Nadine

1. Dr. Nadia

"Nadia, was the patient in room twelve awake yet?"

"Not yet." I sit down in Dr. Cruors office. "There sure have been a lot of patients this week."

"Yes ma'am. The weather is getting nice. All the young ones are out making sure we stay in business."

I start to laugh. "That they are."

"You know your father has been talking about sending me to the castle by the coast? I guess they are having a werewolf issue over there."

"It's a beautiful place. You should go and see the water at least once. That's where I got that shell that sits on your desk."

"I think I will tell him to send me. You are perfectly capable here on your own. I could help them out for a short time and then come back. You would have to work extra shifts. And be on call all the time. Are you ready for that?"

The thought scares me a bit. I've never been on my own running the medical area before.

The door flies open and smashes into the wall. "Werewolves attacked a convoy. 18 patients. Some are in bad shape."

I jump up. "Elkie, Dorseti rate them in terms of their injuries. Green, yellow, red, black cards. Do you remember that?"

"Yes doctor."

"Put the cards by their feet. We are on the way."

Cruor grabs two gowns and tosses one to me. "We take the red cards first, right?"

"Yes sir. Black means death. We can't fix that. Red is immediate help needed. Yellow means they can hold on for a bit. Green means they will live."

"Vitchen! Mary!"

"Yes ma'am."

"Can you clean and administer the antidote to anyone with a green card please? Me and Dr. Cruor may be to busy with others to assist you."

"No problem ma'am. We'll start with the green cards and do what we can."

I grab the first red card I see. He's awake and barely older than me. There is part of a wheel sticking out of his chest. He has bites going down one of his arms. By the way the blankets are it, I think his legs may be missing. I lift his shirt and see a large claw mark across his stomach. "Am I going to make it doctor?"

"I'm concerned about that wheel in your chest. I have to get that out right now. Do you have a mate or anyone I can contact?" I push his gurney into a room.

"No doctor. I was hoping to find my mate here."

"Well, you're going to have to put that off for a few days sir. This will relax you. Don't fight it."

My next four patients have more of the same injuries.

I sit down at the nurses' desk with Vitchen and Mary after I'm done. "Why would werewolves attack a convoy of simple traders?"

"Probably to steal their stuff."

"Werewolves are to weak to attack anything guarded. They only go after easy targets."

I shake my head. "Has everyone been seen?"

Mary checks her papers. "Yes little miss. Nine were clean and antidote only. Doctor Cruor is in with his fifth patient and you did four."

"Wow, do we even have any beds open?"

"Two I think."

I give them a weird look. "Soon we're going to have to put people in beds together."

They look at each other and laugh.

"At least everyone made it. I'm going to check the blood in the containers and then do some paperwork."

Vitchen stands up. "I'm going to walk around and make sure everyone who is supposed to be unconscious is actually unconscious."

I shake my head and chuckle. "I sure hope so."

"Me too Doctor."

My first patient is getting better already. His chest is starting to close. "I'm going to keep you unconscious for a few days but you're going to be fine sir." I check the blood drip container and it's perfect. Then I hear the door open.

"Doctor."

"Yes Elkie?"

"The patient in room two is ready to go. He needs checked out by you first."

"Thank you Elkie. I will run in there as soon as I'm done checking the bloods."

She nods and shuts the door as she leaves.

I make a quick pass over the entire hall. They're all good. And the drips all seem to be going at a good pace.

I sit back down at the nurses desk and sigh. "What a long day ladies."

"Room two, doctor."

"Oh I forgot." I jump up and rush to room two. A man is watching out the window.

"Hello I'm Doctor Nadia. I was told you need to be checked out before you go." I go over to the counter that holds the papers and there is nothing here.

I glance at the man again and Tre is standing there smiling at me. "You came to check me out, ma'am?"

I feel the tears start falling out of my eyes. I run and give him the biggest hug. "I have missed you. How long have you been here? It's been months since I've seen you. Did you wait long? No one said it was you in here. Were you in the convoy that was attacked by werewolves?"

He hugs me tighter. "I missed you too, princess."

"But Tre..."

He starts to laugh. "I will answer your questions. Just give me a second to remember them all."

"How long are you staying?"

"Princess, one at a time. No, I was not in the convoy that was attacked. I came up behind them in a heavily guarded convoy. The guards with me saw what was going on and dealt with the werewolves. The convoy that was attacked had no guards with them." I nod for him to continue. "I asked your brother where you were and he said here. So I waited before I came up here. I knew you would be busy for hours and I didn't want you to rush through your patients. I knew they needed good care. There were a lot of them and they were really banged up."

"Yes they were. We saved all eighteen though."

"Good job princess. Oh and I know it's been months since I've seen you. I've hated being away from you for so long. And now for the big question. How long will I be here?"

"How long?"

"I'm joining the royal guard princess."

I push him back and try to swallow the lump that suddenly formed in my throat. "No. You can't go to war. Why would you do this? You didn't even say anything to me about this. Everyone says we're going to be mates. You have to tell me this stuff. You can't make decisions like this alone."

"Nadine, I care about you so much. This was the best option I could come up with to be close to you. I will train here. At this castle for ten years. I will be here with you for the next ten years. After that, you will only have another five before I can claim you for real."

"After ten years they will send you to war Tre. This werewolf thing is serious. You will go to war. I don't want that."

"The werewolf thing is not that serious. They are picking off unguarded convoys. Those werewolves stand no chance against the royal guards. It will be over soon, I promise." He runs his hands up my back. "I saw it today. All they did was run from the guards. The werewolves ran as soon as they saw the guards."

"You will be here for the next ten years?"

"Here with you, princess. Doing guard training. I will be with you every second I can. This beats going back to Galhurst and being away from you for months or years at a time."

I step close to him again and start rubbing his back. "I missed you Tre."

"I missed you too, princess."

"I have to go do paperwork."

He smirks. "Meet me in the yellow sitting room when you're done?"

"Yes sir." I laugh a little bit and let my hand roam across his lower stomach as I walk away.

"Unless you want claimed tonight. You better be careful with those hands, ma'am."

"Well, tonight would be nice."

He takes one step towards me and I scream and run in the hallway laughing.

"Woman! Behave and go do your work. I need to see you soon for real." He comes over and wraps me in his arms again.

"One hour. Yellow sitting room."

He takes my gloved hand and kisses it. "I look forward to our next meeting, miss. I will see you soon."

I go back to my office smiling from ear to ear.