Panthera Spelaea
Hidden Wounds

I woke again to Anna’s tender ministrations. Svetlana was already awake, looking over towards me. Her color was a lot better now, and she smiled as she ran her hand over my chest. “How are you feeling?”

I looked down to where Anna was taking me to the root. “Oh, fuck,” I said. “I could be missing an arm, and Anna’s mouth would still make me feel fucking awesome.” She grinned around my shaft as she kept working. “How are you doing?”

“It doesn’t hurt much, just a dull ache. Anna says that’s the painkillers talking.” I looked at the clock on the wall to see it had only been two hours since we fell asleep. I moved my injured arm around, not feeling much pain from it. I used it to run my fingers through Anna’s hair as she brought me closer to orgasm.

I didn’t try to hold out, and I was getting closer. “It won’t take much more to put me over,” I told Anna as she swallowed around my shaft.

She popped off it. “Can you stand?”

She hopped off the bed and helped me sit up, then scoot to the edge. I stood up, and she grabbed my cock and led me to Svetlana’s side of the bed. “I’ll do the work, Lana, and you gulp down the reward.” Anna dropped to her knees and started to blow me again. When I was there, Anna popped off of it. I leaned over the bed, putting the head where Svetlana could reach it. I started to cum as soon as she had her lips around the head and kept going and going as she gulped it down.

“Damn, you had a huge load going there,” Anna said as Svetlana finally let go. “Much more than I’d expect after two hours of recharge.”

“Do you think my lion knows she is injured? My body might be responding to her need.”

Svetlana drank a little water then fell back to sleep. Anna pulled me into the bathroom. “I need to check your wounds,” she said. “The cuts on your chest are already gone.”

I hadn’t even noticed, but she was right. She pulled off the bandages they’d put on the worst ones, showing pink areas around the newly healed flesh that closed up the cuts. “My arm didn’t hurt much when I used it.”

“The lidocaine has worn off by now, so it’s likely your healing.” She removed the gauze covering the entry wound. “Damn! You’re putting me out of a job!”

The skin had healed closed, as had the slightly larger exit wound when that bandage came off. “No sign of infection. I want you to move your arm around slowly. Stop if you feel any pain.”

I moved it in all directions, only stopping when raising it above shoulder level. “It doesn’t hurt, but it’s a little tight.”

“That’s enough. Given your healing rate after the Moscow shooting, it should be back to normal after lunch. Now get in the shower while I get help changing the sheets.”

The warm water felt good, though I had to think of the last time I showered alone. I was one spoiled man. When I finished, Anna handed me clothes to get dressed. Doctor Margaret was out there checking out Svetlana’s progress. “How is she doing, Doc?”

“Her vitals are much improved, and I can see the wound starting to heal. God, that’s some magic stuff you’re giving her. If I could bottle it, I’d be a rich woman.”

“You’d have to fight my girls for it,” I teased.

“It wouldn’t do any good. We’ve tried using it with other injured people, but nothing happens unless they are mated. It’s something I can’t explain, yet it happens. Svetlana should be in a hospital for a week, but you’ll have her back to normal by tomorrow. She won’t even have a scar.” That was good to know. Doc put on a new dressing and removed the IV. “I’ll be back after her next ‘treatment’ is done at one.”

I shook her hand. “Thank you for saving her. Without your skills, I’d have lost her.”

“Nothing is more important than protecting your mates, John. Losing one is a blow that isn’t easy to recover from. Trust me, I’ve seen what it did to Art.”

“I’ll do my best.”

She left, and Anna pushed me into the hallway after her. “Art and his team need to talk to you.”

“What about Svetlana?”

“I’ll stay with her. Have the kitchen send a meal for me.”

“I will. I love you, Anna.”

“I killed a man today, John. I shot a man in the face, and I don’t feel bad about it.”

Guilt shot through my gut; I’d been so worried about Svetlana’s injury, I forgot about how difficult it might have been for Anna. If she hit him with a pistol, it must have been up close and personal. For such a gentle soul, it was a shock. I pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m sorry, my love. It’s not your fault; you did what you had to do to stay alive.”

“I know, but I keep seeing it over and over in my head,” she cried into my shirt.

I kissed her head. “We are all here because you stood against that man,” I told her. “The guy with the rifle was going to shoot me as soon as I climbed up top.”

“The eagle switcher took him out,” Anna said. “Why?”

“I can’t say for sure, but we know my Lion learned things about me and us in the background. Our minds have merged, but I bet the Eagle was able to search Todd’s mind after he joined him. When he found out what a backstabbing, evil man he was, he might have decided to get himself a better option.”

“How? He killed himself!”

“The animal switcher can’t die; it just goes to the next host. I suspect he’d formed quite a bond with Ekatarina over the past century and wasn’t happy with how Todd took her out. The Eagle is intelligent enough to move on when the host isn’t suitable.”

“How does that apply to you?”

I thought about it. “I’m not sure what my Cave Lion thought when he turned up in me thirteen thousand years later, but I know he’s happy now. He loves you, and he’s happy that we are alive, and they are dead. Sometimes, it’s just that simple.”

“I guess.”

She leaned her head back, and I kissed her deeply. I wanted to leave no doubt how much I loved her. I wiped the tears from her cheek and opened the door back up. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“One hour, thirty-two minutes to your next blowjob,” she said with a smile, licking her lips for emphasis.

There are worse appointments to keep.

I went down to Medical to talk to Doc Margaret. She was in her office and told me to come in when I knocked. “How are you doing, John?”

I sat down heavily in the chair across from me. “I need you to talk to Anna and Svetlana.”

“About what?”

I gave her the condensed version of what happened on the island and Anna’s confession of guilt. “The girls are nurses, Doc. What they went through was a shock, and Anna is struggling with what she did.”

“And she might blame herself for Svetlana getting hurt,” Doc added.

“And I haven’t had a chance to talk to Svetlana about it yet. She fired her pistol as well.”

“I’m not a mental health professional, John. No one on board is. I’ll talk to them. If they need counseling, I’ll refer them to a colleague. They can do video meetings; in fact, it might be good for the three of you to do the counseling together.”

I nodded; together would be best. “Thank you.” I got up to head up to Art’s office.

“Wait,” Doc said. “You did well in your first talk, so keep it up. Don’t look at Anna differently because she killed to protect you all. She needs to know your love hasn’t changed.”

It was good advice. “Thanks, Doc.”

I headed for Art’s office to catch up on what had happened while I was with my girls.