Chapter 43
T oday was the day.
We were going to get our omega.
We had spent the morning getting ready, trying to make ourselves look a bit less rugged and feral.
I was just about to grab my cell phone off the coffee table when a frantic knock rang out on the door. We all turned to look at each other with confusion. Who the hell was knocking on our door and knocking very, very frantically?
Raising my eyebrows, I strode over to the door without saying a word. Pulling it open, I was surprised to find a very disheveled omega standing on our doorstep. Emma, the omega who lived on the same floor as us. The same one who brought us cookies.
"Emma, are you okay?" I asked instinctively.
Her face was tight with worry, and she was flapping her hands like she was in distress. "Well, you see, I kind of messed up. One of my alphas, Harry, is hurt. One of you is a medic, aren’t you?" she blurted, her words tumbling over each other.
I gently reached out a hand, hovering it over her arm, like I wanted to reassure her, but I also didn’t want to touch her because I was an alpha she didn’t really know.
"Emma, please, take your time. Tell me what happened," I said calmly.
She took a deep, shaky breath, tears welling in her eyes as she began her explanation.
"I was baking with Harry at home with me—it’s only him because Dustin and the others have gone out. I was baking, and I wanted to grab this tray from the top of the cupboard. I was going to get it myself, but Harry got mad at me because I was putting myself in danger. So, he went to do it, and right at the same time, I tried to climb down—and then he fell off the kitchen counter and hit his head, and I don't know what’s wrong! He’s bleeding. I remembered you saying one of you was a trauma medic," she finished in a rush but, this time, much clearer.
"That’s me,” Asher said from behind me. “I’ll go check on him now. You stay here." Rushing through the doorway, he pushed gently past the omega and hurried into our neighbors’ apartment.
"I’m not staying here!" Emma cried, turning to waddle after him.
I shot Carter a look before shrugging my shoulders. I wasn’t going to leave Asher alone with an omega that wasn’t ours. Of course, I trusted him implicitly, but it was a situation you never wanted to be in. What if one of her alphas came home and was pissed at a strange alpha in their home? It was best we go as a pack. Wordlessly, we communicated that before hurrying after the waddling omega. We caught up to her very easily in the kitchen doorway.
In the kitchen, Asher was crouched next to Harry, who was sitting on the floor, holding a tea towel to his head. "That’s a pretty nasty bump," Asher said, carefully pulling back the tea towel to inspect it.
"I’m fine," the grumpy alpha muttered. "Emma’s just over worried."
Emma gasped, indignantly. "Over worried? You weren’t even awake!” she cried in an angry tone. “Of course, I went to get help! Now, let him help you," she demanded, her tone sharp and unyielding.
“I’m fine,” the alpha said.
"Let. Him. Help. You," she repeated, in a deadly calm voice. For such a tiny, adorable creature, she was actually quite scary.
"Fine," Harry grumbled, casting Asher a pleading look.
"I think it’s best we do what she says," Asher said with a chuckle. "I’m Asher, by the way."
"I’m Harry," the alpha replied with a smile. "Honestly, it’s not that bad. I know it looks like a lot of blood, but head wounds bleed a lot. I’m sure you know that."
"I do know," Asher said with a nod. "I was a trauma medic in the Army, so I know more than most. But I also know that you already have a tennis-ball-size lump on the back of your head, as well as the cut. So, we are going to put some glue on it temporarily. I’m pretty sure we have some at my place. Then I'm going to stay with you until the rest of your pack returns, so one of them can escort you to a doctor— don’t question this. You have a head injury, you need to see a doctor, because you may need to have a scan. What if you have a bleed on the brain?"
Harry scowled. "I clearly don’t have a bleed on the brain, because I’m bleeding out of my brain," he argued. Emma whimpered in panic, and his face immediately softened. "I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean it. I’m fine, I promise."
"Go to the doctor for me, please?" she said, pouting. "I won’t be able to rest or relax if you don’t go to a doctor," she said as she rubbed her stomach.
Harry’s expression melted. "Okay. Dustin should be back soon," he said, glancing at Asher. "Are you sure you can glue it up for now?"
From somewhere behind me, Carter spoke up. "I’ll go get the first aid kit from our house. He’ll have you patched up in no time. This guy’s stitched us up good and proper a few times—like when Dylan crashed his snowmobile and needed twenty stitches in his arm. Asher did it with no trouble. No anesthetic, either."
Asher grumbled. "I did have anesthetic. I was just pissed at the idiot for going out on the dangerous ravines on the snowmobiles when I told him there was a hazard."
I raised an eyebrow. "You didn’t numb me on purpose?"
"You deserved it," Asher replied with a scowl.
I shrugged. It wasn’t that big a deal for me. The pain hadn’t been unbearable, but it would’ve been nice to have been a little bit numb for all twenty of those stitches.
The kitchen was a mess, there were puddles of liquid everywhere, so without touching Emma, I gently gestured for her to step aside, where she wouldn't be in the damp areas.
"What were you cooking?" I asked.
"Well, I was going to make cookies. Then I thought about stew. Then I thought I hadn’t made lasagne in a while. I’m craving so many foods—blame the baby," she said with a pout.
"You guys better be prepared for this," she added pointedly. "You need to make sure your kitchen has every possible food for your omega."
I smiled. "We’ve got the kitchen well-stocked. Actually, we’re going to see her today."
As Asher continued to fuss over Knox’s head, Emma’s face lit up. "Oh, that’s fantastic! Is she going to come home with you?"
"We don’t know yet," I said. "We’re taking it slow, at her pace. She’s been through a lot. But I’m really looking forward to seeing her."
"That’s good. Oh, you guys are going to make such a cute family. I can’t wait to meet her!" Emma said with a grin. "And if you want to be a good alpha, make sure you go to the doctor when your omega asks," she said, glaring at Harry.
"I’m going to the doctor, baby," Harry muttered in an exasperated tone.
"You’re only going because we bullied you into it."
"Hey, I’ve got the glue!” Carter said as he ran back into the room, then, as though in slow motion, I watched him step on one of the puddles, his feet flying out from under him as he slid clean across the kitchen, crashing into the floor and one of the cabinets on the other side of the room. The sound was so loud as he collided with the floor and the counter that I’m surprised we didn’t gain the attention of several apartments below us.
"Shit!" Carter shouted as he went down, before groaning painfully.
Asher closed his eyes, visibly frustrated. "For God’s sake, Carter. One patient at a time is enough for me!"
"Are you okay?" I asked.
Carter smiled as he sat up but winced. "I think I may have broken my arm," he admitted, grimacing. "It kind of feels like when I fell out of that tree a few years ago and broke my elbow."
Asher sighed a painful sound as he pinched the bridge of his nose, his other hand still holding the tea towel to Knox’s temple. "You’re all idiots," he muttered.
I nodded. "Yes, but we’re your idiots," I said as I went and picked up Carter from the floor. He was holding his arm at an odd angle, and I knew it was definitely broken. Carter knew his body well and knew the feeling of a broken bone. “Well, our day just got messed up.”
"No, no, no, no!" Carter protested. "I can still go to the Haven with a broken arm. Look, it's barely even hurting,” he said as he tried to place his hand in his pocket and winced.
"You don’t know how bad the break is. It could be shattered. We will go to the emergency room and get your bone set, and we’ll send a message to the Haven. If Juniper wants to butcher us for this, then we probably deserve it."
Behind me, Emma sobbed. "Oh, no! I’m so sorry! This only happened because you guys are really sweet and helped me and Harry! Oh no!" She started to cry, and her alpha looked between her and me with a startled expression.
“You’re making my omega cry.”
"Don’t worry, Juniper will understand. She is a very sweet girl," I reassured her, even though I didn’t know if I quite believed the words myself. "Hopefully, we’ll be there by this evening. We’ll only be a few hours late."
Famous last words.