Chapter 96
My mouth feels like I licked a kitchen sponge, and not a fresh one either.
Ick.
The taste and my rolling stomach mean I barely make it to the bathroom before everything I ate last night makes a quick reverse trip.
I’ve been feeling ill for the last couple of days, but I thought it was just stress and then nerves or excitement at joining a pack.
Not that I’m nervous about them; they’re great.
But it’s a new phase in life, one I never thought I would be going through.
I was fully prepared to stay here taking classes until they either kicked me out, or I got old enough that no pack would want my cantankerous old ass.
Greg is standing in the bathroom door, concern written across his face.
I’m lucky my hair’s so short so I don’t have to worry about barfing in it.
More ick. He fills a glass of water for me to rinse my mouth out and then brings over a cool, damp cloth for my sweaty forehead.
I feel like I might hurl again, but I don’t have time for this shit.
I’ve got places to be, things to see, alphas to do.
Life is life-ing, and I got a lotta shit going on.
My knees are wobbly when I try to shift my weight, so he helps me up and leads me out to the couch.
It’s not my couch; it came with the room, but I’ll kind of miss it anyway.
I’ve gotten attached to the ugly ass thing after all these years, and I sort of feel like crying when I stretch out and my fluffy pillows are all packed up so I don’t have anything to hug.
Greg looks worried as he hands me Shaggy.
“I’m gonna go grab us some breakfast from the union.
Do you want anything specific?” The idea of any sort of food is gross, so I shake my head.
He presses his lips together, but doesn’t say anything before leaning down to kiss my forehead and walking out, closing the door quietly behind him.
It’s less than five minutes later when a soft knock sounds against it.
My legs try to unhinge, surprising both me and my bun when I attempt to stand.
I finally give up, and my voice is hoarse when I call out, “Come in!” much to Shaggy’s irritation.
He kicks lightly against my arm until I lean over enough to set him on the ground.
Then he scurries back to his run, hopping inside so he can munch on some hay and give me the stink eye.
I can practically hear him asking to speak to my manager.
I look up and see Adam and Lily standing in front of my door. She’s twisting her fingers, looking around the room at my life in boxes while Adam marches straight over and cups my face before moving his wrist to my forehead. “What happened? You look like hell.”
After I wave him off, he goes to stand by Lily again, but she’s headed straight for the fluffy diva chowing down on dry grass.
Adam stands beside her, his hand stroking absently over her hair as she sits on the ground just outside my bun’s run.
“Sorry, I don’t want to risk either of us getting sick, but seriously, what happened?
Was it those alphas of yours?” He practically bites the words out, and I know it’s because he has a lot of trust issues, so I don’t take it personally. Spence wouldn’t.
“I threw up…and no, not them. Probably stress. I’ve been nauseous for a few days now, and it all seemed to come to a head this morning.
Probably just overexertion yesterday and…
everything with ‘he who shall not be named.’” He looks at me skeptically, and I can’t blame him.
He saw me yesterday after my run-in with John and had several choice words about alphas in general.
“I’ll be fine when Greg gets back with some food.” But suddenly the idea of food makes my stomach do a backflip, and I have to swallow repeatedly to keep from having to scramble on my weak knees back to the bathroom.
He goes over to my mini fridge and pulls out a bottle of water.
I need to ask him if they want that for their room when I leave.
There’s not much point in taking it with me when theirs is so old and makes funny noises all the time.
He passes the cool drink to me and I press it against my face while he continues to stare at me.
After a few moments, he pulls out his phone and types something across the screen before shoving it back into his pocket.
“Did you already pack all your blankets and pillows?” I nod at the random question; everything but the two pillows and blankets we used on my now very bare nest last night are stuffed away in bags or boxes.
He nods in reply and sits on the other end of the couch.
“Ok, well, we’re just gonna hang out till Greg gets back.
In case you need any help back to the bathroom or anything.
” His eyebrows scrunch together while we sit in silence.
“Not worried about germs now?” My throat feels raw, but he’s acting squirrelly as fuck, so I need to know.
“I’m…not sure you’re sick, but let’s wait for Greg.
” Adam pulls out his phone again and scrolls across the screen before stuffing it back in his pocket.
“He should be back in a minute; he had to make a quick detour.” Lily watches us from the floor and I wonder why the hell he’s messaging my beta.
I’m not jealous or anything, just confused.
The stupid swirling in my head isn’t helping.
Greg walks in about ten minutes later, murmuring a quick thanks to Adam, who immediately gets up and goes over to Lily.
He touches her on the shoulder, and she looks up, smiling at him before standing up.
He leans in, murmuring quietly to her, and she turns to look at me on their way out the door.
Just what the suspicious fuck is going on around here?
My beta settles in beside me. “Hey, I’m gonna get you fed here in a minute, but…
um…have you gone to the bathroom yet this morning?
” That seems fucking random, but I still shake my head.
He nods, as if he figured as much. He was there when I landed after barfing, and I haven’t exactly felt like moving a lot since.
“Ok…um…good. These things are best at detecting early when you use your first…um…let me help you to the toilet.”
Well, this is embarrassing.
For him.
I don’t know…
My eyes latch on the little pink box in his hand, and I feel my gorge rise as I scramble back to the bathroom again. That can’t be fucking right. Sure, I’m not on birth control, but Doc said I would have a hard time having kids, so there’s just no fucking way I could—
Only bile comes up this time, and my head feels like it weighs a ton.
I want kids, I mean, I’ve always wanted a family, but it was just one of those things I was told I couldn’t have.
Never going to have a pack, never going to have kids, probably grow old in a house full of rabbits or cats or cabbits or some shit, smacking people with a walker and shouting to get off my lawn.
Greg helps me up and watches to make sure I’m not going to fall over and knock my brains out on the sink. Not that I want him in here with me when I’m pissing in a cup, but I still love it when he’s protective.
Making sure I’m stable, he leaves, but doesn’t close the door all the way. I can’t unclench until I hear him in the living room talking to Shaggy about breakfast.
The whole process takes less than three minutes between catch, dip, dump, and washing my hands. I’m about to call out to him to set a timer on his phone, but there’s no point…the stupid pink lines started to show up as soon as liquid moves across the strip.
Well…fuck.
I’m pretty sure I’m gonna need to start cussing less…sometime in the next year or two, anyway.