Chapter 20 #3
The “pack list” is a running list of packs willing to be called in to assist an omega with her or his heat when they come in. This way, they’re not waiting for very long while getting comfortable in a room. Aisling and Wren’s expansion into a non-profit heat spa makes sense to me.
Some of them can be seedy, but I think more people will reach out if they know that there are good packs willing to help.
“Right now, there’s too much anticipation and pressure in our minds to find our mate, biological or otherwise,” he explains. “Yet, we still find ourselves wanting to spend time with an omega, so this may be the best way for us.”
“Does she have a plan for a soft launch?” I ask. “I’ve been wanting to make a podcast about this, but?—”
“I don’t think anyone expects you to do anything more than what you’ve been doing,” he says gently.
“Your life has been very full, Hollis. I believe she said that she’s thinking about beginning in May.
There are apparently a lot of hoops to go through.
She wanted to open sooner, but ROWS is apparently appalled about the entire idea. ”
“Of course they are,” I grumble. “Emilia and her little minions are on my shit list. Now that I’m feeling better, I want to contact someone at a newspaper that I met, see if she’s willing to write a piece that’ll expose them.
If not, I’ll find a talk radio show to get my story out, and get the community to force her to close her doors.
Even the Healthy Pack Organization will rethink backing ROWS if they find out the shit she’s been up to. ”
“Please don’t get yourself brought back here,” he groans. “Emilia needs to be hit with a bag of dicks, and I hate that you’re going to be the one who has to do it.”
“That’s both sweet and very descriptive,” I smirk. “I don’t want to end up back here. Now, do your job and tell me how pretty my feet are despite having most of my toes broken.”
“That’s not funny,” he complains, putting on a pair of gloves while I pull mine off. “Give me your feet.”
Adrain rolls his chair over to me, and carefully moves my foot, looks at my toes, and nods before checking the next one.
“Any pain when you walk?” he asks. “I’d ask for an X-ray, but I don’t think there’s any need for it.”
“Work smarter,” I agree. “No pain, not even in heels.”
“Good. Let’s see your hands,” he says.
Adrain does a full work up, even having me pull off my coat so he can check my ribs. He’s in the middle of feeling his way along them when someone bursts into the room.
“Can I help you?” he asks the nurse with flushed cheeks.
“Sorry, Doctor. You’re being asked for,” she says breathlessly.
“Why?” Adrain asks, his fingers continuing to move. “They’re not completely healed, but they’re on the way on this side, Hollis. Let me see the other side, and then you’re free to go since I’m being summoned.”
It must be a really rough time because while he has his grumpy moments, Adrian isn’t usually this sarcastic.
“I’m sorry,” the nurse breathes. “It’s the new intern, Harris.”
“Where is she?”
“In Bay four,” she says. “She needs a consult for a patient.”
“Give me just a second. Please let her know I’m on the way and not to panic,” Adrian says, waiting until the door shuts to blow out a breath.
Pushing away from me, he strips off his gloves with a groan.
“I love that this is a teaching hospital, but this scheduler needs an orgasm or something,” he says.
Perking up at his words, I say,“Mrs. Learns, right? Can you show me where she works? I just want to talk to her. Tyde is bonded to Nova now and he’s been working nonstop. This shit needs to stop.”
“Hollis, please don’t hurt Mrs. Learns,” he frowns.
“Can I just scare her a little?” I ask. “Please?”
“As long as you get her to change my schedule too,” he grumbles. “My hours are a fucking mess. I just want to fuck my pack for three days straight and not have to come into work.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” I promise, dropping over the edge of the table and pulling on my coat and shoes.
I do have my knives and a gun underneath my clothes since I’m out and about today. It almost feels odd to have them since I’ve been weapon free for the past few weeks. Cian insisted on giving me both a driver and a guard, something I’ll have to deal with because Emilia is still a problem.
“A part of me wants to talk you out of this, but the selfish, tired part says that she’s up on the second floor in room twenty-five B,” he says.
Picking up my bag, I nod.
“Got it,” I say, letting him open the door for me like a perfect gentleman and stride out the door. “Pleasure as always, Dr. Royal.”
“You’re such a brat,” he huffs, hoofing it to go save some poor intern as I find the elevator with a chuckle.
I mean, he’s not wrong. A minute or two later, I’m knocking on Mrs. Learns’s half open door.
“If you’re lost, I’m certain I can’t help you,” she calls out. She’s wearing thick, clear glasses, is in her late fifties, and curls her lip churlishly at me.
“I’m not lost,” I say pleasantly, stepping inside the room. Mrs. Learns is a beta, her loose fitting, loud flower shirt and electric blue pants a bad fashion choice for her. “I’m here to discuss the way that you’re scheduling the ER doctors. Are there only two on the floor?”
“Of course not,” she scoffs. “That would be very dangerous and we’d be noncompliant with hospital policies. I’m not going to discuss it with you. What are you doing here?”
“Discussing hospital policy. Catch up, ah, Dolores,” I say, glancing at the name on her badge.
“Is it hospital policy to schedule doctors to work so much they’re in danger of falling asleep without more than a day off a week?
Is it considered normal to have doctors regularly work double shifts so they have no time with their families? ”
“There are only two doctors who work a schedule like that in the ER,” she says, rolling her eyes. “One is gay and doesn’t have children, while the other is an uncouth bachelor.”
“Does the hospital know you’re a bigot?” I ask, shaking my head. “A doctor’s sexual orientation is none of your business. Dr. Adrain Royal has a pack who he adores, and they don’t get to see him.”
“It keeps them from committing crimes against God,” she sniffs.
Oh my God. I’m going to fucking kill her. Snarling, I feel my phone buzz. It’s probably one of my pack mates, wondering if I’m alright. ‘I’m fine, I’m just trying not to kill a bitch ,’ may not be an appropriate answer.
“I very much doubt loving people is a crime,” I growl, my hand grabbing the edge of the door and slamming it shut.
My fingers flick the lock in my anger before I cross my arms in front of me. My blood pressure is so high, I feel as if I’m about to fucking levitate.
“Here’s the deal, Dolores,” I drawl, walking toward her and pulling her chair out. “You’re currently ruining the lives of two people who are important to me. Dr. Tyde Steward has an omega that he’s bonded to. Therefore, by your logic, he can’t continue to work these ridiculous hours.”
“He took a full week off without explaining why,” she complains. “I had to rearrange everything and it was a huge pain! How was I supposed to know there was a legitimate reason?”
“Because, Dolores, Tyde hasn’t missed a day of work in the four years he’s been working here,” I tell her.
I should know. I hacked into the system before coming here.
“He works when he has a cold, and has been putting up with insufferable hours from you for entirely too long. Why are you giving him such a hard time?”
“He’s rude,” Dolores mutters. “He bumped into me once when he was rushing to see a client, and I ended up wearing my coffee. He didn’t apologize either.”
“He works in the emergency room,” I say slowly. “It’s life or death there. I doubt that he even realized what he did. Tyde gets very into his head, and sometimes he loses sight of social cues and basic niceties. He grows on you.”
“I don’t want fungus growing on me,” she says, her thick finger wagging at me.
Ugh, I’m going to have to lose my temper and do something really mean.
I can already tell. “Am I keeping you from fucking him? Is this what this is about? He’s a doctor, and this is his job.
Eventually, sleep becomes meaningless and he won’t need it anymore. ”
“Like when he runs himself off the road because he falls asleep behind the wheel?” I ask. “My sister is his omega, and they have a very new relationship. Hospitals understand these dynamics. You’re simply being obtuse and obstinate.”
“Those are very cute big ticket words. Have you been reading the thesaurus?” Delores snorts.
Sighing, I turn her chair to face her desk, grab her hair and slam it down on the surface of it. Her scream is perfect and delicious, and I smirk at how high pitched it is.
Pulling out my phone, I call Kane in a video call, making sure that his screen isn’t showing his face.
“ Who are you torturing, and can I help? ” he answers.
Bending over so he can see her better, I hold tightly to her hair so she can’t move, her nose bleeding but not broken. Honesty, there will be more bruising than anything else. Her glasses aren’t even broken.
“This is the hospital scheduler, and she’s been terrorizing two people who are important to me. Dr. Royal has been working impossible hours, while Dr. Tyde Stewart doesn’t have any time to spend with Nova because he’s been working twelve hour shifts.”
“Why are you such a cunt ?” Kane asks. “ Do you need an attitude adjustment? I have a pipe I would be happy to introduce to your cunt, Dolores.”
Kane wouldn’t ever do that, but he definitely makes me shiver with fear with his words. His crazy is fun when I have to intimidate people into acting right.
“Is that the issue?” I ask. “You haven’t gotten laid in so long that you need to play God with people’s lives? That’s what you’re doing, Dolores.”
“No,” she says, beginning to cry. “Fags are against the Lord’s will! Dr. Royal is the only one who is out of the closet. I have to keep him from blasphemy somehow.”
“ You think that it’s a crime against nature for me to love a man?” Kane growls. “ Can I please make her scream, Hollis? It’s been too long since I’ve played with a bigot. I also have a recording of her saying that about Dr. Royal. I’ll send you that clip so you can get her fired.”
“You’re an angel,” I breathe, my hand moving to Dolores’ neck to dig into her pressure point.
She tries weakly to fight me off, but I step in front of her and climb into her lap so I’m straddling her thighs.
“See, Dolores, homophobia is the crime against humanity I have a really hard time looking the other way about.”
“ Morris !” Kane yells. “Hollis is wrapping us a gift. Can we go get it?”
My lips curl into a scary smile as Dolores’ eyes begin to close.
“ A gift you say?” Morris asks, his voice low and inquisitive.
“I need you to come kill someone for me,” I explain. “She’s been giving several emergency room doctors double shifts because she believes one is gay and the other one is rude and unattached so he doesn’t deserve to have a life.”
“ She said we were an abomination,” Kane growls.
Once Dolores passes out, I click on the video feed so I can see them.
“ Well that’s not very nice,” Morris says, his gaze taking in the scene in front of him. “ You don’t see me commenting on this woman’s flaws, and that’s because I was raised right. That won’t keep me from killing her though. Can we make it messy, Hollis?”
“You have full control over what happens next,” I promise, checking to make sure she’s still breathing. “Grab a gurney when you get into the hospital, pick her up, and roll the bitch right out for me, please.”
“ We’re twenty minutes from the hospital,” Morris says, already moving with Kane.
“Where are you going ?” Adira asks. I can’t see her, but I get off Dolores’ lap to stand.
“To kill a problem for me,” I reply. “Hi, Adira.”
“Hey, Hollis ,” she says, smirking as she comes into the frame. “ They’ve been impossible lately and bored. Their next job is a week out at least. They’ll enjoy this.”
“Thanks for letting me borrow them. Guys, I’m on the second floor, room twenty-five B,” I explain.
“On my way ,” Morris says, and the phone goes dead.
Moving to sit against the desk, I check my messages.
Remy
Are you alright? You feel very angry.
Me
I’m frustrated. I may need to ride your cock later to feel better.
There’s silence and then bubbles that stop and start before he finally responds.
Remy
Are you trying to butter me up? Because it’s working. I expect to find you waiting for me in your nest with one of the bigger plugs you have. I have a call soon with a manufacturer about more ‘realistic’ knotted plugs.
Fuck, I’m never going to live that down. This sounds fun though, I have to make sure I’m home before they are.
Me
Don’t be home before me then.
Another message comes in while I’m waiting for his reply, and my eyes narrow as I see that it’s Felix.
Felix
Why are you in an office in the hospital?
Me
The location on my phone isn’t that accurate. How do you know that I’m in an office?
Felix is silent while I roll my eyes, and I wonder if he put some kind of tracker on my clothes. It wouldn’t surprise me.
“Hollis, open up,” Morris hisses, surprising me.
I walk over and open the door, smirking as I see that they’re wearing hospital scrubs.
“That was fast,” I murmur, allowing them entrance.
“I didn’t want you to get caught,” Morris grumbles as I shut the door behind them.
Walking over to where Dolores is passed out, he injects her with what I assume is a sedative and then Kane throws a body bag down on the ground before helping Morris to stuff her inside.
It’s a tight fit, but it works.
“I think this counts as my gym time,” Kane grunts, his neck muscles straining as Morris and he lift Dolores onto the stretcher.
“Have fun,” I say, peeking my head out to see if the coast is clear.
“Before I forget, here is that recorded clip,” Kane says, sliding his phone out of his pocket to send it to me. “It’s exactly her words and nothing else.”
“Thank you, I’m going to go find the chief of staff so I can escalate this to Human Resources. Just because you’re about to kill her doesn’t make her actions disappear. It just makes me happy that she’s dead,” I shrug.
“You’re so much fun,” Kane says. “Say hello to Nova for me.”
“I definitely will,” I promise, allowing them to pass.
Now, I have to clean up the rest of Dolores’ mess so the next person who takes over her job isn’t a twat.