Panthera Spelaea

“No,” Anna said. I turned back to look at her from the doorway. “You got shot, and their medical team is busy with Svetlana. I’ll get you cleaned up. Art, put this in the freezer for now.” She handed over her backpack. “Make sure no one touches it. It’s Ekatarina’s eagle.”

“Todd is dead?” Art looked shocked.

“His eagle rejected him and died saving John. If you want to hear the rest of the story, you can walk with me as I prep. I’m going to take a quick shower and change. John, I’ll meet you in Medical.”

“I’ll get him cleaned and prepped,” the young steward at my side said. I knew better than to argue with a woman while injured, so I left with her.

We went down the stairs to the medical bay. Art didn’t skimp on this, knowing that he needed to be able to handle anything. One of his granddaughters was the Ship’s Doctor, another the nurse. Both were busy in the compact operating theater next to the exam room. “My name is Tessa, and I need to prep you for the procedure. Take those clothes off, and I’ll clean you up,” she said.

I didn’t have a shirt on as I’d used it as a bandage, but I kicked off my shoes, cargo shorts, and underwear. The steward used a small wet towel to wipe down my chest and back, avoiding the bullet wound as best she could before putting a dry towel on the exam table. “Lie down on your stomach,” she told me. It stung doing this with all the cuts and scrapes, but those weren’t serious. The hole through my shoulder could be. She held out a folded washcloth to my face. “This is going to hurt, so bite down on this if you have to.”

I put it in my mouth as she opened some 4x4” gauze pads and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. She poured some over the back of my shoulder, and I nearly levitated off the table. I spit the cloth out. “Damn, you’ve got some bedside manner! Where are my painkillers?”

“I’m not qualified to administer them, and the Doctor is busy right now. This is what happens when you fall to the ‘B’ team,” she said. “I’m in the second year towards my nursing degree, working on it online while I’m here. Now, you lie still. If you’d avoid getting shot, you wouldn’t need patching up.”

I thought about arguing, but that’s when she started wiping up the dirt from the shoulder. When satisfied, she switched to using Betadine around the whole shoulder, finally covering the unaffected area with surgical cloths. I was thanking God when Anna came in, looking hot in scrubs and a mask. “How’s the patient?”

“He hasn’t switched or bitten my fingers off yet,” Tessa replied. “Bleeding from the shoulder is minimal, and the cuts on his torso can wait.”

“Get me Lidocaine and a stitching tray,” Anna said. She moved the light and magnifying glass in place and started poking around the entry and exit wounds. It took her ten minutes to make sure both were clean, some of which I felt until the drugs started working. “I’m sorry I took so long, but you switched to Lion and back, and that shifts the wound around. I had to make sure I got all the dirt and clothing bits out to prevent problems with healing.” She closed both wounds with stitches, then taped gauze over them. “Sit up,” she told me.

The towel stuck to my chest, and many of the cuts opened up again when they pulled it loose. None needed stitches, but Anna loosened the scabs with a wet towel and pulled them off to clean under them. With alcohol. And she had as little sympathy for me as Tessa did.

She spread antibiotic cream over them and bandaged the worst ones. “Leave your shit off and lie down here until they stop bleeding,” she told me.

“I need to see Svetlana,” I objected.

“I’ll handle it.” She was tossing her gloves in the garbage when the door to the surgical ward opened. Doc Margaret pulled off her mask and surgical cap and sat down in the chair. “How is she? Is the baby all right?”

“She’ll pull through,” Margaret replied. “The bullet penetrated her large intestine and liver, and there was significant internal bleeding. She’s lucky you got her here when you did; another few minutes, and she would have bled out. She took five units of blood in there. I repaired the damage and flushed her abdominal cavity out the best I could. She was lucky it was far enough from her uterus, and the baby is small enough to avoid damage. I’ve started her on IV antibiotics, and we’ll monitor for signs of infection. John, you can help her as soon as she’s awake.”

“Help her?”

“Your presence and your magic ejaculate. Did you forget it spurs healing and regeneration in a mate?”

Anna laughed. “Medically necessary blowjobs, coming up,” she said. She patted my cock under the sheet as she leaned down to kiss me. “I’ll take care of you both.”

“I guess. Any sacrifice is worth it if it helps Svetlana recover.” Even Tessa couldn’t stop giggling. “It won’t hurt her stomach?”

“I doubt any of it will make it that far. The Switcher healing is better than anything I can do. I remember when Elizabeth was still here; Art would sex her up, and by morning, it was like nothing happened. She never got hurt this bad, but I imagine your contribution will help just as much. My nurse is bandaging her up and preparing for transport. We’ll move her to your guest cabin and get her settled in your bed. Skin contact with her mate speeds the healing.”

“So I should be in bed with her?”

Doc nodded. “Avoid her wounds and your own, but yes, skin on skin contact. I’ve never dealt with a switcher with two mates, but Anna should be in there too. I’ll brief her on post-op care while we get Svetlana moved.”

“Thank you, Doc.”

“Just doing my job.” The nurse poked her head out and said Svetlana was ready. Doc called for a stretcher team to carry her up to our room. “Now get out of here. I’ve got more patients arriving soon.”

I waited as two crew members arrived with the stretcher, and we brought Svetlana out of the operating room. I carried the IV bag, relegated due to my injured shoulder. A steward had the bed turned down and ready, and soon I was tucked in next to my injured mate. It had been a long night, and I was asleep as soon as the door closed again.

I woke to the warm sensation of a tongue on my cock. The covers were down to my waist, and a naked Anna was gently sucking me to hardness. To my left, Svetlana was stirring. Her moans were from pain and not pleasure like mine. “Anna,” I whispered.

“Lana is waking up. Just relax, and I’ll take care of you both.” She was a skilled fellatrix, and I responded quickly.

Svetlana looked at me, then at Anna bobbing on my cock. “John?” It was so good to hear her voice again.

“You’re back on board the Elements,” I told her. “You got shot in the stomach, so don’t move. I’m going to feed you to help you heal faster. Just relax, my love. Anna’s taking care of everything.”

It didn’t take long before my backed-up balls were unloading into Anna’s mouth, filling her cheeks until she looked like a chipmunk. She pulled off and directed the rest onto my stomach. She crawled up the bed, leaning down and feeding the healing goo to Svetlana with a kiss. When that was gone, she sucked up the remainder from my stomach and passed that along too. “You’re going to heal up, and the baby is fine,” Anna told her after they finished kissing. “We both love you so much.”

“It hurts,” Svetlana said with a grimace.

Anna got up and checked the post-op directions, then injected a painkiller into Svetlana’s IV line. The relief was almost immediate. She updated both charts after taking vitals on us. “Both of you rest and heal up. I’ll be back in a few minutes. I need to update the Doctor and bring some food for John. Lana, all you get to eat is John Juice for now.”

That made her smile. “My favorite energy drink.”

Anna pulled the covers back over me, and I took her hand. “Can you ask Art to see me when he’s able? I can’t leave Svetlana.”

“Of course. Heal quickly, my loves. We have a lot of work to do.”

My lion was in agreement with me on that. Mikhail and his people had attacked our friends, killing one and injuring my mate. He wanted blood on his teeth, but not now. I held Lana’s hand as she drifted back to sleep.