Page 38 of Knot All is Crystal
His face twists in distaste. Icarus is not Walter’s biggest fan. He’s tried to poach me from his service several times. “Ah, I’m assuming he’s a patient of your study, then?”
“Yeah,” I slip into the chair before his desk, resting my chin on my hands. “I’m not sure ethically and legally how I can proceed from here.”
He steeples his fingers and rests his elbows on the desktop, propping himself up. Icarus is a handsome Alpha in his forties, and though he’s a little odd in his mannerisms, he’s one of the kindest people I’ve ever met.
“With Jordan, it was different because she was a short-term patient. I was hired to interpret the results of tests others had run. There was no expectation that she would see me after that first meeting. If your Alpha-”
“Not my Alpha,” I interject half heartedly.
“What an odd objection for you to make. You’re a woman of science, Crystal. You know a scent match defies our current knowledge: part science, part magic, all permanent. The man is your Alpha as much as you are his Omega. Made for one another.” He waves me off and digs into his desk. “I have some journal articles if you’d like.”
I roll my lips inward to hide a smile. “I believe you, Dr. Knight.”
He hums and closes the drawer. “Right. Of course you do. Anyways, if your Alpha is a part of your study, that does present a difficult conflict of interest. You’d need to excuse yourself from his charts at the very least.”
“So, who would monitor his progress?” I can’t let him go neglected. He needs the study. I’ve seen his tests and read his self-reports. I could never let him live with this pain if the treatment could help him so that I could get to know him.
“I would.”
My head jerks up from where I was staring at my worried hands. “You would?”
He smiles softly. “Of course. You’d have to let Walter know, of course.”
My heart nearly crumbles in my chest. “I can’t. He can’t know. He’ll… dismiss him from the trial, regardless.” I almost told Icarus he’d tell on me to Kieran, which is not something I want to explain to Dr. Knight.
“Okay,” he draws out the final syllable. “Then don’t tell him, but don’t hide it. My name will be all over his charts. If Walter doesn’t notice, then that’s on him.”
A tentative hope blossoms in my chest. Walter is not a thorough man. He won’t look that closely at the charts to see who signs off on them. “You’d do this for me?”
“Of course!” His face brightens as he turns around a picture on his desk. It’s his pack on the day of their bonding ceremony, his beautiful, red-haired Omega in the middle of four men with a massive grin on her face. The pack is so eclectic, but they work together, and jealousy spools in my gut because I know I’ll never have that.
“Everyone deserves a love that surpasses everything else, Crystal.”
My hands shake a little as I pull my phone out of my pocket and pull up Emmanuel’s contact. “Thank you, Dr. Knight,” I whisper as I stand up and slip out of the room.
Hi, Emmanuel. It’s Crystal. Would you like to come over for dinner?
FOURTEEN
“Tell me again.”I slam my hands on the table. “And remember, it’s not just your fucking job on the line.”
Tyler winces and cringes back from me.
He conveniently took a couple of days off after Crystal got drugged. Kieran said he handled it, and while I believe him, I want to hear for myself that this shit won’t happen again.
“The guys were plowing through the scotch, and I needed to get more. Crystal said she’d be fine, and I knew I could be there and back in just a few minutes.” He brushes his hair out of his eyes. “I know you said for me to stick around, but if I had run out of booze, you know it would’ve been my ass.”
“So you let it be Crystal’s?”
He flinches. “I never meant for her to get hurt!”
I prop a foot against the wall and cross my arms, staring the other Alpha down. “Then how did they get the extra dose of fizz? How did they convince her to drink something?”
“She sells extra doses, you know that!” he snaps, pushing to his feet. “And I don’t know, Puck, I wasn’t there. I get it. I fucked up. You don’t think I know that?” His voice grows shrill. “I care about her! I don’t want to see her get hurt. You know how much she means to me.”
He’s not wrong. I know she’s important to him, and I know they’ve been together through a few heats.
But I still can’t shake the queasiness I feel about the situation. Maybe some of it is guilt for leaving her unprotected. But what was I supposed to do? Ignore Kieran’s request?
