Chapter 10 Rowan
Three Days Later
Fear washed over me as my hazy vision focused.
I couldn’t move or feel my body, and my head pounded.
Was I lying down or sitting up? The room spun as I tried to gather my bearings.
Sterile lights blinded me, and hushed voices moved around the space.
I listened to what they were saying but couldn’t make out the words.
Trying to remember how I got here caused the vision of two glowing yellow eyes to materialize, eliciting a scream from my lungs.
I panicked trying to move, but my limbs were heavy and clumsy. My uncoordinated hand clawed at the IV that was taped to my arm. I pulled it out at an angle, causing a rush of blood to trickle out.
The room came alive; more lights flickered on, and the hushed voices got louder as people wearing white medical uniforms gripped my shoulders, pushed me down and applied pressure to the IV wound.
Tears ran down my face, and my chest rose erratically as I sobbed, begging to know where I was and what was going on.
Nurses tethered me to the bed as restraints slipped and tightened around my wrists and ankles.
The restriction of my movement caused me to panic even more.
Over my bawling and the surrounding chaos, a faint rhythmic noise sounded, and grew louder.
The noise quickly became the only sound I heard, surrounding me in warmth and comfort.
I felt my eyelids grow heavy, my breathing even out, and my sobbing subside until only brief hiccups and sharp intakes of breath remained from my panic attack.
As I calmed and my vision broadened, I saw the origin of the rhythmic rumbling noise.
A man was sitting next to my bed, alpha purring.
I remembered the sound from my childhood.
My dad used to purr for me on nights when I was having trouble falling asleep, or scared during a loud thunderstorm.
When I saw an Arca logo on the man’s shirt, I started wailing again, but his purr was like Valium, evening me out with a firm control of my emotions, until my tears subsided altogether.
“Rowan, look at me,” an authoritative and rugged voice commanded.
I tried to close my eyes, fighting against the order, but they shifted to him and widened of their own volition. He had used his alpha bark on me. That commanding tone, laced with raw authority, was impossible to ignore.
Alphas could manipulate their voices in a way that compelled obedience. It worked especially on weaker alphas and anyone ranked below them. I had almost no suppressants left in my body, leaving me defenseless against it.
His alpha bark forced me to look at him, so I studied his features.
He was sitting in a chair that was comically small for his colossal frame.
The man leaned forward, spreading his thick thighs, resting his elbows on his knees, and interlacing his fingers, studying me.
His jawline was razor sharp, wide, and square.
He had a neatly trimmed sandy brown beard and medium-length buzz cut topped with a camouflage baseball cap, which was flipped backwards.
His intense eyes were the color of amber.
“Breathe in and out. That’s very good, Rowan.
Try to calm down. I’m going to answer some of your questions if you answer mine.
My name is Captain Cade Green, and you are at Falcon City’s Military Base in the Medical Wing.
I have here a seizure warrant to recover Arca property.
You are a suspected omega deserter, and as such, the medical personnel will do some tests to confirm this before we execute the warrant to recover you.
Grant us your permission to continue with the tests while answering a few questions about your medical history. ”
He hadn’t asked me a question, but demanded my compliance, using his bark again.
I wanted to scream, “No!”
I wanted to run and hide, but the restraints held me in place.
The combination of Captain Cade’s bark and purr was heady.
I bit down on my tongue, trying to resist responding.
I felt the pressure of his command weighing me down, and the desire to submit to him bloomed until I couldn’t stand the pressure.
My permission was a formality, and his bark made it so there was no actual choice but to agree.
“Yes, sir,” I choked out against my will, anger seeping into my words, as I shot him a seething look, which he ignored completely. His tight control over me was beyond frustrating.
“Very good. The nurses will draw some blood and do a gynecological examination. I want you to focus on me, though. Do you understand?”
Wait, what type of exam? There was absolutely no way I would agree to this. Except I already had. My panic started rising again, but his purr evened it out. His control over me was potent, pushing and pulling me in the directions he wanted.
They drew my blood first, and then two nurses repositioned my legs, bending my knees. They draped a thin paper sheet over my lap, encouraging me to open my knees wider. Cool air rushed between my legs, and I started crying, fretting over the intrusive examination.
I had never been to a gynecologist before. Omegas had slick glands, which were an easily identifying trait that would have exposed my true designation if I had gone to regular appointments. Someone likely tasked the nurses with finding that identifying trait during the exam.
I expected Cade to leave the room, but as they set up medical equipment, I realized he hadn't budged and didn’t plan to, which kick-started my tears again. Was he really going to stay in the room?!
“Shhh, be a good girl for me, Rowan. Let the nurses do their exam. Focus on answering my questions. How long have you been taking suppressants, and how frequently do you take them?”
His voice was rugged and deep as he laced his questions with a stronger bark.
I tried to resist responding, but pretty soon answers I would have never given of my volition spilled from my lips. I told him all about my garden, how I made the capsules, how often I took and rationed the suppressants.
As I answered his questions, the nurses began, inserting a metal device into me, which hurt and made me wince in pain.
I was suddenly all too aware of the fact that this examination was happening mere feet away from the handsome alpha, and embarrassment shaded my face a red hue.
I tried to close my legs instinctively as the nurses struggled to complete their exam.
“Rowan, stop being difficult, or I will hold you down. Open your legs wider,” Cade sternly warned me, but my body wouldn’t respond. Instead, it shamefully tried even harder to bring my knees together.
Cade sighed as he stood and moved beside me, motioning at the nurse to hold one of my knees. He slid beneath the paper sheet and locked his big, calloused hand around the other knee, pulling them apart and holding me firmly in place.
The places where his hand touched my bare skin felt like fire, and that warmth traveled up my leg straight to the center of my core.
I bit my lip to stifle the soft moan that slipped through.
The corner of Cade's mouth tipped up, a little knowing smirk playing on his features, which told me he had heard me moan.
He started rubbing small circles on the inside of my knee while keeping my thighs pinned open. Every circle he traced on my sensitive skin sent a shock straight to my center, until a relentless ache bloomed, making me needy with a want I didn't fully understand.
What was happening to me?
The nurse finally removed the metal instrument as Cade tapped my thigh, indicating that I was free to close my legs again.
I snapped them shut, trying to quell the ache between my legs, which was growing incredibly hard to ignore.
I tried to twist my lower half onto its side now that my legs were free from the restraints.
The new position helped to ease some pressure.
Cade turned to ask the nurse about the results of the exam.
“100% an omega. I checked for the slick gland twice. It’s there. I’m sure the bloodwork results will confirm our finding,” she reported on her way out of the room.
The nurse paused before leaving and added, “One more thing you should know…”
Cade walked over to her, and they talked in hushed voices right outside of the door before he re-entered and sat down in his chair again, watching me with a darkened and hungry expression.
“What's going to happen to me, sir?”
Arca knew, and the jig was up.
There was no more hiding, no more gigs at the bar, no more hobbies at home.
The notion of my home brought tears to my eyes.
I thought about my little potted plants that needed water, my guitar that needed to be tuned, and the half-finished painting I had planned to work on tomorrow.
I choked on a loud sob, realizing that my life as I knew it would never be the same.
Cade started purring again, trying to put me at ease, but even his purr couldn’t touch the deep despair I felt knowing I might never see my home again. Every memory of my father and me tucked away in that little woodland oasis, all of my freedom to learn and grow, stamped out by Arca.
My worst fears were coming true.
“Now that the medical exam has confirmed your omega status, we’ll complete the seizure warrant, and it will go before a judge sometime tomorrow.
You’ve been out for a few days. The process started when you were first brought in, so it shouldn’t take long.
A judge will decide your placement, but you'll most likely go to the unit that recovered you. You will then integrate into their pack and fulfill your posting as an omega.”
“A few days? How long have I been here? When did they bring me in? Which unit recovered me? What about my home? What about my belongings? I have plants I need to water! Did anyone tell my friends? Do they know where I am?”
Uninhibited and impulsive questions flew out of me. I didn’t care about feigning subservience; it didn’t matter now that they knew. I was so angry, numb, and emotionally exhausted, mainly because Cade manipulated my moods, giving me whiplash.
Before he responded to any question in particular, the dull ache in my abdomen multiplied tenfold and knocked the breath out of me.
I tucked my knees into my chest, unable to wrap my restrained arms around them to bring me comfort, as another sharp ache rolled through my stomach and in between my legs.
The feeling was so intense that I couldn’t talk or focus.
I groaned, and when a particularly strong contraction hit, I screamed.
Cade pressed the emergency call button.