Forget Me Not (Pack Verndari Duet: Part One)

1. Delilah

Chapter one

New “patients” arrive at Love Wins Designation Rehab Facility all the time. But it’s been a long time since someone like him showed up.

I’m pulled out of my head and back to reality by the sound of shouting near the entrance to the ward, my eyelids heavy as I try to clear my blurry vision. When I turn my head, I blink rapidly as I take in the chaos unfolding in the middle of the room.

Three orderlies are attempting to herd the new admission toward one of the intake rooms, but they aren’t having a lot of luck.

The new male, because that’s definitely a male voice cussing up a storm over there, darts here and there while laughing like a maniac, making a game of their efforts to contain him.

He moves two steps in the right direction before lunging at the nurses, making them jump back in fear which only makes him cackle more.

“Bloody cowards!”

Something deep in my chest perks up at the sound of his accented taunt, an instinct that’s been long buried and dormant cracks open one sleepy eye.

But I shove it down, keeping my face free of expression.

Not that anyone is paying attention to me right now.

Even the snitchiest of rats here are transfixed by the show taking place.

This suits me fine and lets me really take in his appearance.

Dressed in dark jeans and a black checked flannel, his bright blue high-top sneakers squeak on the linoleum while he dodges and weaves out of the nurses’ reach.

His hair is bright orange, cut in a shaggy mullet, but with the sides shaved short, the dark natural tone of it contrasting against the brightness of the rest of his hair.

I’m too far away to see his eyes, which is just as well.

I’m not sure I want to catch this wildcard’s attention.

“Mr. King, you need—”

“I need a wank and a drink? Because I totally agree,” the new guy, Mr. King, shouts with a feral grin.

I slap a hand over my mouth, covering my giggle, and a glance around to the rest of the room shows me I’m not the only one. It’s been a long time since someone this lively came here. But my smile falters after a moment, remembering the lively ones and what happens to them all eventually.

“We don’t want to hurt you. It would be in your best interest to cooperate,” Claire, one of the nicer nurses, tries, holding out her gloved hands toward him.

“Ooh, baby, don’t threaten me with a good time,” Mr. King practically purrs back, grabbing his crotch obscenely.

His head turns to the rest of the room, almost like he’s looking for something.

A reaction, maybe? Most of us here can only stare in a combination of fascination and horror, but I’m almost transfixed.

This ginger hellion is unlike anything I’ve seen before.

And even if it flies in the face of every survival instinct I’ve had to acquire, I find myself drawn to his chaos.

“We will sedate you if you don’t comply.”

Drake, the “bad cop” to Claire’s “good cop”, steps up and puffs out his chest as he speaks. Even I have to roll my eyes. Drake thinks he’s tough, but he’s still a beta, and he’s used to bossing around much more timid omegas than this guy.

Mr. King snorts. “You can try, big boy.”

Drake growls, and the sound sends a chill down my spine, a conditioned response. Every other omega in the room recoils and shrinks. But Mr. King just laughs out loud.

“Aww, wittle baby beta twying to pway tough? If you’re gonna growl, at least put both your fucking balls into it.”

The rest of the room goes quiet, almost all the other patients turning away.

I’m not sure if I could look away now if I tried.

Drake stands to his full height even as Mr. King gets low, almost into a pre-pounce.

Drake moves first, lunging at the new guy with arms outstretched, but King moves like a bullet, his fists flying to strike three times into Drake’s ribs.

I can hear them crack audibly from across the room and I suck in a harsh breath.

King takes advantage of Drake’s moment of weakness, landing a solid uppercut on his chin that sends the beta sprawling onto the floor, out cold.

When King looks up, his mouth is twisted into that feral smile, daring anyone else to try. The nurses scramble away, shouting for security but maintaining their distance. And as his eyes sweep the room, I freeze as King finally notices me staring.

My breath catches in my throat as I inhale, my body going completely still.

My eyes drop to my lap on instinct, only looking up at him through my lashes.

My heart races and I realize that I’m not afraid, not exactly.

Maybe I’ve been so numb for so long that I’ve forgotten what emotions actually feel like, but watching King, holding his gaze, feels like taking my first breath of clean air after being underwater for a century.

Which is why, when King crosses the room toward me, I don’t run screaming like the other omegas near me. That or I’ve gone completely off the deep end at last.

The nurses are still yelling, begging, but it’s all background noise as King stands over me. This close, I can finally see his eyes clearly, and my mouth falls open slightly. The irises are a pure, almost impossible teal, but the pupil is surrounded by a corona of gold.

“Like what you see, beautiful?”

King’s voice drops to a sultry murmur. There’s a humming edge to his words that makes my eyes go wide. But before I can respond, security arrives and tackles King to the ground at my feet, injecting the syringe directly into his neck.

I leap from my seat and press myself against the window, trying not to get caught in the crossfire as the staff finally restrain King’s arms behind his back.

It takes four people to get King back to his feet so they can start to drag him away, not that he’s making it easy for them.

But he’s fading fast as the drugs pump through his system.

“Good talk, luv. Let’s chat again real soon, yeah?” King tosses at me, blowing me a kiss even as his words slur slightly.

I don’t get a chance to respond before he’s dragged away toward the high-security wing, which is for the best. Everyone is looking at me, and I shrink down, back into my chair, closing my eyes.

It’s not until later, when everything calms down again in the common room that I can get my head on straight. And once I do, I realize with a jolt that if King is here, that means…

King is an omega. A violent, psychotic, beautiful omega. An omega who could pull me out of months of dissociation and make me feel something other than aching emptiness.

Fuck.