Page 41

I don’t like what I see.

She looks exhausted. Like she’s on her last fucking leg. Her long silver hair is tangled, hanging limp down her back. Her face is streaked with tear tracks, and the wall’s doing most of the work to hold her up. Without it, I think she’d be on the damn floor.

No. She has a Mate to catch her now, remember?

I snarl at my Alpha. Gods, he doesn’t have to rub it in.

Tearing my eyes away from the female, I turn to my Packmate.

“What’d you guys find?”

He sighs, gesturing for me to follow, passing the Omega and her sentries as we head down the hall, toward another exam room. In answer to my question, Dax yanks open the door and throws out a hand.

Sticking my head in the room, I find a female on an exam table, studying Calder like he just told her he’s prescribing elephant shit for her ailments.

She’s clearly the new Omega; her perfume of cherries and brown sugar makes that obvious. Except right now, it’s burnt and bitter, like a pie left in the oven too long. It gets worse when she turns from Calder and her attention lands on Dax and me.

“No,” she says flatly, wrinkling her nose like she smells something foul.

Us, apparently.

She turns back to Calder. “I agreed to an exam, but I won’t be put on show. I don’t know how you do things around here, but in the UK we have doctor-patient confidentiality.”

I don’t know which I expected to hear less—the accent, or the undisguised loathing that makes me think she really doesn’t fucking like us.

Dax sighs, like they’ve had this argument already. Multiple times. “We’re trying to help you, Omega.”

“Here’s a little advice. If you’re antsy to help someone, start with yourselves.” She waves him away with a flick of her wrist. “I’m fine on my own. If you insist I have someone with me during this exam, bring Idril. No one else.”

“Fates...” Dax mutters, pinching the bridge of his nose. Then louder, “Fine. I’m not going to keep arguing about it.”

He grabs me by the front of my shirt, yanking me out of the room, seconds before the door slams shut in my face.

I shrug out of his hold, raising a brow in question. “Why do Omegas hate you so much? Is it the way you talk down to them, or...”

I grimace. “Never mind. Stupid question. It’s definitely that.”

Dax turns and punches me in the shoulder, making me stumble back a step.

“Fucking ow, asshole,” I laugh, rubbing the spot where he hit me.

We both turn at the sound of familiar heavy footsteps to see Gav rounding the corner and heading our way. He nods, absently returning the greeting of two nurses coming the other direction with arms full of linens, but the grim expression on his face doesn’t change. When he arrives next to me, his stoic expression drops, and he falls against the wall with a tired sigh.

He looks just slightly less exhausted than Idril. More so when he runs a hand down his face and over the stubble that’s normally absent. Even his movements are heavier than normal.

It must be getting close to four in the morning. Vampires might prefer to be awake during the night, but it’s getting late as fuck, even for us.

“What’s the plan?” I ask, feeling wildly out of the loop.

“As soon as they’re done with the Omega’s exam and get her clothes to change into, we’ll confer for a quick meeting. We can handle the rest in the morning,” he answers warily.

“The Omega seems fine,” I point out. “At least, fine enough to snap Dax and Calder’s heads off.”

“Don’t let her hear you call her The Omega,” Dax mutters. “Her name is Branwen. Also, aren’t Omegas supposed to be submissive?”

“The lass has teeth!” Kane shouts from down the hall. “I dinna ken how vampires treat their Omegas, but wolven encourage them tae stand up for themselves.”

“No one asked you,” I shout back. I don’t know what it is about the big Scott, but he gets under my skin. I dislike him almost as much as I dislike his Alpha.