Lover Mine (Black Dagger Brotherhood #8)(64)

John took out a pad and scribbled something. He turned the thing

around, and then left a moment later, and all she could do was close her eyes as the door shut.

Parting her lips, she breathed through her mouth and wondered if she

had enough energy to get up, get dressed, and head out before John's bright idea showed up. Quick check told her that was a no-go. If she couldn't lift her head and hold it off the pillow for more than a second and a half, she was f*cked for getting vertical.

It didn't take John long to come back in with Doc Jane, the Black

Dagger Brotherhood's personal physician. The ghostly female had a black bag with her and exuded the kind of medical competence that Xhex valued--

but would infinitely have preferred to be applied to others and not herself.

Doc Jane approached and put her stuff down on the floor. Her white

jacket and her scrubs were solid to the eye, though her hands and face were translucent. That all changed, however, as she sat on the edge of the bed.

Everything about her took form and the hand she laid upon Xhex's arm was warm and weighted.

Even the compassionate doctor made Xhex's skin crawl, however. She

really didn't want to be touched by anyone.

As the good doctor removed her hand, she had a feeling the female

knew that. "Before you tell me to go, a few things you should know. First of all, I will not divulge your location to anyone and I will not share whatever you tell me or whatever I find with anybody. I will have to report that I've seen you to Wrath, but any clinical findings are yours and yours alone."

169

J. R.Ward

Sounded good. In theory. But she didn't want the female anywhere

near her with what was in that black bag.

Doc Jane went on. "Second, I don't know a damn thing about

symphaths. So if there's something anatomically distinct or significant to that half of you . . . I'm not going to necessarily know how to treat it. Do you still consent to be seen by me?"

Xhex cleared her throat and tried to lock her shoulders so she didn't shake so much. "I don't w-want to be seen."

"That's what John said. But you've been through a trauma--"

"It w-w-wasn't that bad." She sensed John's emotional response to that from the corner, but didn't have the energy to tease out the details of what he was feeling. "And I'm f-f-fine--"

"Then you should view this as simply a formality."

"Do I l-l-look like someone who's formal?"

Doc Jane's forest green stare narrowed. "You look like someone who's been beaten. Hasn't fed properly. And hasn't slept. Unless you want to tell me that purple bruise on your shoulder is makeup? And those bags under your eyes are a mirage?"

Xhex was well familiar with people who wouldn't accept no for an

answer--for shit's sake, she'd worked with Rehv for years. And going by that hard, level tone, it was pretty damn clear that the doctor was going to have her way or she wasn't leaving. Ever.

"G-g-g-goddamn it."

"FYI, the sooner we start, the sooner it's over."

Xhex glanced at John, thinking that if she had to be seen, he was so

not a value-add. He really didn't need to know anything more than what he'd probably guessed about the condition she was in.

The doctor looked over her shoulder. "John, will you please wait in the hall?"

John ducked his head and bowed out of the room, the tremendous

spread of his back disappearing through the door. When the lock clicked into place, the good doctor opened that f*cking bag of hers and the stethoscope and the blood-pressure cuff were the first to come out.

"I'm just going to listen to your heart," the female said, putting the wishbone up to her ears.

The sight of the medical instruments was gasoline to Xhex's shivers,

and as out-of-it as she was, she cringed away.

Doc Jane paused. "I'm not going to hurt you. And I won't do anything you don't want me to do."

Xhex closed her eyes and rolled over onto her back. Every muscle in

170

J. R.Ward

her body hurt all of a sudden. "Let's just get this over with."

As the sheet lifted, a draft of cold air breathed over her skin and the cool disk was placed against her sternum. Flashbacks threatened to send her on a screamer-coaster, and she stared up at the ceiling, just trying to keep herself from levitating off the frickin' mattress.

"B-be fast, D-D-Doc." She could hold the panic back for only so long.

"Could you take a deep breath for me?"

Xhex did the best she could and ended up wincing. Clearly, one or

more of her ribs were broken, probably from her hitting the wall outside of that bedroom.

"Can you sit up?" Doc Jane asked.

Xhex groaned a curse as she tried to push her torso off the bed and

failed. Doc Jane ended up having to help her, and when the doctor got a load of her back, she hissed a little.

"It doesn't hurt that bad," Xhex bit out.

"Somehow I doubt that." Again with the metal disk going around.

"Breath as deep as you can without hurting yourself."

Xhex gave it a shot and was relieved when the doc's kind hand urged