Chapter 39
Devin
Iwas about to head down the hallway to the conference room, for the typical mid-break chat, when an arm grabbed me. Jensen, our team doctor, turned me to face him, his expression unusually grim.
“Hey, is everything okay?” I asked, my heart plummeting into my feet. “If I don't get out there soon, you know the coach is going to kick my ass.”
Jensen's face was tight and serious, not reacting to a joke that would normally have him at least smirking. “You and another member of your pack are going home immediately. I've already cleared it with the coach.”
I stilled. His tone was so severe that it gave me pause. “What? Why?”
“I got a call from a Dr. Alvarez, from the medical facility taking care of Mable. She informed me that Mable is quite sick, and she needs the presence of her pack to get better. I’m sorry I couldn’t get clearance for all of you to leave, but two of you need to get back home to Mable right away.”
Panic rushed through me, and I couldn’t breathe. Mable was unwell? What had happened?
What did I let happen?
I turned fully to Jensen, every instinct I had demanding that I act immediately as my heart rate started to hammer.
“Mable’s sick? How?” Percy asked from behind me. The rest of our pack was still in the changing room. We liked to joke that they took their time to make themselves look pretty, but now that time was stressing me out.
Jensen huffed and gave us a look that said we were complete idiots. “You can't spend a lot of time around a pregnant omega and then just leave her like that. At least one of you guys needs to be with her, or she needs to be with you.”
“She was okay during the last away game, at least I thought she was. Dammit.” I was spiraling, trying my best to remember. We’d done this. I’d done this.
“Well, she did say that she had a headache,” Percy pointed out, and the guilt flared.
How could I be such a fucking idiot? It was my job to protect my pack, every member of my pack, and that included Mable. In fact, she was the most precious of all our pack mates. She was our omega.
And she was pregnant and sick because I’d left her alone.
“Get out of here,” Jensen instructed. “There’s a flight you can catch. You’ll be home in three hours. She's got a member of your security team with her, Spencer, keeping an eye on her, so she'll be fine until you get back, but you do need to get back as soon as possible.”
“Of course. We’ll go now.” I clapped a hand on Jensen’s shoulder and turned, looking at Percy. “Shit. The others. Coach only approved two of us to leave.”
“Well, it sucks they take so long, then, doesn’t it?”
I sagged. They wouldn’t like this, but…they’d get over it. “Fine. I’ll go get our bags.”
He nodded, his face drawn.
We needed to get home.
As we turned to leave, I saw Saint coming out of the locker room.
His adoring fans immediately yanked him away, having been watching for him at the stairs.
He rolled his eyes at me, but let them have their fun.
He and Jasper needed to know what was going on, but they’d have to make do with a text from the airport.
***
The drive home was tense, to say the least. We hardly spoke.
Percy was busy researching separation sickness on his phone, telling me the information as he read it, which I couldn’t say I loved.
Hearing about all the ways my inability to properly care for Mable could affect her made my stomach tighten. .
As we pulled up outside the apartment building, Bear was waiting for us.
“How is she?” I asked, handing him the keys. He would take the car down to the parking garage while we prioritized going to see our omega.
“Not wonderful, but Spencer’s with her. He's convinced her to drink some fluids but had no luck getting her to eat yet.”
Guilt gnawed at me. When I was sick, Mable was there for me, taking care of me, tending to my every need. And now that she was sick, I hadn’t even been in the same fucking state as her. I was away, playing a stupid fucking hockey game.
You’re the head of the pack and you’re letting your omega down. Whatever happens is on you. Mable will never trust you after this.
I was going to throw up, but there was no time for that. I’d been a lousy alpha for too long already. I needed to focus on Mable, so I shut everything else out.
“Hey,” I greeted Spencer, who was standing at the kitchen island, mixing up a protein shake.
“She just fell asleep, but I doubt she's going to stay asleep for long. There's no fever, but she has a killer headache. She's drunk some fluids but no food, so I'm going to try a protein shake next. Maybe you guys will have some more luck when it comes to feeding her.”
“Thank you.” I stepped forward and took the protein shake from him.
He merely shrugged. “I was just doing my job, but tell me that she is not going to be left on her own again?”
I shook my head. “No, we’ll figure something out. Never again.”
Spencer nodded, offering a sympathetic smile. “Go see to your omega.”
“Percy, come on. Let’s see if we can get her to eat.”
He nodded, following me toward Mable’s room. The house was so quiet. Mable usually had music playing or was watching some kind of TV. Right now, well, it felt a little too much like a goddamn hospital.
When I gently pushed the door open, Mable was curled up in a bowl in her nest, surrounded by all of her nesting items, as if she was trying to fuse herself with them. She had dark bags under her eyes that hadn't been there twenty-four hours earlier.
When we had left her. When I had left her—all fucking alone.
I nodded at Percy, gesturing with my head for him to go around to the other side of Mable’s nest so we could surround her.
Placing the protein shake on a small table nearby, I focused on creeping into the nest as softly as I could.
“Hey, princess,” I cooed, pulling her into my arms. Her face was red, sweat-drenched hair sticking to her forehead.
When I first reached out to touch her, she whimpered and shied away from my touch, but as soon as she registered who it was, she launched herself at me, pressing her face into my neck, grasping on to me so tightly that I was pretty sure I was losing blood flow in some places.
I didn’t care. She could squish me to death if it made her feel better.
“Devin?” she asked sleepily, her voice pained.
“And Percy,” my pack mate said as he crawled into the nest behind her, wrapping his arm around her from behind.
“I’m so sorry.” She sniffed.
“You?” My chest pinched. “You have nothing to be sorry for. This was on us. We shouldn’t have left.”
Mable gripped her head, like even my voice was too much for her to hear right now. She nuzzled deeper into my chest, hiding her face in the fabric of my shirt. Percy smoothed his hand up and down her back, slow patterns that were light and soft.
“Just rest, princess.” I sucked in a shaky breath, nearly cracking right down to my core because of how our sweet Mable looked. “We’re not going anywhere.”
A tiny nod registered, and then Percy and I just lay there with her. I tried to force as much comforting energy toward her as I could, stroking the back of her head lightly, so as not to overwhelm her.
I’d done this to her. The pack lead didn’t bother with informing himself about what a pregnant omega needed, and now, I’d gotten Mable sick by slacking on my duties.
I was going to get her through this…because I had to.
I would never forgive myself for this oversight, and everything else was going to take a back seat to making sure Mable was okay.
Never again, princess. I’ll never leave you like that ever again.