Page 68 of One for the Money
The Rot has been stable, almost manageable, since he scented her and got her shirt, and while he’s not pain or symptom-free, he certainly seems better than he has in a long time. This can’t be the end of the road for the two of them. She’s going to get better, and they’re going to figure this out.
They have to.
A phlebotomist comes in to take Alex’s blood, and I slump into an uncomfortable chair, knowing we’re in for a long night.
“I’m Dr. Grissom,”says a handsome, older Alpha as he walks into the room three hours after we arrived in the ER. Nurses have been in and out checking on her, swapping out her IV bag, and checking her vitals, but this is the first doctor we’ve spoken to. “I have Dr. Shields’s blood test results back.”
“What’s going on with her?” Dario asks solemnly. He hasn’t let go of her hand since we got here. Neither has Dexter, for that matter.
“We believe she is suffering from Foresaken Omega Syndrome,” he says gently. “It can be a side effect of these heavy suppressants for unlucky Omegas. I’m sure Dr. Shields was aware of that possibility when she went on them.”
“What can you do?” Jude asks from his place on the plastic couch. He had to redo the lineup for tonight’s show and convinced Rex to be the showrunner as well as perform his regular contortionist act. Since we’re the main attractions and none of us wants to leave her side, the show is probably going to be a little lackluster, but there is nothing we can do about that other than cancel it, and that’s a stress Jude doesn’t need right now. “How do you fix her?”
“The only fix is to go off the suppressants for good and be exposed to her scent matches. The nurse says you’re all matched with her, even the Beta?”
The Beta. I’m used to being an afterthought. An other. Why couldn’t he say “all of you”? Why single me out because of my designation?
“She doesn’t want to do that,” Dexter pipes up. “It’s the absolute last thing she wants. She’s going to want to go on the suppressants again as soon as she wakes up.”
The doctor stares Dexter down with a stern expression on his lined face. “Well, she’s going to have to if she doesn’t want to die. I don’t think I have to tell you how dangerous FOS is. She’s lucky you got her here when you did. We can clear what’s left of the suppressants from her system, and give her a pheromone infusion if one of you wants to volunteer.”
The room is quiet as we all look at one another. Noneof the Alphas want to volunteer, knowing that she’s going to be devastated when she wakes up and learns what happened.
But she needs this. We can deal with her hating us if she’s alive to do it.
“I don’t think I can do it,” Quinton says sadly. When the doctor raises an eyebrow, my Alpha shrugs. “I have Alpha Rot.”
The doctor sighs, somewhat dramatically, and takes off his glasses. He cleans them on his white coat. “Well, aren’t you two a match made in heaven. While we can’t use your pheromones for the infusion, you need to spend as much time with her as possible. There have been a few studies of exposing Alphas with Rot and Omegas with FOS to one another that show positive outcomes.”
“Easier said than done,” I mutter bitterly. I understand that it’s her choice not to be around Quinton, but her choice can literally kill him. If she spent a little more time with him, she’d realize how wonderful he is, and it wouldn’t be a hardship to match with him.
He’s nothing like her ex, but I don’t think she’ll ever believe that.
“It should be me,” Jude says, pushing himself up from the couch. “I’m the most dominant Alpha.”
The doctor tilts his head to the side, observing our showrunner. Jude’s presence is massive, and he stands taller and broader than the rest of us. This is one of the moments where stereotyping is true, because the big boy doesn’t just look like the most dominant, he truly is.
I often wonder what people think when they first see Jude. He’s broad, with large arms and thick thighs, and a large belly that hides a layer of muscle under his skin. His rich brown skin, dark eyes, and wavy dark hair hint at his Maori ancestry.
He’s handsome, of course, but it’s his presence that has most people taking a few steps back. His dominance is off the charts, and I would hate to be on the receiving end of his bark.
“I think you’re right,” the doctor says after sizing him up. “You’re all quite dominant, which will pose a unique challenge for your pack structure, but it will be a boon for your Omega in this situation. You’re easily the Prime Alpha. I’ll send a team in for the extraction and begin flushing Dr. Shields’s system. We should be ready to do the infusion in two hours or so.”
“How long until she wakes up?” Dexter asks softly. “Will she wake up?”
“There’s no way of knowing for sure, but I believe that she’ll wake up within an hour of the infusion. I don’t think her FOS is terminal at this point, and all of you being here is already helping. Her pulse is much stronger than it was when you brought her in.”
Once he leaves the room, the quiet is enough to make my skin crawl. I hate feeling like I’m useless. What can I contribute to this situation? It’s not like my pheromones can do anything for her in this situation. Mine can soothe and calm a stressed-out Omega, but it’s hard to be stressed out when you’re all but dead to the world.
Quinton crawls off the bed and walks over to the chair where I’m sitting with my elbows on my knees, and drops to a squat in front of me. It’s like he knows I need him right now, because he clutches my face in his hands and drops his forehead on mine.
“This isn’t your fault,” he whispers, where only the two of us can hear. “You couldn’t have known.”
“I should’ve said something as soon as she stopped responding.” My voice is tight, and my eyes sting. “What if we lose her before we even get a chance to know her?”
“Oh, baby, that won’t happen. You know how I know?”
I look into his odd, gray eyes, his expression so earnest that it makes my heart skip a beat. “How?”
