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“An hour, maybe.”

A muscle ticks in my jaw. “We’re not actually taking her to Oak Hollow Community Hospital after that, right? I’ve read the studies. I was thorough. The consultants would be unlikely to do more than drop her into a heat-induced coma, while they searched for a solution. One doesn’t exist yet.”

Rhett’s dark gaze holds mine. “There wasn’t a solution for your condition either, sugar, before I took you to the hospital. I know that you don’t trust medical shit, but I reckoned that bonding with Angel would have helped with that. We’ll go with Paige. We’re not abandoning her, we’re⁠—”

“No,” I snarl, surprising myself. I never disobey Rhett. “I promised her. I know I’m a bad Alpha, but I won’t⁠—”

Rhett straightens. “To hell with that. You’re not bad.”

I shudder, raising my hand to the back of my neck. “But before you, I was bad in my ruts. Everybody punished me for them. It’s why you suppressed them.”

I remember when I revealed as an Alpha, how feral and wild I became.

The way I couldn’t speak.

The chains. Being locked in the dark. The beatings.

Bad Alpha…savage…

Rhett stalks to me, grabbing me by the shoulders. “You ain’t bad. I didn’t…The rut patch is for your health. Hell, have you been thinking it was a punishment all this time? That I have been controlling you?”

It’s not a punishment?

Shouldn’t I be controlled?

I’m uncomfortable with the feral side to myself. I am overwhelmed with sensory overload, overstimulated, and out of control.

I blink. “I deserve it.”

Rhett’s expression does a complicated dance that I don’t understand. Then his hold on my shoulders becomes painful, as he drags me into a hug.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, fiercely. “So damn sorry. I do this thing where I try and fix everything and everyone. I wanted to help. But I don’t always stop to ask first whether I have that right. I am used to being the one in charge. You don’t deserve punishment. I’ve been trying to give you freedom.”

“You have.” I pull away from his hold. I am shocked that he is apologizing to me. “You made sure that I kept the job I loved. You gave me a pack. Also, you don’t mind that I need my own space. That sometimes I need to disappear into the forest for days by myself where it is quiet. You always let me come back home when I’m ready.”

Rhett glances across the garden at Paige. “Then we need to do the same for our Omega…”

“I’m trying to.” Why is talking so exhausting? “Our pheromones as they are haven’t been enough to bring her safely through this heat. But what if I took off the rut patch…?”

Rhett grabs me by the throat, driving my back slamming against the wall.

I grunt in pain.

“What the fuck is wrong with you today?” Rhett’s eyes blaze.

I don’t push him back, despite the way his fingers are biting in and bruising my skin. “Our Omega is perfect for us, Chief. She ain’t fragile. She won’t shatter. If I don’t do this, then we’ll lose her.”

Why is he looking even angrier?

“Do you reckon…” Rhett leans closer, his voice vibrating with rage. “…that I am upset because you may risk Paige?”

Upset, rather than angry?

Rhett’s hand is shaking at my throat, as his thumb strokes over my fluttering pulse like he can’t hold himself back.

I swallow. “Why else?”

“Why else?” He echoes, before giving a hollow laugh. “I am scared of losing you, fool. When that rut patch was developed, the doctors warned that if you removed it suddenly without replacing it with a new one, then the extreme surge of pheromones could kill you.”