Nightshine: A Novel of the Kyndred

Nightshine: A Novel of the Kyndred by Lynn Viehl Page A

Book: Nightshine: A Novel of the Kyndred by Lynn Viehl Read Free Book Online
Authors: Lynn Viehl
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Paranormal
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“So tired . . .”
    “You can’t go to sleep yet, Sam,” she said, putting her hand on his cheek. “Look at me. That’s it. Can you tell me what your blood type is?”
    “O. Negative.”
    They were both universal donors with the same blood type; relief made her feel a little dizzy. “Then I think it’s your lucky day.”
    She prepped a pressure bag and filled half of it with isotonic saline, which would dilute her own blood but give his body the extra fluid it needed. Once she tied off his upper arm with a tourniquet, she inserted an eighteen-gauge needle into one prominent, distended subcutaneous vein. As soon as she saw the dark red flashback that confirmed the needle was in place, she taped it down and attached the tubing before starting on her own arm.
    “Okay, Sam, here we go,” she said as she inflated the pressure bag, hanging it from one of the knobs along the top of the headboard and releasing the clamp. Blood flowed from her arm through the tube into the bag, where it mixed with the saline and began to descend.
    Charlie watched the drip chamber closely. The flow had to be continuous, but if she used too much pressure, the bag seams would split or the blood cells would lyse. Once she felt good about the flow rate, she took out her stethoscope and checked his heart and lung sounds. His pulse, while still slow, had grown stronger.
    “Still beating,” he murmured. His face appeared less gray now, and his voice was a little stronger.
    “So I hear. I like that a lot. Keep doing it.” She didn’t hear any arrhythmias that would indicate an allergic reaction to the transfusion. “Can you feel this?” She took her hand and squeezed the fingers on his right hand and then his left. Both times he nodded and moved his fingers. “Is there any numbness on either side of your body?”
    “No. Just . . . tired.”
    “You’re entitled. Now, open up for me.” When he did, she tilted his head back to inspect his palate, and saw the two wounds were much smaller than they’d looked at first glance, and weren’t punctures, as she had originally assumed. “Do you remember how you hurt your mouth?”
    “No.” He looked confused.
    “It’s okay,” she assured him. “You’ve just got a couple abrasions on the roof of your mouth, that’s all.”
    The urgency involved in providing medical care to a male patient always neutralized any normal interest Charlie might have felt toward him; whenever she worked on a man he was simply the patient. She took that distance for granted, as she was usually too busy trying to keep her patients alive to notice how attractive they were or what kind of body they had.
    That wasn’t happening this time, not with Samuel. Her eyes kept straying back to his face, but not to check his color or watch for signs of reaction. Without the beard masking the lower half of his face, his strong features were almost savagely handsome, from the high-def cheekbones down to the squared jaw. The mixed bag of his genetics had saved him from a thin line of a mouth and instead gifted him with the kind of full, sensual lips that made a woman think instantly of kissing.
    As heart-stopping as Samuel’s face was, his body proved even harder to ignore. His perfectly tanned skin looked sprayed on, it seemed so flawless, and the development of his upper body was nothing short of superb. She’d known guys who spent half their lives gulping protein shakes and pumping iron who never achieved such beautiful muscles or physical symmetry.
    It won’t matter what he looks like if he codes on me again.
    Charlie forced herself to focus on her job. She couldn’t afford to give him too much of her own blood, but she pushed it to the limit before she finished the transfusion and took out the suture kit.
    “Hey, Sam, I’ve got to stitch you up. Bad news is that I didn’t find any local anesthetic I can give you for the pain. Good news is that I’m really fast with a needle, but I need you to hold still.” When he

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