Page 22 of Matched in Mayhem

“Alby?” I called out to the sounds of him being sick.

He didn’t answer, but I wasn’t sure if going in was the right answer. Throwing up wasn’t exactly a medical emergency.

I almost didn’t recognize Clyde as he walked up next to me. He rolled his eyes and knocked on the door. His scent was so much like Alby that it broke my brain for a minute.

“Alphas on board. Healer alpha entering the omega’s restroom,” he called out and then lowered his voice to say. “You ever pull this trick and someone’s not dying, I’ll kick your ass.”

“I’m not--- I’m not a healer. I just—” Clyde walked away before I got a sentence out, leaving the door swinging behind him. I followed him in and sighed in relief to see only one other omega in the bathroom. It was Trent, the mate of one of the Followers of Frost, here at the temple. I grew up running around with his kids. So there was little chance of him thinking I’m a creep.

“Congratulations,” he smiled, drying his hands before he squeezed my shoulder.

Meanwhile, Clyde had already army crawled under the stall door and was with Alby by the time Trent left.

“There, there,” his voice went soft, like I never expected it to. “Get it out and then you’ll have some gummies. You’ll be okay. A baby, food poisoning, or stomach virus, I’m equipped for them all.”

I pressed my hand against the stall and considered crawling under it to join them. Every stall in the temple was big enough to accommodate a draconic-sized wheelchair and allow it to move around. Still… I wasn’t sure Alby wanted me—

“Lock the door, Bennie,” Clyde said and I heard the eyeroll in his voice.

I did and he opened the stall. Alby sat on the toilet now, looking small and green.

“What did you expect?” Clyde asked me before changing his tone back to that soothing one he used on Alby. “Here you go. Try to eat all three of the little orange bears.”

Alby managed a smile for him. Was I really this useless? Clyde rolled in like he owned the place and…

“It’s because Grandpa doesn’t care. Well, he does… He just…” Alby tried to explain but maybe Clyde was unexplainable.

“I’m a healer. I’m certified to practice in most stateside territories,” he said, looking up at me from where he was squatted down by Alby. His voice was somewhere between his gentle tone and the one he used for everyone else. “It allows me to do what I need to. Run to the kitchen and get him something to drink. Don’t tell the others yet.”

I glanced at Alby who nodded at me that he’d be okay while I was gone. Still, I hated leaving him. Even if he was with his grandsire, it felt like I should’ve been by his side for everything.

“Remember Chad Boston,” Frost’s voice played through my head as I left the omega’s only bathroom. I rubbed the bridge of my nose. If Chad Boston was dead and reborn what was I to expect? That his reincarnation was going to burst into the temple and challenge me to a duel?

“Wish a dick would,” my tiger growled inside his inner sanctum. “I’d make him eat his tail before I killed him.”

So, it was going to be one of those sorts of days.

“Everything okay?” Raziel’s voice reached my ears as I opened the fridge and loaded up my arms with as many bottles of water as I could carry.

“Yeah… I… Alby might be having morning sickness,” I said, whispering the last part.

“And he asked for two dozen bottles of water?” Raziel arched a brow, taking some of them from my arms that were dangerously close to slipping from my grip.

“No, just water but…” I said.

“Okay, we can definitely take him all this water, but unless he plans on being in the bathroom all day, I think we can start with one or two not to overwhelm him,” Raziel said.

I checked his expression to see if I had lost my Frost-damned mind. His face was neutral, calm even. How could anyone be calm when Alby was probably pregnant? Now was the time to lock up the temple against our enemies and up security measures across the territory. No unknown visitors. No traveling merchants. No bears with the intent to….

“Bennie?” Raziel said my name, taking more bottles of water away from me. “Calm down, brother. Use your words. If there’s a threat, Dad’s here. He can call the right people but I think Clyde would single-handedly castrate them and use those particular parts as ball gags so he didn’t have to listen to them complain while they were dying.”

Raziel put most of the water back into the fridge and headed back to the bathroom with me and only four bottles of water. He waited outside while I went back in. I expected Clyde to ask me what took so long, but he didn’t. Alby was now sitting on the counter. He flashed me a sheepish smile. He was happy but his stomach was still queasy. My poor Alby. My poor wolf.

“I’ll guard the door,” Clyde said and then stopped. “Never mind. I’m going to find my mate. Raziel is already guarding the door. You have a good friend in him.” Clyde didn’t comment further on him and left after telling Alby he was only a metaphysical family link tail yank away.

“He’s a lot, huh?” Alby asked as I unscrewed the cap from a bottle of water and handed it to him.

“I’m glad he took it seriously,” I said.