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And I was, technically, able. “Okay.”

“That’s great. Count of three,” she said to her partner.

They lifted Deacon onto the stretcher, raised it, and wheeled him toward the ambulance. Once he was in, he immediately started seizing again, so I climbed in and took up my place, hugging him again, letting him smell me, breathe me in.

“Sasha,” Jillian told me, “you’re doing amazing.”

“Thank you.”

“So my idiot partner here is Danny, and⁠—”

“Hey,” Danny protested, which made me smile. “Idiot is a bit harsh.”

She shot him a look.

“Yeah, fine. I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s okay,” I assured him.

“Well, thank you. And, Sasha, I gotta say, you’re giving us a great lesson about lupines tonight. This is very helpful.”

“It really is,” Jillian agreed.

I was going to let them know that my pheromones being able to calm him only worked with true mates, but because I didn’t feel like one, had been summarily rejected and dismissed as one, I let it go. But the reality was, even unconscious, my scent would call to him, calm him, and he would want me close. The man he was had cast me aside, but his wolf knew exactly what I was to him.

His wolf, it turned out, was smarter than he was, which came as absolutely no surprise. I’d learned over the past year exactly what kind of man he was. He was a playboy, a malcontent, dissolute, and an all-around spoiled trust-fund baby who was always in the society pages with a new stunning man or woman on his arm, dropping exorbitant amounts of money here at home in Chicago and in other romantic locales across the world. If globe-trotting were an Olympic event, he could easily medal. My chaperone when I was younger, Lucrezia Farnese, now one of my best friends, agreed with me that I’d dodged a bullet. If we were mates, she’d assured me, he would have left me at home and still had all his lovers, and I’d have been expected to have dinner on the table when he finally arrived. It was not the life for me or what I wanted in a partner. Even though it had been physically and emotionally painful at the time, everything had worked out for the best. The universe, as I’d always suspected, knew what it was about.

At the hospital, they took him into the emergency room, and I was able to peel off and stand out of the way. I realized I had blood on my topcoat from being pressed against him, and the smell of it made my stomach lurch. I was an omega; I wasn’t made for dealing with gore like alphas and even betas and gammas were. We were far more gentle creatures.

I was heading for the waiting room that led outside to the street when a doctor stopped me, barring my path.

“Hi. Are you the lupine who came in with Mr. Houghton-Crowne?”

Wasn’t the stain on me a dead giveaway? “Yes.”

“We’re giving him blood and fluids, but we’d really like you to stay close in case he needs you again.”

I whined, which surprised her. “I’m really tired, and members of his family would be so much better than me.”

The doctor, a beautiful woman with deep sepia skin with gold undertones and lovely dark brown eyes, scowled at me. “As soon as his family is found, I promise you’ll be able to leave, but until then, I don’t need a lupine having a meltdown, leading to a shift, tearing up my ER.”

For the second time, I whimpered.

She was quiet, studying my face.

“I apologize; I’m being⁠—”

“No,” she rushed out. “I’m telling you about my concerns for⁠—”

“But I should be thinking about all these people here, not only myself.”

“Which is kind, but it depends on what happened. Did he do something to you?”

Now I’d gone and scared her, and she was clearly kind to be worried about me. “It’s not like that.”

“Well, if I hadn’t been here going on sixteen hours, I would have caught on quicker. Tell me why he’s not your favorite guy.”

It happened all the time. Me being an omega made people open up, trust me, and of course, want to impart secrets and get close. It was the same thing with alphas, betas, and gammas. Omegas were irresistible to all.