His Bear Hands (Bear Creek Grizzlies Book 1) by Layla Nash, Callista Ball Read Free Book Online Page B

them transfer Zoe to the hospital bed. Finn dropped a bag of food in his lap as he passed through, juggling bags of saline and an IV pole from the storeroom.
    Simon didn't want any of them touching her. Only his blood loss settled the bear enough to let Ethan treat her wounds, but when he dipped a washcloth into warm water to clean the blood and dirt off her, Simon shoved to his feet. "I'll do that."
    "You can barely stand, Simon." Ethan glanced up and eyed the other men in the room. Cooper and Finn beat a hasty retreat, and Ethan faced Simon alone across the girl's bed. "Just chill out and let me finish this."
    Simon growled deep in his chest, and reached for the washcloth. "I will clean her."
    Ethan massaged his temples, then held his hands up in defeat. "Fine. Clean the blood off of her, cut off her clothes so we can see whether she's healing, and call me when you're done. I need to call in some prescriptions in town, otherwise we'll run out of morphine by tomorrow night. If she needs it."
    He shut the door behind him, almost a slam, but Simon didn't care. Zoe was his mate and if anyone would groom her, it would be him. She lay still and quiet in the white hospital bed. He took a deep breath as he studied her face. The cut on her scalp was definitely smaller. Most of the small scratches on her face and chest had disappeared, and her heart beat steadily on the monitor next to the bed.
    Simon used the giant shears Ethan left on a nearby tray to cut through her clothes until he could pull the tatters away. They were past saving anyway, covered in blood and mud and spilled fluids from the car. He would buy her new, enough to fill up the closet in his room. He left her underwear on, uncomfortable with her being unconscious when he saw her naked for the first time, and covered most of her with one of the clean white sheets as he wet the washcloth again. He started with her hand, cleaning off each finger, then her palm, then her wrist. He worked slowly, carefully, and changed the water out for warmer as soon as it grew cloudy with debris. He dried her, too, so she wouldn't get cold.
    It took an eternity but he didn't care. His back and knees ached, and his chest ached, and a sharp pain stabbed through his temple. The blood loss and stress and receding adrenaline did a number on him, but all that paled in comparison to the satisfaction of caring for his mate.
    He made sure to cover her fully when Ethan knocked, though Simon still cleaned blood from her feet. The other man eased through the door and leaned against the wall, watching him more than their patient. Simon didn't bother to look at him though the irritation turned his voice deep and grumbly. "You got a question, friend?"
    "You broke the code. Turning her without permission."
    Simon paused, then forced his hands to continue manipulating her left ankle, still swollen and discolored despite his blood coursing through her veins. He didn't dare look at Ethan lest the rage inside him burst free. He and Ethan had been through far too much, in far too many places, for such a simple statement to ruin it. "Watch yourself."
    Ethan eased into the chair near the door, picking at some of the shredded fabric and disgorged stuffing. "Even if you'd been the best brain surgeon and cardiologist and trauma doc in the entire world, you couldn't have saved her. There weren't any airbags in that truck, man. The steering wheel got her in the face and chest. So don't question your choice to turn her. It sucks and she might hate you, but she's still alive because you did that."
    Simon didn't cease his work even though her feet were clean. He picked up some ointment and worked it into the knots around her ankle, then bound it up with gauze and sticky wrap bandages. Bruises always took longer to disappear. "There's not a doubt in my mind about that."
    "I didn't think there would be." Ethan rubbed his face and rested his head on the back of the chair, staring up at the ceiling. "You sleeping down here