Page 43 of Coveted

Her spine snapped straight as she pulled the calm she’d cultivated her whole life over her.

“How can I help?”

Regis eyed her for a moment before his chin dipped in a subtle nod.

“Get the patients settled and strapped in. There are restrains built into the base of the bed and couch.”

He turned and stomped down the short hall, people already pushing into the ship’s opening. She continued straight into the suite, kneeling beside the bed to look for the restraints. If they needed to get to the city fast, they might be flying the way they had to get to the Camp, and someone who was already injured didn’t need to be tossed to the floor due to a hard turn.

It took her a minute to find where the straps were hidden, but she was pulling out the one at the foot of the bed as the first of the inured was brought in.

She had to swallow a whimper at the sight of the limp body laid out on the stretcher, white bone poking through the shredded remains of his pants. She didn’t know if he was unconscious from the injury or from medication, but the tourniquet around his thigh warned how serious his condition was as green blood dripped to the floor.

The two people carrying his stretcher sat it atop the bed as carefully as possible, but his moan showed how much pain he was in. His eyes didn’t open though, and he settled back into limp silence once he was in place.

Relieved of their burden, the two turned to leave only to step aside as another body was brought through the doorway. The burly alpha on the stretcher was almost in worse shape, with both his right arm and leg clearly broken, and a bandagewrapped around his head, already soaking through with bright orange blood.

The bed seemed full with just the two men on it, and Alana moved to pull the straps over them when another two bodies were brought into the room. Both were smaller, carried in by a single alpha each, dust and dirt smearing faces too young for the pain written across them.

The first was unconscious, head wrapped in bandages that thankfully showed less blood than the alpha’s, a broken arm cradled across a chest that spasmed with ragged coughing. There were scorch marks on his clothing, and Alana hoped the red flesh under the holes was his normal color.

The second was whimpering in pain, tear tracks cutting through the grime covering small cheeks. Blood caked the side of the kid’s head, clear burns showing where the sleeve of their coverall used to be, going all the way down to their wrist. There was a brace on both legs and every breath seemed to be agony for the poor child.

The alphas holding them looked around, and there was no way Alana was letting the children suffer any longer by making one wait for the next ship.

“Place him between the others, head at the opposite end,” she told the male holding the unconscious child.

As he moved to do as she directed, Alana rushed to the couch. She’d already put away the extra bedding she’d used for her nest, but she adjusted the cushions to create the closest thing she could for the other child.

The cry of pain they let out as the other alpha lowered them brought tears to her cheeks, and it wasn’t until the alpha moved away that she realized the child was a girl, not a young boy as she’d assumed.

The alpha who’d carried her in apparently knew there were straps in the couch, because he set to pulling them out andcarefully placing them around the child to hold her in place. Reminded of what needed done, Alana turned back to the bed, doing the same for the three resting there.

She placed straps over chest and legs, tightening as much as she dared. The alpha finished with the child on the couch just as she was finishing with the straps on the bed, and she stopped him before he left the room.

“What happened?”

Vax had told her he’d instituted new safety measures, paid for better materials, and made sure complete scans were done before any new digging, so accidents like this shouldn’t happen.

“I don’t know. Our shift was almost over, and we were cleaning up when there was a rumble, and then smoke flooded the tunnels and the floor fell out from under us. We cleared out, and when nothing else happened we went back in for the people we couldn’t find.”

His striking purple eyes were ringed in red, and his voice held a rasp as if he’d breathed in too much of the smoke. He looked back at the child he’d placed on the couch before turning his gaze to Alana again.

“I need to get back and help. There’s more still missing.”

She swallowed her need to know more, nodding to the alpha as he turned and strode from the room. There was no more space unless they were going to place people on the floor, but there would be no way to secure them in that case.

The girl on the couch started coughing, crying between the spasms, and Alana rushed to her side, brushing hair off her face.

“I’ll get you a drink. Just hang on,” she whispered to the child once the coughing fit had passed.

Stepping out into the short hall, she saw the outer door was already closed. She’d missed the soft hum beneath her feet signaling the hopper had taken off again, and for a moment she worried about Vax. If he’d returned, she hadn’t seen him.

She stopped short when she turned into the little dining room. She’d expected it to be empty, but each chair at the two tables were full, belts from beneath the seats buckling people in place. They were all conscious, but she spotted bandages, burns, and broken arms, on top of the hacking coughs going around the room.

The fear and pain on their faces spurred her into motion, even as the ship swayed. She stumbled, but the rocking was nothing like they’d gone through in their rush to the Camp, so she managed to keep her feet.

She set a pitcher in the replicator, digging into the cabinet beneath it for cups as it filled. It was faster than ordering individual cups for each person, and as the water in the first pitcher reached the top, she put another in its place and went to the first table.

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