Page 66 of One for the Money
I fumble to get my phone out of my pocket and call for an ambulance. Then, I call Dario. He picks up on the first ring, his voice anxious as he doesn’t greet me and instead asks for an update on Alex.
“She’s not responsive. I called for an ambulance.”
I hang up before he can throw questions at me that I can’t answer. When I speak, the purring stops, and something tells me that she’ll die if I’m not purring.
The sound of sirens reaches me, and I hear footsteps coming into the trailer.
“Sir, we’ll need to take her,” the EMT says. His voice isgentle, and I’m sure he’ll take good care of her, but I can’t let him have her. She needs me, and he’s a strange man. She wouldn’t want to go with him.
I don’t tell him that, though. I don’t communicate to him that I would like to come with her.
No, I growl and bark, “Get back!” like a fucking animal.
The Beta takes a few steps back at my dominance, and a woman shoves past him.
“Alpha, how long has she been down?” Her voice is gentle, and she’s squatting and looking me in the eye. She’s an Alpha, too, with a clean scent of baby powder and flowers, and she’s not trying to take Alex away.
Maybe I can talk to her.
“Since yesterday. Someone texted with her yesterday.”
She nods and holds a hand up. “Can I touch her?”
A snarl rips out of my throat, but she doesn’t retreat. She watches me get myself under control, and when I nod, she searches for Alex’s pulse and feels for her temperature.
“Okay, Alpha. Thanks for letting me do that. But your Omega isn’t doing well right now. We need to take her in. You can ride with us in the ambulance, okay?”
I struggle to my feet while holding her dead weight. I do my best to support her head, but her entire body is flopping around.
What have I gotten myself into?
Why am I doing this?
It’s like I’m watching a stranger control my body as I stumble through the trailer.
“Dexter.” My brother’s voice cuts through the haze as I struggle down the stairs with Alex in my arms. “Dexter, why don’t you give her to me. I know you’re uncomfortable.”
He reaches for her, and I wrinkle my nose. I don’t mindhim touching her, but I don’t think I can give her up, either. Not when she needs me.
After she’s taken care of, I’m going to have to unpack these feelings, because this isn’t me. But I’m not in the driver’s seat of my body right now.
“Can’t,” I grit out, continuing the walk to the ambulance.
“Well, let me come with you,” he says, climbing into the ambulance after me.
“I’m sorry, only one -”
“She’s my Omega, too,” he snarls at the male EMT. The Beta is getting a heavy dose of Alpha pheromones today.
Jude, Quinton, and Matteo are standing off to the side of the ambulance, staring wide-eyed at me. They don’t bother to hide their shock at the way I am handling the Omega.
“We’re her pack,” Quinton adds. “All of us.”
“I can’t fit all of you in there,” the Alpha EMT says. “You’ll need to follow us. We’re heading to St. Joseph’s.”
Reluctantly, I lay Alex on the stretcher, keeping her hand clasped tightly in both of mine as she is loaded into the ambulance. As I settle on the bench beside her, Dario sits on the other side, mirroring my position. Together, we both purr, and I know for certain that she needs us.
And I’m just going to have to push down my issues until she doesn’t.
