Chapter 23
“I’m telling you, this isn’t normal,” Dario is saying as he follows me around the ring. I’m in the process of making sure we’re set up for tonight’s performance, and he should be stretching or resting or something, but instead, he’s bothering me with worries about the Omega.
“And I’m telling you this isn’t any of our business,” I snap at him. It’s been three days of this. Ever since we found out that Alex is our scent match, he seems to think that I will care about it.
I don’t. I don’t care. Not a fucking bit.
I don’t care that she smelled like my favorite dessert.
I don’t care that when she was distressed, I wanted to pull her to my chest and purr until she was better.
I don’t care that when she looked at me with those sad, pleading eyes to let her slip out, I felt pride in being the one she could trust to let her escape.
I don’t care at all. Can’t care. Because the last person who wants an Omega is me.
And yet, my brother thinks this is the best thing that has ever happened to us .
After Alex escaped that night, he tried to convince me that this was a good thing. Scent matched Alphas can calm Omega Storm, and now four of us are matched with Alex.
He’s dead set on the idea that that will reduce the likelihood of her falling into a Storm to nearly zero.
I see it as more Alphas at risk of a dangerous Omega.
He grabs my shoulder, stopping my checks of the Wheel. My inspection has to be done before we can do the show, so it’s probably best if I hear him out so he’ll leave me alone. He’s like a dog with a bone at this point.
“She hasn’t come out of her trailer in three days. I haven’t even seen movement. Matteo says he was texting her yesterday, but then she just dropped off and he didn’t hear back from her. She can’t still be sick, can she?”
“Or, the more likely scenario, is that she is avoiding us. She told us she didn’t want us.
She told us she didn’t want any Alphas. Why were you expecting any outcome other than this?
I don’t know what you expect me to do about this, Dario.
I’m the last person who wants this. I’m on her side, here.
Everything will go back to normal when her contract is up. ”
My stomach revolts at the idea of her leaving us in just four months, but I bury that down deep.
I don’t want this Omega.
I can’t want this Omega.
My brother growls, spinning me around so I’m forced to look into the dark blue eyes that are twin to my own. “You need to get over this, Dex. This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
“So was a Storm, and yet we still lost Dad to one!” I snarl, pushing him away. “Why does it seem like you’ve forgotten him because a pretty Omega crossed our path?”
“I haven’t forgotten him, you ass, I just don’t want to paint all Omegas as a risk when statistically, that’s as unlikely as dad getting out of jail!
” He runs his fingers through his blond hair in frustration, leaving it jutting up at odd angles.
“I can’t do this without you. Your fear of letting yourself be vulnerable around an Omega is keeping me from my dream. ”
The words are a gut punch.
It’s not my intention to keep my brother from happiness. I’m not asking for my hangups to be his.
“Don’t let me stop you,” I tell him, shooing him with my hands. “If you want to go after her, be my guest.”
He shakes his head sadly and slumps down onto the ground. “I can’t do this without you. You’re my brother, and you always will be. I can’t go on and live a life without you, that you’re supposed to be a part of. From womb to tomb, dude. I’m not going to leave you behind.”
My eyes sting, and I have to look away from his pleading gaze. It’s not that I want to keep my brother from happiness. We grew up being told we’d share a scent match if we were ever lucky enough to find one. I’ve never imagined a pack without him in it.
And now I’m telling him to make one without me.
“Dario, I…”
“Dexter.” Jude’s voice is rough as he stomps into the tent. “I need you to go check on Alex.”
“Why?” I ask hesitantly. “What’s going on?”
“No one has seen her in days. When everything went down, you were the one she wanted to take her to her trailer. I need you to go make sure she’s okay.”
Dario leaps to his feet. “I’ll do it.”
Jude shakes his head and places a hand on my brother’s chest to slow his movements. “No. You’re too intense. It needs to be Dexter. When she was terrified and stressed, it was him she trusted to be alone with her. It has to be him.”
I take a few steps backward, shaking my head. “No,” I tell him softly. “I’m not going to. Come on, Jude, you know I don’t want to be alone with her.”
He growls, rushing forward and grabbing me by the front of my gray shirt.
“I don’t care what you want, Dexter. That’s our Omega in there.
I get that you have trauma. We all have fucking trauma.
This is a goddamn circus, it’s a requirement to be fucked up.
Go check on her. Make sure she’s not dead or dying. That’s a fucking order.”
“You don’t get to order me around,” I spit, wrenching myself out of his grip. I know that he let me go. There’s no way I could overpower the massive Alpha otherwise. “We are not in a pack, and you’re not my Prime Alpha.”
“But I am your fucking boss.” He crosses his arms over his chest and looks down his nose at me. “Go, Dexter. Go now.”
“You’d fire me over this?”
Dario’s eyes bounce between us as he watches on, mouth slack. He’s as dumbfounded as I am that Jude would go to this extent.
“If she’s hurt and you did nothing to help her? Yeah. Firing is the best thing I’d do to you.”
“Fuck!” I swear, pushing past him. “Fine. But this is really fucking low, Jude. Really fucking low.”
I can hear Dario starting to argue with Jude as I stomp away, but I don’t stick around to listen.
He wants me to check on the doctor? Fine. I’ll check on her. But I’m not sticking around longer than it takes to get proof of life.
I bang on the door of her trailer so hard it shakes a little. I wait a beat, but I don’t hear any movement inside.
So I bang again.
And again.
And again.
By the time it’s been five minutes since I started pounding on her door, even I am worrying a little, wondering if she’s left and none of us has realized it yet. But there is this scratching sensation in the back of my mind that keeps me from turning away.
Her door is locked, but I learned how to pick one a long time ago.
When I shove it open, it catches on something.
Peering into the crack of the door, I see a chair wedged under the doorknob.
It’s an ineffective block because I’m able to knock it down and slam the door open with very little strength.
If she was sleeping, she’s definitely awake now.
“Alex,” I call, stepping into her space. It’s absolutely soaked in her scent, but the rich scent that should be reminiscent of Black Forest cake is foul, with a sour edge to what used to be a sweet whipped topping. “Dr. Shields, Jude sent me to check on you.”
There’s no movement, no response to my words. I slowly creep towards the rear of the trailer, giving her ample time to come out and stop me. I linger outside her bedroom door, trying to decide if I should throw the door open and barge in there to figure out what’s going on with her.
I don’t like Omegas, and don’t want one, but I also know better than to disturb one of their nests. It’s sacrilege.
But something inside me is dragging me forward, and I find myself pushing open the door to her nest. A quick once-over shows it empty, but a light is on in the attached bathroom. Before I can step into it and check for her, my eyes catch on something that makes my heart stop.
A pair of bare legs, with mottled gray skin, stick out of the doorway of the bathroom.
Still.
Unmoving .
I drop to my knees, crawling towards her, my heart beating overtime.
She can’t be dead.
She can’t.
Dario would fall to pieces.
This whole fucking circus would fall to pieces.
But she’s so gray, so still.
When I reach her, her body is cold, lying face down on the floor. I turn her over and see red vomit crusted in the corner of her lips and stuck to her cheeks.
Intelllectionally, I know I don’t want to touch her. I don’t want to be this close to her. She’d hate that I’m touching her.
But my Alpha has decided that my hindbrain is now my fore, and I am no longer in control of what I’m doing. I am a passenger, watching as an instinctual part of me that I try so hard to ignore every day takes control of my body and has me reaching out and touching her neck.
There’s a fluttering pulse under my fingertips, but it’s weak. I gather her in my arms, and a strange, vibrating sensation overwhelms me.
Am I… purring?
Holy shit, I’m purring.
I fumble to get my phone out of my pocket and call for an ambulance. Then, I call Dario. He picks up on the first ring, his voice anxious as he doesn’t greet me and instead asks for an update on Alex.
“She’s not responsive. I called for an ambulance.”
I hang up before he can throw questions at me that I can’t answer. When I speak, the purring stops, and something tells me that she’ll die if I’m not purring.
The sound of sirens reaches me, and I hear footsteps coming into the trailer.
“Sir, we’ll need to take her,” the EMT says. His voice is gentle, and I’m sure he’ll take good care of her, but I can’t let him have her. She needs me, and he’s a strange man. She wouldn’t want to go with him.
I don’t tell him that, though. I don’t communicate to him that I would like to come with her.
No, I growl and bark, “Get back!” like a fucking animal.
The Beta takes a few steps back at my dominance, and a woman shoves past him.
“Alpha, how long has she been down?” Her voice is gentle, and she’s squatting and looking me in the eye. She’s an Alpha, too, with a clean scent of baby powder and flowers, and she’s not trying to take Alex away.
Maybe I can talk to her.
“Since yesterday. Someone texted with her yesterday.”
She nods and holds a hand up. “Can I touch her?”
A snarl rips out of my throat, but she doesn’t retreat. She watches me get myself under control, and when I nod, she searches for Alex’s pulse and feels for her temperature.
“Okay, Alpha. Thanks for letting me do that. But your Omega isn’t doing well right now. We need to take her in. You can ride with us in the ambulance, okay?”
I struggle to my feet while holding her dead weight. I do my best to support her head, but her entire body is flopping around.
What have I gotten myself into?
Why am I doing this?
It’s like I’m watching a stranger control my body as I stumble through the trailer.
“Dexter.” My brother’s voice cuts through the haze as I struggle down the stairs with Alex in my arms. “Dexter, why don’t you give her to me. I know you’re uncomfortable.”
He reaches for her, and I wrinkle my nose. I don’t mind him touching her, but I don’t think I can give her up, either. Not when she needs me.
After she’s taken care of, I’m going to have to unpack these feelings, because this isn’t me. But I’m not in the driver’s seat of my body right now.
“Can’t,” I grit out, continuing the walk to the ambulance.
“Well, let me come with you,” he says, climbing into the ambulance after me.
“I’m sorry, only one -”
“She’s my Omega, too,” he snarls at the male EMT. The Beta is getting a heavy dose of Alpha pheromones today.
Jude, Quinton, and Matteo are standing off to the side of the ambulance, staring wide-eyed at me. They don’t bother to hide their shock at the way I am handling the Omega.
“We’re her pack,” Quinton adds. “All of us.”
“I can’t fit all of you in there,” the Alpha EMT says. “You’ll need to follow us. We’re heading to St. Joseph’s.”
Reluctantly, I lay Alex on the stretcher, keeping her hand clasped tightly in both of mine as she is loaded into the ambulance. As I settle on the bench beside her, Dario sits on the other side, mirroring my position. Together, we both purr, and I know for certain that she needs us.
And I’m just going to have to push down my issues until she doesn’t.