18. Valen
Chapter eighteen
Valen
I pace outside the doctor’s office. Ianto is inside talking to Doctor Yoshi and finding out what the hell is wrong with Lia. He put up an argument about needing to see her in person again, but Ianto did that scary as fuck voice thing he does, and the doctor backed down.
I want to go back to Lia. Every moment away from her is like an itching of my skin, screaming at me to get back.
I rub my face and glance at the office, wondering how pissed Ianto would be if I stormed in there and tore the office to pieces.
As if he hears me, Ianto slams open the glass door, searches until he spots me, and gestures for me to come inside. I come in and find there’s a tablet set up, and the rest of the pack are on video call.
“What’s going on?” I ask with a growl.
This can’t be good, to have all five of us present and here. Yoshi clears his throat. He’s an older man of average height with average looks. He doesn’t look like the kind of man who hangs out with us. His light brown hair is as plain as his light brown eyes. He’s a good, solidly loyal brother.
“Okay, now, without seeing the young woman beta again, but going off everything that Ianto has kindly told me, I think I know what’s wrong, but I need to ask some questions, and I need you to bear with me.”
Yoshi is okay looking. I wonder what he’ll look like after I smash his face in.
“Go ahead, we’ll do anything for Lia,” Ranger says.
Anything for Lia. That is a truth that is burned into my soul. Anything .
“Have any of you started smelling something overly sweet?”
Ianto sits back, staring at the doctor with his expression locked. He knows something.
“Marshmallows,” Mills says suddenly.
“Yes, now and then, the smell of marshmallows fills the air,” Ranger agrees.
“Has,” the doctor coughs, “when you get erections, have your knots been present.”
There’s a dawning shock that has me gripping the back of Ianto’s chair and staring.
“Yes,” I snap.
“Aggression levels up?”
“Yes,” I say before the others can interrupt.
“Have you had ideas to bond her? Urges. Aching jaw or teeth?”
“Yes!” I almost whisper.
“No! No!” Zaden growls. “Lia is a beta.”
The doctor lets out a shocked bark of laughter. “No, she’s not. Her levels are off the chart. Despite all the evidence, it would appear she’s a switch.”
“What the fuck is a switch?” Ranger growls.
“A person of a particular designation who can switch between the designations. For instance, a person may wake up as a beta and then change to an omega.”
“And is it permanent?” Ianto asks.
“Most cases have been, there have been a case of two who were able to change back and forth, sliding up and down the designations at will. In this case, judging from the severity and pain, I think going by the research I can find, that she will wake up one day soon an omega, and it will be permanent.”
I grip the chair so I don’t drop to my knees. My mouth waters, my heart is almost bursting.
To knot an omega is the most fervent desire of an alpha. To knot an omega you care for is even more so.
“She’s our scent match,” Ianto throws out, and now I do stumble. I grip the chair beside him and pull myself into it.
“How do you know that?” I growl, giving him a furious look that he ignores. But then, so does everyone else.
“I’ve always known,” Ianto says with a shrug, but he doesn’t meet my eyes. “Lia is ours.”
I wheeze and consider stabbing the prick in his leg. I want to ask more questions and drag or shake the information from him.
“Well, it would appear that you have come into what is a most fortuitous circumstance.” The doctor leans forward. “Now, let’s talk about how to get this poor lass of yours through this situation. ”
The doctor writes out a script. “These are painkillers that will help with the fevers. I strongly suggest letting her ride it out where she feels most comfortable. Her instincts might get savage, so keep sharp things out of her reach. Also, let her choose her own nest. Bring lots of comfortable things that she likes. Materials. Do not enter her nest without her permission. Omegas have been known to seriously injure their alphas for not respecting their territory. And try to avoid stressful situations.”
“How long?”
The doctor looks up and blinks owlishly. “It lasts as long as it lasts. Her first heat may be slightly longer or shorter, be prepared. Make sure it’s safe. But, based on her hormone levels, I’d say the next two to three weeks.”
I exhale roughly and stand up. “It will be safe. No one will touch her.”
“But- and this is important. You can have sexual relations with her. In fact, I encourage it. But you must not attempt to knot her before her heat. Her body is still adjusting, and it won’t be ready to take a knot. She will beg you, she will try to desperately get you to knot her, you must not do it!”
“How will we know the heat has started?”
The doctor chuckles. “Oh, you’ll know. The scent will be so strong you’ll choke on it. She will be erratic and all over you. You’ll know the second, your instincts will tell you.”
“Do we tell her?” Ianto asks.
The doctor turns on him, and his expression is so offended I almost laugh.
“Of course, you fucking tell her. It’s her body. What the fuck, are you thinking of hiding that? She must be terrified. In fact, I’m giving you my number. She can call me anytime, and I will video call with her and talk her through everything. Of all the preposterous ideas, the very nerve.”
He glares at us.
“What?” I snap.
“Go! Go look after that poor girl. She’s hurting, and she’s going to be hurting until this happens. Give her whatever she wants. Do what she wants. Take care of her. Be alphas, just get out of my office.”
I snarl, but Ianto laughs softly and drops a huge pile of cash on the table.
“Thanks, Yoshi.”
I stand up and stalk out of the office, my head whirling. All I can think about, though, is getting back to Lia.
I straddle my bike and pull on my helmet, glancing at Ianto. Lia. Fucking hell, our Lia.
I need to do something. I start my bike, wave at Ianto, and head off in the opposite direction. The trip isn’t far, and I get there just before the restaurant closes .
It takes some negotiating, but eventually, I leave with everything I’m after. I carefully pack it into my saddlebags, and then head home.
Mills glances at me and the bags in my hands when I enter the mansion.
“She’s upstairs. Zaden’s bedroom. He’s not going to tell her,” Mills says bitterly.
I do a double take. “What?”
“He’s decided not to tell her yet. He doesn’t want her bolting, running, or getting all weird.”
“Because?”
“He still doesn’t think we would be good alphas for her. And if we do this heat, perhaps we can still let her go.”
“I see.” I nod my head. “He’s lost his damn mind. Did you tell him?”
“Course I fucking told him, but he’s adamant.”
I let out a savage growl and look upstairs. “Where is he?”
“With her.”
I stalk upstairs, taking them two at a time, and pause outside the door.
“GET OUT!”
Wow, she’s got a temper on her.
Zaden backs out but pauses in the door frame. “Just take the painkillers and rest.”
“FUCK OFF!” she howls.
I smack him over the back of the head. “If you can’t control yourself and stop being a dick, I’m banning you from going in there.”
“You can’t do that.” Zaden shoves me.
“Fucking watch me. You might be the prez, but we both know when it comes down to it, that your crazy can’t match mine, and that is my omega.”
“No, she isn’t,” Zaden snaps.
“Yes, she is!” Ianto says in a deep, cold voice.
Zaden whips towards him and stares. “Really? After everything I showed you?”
“She’s ours, Zaden,” Ianto says in a low voice. “Stop being so fucking scared to be happy.”
“She is, she always has been,” I hiss. “Get your ridiculous head out of your ass and-”
“Do you remember how my mother died?” Zaden asks us with a cold seriousness that turns the air around us brittle.
I pause, my anger sliding away. “We won’t let that happen to her.”
“Shot in her own home. My father was out on a raid. No one could do anything. She died in fear, alone in her own home when she was too young. Shot in the fucking chest nine times. In the middle of a club room. That is Lia’s future if she stays here.”
“The past, brother. You can’t just hang onto this forever. We can protect her. ”
“And look where we’re heading. Another turf dispute. One of ours taken in broad daylight and left for dead. We could protect him, too, couldn’t we?”
“Zaden, I love you. You are my brother and my lover, but you are letting fear poison you, and it’s going to eat you up alive.” I sigh heavily. “You have a week to get your shit together. I’m not losing my chance at happiness.”
“I forbid it.”
“You’re gonna have to kill me then, Prez.” I spread my arms wide. “Nothing but God is going to keep me from what is mine. And I don’t care what that fucking email says you forwarded to us. She is ours.”
Zaden flinches and turns accusing eyes on Ianto. He just shrugs, unrepentant. Zaden returns his furious stare to me as I back into the room, spinning with a grin at the omega.
My omega curled up on the bed. She is glorious. I forget Zaden in the blink of an eye.
She’s an omega. That thought melts my freaking brain. I could drop to my knees and worship her for eternity with my tongue. And anything else that made her happy.
Lia casts a furious and wet-eyed glare at me.
“I brought gifts.”
“I don’t want gifts.”
“You want this one.” I kneel on the bed and sit down. I start opening containers and watch her attention turn to me.
“You went to Cindy’s?”
“I did. I have ribs, wings, potato salad, pasta, nachos, chili, and-”
“Lava cakes?”
“In three flavours!”
She lets out a squeal and leans over the food to kiss me. I turn my head, and her lips press against mine.
She freezes, and then kisses me again, softer, before she pulls back.
“When there aren’t a thousand yummy food dishes between us, I’m going to kiss you back.”
She glances up between her lashes. “Okay.”
Okay? Good.
I watch her eat, but it’s more than that. I watch her the way I always have, like she’s important. Like she’s mine.
“Did you know Zaden and I grew up in this club?”
She pauses and looks at me.
“My mother dumped me with my father when I was a baby, so the club raised me.”
“You were raised in the club? ”
I lean back, absently stirring the potato salad on my plate. “It’s a hard place to grow up. I didn’t have it as bad as Zaden. He was the prez’s son, so he was expected to follow in their footsteps.”
“That must have been hard.”
“You know, I think that, but I’ve watched you, Lia. You spend every day in that mansion alone, all the time, day in and day out.”
She flinches. “It's fine. It’s safe.”
“Is it? I don’t like to be alone with my thoughts, I like to be around all these people.”
She twitches her shoulders.
“Zaden grew up with pressure to be responsible. They moulded me to be a killer.”
She sucks in a breath.
“I am a killer. I have killed, and I will again. You need to know who you’re going to sleep with.”
She chokes.
I smirk at her.
“We are hard men, dangerous men, and you are the very best of good girls, Lia. You don’t step out of line, you don’t do anything bad.”
She looks up, glaring at me, temper putting fire in her eyes. “I did all those pranks.”
I laugh. “That was true. You did. You got my attention. And you held it. Four long years of fucking my pack, thinking about how good you’d look in between us.”
She shivers. It’s so delicate I almost miss it.
“Valen-”
“Just saying. You can take some time to get used to it. But understand that we are who we are because of where we came from. Our world is going to be hard on you.”
She snorts. “And you think mine hasn’t been?”
My smile grows. I think she’s going to be just fine. I have faith in her.
I point at her with a wing. “Then remember that when Zaden says things that make you want to bash him in the head with a brick.”
She snorts a laugh. “Zaden? Nevah!”
Ianto walks into the room and sits on the bed. He fixes himself a plate of food and then sits comfortably beside Lia like it’s his place.
She glances at him out of the corner of her eye, and her cheeks turn a lovely shade of pink.
“Did you know Ianto has the most amazing grams? She cooks up the meanest stew I’ve ever eaten.”
“You do?” she asks him.
“Mm-hmm, and she wants to meet you,” Ianto says .
I chortle a laugh at the expression of terror on Lia’s face.
“But what if she hates me, what if she thinks I’m…” Lia chokes herself off and looks away from us, her cheeks turning an ugly shade of white.
What the fuck?
“Lia? Lia, look at me.” Ianto speaks to her softly.
She turns slowly but braces herself as if from a blow.
“My Grams will love you. You don’t need to stress. She still loves me and I made her crazy with worry until I met the Mirakill MC.”
But the scent of burning marshmallows fills the room, and she gets up and paces.
Damn it.
I grab a lava cake and a spoon, carry it to where she’s pacing, stick the spoon in, pull out a big portion, and grip her jaw, force her mouth open, and stick the cake inside.
Then I kiss her.
She’s stiff for a couple of seconds, and then she melts against me. I suck at all the chocolate and lick at her lips until she is a purring mess.
“Better?”
She blinks and nods.
“Good, let’s continue eating, and then I’ll kiss you some more.”
I don’t miss the look she sends to Ianto, but either way, I think in all the happy days I’ve had, today just made my top one.