The blonde woman looked alarmed at that. She was clutching her hands together, still advancing slowly. “Bridget. Please just come outside with me. It’s important.”
Bridget’s back hit the wall. She was still whining. The sound set my teeth on edge with the need to dosomethingto stop whatever was making her so upset.
I grabbed the woman’s upper arm. “You need to leave.”
She shook off my hand. She was almost sobbing. “Bridget, please just talk to me.”
Gabriel lost his patience. “Madam, you need to get out of this room now,” he said, and grabbed her around the waist. She yelped, but he just hauled her back out into the hallway. He looked at me as he pulled her backwards out the door, and a bolt of concern raced down the bond. I got the message.
Bridget huddled in the corner. As the sound of the woman’s calls grew fainter, she slid down into a crouch. Her arms wrapped around her knees, and she rocked back and forth on her heels.
I crouched down in front of her, ignoring the twinge in my knee where the anesthetic was wearing off.
“Are you okay?” I asked. She gave no indication that she could hear me. A soft, unbroken whine escaped from her slightly parted lips, and her eyes were vacant. Her scent had grown stronger, but sour with stress. I shuffled forward on my knees.
“Bridget? Can you hear me?” I reached out to touch her shoulder. She jumped at my touch. For a second I thought I’dmade things worse. Her whine grew louder, more frantic. But then her eyes met mine, and she scrambled towards me. I caught her in my arms gratefully.
She pressed her face into the space where my shoulder met my neck, like she knew exactly where she wanted to be. Her arms wrapped tightly around my waist.
It was like the moment right before I hit the shot that would win a match. There was the same bolt of certainty that this was right where she belonged.
I held her and felt the tickle of her breath on my skin. Her whines had grown softer again. Instinctively, I started to purr. The sound was thready at first but grew louder and Bridget’s whine faded. I’d only ever purred for Gabriel before, and the significance wasn’t lost on me. Something about Bridget called to my Alpha.
I pressed my nose to the top of her head and inhaled deeply. There was still an edge of stress to her scent, but I could fully sense it now. She smelled like a garden, like flowers fully in bloom, and an undertone of honey tipped it even sweeter. My purr intensified again as my body reacted to what I hadn’t realized before; she was an Omega, unbonded and stressed and needing my protection. Instincts I hadn’t felt since bonding with Gabriel awakened in me: to claim her as soon as possible and make sure nothing ever hurt her again.
The door opened, but I knew through our bond it was Gabriel.
“Cosa fai? What are you doing, amore?” he asked, sounding outraged. “Get her off the ground.”
He helped both of us to our feet. As Bridget stood and our contact broke, my purr slowed to a stop. She looked into my eyes again, hers startlingly blue with unshed tears. Something unspoken passed between us, a recognition of one another asAlpha and Omega. The silence of the room was deafening before Gabriel spoke.
“Carrissima, are you alright?” he said. He placed his hands on Bridget’s shoulders and rubbed them gently.
She mumbled a yes, but he pulled her into an embrace, anyway. Concern was still spiking along our bond. He murmured to her in Italian, his cheek pressed to the top of her head. After a few moments, she pulled back. Something in her expression closed down.
“I’m so sorry, that was incredibly unprofessional,” she said, clearing her throat and straightening her lab coat.
“Do not apologize, fiore mio. Who was that woman?” Gabriel asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said firmly. “I shouldn’t have… I’m sorry.”
Before either of us could respond, Bridget left the room, trailing her scent behind her.
Chapter 6 - Bridget
This clinic was not the safe place I’d thought.
How had my mother found me? That was my main concern as I left Andrew’s room. His and his partner’s scents were still strong, like they had sunk into the fibers of my clothes and strands of my hair. A cloud of amber and clove surrounded me, but with an undertone of cedar that made me think of sitting by a fireplace in a cabin with a mug of tea. Something spicy and bracing against the cold.
My feet carried me back to the lab. There was no sign of my mother, no indication she’d even been there, but I kept glancing over my shoulder. I stifled a gasp when an exam room door opened without warning next to me, and the nurse gave me a strange look as she passed. I broke into a trot, eager not to run into anyone else.
When I beeped through the lab door, I saw Nathan and Anvi in the prep lab, both typing angrily at their laptops. A batch of cells had developed mold, and they were trying to figure out why. Anvi had been the last one to handle them, but I didn’t want Nathan to just blame her. They were investigating the incubator to see if the humidity gauge was faulty.
I was suddenly grateful for the issue. It had kept Nathan from witnessing my spectacular breakdown.
My body flushed with shame again, and I fled into the office before they looked up and saw me. I wanted to go home,crawl under my covers, and watch the Kiera Knightley version ofPride and Prejudiceuntil I fell asleep.
The last time I’d seen my mother was a year ago, on television, sitting next to Domenic as he gave an interview about the tragic passing of his packmate, and my biological father, Sebastian. As a state senator, Sebastian’s death was covered by the Fairview news.
