Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
“No!” I bark at the two Omegas trying to keep me from mine. They both flinch, but hold their ground. “Let me in.”
“They’re sick. Something is wrong, and I don’t want you in there stinking the place up with your distress pheromones,” Will snaps. “You could make it worse.”
A whine from behind them makes me growl. I don’t want to hurt an Omega, but I may not be able to control myself if these two continue to stand between me and mine.
Ten minutes ago, when Will came and knocked on my door, letting me know that something was wrong with Atlas and Athena, worry enveloped me like an old friend.
Atlas and I haven’t talked since we fought, and now something is wrong. I need to know he’s okay. Things can’t end on that note with us.
Sebass and Wyatt are leaning against the wall outside the nest. I don’t know how either of them is keeping their cool. I feel like bugs are crawling beneath my skin, and the only way to get them out is to touch my Omegas.
I have to be near them. I know they’re not okay, but I need to touch them, to confirm that they’re breathing, to purr and snuggle and scent mark them. To help them in the only way I know how.
“Slime says the doctor will be here soon,” Harvey says, rounding the corner. Jordan asked him to make the call to get Athena’s brother here. Apparently, she left her phone in the car and didn’t want to leave the two Omegas alone.
I can respect that.
But I can’t respect her keeping me from taking care of them.
“Please,” I implore, trying to change my tactic. “I’m going out of my mind. I need to see them.”
“You can see them just fine.” Will rolls his eyes at me. “They’re right there. I’m not trying to hurt you, Chuckie, but I don’t want you in their nest until we know what’s wrong.”
He’s right, of course. I can see past where he blocks the door to where Atlas and Athena are lying, curled in balls, in the middle of their nest, which is still bare of all the things we bought them. I try not to let the fact that they haven’t set up their nest yet bother me, but it’s hard not to.
Am I not a good enough Alpha? Have I not done what I was supposed to do?
Of course, Atlas is upset with me after the trip to Omegamart.
He doesn’t like me treating him like an Omega, but what else am I supposed to do?
He is one, and he needs help dealing with his instincts.
I’m glad that Jordan and Will want to help them both, but the shame I feel at being unable to do it myself is immeasurable.
Athena is only now embracing her instincts. I want to be beside her and help her nurture them, but I’m unable to. I need to feel her weight in my arms, to stroke her soft skin.
Both of them had nightmares last night, and nothing makes me feel like less of an Alpha than being unable to stop the specters that haunt them. Atlas still refuses to be comforted, and I know this situation is going to become untenable for him soon.
I watch my Omegas shiver and whine, unable to help them, for ten excruciating minutes until the harried doctor that I’ve only met once before comes rushing down my hallway.
Dr. Icarus Knight is an odd man. There is no other way to describe him. I’ve only interacted with him twice, and both times I got the impression that he struggles with interpersonal communication. He loves his sister, but it is clear that his analytical mind sometimes gets the better of him.
It’s obvious why he’s using his doctorate for research, not for general practice.
“Tell me what happened?” he asks his Omega, kicking his shoes off.
“We were talking, and Athena looked like she was going to be sick. When Atlas tried to comfort her, he got the same way,” she answers him. “They haven’t spoken since.”
“I’ve been analyzing the blood samples I took, running a few tests on them. I was going to call today because I found something this morning that concerns me.”
“What was it?” I ask, pissed off that the Alpha has yet to address anyone in my pack.
He looks confused to see me here, as if he wouldn’t find me in my own home, worried about my Omegas.
“Oh, sorry. Hello.” He turns back to Jordan.
“Both of them had elevated white blood cell counts. The texture of their blood was concerning, so I ordered a few tests, and it came back with hyperviscosity syndrome.” He turns and gives us attention. “Have any of you heard of that?”
I’m thrilled he’s finally acknowledging us, but it shouldn’t have taken this long.
I’m trying to be sensitive to the fact that he lost his sister for weeks, and now she’s ill, which has to be terrifying for him, but she’s my Omega.
This is our pack, and he needs to be having this conversation with us, not with his Omega.
“No idea,” Sebastian answers. He doesn’t sound as calm as he looks. “What’s that?”
“It means their blood is too thick. It’s a symptom of a greater issue, which the white blood cells point to. Symptoms include neurological symptoms like dizziness, mucosal bleeding, and visual disturbances.” He turns back to Will and Jordan. “Does that sound right?”
Will runs his fingers through his hair as he looks back at the Omegas. “I didn’t see bleeding or anything, but both of them got very dizzy.”
The doctor nods succinctly. “Makes sense, makes sense. We need to get them to the hospital for treatment.”
The casual way he declares my Omegas are ill enough to need hospitalization has me growling and grabbing him by the collar of his stupid fucking golf shirt.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? These are our Omegas, and you’re not talking to us! You’re not telling us anything real.”
Icarus slowly peels my fingers off his shirt and brushes his hands down the front of it.
“I understand you’re frustrated and afraid.
Trust me, I do. Athena is my sister. My sister, who was missing for weeks after we got into an argument.
I would never do anything that would hurt her.
And I understand your pack is her scent matches, but you are not her pack.
A scent match doesn’t mean she’s accepted you and your pack as her Alphas.
She is my family. My sister. My pack. I’m doing my best to hold myself together and not run you four off, and if I have to focus on my Omega to do that, I will.
Now, are you going to let me get them medical treatment, or are you going to continue to throw around your pheromones like you’re the strongest Alpha in the room? ”
His words take the wind out of my sails. He’s right. They haven’t chosen us yet. And maybe they never will.
It’s a sobering thought that has my stomach churning.
Wyatt steps forward and places a hand on my shoulder before addressing the other Alpha. “We’re glad you’re here, Doc. Whatever you need from us to get them healthy, we’ll do it. Just say the word.”
“Let’s get them loaded up and to the hospital, please.”
“The doctor is a fucking asshole,” I say from the backseat, where Athena’s head is resting in my lap as I stroke her hair.
She whines softly, sick enough that she is unaware of the fact that I am shit-talking her brother.
“He must be an idiot if he thinks we’d allow him to transport our sick Omegas. ”
Sebastian rests his hand on Atlas’s cheek, looking down at him with worry creasing his usually jovial features. Atlas fought when Sebastian tried to lay him down, but he eventually lost the battle because he was so weak and has been out of it since.
“Hand me another tissue, Harvey,” the blond Alpha says, reaching his hand between the two front seats. “His nose is bleeding again.”
Athena hasn’t had any nosebleeds. Does that mean that Atlas is in worse shape than she is, or is it coming next for her?
I don’t like all the unknowns in this situation.
Wyatt’s knuckles are white on the steering wheel as he turns us abruptly into a parking spot.
He doesn’t say a word as he jumps out of the car and opens the door.
“Give her to me,” he barks at me. “You had her the entire ride.” He reaches in and lifts Athena from my lap before I can stop him. I growl at him, but he ignores me.
Sebastian doesn’t fight as Harvey reaches in and grabs Atlas from his lap.
Icarus is waiting for us at the entrance to the emergency department.
“Let’s go.” His tone is clipped, and he’s got a badge hanging from his collar. “I called ahead and got procedure rooms set up for each of them.”
As we enter the hospital, an older Beta woman with grey hair and smoker’s lines around her mouth approaches Icarus.
“Dr. Knight. The two plasmapheresis machines are set up. Rooms one fifteen and one sixteen.”
Wyatt frowns and looks down at Athena. “Can’t we keep them in the same room?”
Icarus shakes his head. “Not if you want to be with them. I can’t have two hospital beds, two plasmapheresis machines, four stressed-out Alphas, and a nephrologist in a single room. And I’m not leaving my sister. The rooms are right next to each other. It’ll be easy for you all to go between them.”
“How are we meant to choose one of our Omegas over the other?” I ask Sebastian, wringing my hands. “I… who needs me more?”
My stomach roils at the idea of choosing between the two of them. I don’t want either of them to think that I care about the other more. But I can’t be in two places at once.
“Can we please do one room?” I ask, desperation lacing my voice. “I… I can’t choose. Please don’t make me choose.”
Icarus stops walking and turns to face me. “Charles, you’re not choosing one Omega over the other. This is a purely pragmatic approach. You are free to move between rooms whenever you want.”
Harvey carries Atlas into one room, and Wyatt takes Athena into the other, with Sebastian following him, but I stay frozen in the hallway, looking between the rooms. I watch as Icarus hooks Athena up to an IV and the large machine in the room, and another doctor goes into Atlas’s room and does the same.
I’m frozen in the hallway, unable to decide which Omega needs me more. I don’t understand how my packmates have. But as I think that, Harvey leaves Atlas’s room and walks into Athena’s, and Wyatt makes the switch as well. It seems like they’re doing their best to be with both of them.
But I still can’t bring myself to move.
The nurse from earlier taps me on the shoulder and pushes a stool at me. “If you’re going to stay out here, at least sit down. It’s going to be a long day.”