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Isla’s eyes went wide, and she squeezed my hand. “Hazel, try to breathe.”
I ripped my hand away with a soft snarl, her presence while my heat was spiking somehow unbearable.
As if sensing my needs, Isla backed away. “I’m not trying to intrude on your nest, Hazel.”
I wanted to laugh and scream. This was my nest? A hospital bed with scratchy sheets that had a sterile, almost metallic, scent?
All the pictures I’d seen in magazines or TV shows of nests showed dark, seductive spots with twinkling lights and mountains of fuzzy things to cuddle. Blankets, pillows, stuffies…
Dr. Labine repositioned himself in front of me. “Hazel, I need you to listen to me. Your heat spikes are going to get worse. We can sedate you like before, but your heat will burn off any chemicals we introduce to your body right now. That’s why you were only out for about an hour.”
Panting, I kicked off the covers. My legs were a bright pink, like my whole body had a fever. I remembered this well; it was how my heat started back in that shack. Logan had noticed my cheeks, hands, and legs turning red first. Then came the sickly sweet scent of my perfume.
Finally, the cramps that I thought would rip my body in half. I couldn’t survive that again.
“I might be able to help,” Dr. Labine went on.
Seeing Isla stiffen out of the corner of my eye, she admonished him. “Dr. Labine.”
He didn’t even pause at the warning in her tone. “Some of my pack works here. One of my alphas is the head of pediatric oncology. I’ve told him about your… situation, and he’s agreed to help, if you like.”
When I didn’t immediately shut down the idea—mostly because I was still trying to wrap my head around it—he continued.
“I know it’s highly unorthodox, but I’m medically at a loss for what else to do for you.” His lips pressed into a thin line. “My pack doesn’t have an omega. It’s something we’ve dreamed of, but it’s never happened,” he admitted, sounding almost ashamed.
A heavy crush of emotions made me whimper, sensing his pain. I reached out, my omega side needing to provide comfort even as I was drowning in my own suffering.
With a timid smile, he took my hand. “Brendan—one of my alphas—is an incredible man. He’s kind and loyal, and he won’t do anything you don’t want. Just his presence and scent could be enough to help settle your heat, though. Studies have shown that physical touch and proximity to an alpha can be beneficial to an unmated omega, though a knot would be best. And, our pack is registered with Omega Services.”
A low ache settled in my belly and I inhaled sharply through my nose, the first notes of my perfume trickling through.
No, no, no.
Not again. Please, not again.
“The choice is yours, Hazel,” he finished, gently squeezing my fingers.
A tear slipped down my cheek as I tried to decide what to do. What choice to make.
Did I ride it out solo? Or did I reach out to an alpha for help? An alpha who was a total stranger. But if he worked in a hospital, he had to be okay, right? And Dr. Labine said he worked with kids, too.
At least this way it would be my choice, while I still had one. If I went full on heat-mode again, I’d probably be begging indiscriminately for the nearest knot, damn the consequences. I mean, I’d have welcomed Donovan between my legs if it would’ve provided me some relief.
I shuddered, pushing that humiliating memory far, far away.
“Okay,” I whispered, giving him a timid nod and ignoring the small huff Isla made.
“I’ll call him now,” Dr. Labine assured me, letting my hand go and hurrying to the door. He yanked it open and promptly slammed into a wall.
No, not a wall.
An alpha.
I was whining before I’d even registered what was going on, but the second the door opened, the alpha’s strong scent of leather and oranges wrapped around me.
And my omega promptly lost her shit.
I knew what I wanted now.
