I open the top drawer of my desk and pick up each prescription bottle, one at a time, giving them a shake. The calcium supplements are full. The anti-inflammatory is about half. The Verenthicin rattles light in my hand. I hold it up to the light and count through the orange plastic. Two pills.
Shit.
“You need to call Dr. Ellison,” I remind myself. “Running out of these is not an option.”
The last time I missed a dose for more than a day, Iended up in bed for a week with a fever and joint pain so bad I couldn't even hold a fork.
I plop down on the foot of my bed, squeezing the bottle in my hand. I should call, but Dr. Ellison's office doesn't open until nine, and it's barely past eight.
Tossing the bottle aside, I pull out my phone.
I sit there for a moment, phone in hand, doing nothing. Then, from down the hall, I hear the faint groan of pipes and the hiss of water. Followed by the soft click of the guest bathroom door pulling shut.
Elowen's in the shower.
Something about that hits me in a way I don't expect. It’s strange. The ordinary sound of it. Like she's already slotting into the house, filling in the quiet spaces, and the house is letting her.
I look down at my phone.
My thumbs move, unlocking it and bringing up the browser. Then I type out:
How a pack beta can support their newly mated omega
I stare at the words for a second.
Then I backspace over all of it.
I don't know why. Maybe because reading about how to take care of her feels like a bit too much right now.
So I type something else instead:
Can a newly mated alpha and omega separate
The results are not encouraging.
Apparently, separation within the first thirty days of a fresh bond carries significant health risks for bothparties. For omegas, early separation from their mate can present as fever, disorientation, and acute distress. Alpha Severance Syndrome, in rare cases, has been documented as fatal.
I read every word.
The article goes on with recommended links that discuss Bond Rejection Syndrome, Post-Mating Aggression Syndrome, and all kinds of symptoms related to bond instability.
I stare at the screen for a long moment.
So that's that, then.
I'm not sure what I was hoping to find. Some loophole? A footnote that said in rare cases the alpha realizes it was a mistake and the omega is perfectly fine?
But biology doesn't do footnotes.
Someone knocks on my door, and I hold my phone to my chest.
"Yeah?" I call.
The door opens and my pack alpha fills the frame. He's changed out of the clothes from Odette's. Dark jeans and a plain gray shirt that shows off his muscular arms. His knuckles are still wrapped. He takes in the room in one sweep, before his eyes settle on me.
"Got a minute?"
"Sure." I set my phone face-down on the mattress.
