after we’ve got this leg figured out.”

The doctor nodded. “I think you can expect that inflammation in the joint to go down, too, once you’re not favoring it and your stride evens out.” He got his arm in under Kaden’s and steadied him down into the chair. “Do you have someone waiting for you?”

“My brother.”

“Let him know it’s going to be a little while longer, I’m going to get them to squeeze you in for those x-rays so you don’t have to make an extra trip.” Stanford looked over at the student as she came in the door with the wheelchair. “That’s another thing you have to consider with our shifter patients, is their reduced freedom of travel. It’s always a good idea to plan so you can do as much in each trip as possible, within the limits of their energy levels, of course. And filmless x-rays whenever possible, so we can see them right away. Could you wheel him down to get those shots done while I draw up the orders?” Then to Kaden, he said, “I’ll have the office call you to set up the surgery. Do you want to come back here? Otherwise, I’ll set you up closer to home.”

“Home would be fine. Thanks, doc.” Kaden lifted a hand in farewell as the student leaned into the back of the chair and started it rolling out into the hallway.

“You’re welcome,” the doctor called behind them as he left the room and turned into the next one.

Then it was off to X-ray for another long wait, followed by more radiation to mess with his genes. They made sure to cover up his little soldiers, for which he was grateful. After all, miracles did happen and maybe someday he could talk someone into looking past the missing bits and taking him on as a mate. Though it would take a special kind of shifter to look past all his physical problems.

Until then, at least he could count on Felix to pick him up when he alphaed himself into a spot he couldn’t get out of.

Lysoon, he couldn’t wait to get home.

C H A P T E R 3 3

I got a text from Abel about half an hour before he and Kaden got home. Can you bring the wheelchair down?

My heart sank. Sure, I sent back.

The wheelchair was quite possibly Kaden’s least favorite thing in the world and that they were asking for it didn’t bode well for Kaden’s mood or his future. I dug it out and got it set up, then made my reluctant way out to the elevator and down to the lobby.

Maybe I could make him one of his favorite meals tonight? Or, if he was too upset to eat, I could leave something simple in the refrigerator and make him a good breakfast in the morning. Waffles might be an idea. Cale and I had gone in together to buy a waffle maker, the kind with the deep pockets in it, and we’d been trying it out in the mornings. It would be something a little different, a little special. Just to let him know that we were thinking about him.

The sky was getting dark. I checked my phone—curfew was five minutes ago. Did they not make it back? My heart began to pound, then I saw the lights of the car coming around the bend in the road and I sagged against the chair with relief. They’d made it.

The car pulled up in front of me and the inside light turned on. “Can you toss that in the back seat and jump in? I have to go put the car in the garage yard,” Kaden said from the driver’s seat.