Chapter 28 Rose
Rose
The doctor is a small beta man with a receding hairline and glasses.
Telling him about my medical history is both mortifying and, somehow, a relief.
I’m painfully aware of how reckless my decision was, but Dr. Rendon doesn’t make me feel judged.
He’s calm. Professional. Measured in that way betas sometimes are.
The alphas don’t even ask to stay. Once introductions are made, they excuse themselves and step out onto the patio to give us privacy. I’m grateful for it. It’s not that I can’t be honest with them. It’s that I don’t want them to hear everything while I’m still trying to process it myself.
But saying it all out loud to another person makes me realize I can tell them. That maybe I should.
Dr. Rendon sets up his small kit including several devices, a portable monitor, a vials tray. He moves through each step with quiet efficiency, drawing blood, checking vitals, and explaining as he goes. His calmness helps me breathe.
When he speaks, it’s with that steady, practiced tone doctors use when they have bad news to deliver.
“The blood work confirms a rising omega hormone profile,” he says, flipping through his notes.
“Based on these results, I expect you’ll enter a bi-annual heat cycle within the next two to three weeks.
You’ll likely experience intermittent heat spikes leading up to that point.
You'll need to fill out the heat questionnaire and give it to your alphas before they begin. I suggest sooner than later.”
Words feel heavy and far away.
He continues, gentle but clinical. “Please remember, Miss Morales, much of this is based on educated estimation. The drug you took is unregulated and untested. Some of my findings are clear, but the rest can only be confirmed with time. Though I can be definite about the touch deprivation. That’s showing every symptom.
Here are some printouts on the correct therapies and techniques for recovery. ” He sets the paper on the table.
The words sink like stones in my stomach. Some of this I expected, but hearing it aloud still knocks the air from my lungs. I can’t help but regret my choice, even though I know there hadn’t really been another one.
He studies me a moment longer. “Is there anything else you’d like to discuss?”
I swallow hard. “The scent-sensitive awakening,” I say quietly, for the second time.
I had designated late. Later than most alphas and omegas, at twenty two.
Most designate at twenty. I’d figured that it was just that I was a late bloomer.
I’d truly believed I was a beta until two years ago, at my families annual Christmas party.
I’d just designated out of nowhere—at least that’s what I’d thought.
He folds his hands. “Yes. In some cases, psychological trauma can suppress a designation. The mind defends itself so fiercely that the person presents as a beta. But when faced with a scent-sensitive match, the repression fails. The omega awakens. Sometimes abruptly.”
He flips the chart toward me, tapping a notation.
“It’s rare, but not unheard of. Cases have been documented in subjects as old as seventy.
In your case, the abrupt shift into an omega on the night you designated fits that pattern.
You said the change happened after you scented another alpha for the first time.
That was likely your scent-sensitive mate.
His alpha hormones triggered your omega instincts. ”
“But since I took the drug, I haven’t been able to scent anything—or be scented. Wouldn’t that negate the scent sensitivity somehow?”
Dr. Rendon chuckles softly. “Scent sensitivity is such a misnomer. It has very little to do with actual smell and much more to do with the bond between an omega and their fated mate. Some would call it psychological—others, soul-deep. Scents are just the most visible way it manifests, not the defining one. So no, you haven’t negated anything. ”
My fingers twist in my lap.
“Any other questions?” He asks.
I shake my head. “No, Doctor. Thank you.”
“Remember,” he adds as he packs his bag, “though I’m contracted through the Sterling Pack, I retain full doctor–patient confidentiality. What you share with them is entirely your choice. I won’t discuss your medical information with anyone for any reason.”
“Thank you,” I repeat, voice thin.
When he leaves, the house goes quiet again.
I sit on the couch for a long time. I’d been so frightened when I designated as an omega after thinking I was a beta that I hadn’t considered that something triggered it.
I’d just escaped my parents and then hopped right onto the drug when Benito’s contact offered it to me.
I’d gone right back to being the beta I’d always thought I was.
Now, with this new information about how I designated.
It puts everything into clear perspective.
No wonder I always felt such a strong pull to Kai.
No wonder I feel the same pull to his pack.
The sliding door cracks open. Harlan steps in first. “You okay, Starlight? Need some time?”
I’m so grateful for the option, but I shake my head. I need to do this before I lose my nerve.
He gestures behind him. The others file in. Kai takes the seat to my right, Evander settles on my left. Logan perches on the arm of the couch beside Evander, while Wyatt and Harlan flank the fireplace.
I take a slow breath. My heart feels too big for my chest. I’m still processing everything myself, which is why I want to tell them now before it hits me hard enough to make talking impossible.
“Take your time,” Harlan says in that deep, rumbling tone that always sounds like comfort and command at once. When I meet his gaze, I see nothing but concern reflected back. Every one of them is watching me with expressions of protection and worry.
“You don’t have to tell us anything if you don’t want to. We just want to know you’re okay,” Evander says softly.
“And help if we can,” Wyatt adds.
“No,” I murmur, shaking my head. “I want to tell you. I want you to know.”
I take another breath. “He was very professional. Thank you for calling him,” I start, glancing at Harlan. “He ran tests and went over everything with me. He’s… very certain that I’m severely touch-starved.”
The words feel humiliating and raw, but I force them out anyway.
“He thinks the medication I was on basically sedated my omega, and because she was asleep, I didn’t feel the lack of touch.
Like a broken leg under anesthesia. It’s still broken, still worsening, you just can’t feel it until you wake up. ”
Kai immediately wraps an arm around me and pulls me close. “God, Rosie.”
I clasp my trembling hands together. “He said it’s very severe now. That’s why my omega was able to push through and take control outside of a heat spike. It was desperation.”
I stare at my hands until movement catches my eye. Logan kneels in front of me, his fingers gently tilting my chin up. His eyes are softer than I’ve ever seen them.
“I had touch deprivation once,” he admits, and the confession steals my breath. Touch deprivation in omegas is rare, but in alphas it’s almost unheard of. Whether that's because they don't usually suffer from it, or because it's vastly misdiagnosed is heavily debated.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. It sounds small and useless, but he gives me a sad smile anyway. Behind him, Harlan’s face twists with quiet devastation.
“My point is,” Logan continues, “I know a little of what that feels like. We can help, if you’ll let us. Or we can take you to a touch clinic if you’d rather.”
Low growls ripple from the others immediately.
Logan raises a hand. “Her choice,” he warns, calm but firm. “It’s up to you, Jingles. You can have whatever you need.”
A touch clinic. The thought alone makes something in me ache.
“If you don’t want to, I totally understand,” I say quietly. “The therapy sheets can get… personal. Maybe it’s better if I go to a clinic.”
The outcry is instant.
“Don’t want to,” Evander scoffs.
“Clinic my ass,” Wyatt mutters.
“Need your alphas for this,” Harlan interjects, dominance curling through the room like smoke.
Your alphas.
The words echo in my chest. My omega preens, greedy for the claim.
Logan doesn’t disagree. “I think I can speak for all of us when I say we definitely want to.”
He wraps his warm hands around my calves, grounding me. My heart stutters.
“Did he say anything else?” Kai asks gently.
Dread pools low in my stomach. “He isn’t sure what the drug’s long-term effects will be. My scent and sense of scent might come back… or they might not. Ever.”
Every alpha goes still.
“And—” My voice catches.
“Whatever it is,” Kai says firmly, pulling me closer, “we’ll help you through it.”
I swallow hard. “He said it might’ve affected my fertility. I might not be able to have children.”
The air in the room shifts.
Harlan moves first, crouching down to eye level. He gently urges Logan aside, then takes my face in both of his large, warm hands.
“You are more than your ability to bear pups, Starlight,” he says quietly but with fierce conviction. “Any man who looks at you and only sees someone to have children is blind. Understand?”
The others nod solemnly.
A single tear escapes. Harlan leans forward and kisses it away. I close my eyes, memorizing the feel of his lips on my skin.
“Scent or no scent, Rosie. Beta or omega,” Kai says, voice thick with emotion. “I’ve always known I wanted you. That’s not changing.”
I turn toward him. The honesty in his eyes steals my breath.
“I want you,” he says again, “no matter what comes.”
My heart trips, then soars. “Are—are you sure?”
“Since we were seven,” he says, lips twitching, “when you sucker-punched my brother for dropping a frog down your shirt.”
A shaky laugh escapes me between hiccups and tears.
“I want to be yours,” I tell him softly, because it’s the only truth that matters.
His smile could light the room.
“Candy,” Evander asks gently, “how long were you on those meds?”
“Two years. ,” I confess. “Since I escaped from my parents.”
The word escaped lands like a thunderclap.
“What do you mean, escaped?” Harlan’s voice is calm, but his eyes are molten with barely contained rage.
I take a deep breath. It’s a lot, on top of everything, but it’s time.
I turn to Kai. “Remember the Christmas party? Two years ago?”
He frowns. “I came to see you. You were there?”
“I was,” I whisper. “I saw you outside on the terrace. You didn’t notice me, but I scented you—roasted chestnuts.
It was the first time I’d ever scented anyone.
It overwhelmed me. I got dizzy and thought I was sick.
I left before you could see me. I designated that night.The doctor said it was a scent sensitive designation trigger.
That I was always an omega but suppressed it somehow.
But when I found my mate,” our eyes meet and his are wide, “I couldn’t suppress it anymore. ”
“I—” Kai’s voice cracks. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know,” I whisper. “Not really. Not until the doctor explained it today. But even if I had known, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because my mother found me first. She scented me before I could even leave the terrace. She’s an omega too. She knew instantly. I tried to run, but they locked me in the basement guest suite.”
The memory makes my chest tighten painfully. The smell of bleach, the locked door, the guards. I force myself to breathe through the panic the way Logan taught me.
“They wanted to sell me to the Blackbear Pack. My brother bribed one of the guards and got me out weeks later.”
Tears stream freely now. Kai pulls me fully into his lap, and I bury my face in his shoulder. I sob until my body gives out, the sound echoing through the small house.
Harlan rubs soothing lines up and down my back until my crying fades into hiccups.
When I finally look up, every alpha’s face mirrors the devastation in my own heart.
“I’ll kill them,” Evander growls—sweet, sunny Evander.
I reach back for him, and he curls into me, face pressed to my neck. “Please don’t. I don’t want them dead. I just never want to see them again.”
Harlan’s hand tightens on my knee. “Never again,” he vows. “I promise, Starlight.”
His thumb traces slow circles over my thigh. A grounding touch from the sheet of touch deprivation techniques.
Wyatt clears his throat. “Maybe we stay in today,” he suggests quietly. “Work on some touch therapy.”
I shake my head. “The doctor said it can’t be fixed in one session. Last night helped more than you think. I should be okay this afternoon. Besides, I have work… and our book club.”
Evander groans, but Kai presses a kiss to the top of my head. Wyatt still looks unconvinced.
“I’ll go with you to your book club,” Logan announces simply.
We untangle from the pile of limbs and blankets we’ve made of ourselves. We do that a lot, I realize. And I’m not mad about it. Not at all.
“One more thing,” I say, voice small but steady. “Dr. Rendon thinks I’ll go into heat in the next few weeks. The labs already show the trend.”
The room stills.
Logan’s gaze sharpens, calm and protective. “Then we prepare now.”
My chest aches. “Are you sure? This is… a lot.”
“No more asking that, Starlight,” Harlan says, firm but tender. “Mate.”
Because if an omega is scent sensitive to any member of a pack she’s scent sensitive to all of them. They’re mates. I'm their mate. And they’re mine. The word nearly breaks me.
“We’ll figure out the nest situation,” he adds, but panic flares in me anyway. There is no nest. This house was built for a beta. There’s no room. No space.
Harlan must see it in my eyes. He rubs soothing circles on my back. “It’s okay, Starlight. Leave it to me. I’ll fix it.”
And damn it, I believe him. Even though I have no idea how he possibly could.
He catches my hand and kisses my knuckles. “You’ll be safe, Starlight.”
For the first time all day, my chest loosens.
“Okay,” I breathe. “Okay.”