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I nodded, feeling shy and embarrassed and exhausted.
Dr. Labine exhaled, the sound regretful. “I’m sorry, but no unmated alphas other than staff are allowed on the omega floor, Hazel. It’s for everyone’s safety. You understand.”
“Of course.” But I didn’t understand. I’d grown up thinking I would be a beta like my parents, so I didn’t pay attention to the different rules omegas and alphas had. I’d been raised as a normal beta child and expected to live a boring beta life.
I wasn’t supposed to deal with things like heats and knots and scents and mates.
“Is there anyone we can call for you?” Isla offered. “Parents? Siblings?”
I shook my head again. It was just me.
Calla flashed through my mind, but she was probably still in California or matched with a pack. And that was even if I could remember her phone number. It had been programmed into my phone as a teen, and I’d never bothered remembering it. Uncle Henry had taken my phone almost the moment we drove over the California state line four years ago.
It was just me. I was all alone.
Panic swelled in my chest as my breathing grew ragged. Black spots formed on the edge of my vision as my body went molten hot and then ice cold.
“Hazel? Hazel, look at me,” Dr. Labine demanded, his face suddenly in front of mine.
“Can’t. Breathe.” I was barely able to force the words out.
His lips pressed into a grim line. “Okay, Hazel, we’re going to give you something to help calm you down, all right?”
I stared at him, my brain unable to process the words. Fire licked through my veins.
“Four milligrams of ativan,” Dr. Labine ordered Isla, then his gaze snapped back to me. “Hazel, listen to me, you’re having a heat spike. Try to take deep breaths.”
My lungs were on fire. It was like being trapped in that room all over again. I kicked the sheets away from my body and cried out as someone approached me from the side. Blindly, I swung my fist and heard a feminine cry of alarm.
Dr. Labine lunged forward, grabbing me and pinning me to the bed. I thrashed, fighting for my damn life, until something sharp pricked my arm. A desperate shout tore from my lungs as I freaked out, wondering what damn drug they’d injected into me.
“Hazel, you have to calm down!”
“Dr. Labine, she isn’t settling!”
“Give the medicine a moment… There. That’s a girl.”
Liquid lead slowly pumped into my blood, coating my muscles and bones. It started in my chest and radiated out, my body going limp as my mind whirled in a frenzied kaleidoscope of thoughts that made me want to sob, but there was nothing left to do except surrender to the dark.
15
Kellan
The nurse on the other side of the desk may have been a beta, but she was throwing off major alpha energy as she stared me down—a pretty impressive feat since I had a solid foot on her in height.
“Her name is Hazel,” I reiterated for the third time, my voice barely above a growl. I spotted the security guards still standing nearby, waiting for the signal to intervene again and hold me back.
Not fucking likely. They’d managed to outnumber me ten to one earlier, but now they were down to two since there’d been an emergency code in the psych ward. They were alphas, and pretty big, too, but I knew their type. They relied on popcorn muscles to get the job done.
A fucking glare from me had them both exchanging uneasy looks, and one touching the taser holstered in his belt.
I scoffed. Please. Like a fucking taser would keep me from her.
Hazel.
Mate.
The word sang in my blood. I knew it as soon as I’d smelled her outside that godforsaken shithole of a building. Her scent was like nothing I’d ever experienced. Rich, buttery cake and decadent chocolate. Sure, it was off because her stress was sky-fucking-high, but I knew she was mine.
