Free Dr. Wolf, the Fae Rift Series Book 1- Shockwave by Cheree Alsop Page B

his father, doing whatever they could to try to save her. Yet her hand had slipped from the bed to hang lifelessly over the side. He would never be able to clear the image of her pale fingers so still and motionless; they were the same fingers that had taught him to braid grass into crowns and turn leaves into whistles, and now the life was gone from them.
    Later that night, Aleric had overheard his father talking to Grimmel. Money passed between his dad and the troll who owned the blocks of factories that made up the Sludge.
    “I’ll take him now,” Grimmel had said. “I can always use another whelp in the tannery.”
    Aleric’s only regret in running away was that he wouldn’t be able to see his mother’s funeral, but with his father selling him, he wouldn’t have been there anyway.

 
    ***
    “I’ve never known a doctor to have such concern for one of his patients.”
    Aleric’s eyes flew open. It took him a moment to remember where he was. The hard tile floor and the sign stating ‘D Wing Under Construction’ sent everything rushing back.
    He looked up to see Dr. Indley, the veterinarian, standing a few feet away with a quizzical expression on her face.
    Aleric pushed up from the wall and stood.
    “You’re moving a bit stiff,” she noted.
    Aleric gave a self-deprecating smile. “The tile’s a bit hard.”
    “You could have brought a chair,” she said.
    “That’s thinking ahead,” Aleric told her. “I figured I’d sit and take a break, and next thing I know, you’re here talking to me. Napping wasn’t part of the plan.”
    Dr. Indley nodded with an empathetic expression. “I know the long hours you guys pull here. I suppose you’ll take any break you can get.”
    Aleric glanced at the watch he didn’t have. He wondered where his belongings had gone when he appeared in Edge City. Being found unconscious and naked was an embarrassing thought.
    “I seem to have misplaced my watch,” he said. “I should probably go check on Braum.”
    “I like that you refer to your patients by their names,” Dr. Indley said. “It’s refreshing, considering how many patients you must take in a day.”
    Aleric wondered if he had been caught. Perhaps he needed to be a bit more disenchanted by the whole hospital thing. He figured doctors must become apathetic about healing over time. Though from what he had seen, helping people recover was an incredible process.
    “Uh, yeah,” he said in an attempt to cover. “It was Dr. Worthen’s idea to refer to patients on an individual basis so that they are…well…seen as people instead of objects.”
    “I applaud that way of thinking,” she said.
    Silence filled the hallway. Aleric wasn’t sure what to say or do. He didn’t know how long he had slept. Given the tightness of his neck and shoulders, it was longer than he had planned. He needed to check on Braum. Nurse Eastwick’s warning about high temperatures and keeping an eye on the numbers lingered in his mind. But he didn’t want Dr. Indley to follow him into the D Wing for many, many good reasons.
    “Can I come with you to check on Braum? I’m anxious to see how he’s recovering. I’ll have to admit, his case wasn’t what I was expecting when Dr. Worthen asked me for assistance.”
    “You took it well,” Aleric said. “Given the unusual circumstances, you performed the surgery without a hitch.”
    He hoped that was true. From what he had seen, he honestly had no idea. There could have been a thousand hitches and he wouldn’t know. He actually wasn’t sure what a hitch would look like in a surgery, or what a hitch was, if the word itself was considered.
    “I’m sorry,” he said with the realization that he had stood there for an uncomfortably long amount of time. “I must be more exhausted than I thought. Maybe I should grab something to eat.”
    “I’ll join you after we check on Braum, if you don’t mind me coming with you,” she replied.
    With the many, many reasons she shouldn’t go