Page 50 of Knot Broken

Small growls filled the air, and while I expected my wolf to protest, a glance around the room made clear that Tex’s beast felt the same way.

As did Ethan’s.

He blinked and then straightened up as he crossed his arms. Fen Taylor stepped forward.

“I appreciate everyone must be feeling a little on edge.” His wry smile acknowledged that this was an understatement. “But we’ll be making this as quick and painless as possible.”

“The separation will be brief,” Riley continued. “We just need to isolate everyone for the tests to reduce pheromone cross contamination. Nadia.” Her eyes met my mate’s. “Now that you’ve discovered you’re an omega, you’ll find you’re a lot more sensitive to scents, particularly those of your mates.”

She took a deep breath, then nodded.

“Already getting that.”

What was Nadia detecting? It was me that needed to know that, not the wolf. A boundless curiosity about my mate, what she was thinking, feeling, experiencing, was always present, but it just got worse with statements like that.

If you were bonded, you’d know, my wolf said. You’d know her mind, and she’d⁠—

That can’t happen.

With a frown, I nodded when one of the Taylor alphas gestured for me to follow him. Haze produced a thin green cotton gown.

“Not much fun, wearing one of these and having your arse hanging out.” I took it without a word. “Worse when you know a cubicle over, your mate is doing the same.”

“If this is what’s needed, I’ll do it,” I replied, yanking my shirt up and over my head. “So, blood tests first?”

He nodded and, once I was dressed, led me up the hall to where a nurse waited.

“Just in here. Morning, Daisy.”

“Morning,” the woman said and smiled at me. “Take a seat and let me look at those veins.” I clenched my hand into a fist, knowing that would help with blood flow. “Oh, you should be really easy to get samples from.”

As the tourniquet was applied and the woman dropped a number of sample tubes into a tray, I looked up to see Haze regarding me steadily.

“I’ve seen Riley help enough latent omegas to know that Nadia will be fine,” he said, “but will you be OK?”

As I sucked in a breath, the needle was inserted. The bright pain was a pleasant distraction. The samples were taken, the tubes dropped into a petri dish, and then I was told to press a wad of cotton into the injection site.

“I’ll be whatever Nadia needs me to be,” I replied finally.

“Now, we need to do an ECG,” the nurse said. “Fit guy like you, there shouldn’t be any issues, but Riley likes to know what she’s dealing with.”

I could tell her. As soon as I lay back and the sensors were applied, my heart rate picked up. It beat faster and faster, because I knew Nadia had to be going through the same thing. How was she feeling in this cold, clinical space? Omegas traditionally hated harsh lights and echoey rooms. I should’ve brought one of the soft throw blankets that had been draped over the back of the couch with me. That way I could drape it over her shoulders as⁠—

“Hey.” With a blink, I came back to the room and saw Haze was standing there. A nod to the monitor made clear my heart rate was spiking. The nurse had pulled back, her eyes wide, as black fur rippled across my forearms. I was this fucking close to shifting, and I didn’t even realise it. “You’re OK,” Haze said. “So is Nadia.”

Using the same tone he’d used when I was a kid had my face flushing.

“Have you got the scan done?” I asked the nurse. She nodded sharply. I yanked off the sensor pads, dropping them into the bin, then pulled the gown back up. “So what next?”

“Grey—”

“What next, Haze?”

He might’ve been a surrogate father figure, but I was a man grown now. As I stared him down, I made that clear to his wolf.

“OK, pull your clothes on. The next test is going to be right up your alley.” I did as I was told, then walked into a familiar room. Treadmills were set along one wall and Riley and her team were fitting the others with heart rate monitors. “You remember these, right?”

Hell yeah, I did. It’d been the Taylor pack that got me running, reasoning that if I could burn some of the energy my wolf used to try and grab for control somewhere else, I could settle down.