Page 12

The pounding of feet told me Crew and Eli were almost there with what I really needed.

“Lay her on the couch, now,” Eli barked.

I let out a whine as I flinched at the Alpha command in Eli’s order as Ulysses laid me down, stroking my hair out of my face. “Shh, it’s gonna be fine. Crew has your meds… he’s just prepping the injection.”

The sting of the needle on my upper arm told me relief was coming, and I needed to keep breathing. While the medication was fast-acting, it worked better if I could convince my body to stop panicking as the medication did its job. I pictured sitting in a meadow with my paints, watching the butterflies drinking from the wildflowers as they swayed in the gentle breeze. Focusing on the movement, I tried to match my breathing to the gentle wave of flowers, which would expedite the slowing of my heart back down.

“Do you need the oxygen?” Crew asked.

I shook my head since my mind was clear, and I didn’t feel lightheaded. A cool cloth was placed on my head, giving me something to focus on other than the panic my anxiety wanted to dwell on. It was a trick Eli found in his many hours of research into holistic alternatives for my condition. Most didn’t work or help, but this simple trick of the mind was fantastic.

“Wh-what just happened,” Alpha Sweet-tea demanded. “Please tell me I didn’t do something wrong to cause this. Did I hurt her? Is she going to be okay? Fuck, why didn’t I listen when you told us to take it easy with her?”

“Gareth, you need to take a deep breath, or you’re going to hyperventilate,” Yun-Sun warned.

“Please, I need to know she’s okay… please,” Gareth begged, his voice choked with emotion.

My breathing was almost back to normal. However, the pulse in my ears told me I wasn’t out of the woods yet, but I couldn’t let him think this was his fault. Turning my head, I found Gareth standing there hugging himself tightly, his expression almost tormented. It broke my tattered heart to see him so broken up over this.

“It’s not your fault. I was born like this,” I said, holding his gaze. “I’ll be okay. The medicine is working, and once my heart rate is back to normal, it will be like this never happened.”

Gareth scoffed. “Yeah, I don’t think I’m going to forget that right after I nipped at your neck… you almost died.”

I smiled at him, knowing this wasn’t going to be easy for any of my Alphas to adjust to. “When you’re worried about almost dying every day, it doesn’t become quite as scary as you think.”

“What do you mean?” Yun-Sun asked as he stepped up beside Gareth, followed by the other two Alphas whose names I hadn’t gotten yet.

My gaze shifted to Lysse, and he gave my hand a reassuring squeeze, knowing I didn’t want to tell these men the truth, especially after the dramatics that just happened, displaying the ugly truth of having someone with a chronic illness in your life. The one thing we never want to be is a burden to our loved ones, but that’s exactly what we are, even if they don’t see it that way.

“I have a genetic disorder and because of that, when I was born, I had a hole in my heart as well as a valve that doesn’t work properly. When I was strong enough as a baby, they did repair the hole, but it took longer than they would have liked because I struggled with gaining weight so they could safely do the surgery. This led to some complications that I still deal with to this day,” I explained.

Lifting my left arm, I showed them the heart rate monitor. “One of the most important things is to keep my heart rate under a certain number so it won’t overwork my heart. I take medication to help stabilize the rhythm, make my blood thinner so it’s easier to pump, and another to ensure I never go into heat.”

The one Alpha I hadn’t gotten a good look at gingerly took my hand in his, twisting it this way and that to look at the monitor on my wrist. I couldn’t help but lean in to get more of his scent I could only describe as s’mores. He wore round gold-rimmed glasses that slid down his nose, but he didn’t bother pushing them up, intent on examining the monitor. His hair was a coppery strawberry blond that was mussed and haphazard as if he runs his hands through it a lot. When he looked up from my wrist and met my gaze, I was greeted with the softest caramel-colored eyes I’d ever encountered. They oozed warmth and some worry as he searched my face as if to ensure I was truly okay. What I didn’t see was pity in them, and that’s what I’d been most worried about.

I had to smile at his mustache that slightly curled up at the ends, adding to his effervescent smile. It also looked like he was trying to grow the rest of his beard with the stubble coming in, but I think I actually liked it as just the mustache. It suited him in an eccentric kind of way.

“Tell me, herlig, do they force you to wear dis?” he asked in a rather serious tone that didn’t match the question.

“Ah… yes?” I answered as more of a question. “Well, I have to wear the monitor, but I’ve had different kinds over the years.”

“Why they make you wear something so ugly? No, no, I make you something better, more pretty, delicate, like you,” he decided with a nod.

“You’ll have to forgive Vili. His family has been in the fashion business for generations,” Alpha Hi explained. “Oh, I’m Warrick, by the way.”

Having them all there distracting me from the hysterics my body had just put me through had me much calmer. So much so I started to sit up. All of them surged forward to help, crashing into each other which then caused them to swear under their breath as they glared at one another. This made me giggle and caught all of their attention.

Hands slid under my shoulders and hooked around my armpits to hoist me into a sitting position. I looked up to see Eli’s blue eyes and worried furrows on his brow. My big overprotective brother, Eli, was the pinnacle representation of the Alpha designation—dutiful to a fault. He’d always taken on the responsibility of keeping me safe from everything and everyone—even Crew. We would play together all the time as kids while Eli would observe. He’d make sure Crew didn’t take it too far or talk me into doing something stupid, which had happened a time or two when big bro wasn’t looking.

Eli was ten years older than me, and I suppose it was hard for him to feel like anything other than a fourth parent. How else do you explain why he’s decided to still live at the house as a thirty-five-year-old man? He had no pack, no love interest, and took over our father’s role in the company the moment he could, running the day-to-day operations. He always told me he didn’t feel it was right to build a life for himself until he knew his baby sister was taken care of.

The man had the biggest big-brother complex I’d ever seen. Even though we fought over stupid things on a daily basis, I loved him dearly. Plus, he was the one to nurture my love of art. The moment he figured out I had a knack for it, he put me in any art class he could find. Without my art, I wouldn’t be the woman I am today. It allowed me to express myself in a way that had nothing to do with how physically fit I was. The people I painted doing all the things I wanted to experience gave me the chance to live out those dreams in my imagination. There could be no greater gift than Eli seeing my potential and showing me all it could provide.

“Hey, B,” he murmured. “You need anything?”

“Nah, I’m good,” I assured him. “I think today was just full of a lot of surprises.”

Eli nodded, his gaze flicking over to the men around me and then back to me. “I’ll be in my study just down the hall.”