Chapter 45
Jason
“I’m sorry, sir. We don’t have a patient here by that name.”
The woman at the front desk, a middle aged alpha, smacks her gum as she speaks.
Resisting the urge to shout, I let out a deep sigh instead. “That’s impossible. I dropped her off myself. She has to be here.”
We haven’t left the hospital since we arrived yesterday. At most, we’ve briefly stepped out to take calls regarding our strike on the Hale pack.
Evan and I have been waiting in the cafeteria since our altercation. Sebastian and Nico joined after, informing us we would be contacted when Ariana was able to receive visitors.
Unable to bear the information drought, I headed to the front desk seeking any new insight. The lack of sleep and anxiety have turned me irritable. It’s hard not to snap at the woman before me, clacking away at her keyboard agonizingly slow and chewing with her mouth open.
“Ariana Hale, you said?” She raises her eyebrows. “With an E?”
“Correct.”
The woman rests her head on her elbow, looking at me patronizingly. “No Ariana Hale here, hun. She was discharged first thing in the morning.”
The words chill my body from head to toe, as if I’ve been thrown into ice water. “By who?” Tilting my head, I try to peer at the alpha’s computer, but she slides it away with a scowl.
“That’s confidential, sir.”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I take a deep breath. “She had bond sickness. She could barely walk, and you’re telling me she was cleared to be discharged? Why couldn’t she be kept here?”
The woman looks at me like I have two heads. “Hun, if her listed contacts came to pick her up and the discharge order was already in the system, we’re not going to hold her.”
I put one hand to rest against the counter, then the other, looking down at the floor between my feet. Here I was, so concerned about her being discharged while ill, I didn’t consider what her leaving the hospital meant.
With a bellow of frustration, I swipe my hands across the desk, sending pamphlets flying.
“Her listed contacts picked her up? The ones who put her in here? I know for a fact it said in her chart not to let them near her.” Lowering my voice, I stare down at the gaping woman coldly.
“I hope this hospital has a good legal team, hun. Anything happens to a hair on her head and I’ll tear this entire place down. ”
Storming away from the front desk, I pull out my phone.
The wallpaper of Ariana smiling flashes before it starts ringing.
It continues ringing and doesn’t stop until it goes to voicemail.
Cursing under my breath, I call her again as I fling myself through the hallways towards our pack.
My second and third attempts go unanswered as well.
“Is she alright?” Nico stands when I approach, scanning my livid face. Sebastian and Evan rise to their feet alongside him. Motioning for them to follow, I turn and head back the direction I came from.
Evan catches up to me first. “What happened?”
“She’s gone.” I hiss between clenched teeth in explanation.
“What the fuck do you mean she’s gone?” Evan shoves a door open, eyes on the side of my face.
Without taking my eyes off the path forward, I recount the conversation. By the time I’m finished, our scents are all blazing with fury, dominance unrestrained. People move out of the way as we head to the parking lot.
I’m so tunnel visioned on my destination I almost don’t notice Nico stop. Sebastian grabs me by the back of my crumpled shirt, pulling me to a halt.
“What?” I snap, looking for our car. My fingers are still itching to call Ariana one more time, desperate to hear her voice.
Evan crosses his arms, jutting his head towards an omega in a nurse’s uniform. She’s clutching something in her hands, eyes nervously flitting from side to side.
“We don’t have time to be giving people directions,” I scoff.
Then she passes what she’s holding to Nico, and the nurse has my full attention. The charm attached to the phone dangles to the side unmistakably. The woman was holding Ariana’s phone.
“Where is she?” I demand, making the woman wince.
Nico holds an arm out in front of me. “You’re scaring her,” he chastises me, but he hasn’t calmed down either. He’s still breathing heavily, rage simmering beneath the surface of his scent. “You were saying?” He asks the omega, voice mildly softened.
Her eyes sweep over the parking lot skittishly before she begins speaking quietly. “The patient, your friend, she was stable. It wasn’t a severe case, so it was odd that Dr. Allen was moving her so soon. There’s strict procedures and policies for omega patients.”
Sebastian leans closer to me and Evan, his sandalwood scent sharpened with fury. “She was one of the nurses in Ariana’s room when we left,” he mutters.
“She should have been kept for twenty four hours no matter what. If an omega doesn’t have anyone with them, a female nurse will stay in their room.
As a precaution,” the middle aged woman nods to herself.
“I stayed with your friend both when she was in the omega ward, and while Dr. Allen was changing her room again.”
It’s a Herculean task to force myself to take on any semblance of composure when I’ve never been so enraged in my life. With great difficulty, I listen attentively, desperate for any detail that might lead us to Ariana.
She shifts again, lowering her voice further.
“This isn’t the first time he’s released an omega early.
I’ve tried reporting Dr. Allen before. Nothing happens.
When those men came matching the description you gave, I tried to remind him of what you said.
He didn’t listen. They forgot the phone, so I took a picture with it as they were leaving.
It’s just their backs, but I hope it helps. ”
“Thank you,” Nico tries to smile. With the tension he’s under, it’s more of a half scowl. “That helps more than you know.”
“You didn’t hear any of this from me. You can’t let him find out I’m the one who showed you. Please.” Her eyes dart between us, fear and determination warring in her expression. “If he finds out I helped you, I’ll lose my job. Or worse.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll make sure you don’t get hurt,” I flinch at my own words, aware that I told Ariana the same. Resolved, my hands clench into fists so tight my nails draw blood. “We’ll protect you. And we’ll make sure Dr. Allen never hurts another omega again.”
This is the last time. I’m tired of seeing omegas afraid. First Ariana, now the woman trembling in front of us.
Throwing another thank you over our shoulders, we hustle into the car. Evan slides Ariana’s phone open, holding the most recent photo up to us. It’s blurry, but the heads of hair on the three alphas are unmistakable.
“Fuck!” Sebastian slams his hand against the wheel. Starting the car, he floors it to a familiar building. All this time, we’ve been avoiding it, walking the opposite way for Ariana’s sake. Now, we storm toward it for the same reason.
Four enraged alphas attempting to open its doors catches the attention of security. Despite our efforts, the doors don’t open.
“If you don’t have authorization, I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” the sound of a security guard crackles through the intercom.
“We need to be allowed up to the Hale residence now.” My eyes find the camera at the corner of the entrance, glaring up at it.
There’s a pause. “I’m not authorized to send up visitors to their pack at this time.”
“Then find someone who is.” Nico snarls at him.
Evan, uncharacteristically quiet, rushes forward at the building’s doors, slamming his shoulder into them. It doesn’t make them open, but it’s the best idea we have. I join him, but the result stays the same.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave!” The guard’s voice crackles again. He begins speaking again, but I don’t hear him over the sound of me and Evan’s next attempt.
The doors stay closed. “Fuck!” I shout, kicking my foot into the metal.
“The plan.” Sebastian breathes heavily, seething. “We stick to the plan. They can’t keep her here.”
It takes every ounce of my strength to walk away from her building.
* * *
Our home has never felt so empty in my life. It still smells faintly of chamomile.
Her absence hit the moment we stepped through the door, a punch straight to the gut. Ariana’s sweet perfume lingers in the air like a ghost. Each room is haunted by memories of moments with her.
People filter in and out throughout the day.
Their presence only makes it more prominent whose is missing.
Between the bodies of the legal team surrounding me, my eyes catch on the spots Ariana used to frequent.
A part of me keeps expecting to see her there.
When I don’t, I return to preparing our counterattack with renewed fervor.
Without her, our apartment is no longer a home. It becomes our base instead, as we wage war on the Hale pack.
In one corner, Nico fires into his phone in rapid Italian, not pausing for breath.
Evan has a reporter in front of him, walking her through a series of photographs with his eyes blazing.
We’ve made physical copies of each. He just got off the phone himself, talking to a connection from a television network.
Sebastian and I command orders to Coates Industries staff. Still in our crumpled clothes from yesterday, the feral looks in our eyes make us appear half crazed. No one questions our appearances, diligently at work pulling the rug out from Viewer.
When Sebastian turns to make a call letting other investors know what he’s found, I wave over a man that’s been waiting.
A private investigator, but not one of the ones we’ve had looking into the Hales. The beta sets a folder on the table.
“Looks like doc isn’t squeaky clean.”
“As in?” Handing my laptop to my assistant, I pull over the file.
“Never been to court, but there’s motion records. Hospital’s settled twice. Both times with families of omegas that were released without proper procedure. And that’s just what made it to paper. There’s rumors of more.” The PI summarizes as I flip through the pages.
He slides a second file over to me. “Quite the gambling problem, this doc’s got. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes with who he’s indebted to.”
It’s not hard to piece together what happened. Hopefully the Hale pack’s bribe was enough to have something leftover to deal with me after his debts.
“Jason.” A tanned alpha stands next to me, his arrival unnoticed in my absorption with the files.
Looking up, I set aside the folder. Quickly dismissing the PI, I nod to the Office of Omega Affairs agent. “Thanks for coming, Dean.”
The tanned, dark haired man takes a seat. He’s been our contact at the OOA, conveniently losing the Hale pack’s paperwork filing their claim on Ariana. She would have been forced to return to them long ago if not for him.
“Anytime. How’s it looking?” He studies my face. “Sorry, bad question.”
Pushing my glasses up with one hand, I wave one hand at him. No room in my body to be offended when I have this rage in me. “On the legal side, we’re ready. How much longer on the bond petition?”
“It was already accelerated. These things move slowly.” When I don’t respond, he sighs. “Expect two days.”
Two days until we can rip away Ariana’s tie to them for good. That’s one thing settled, then. We just have to get her back now.