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No… Why now?!
Ring.
“I need to get this,” I fumbled for my phone and stumbled away from my pack and friends who all were watching me with various levels of concern.
I wound my way through the bikers toward the women’s room, locking the door. I managed to answer by the last ring.
“Hey.”
“Sienna!” Sam choked out, my name barely recognizable thanks to her sobs.
“Sam! What happened?! What’s wrong?!” I asked, my heart pounding in my chest.
“The hospital… Mom… The insurance is saying they won’t cover anything else.”
The breath was knocked out of my chest as I fell back against the wall. My vision narrowed, darkness crowding in as I tried to handle what my sister was telling me.
“That’s not possible—” I started, but Sam cut me off with a scathing huff.
“How would you even know, Sienna?! You aren’t here doing this day in and day out. I’ve been with Mom for every test, every day in the hospital. I’ve talked to the doctors and the insurance people. Did you offer to call? Not fucking once!”
“I’ve been working my ass off to send you damn near every penny I had to help take care of Mom!” I shouted back, finally snapping. “I’ve barely been scraping by—living off of ramen noodles, food pantry boxes, and meals at work. If I eat at all! Hell, I couldn’t even afford gas half the time to get to work. Don’t youdarefucking tell me I don’t care or that I’m not doing anything. If I came back to New York, I wouldn’t be able to help with the bills, so fuck you!”
“Don’t you dare—” Sam started to yell, but I hung up anyway.
I’d call her back. This was about more than just our shitty relationship. It was about Mom, so I knew I’d be the one crawling back to apologize, but right now, with my hormones running high and her horrible attitude, I couldn’t take it anymore. There was a reason we’d barely talked before all this, and she clearly hadn’t changed a damn bit.
“Sienna Rivers, you get your fucking ass out here right now!” Eliza called through the door, her firm, cold tone making me freeze.
They’d heard me. Theyknew. Oh god, everyone was out there. My pack. My besties. My family. Part of me wanted to climb out of the window and run away Julia Roberts style, but I knew that would be dumb. My heat was on the verge of taking over, and my emotions were all over the place with everything going on. No, I had to be an adult and face whatever was on the other side of the door.
I wished I felt more confident in what I was facing because anger, I could handle, but disappointment… That was a bitter pill to swallow.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Yuri
Sienna slowly opened the door to the restroom, her gaze trained on the ground. Her friends were pissed off and upset, but most of all, I could sense their concern for their friend. Sienna’s shoulders were slumped like she was ready for a scolding. Eliza, the one that had demanded she come out, sighed and rushed her with a huge hug.
Our omega broke down.
Sobs wracked her body as she collapsed into her friend. Hazel and Teagan were there a second later, holding my omega. It took every ounce of my control to keep from storming over to take care of her. She wasmyomega. I should be the one holding her together when she was falling apart.
I could tell the others felt the same way; they were nearly vibrating with the need to dosomething. I shot my cousin a glance, knowing they’d be as upset as I was but not nearly as in control. King reached out and rested a hand on their shoulder, which had my cousin releasing a shaky breath and a soft thanks. Nash was being calmed by his brother, Bane, who also looked ready to rip someone’s head off.
My omega pulled back from her friends, furiously scrubbing at the tears that still fell down her cheeks. That was my undoing. My restraint snapped, so I strode forward, intent on comforting my mate. One of the friends, Teagan I think, opened her mouth to say something, but Eliza pulled her out of the way. Sienna blinked up at me, then her face crumbled again. The exhaustion in her gaze was so fucking clear.
There was only a quick moment of hesitation before she threw herself into my arms and wrapped her arms around my neck. My fierce, independent omega needed me, and fuck, if that wasn’t a heady feeling.
“Sienna,” Hazel said softly. She didn’t try to approach us, but there was a thread of seriousness under that tone that couldn’t be ignored. “We can talk about all this later. After. But as I’m sure you’ve realized, this stress is likely going to push you into your heat again. And I have no idea how that is going to look for you but… it won’t be normal.”
“What does that mean?” King growled.
“I was drugged a while back,” Sienna choked out. “It was… It changed my heats. Last time, it was just more… I don’t know how to describe it. This time feels like it’s going to be different. It’s hitting out of nowhere and coming on again so soon. I doubt it will be an easy one.”
“It could come more frequently, or there could be other things that happen. Mine don’t happen as often, but the strength feels like each heat is making up for lost time. They’re so damn intense… I just have to ride it out then recover.” Hazel shivered, and Maximo tucked her into his side while Sutton rubbed her back.
“Who the fuck would do that?!” Nash seethed before taking a deep breath. He stilled, and I realized he could smell what I did. Sienna’s orange and pear scent had been intensifying the longer we’d stood here. “Right now, that doesn’t matter. We are taking our omega home, and we can discusseverythingafter. Okay, Sienna?”
