Wolfvine in Moonlight Bayou

Remington’s POV

One more signature—and now I’m officially a trauma surgeon for my hometown. The HR director welcomed me and said she couldn’t wait to see what I would bring to the hospital.

Leaving the office, I headed down to the ER department, where I’ll be working in a few days. For being a small-town hospital, Bayou Hospital was a decent size, with six hospital rooms and a hybrid OR where we can quickly perform surgeries without needing to schedule them—especially in serious cases.

“There’s one patient coming in with life-threatening injuries from a gunshot—less than five minutes out! They’ll go to Room 1 with Dr. Embry!” yelled someone who appeared to be the charge nurse.

As soon as she said that, the ambulance rolled up to the doors. The doctor and nurses rushed outside to meet the patient, but before they came through the doors, a sharp, familiar scent hit me.

Wolfvine.

(Deadly to wolves.)

As the team brought the patient inside, I rushed over—despite being dressed up and the overpowering scent—because if I didn’t step in, the exposure could harm the doctors and nurses once they started working on him.

“I’m Remington Hayes, the new trauma surgeon. This patient’s been shot with a bullet laced with wolfvine. If you don’t let me take over, it could put all of you at risk,” I said quickly. They all nodded, understanding the urgency. Somewhere between the ER entrance and Room 1, someone handed me a coat to protect my clothes.

While I was checking vitals, one of the EMTs spoke up. “Patient is Trey Matney—he was friends with William in school. He was shot in human form, in the stomach. Blood pressure’s been high from shock, and his pulse keeps weakening.”

I nodded, then began palpating his abdomen.

“Bring over the X-ray machine—we may have internal bleeding!” I shouted.

Within minutes, the X-ray was ready. “Clear!” I called out. As I expected, the bullet had struck the intestines and looked to be lodged there.

“I need the hybrid OR prepped immediately. We’ve got to stop the internal bleeding and remove the bullet. After that, we’ll flush the wolfvine out with IV fluids and antibiotics,” I ordered.

The staff jumped into action, preparing the OR and getting the patient ready for transfer. Just before the operation began, I was pulled into the staff lounge to quickly change into scrubs.