Page 55 of The Alpha's Fake Mate
Quickly, the doctor wrapped a tourniquet around my upper arm, tapped the inside of my elbow and turned away. “Perfect,” he said.
Before I knew it, he’d stuck in a needle and the vial of blood was drawn out in seconds. He set it aside and took off the tourniquet, then deftly opened a small package of gauze, laid it over the needle prick, and taped it to me.
“And we’re done,” he said, a little too jolly.
I never felt any pain.
“I’ll see you both tomorrow at this same time for the results, then, all right?”
“Yes.” Orion said, and stood as I slid off the table.
“Will you personally be bringing more Omega patients to me from your farm?” Doctor Wilde asked. There was much innuendo in that question. But it told me that maybe Orion had not divulged all of our secrets to him.
“No. Orion lives with me now. He will be your patient, but Zilly’s has its own connections to another hospital and their own Alpha doctors,” Orion explained.
Doctor Wilde raised an eyebrow. “I see.” He glanced again at me.
Orion said nothing more, not explaining what I was to him, or why I was the only one getting special, personalized treatment under his authority.
Once back in the limo, Orion glanced at me. “Are you all right?”
The limo pulled out of the parking garage and onto the busy street. “It doesn’t hurt if that’s what you mean.”
He shook his head.
“You didn’t tell him our secret, did you?”
“No. But obviously he could guess I am making a claim. He doesn’t know anything else.”
“Good.” But I couldn’t help but frown. “But waiting for the results, well, I won’t be getting any sleep again tonight.”
He said, “I’ll take you somewhere nice. We’ll order a bottle of wine for each of us.”
“Will that help?” I didn’t mean my words to come out clipped.
“It will.”
He was so nice to me I almost couldn’t stand it. Almost. There was something between us. But I couldn’t see that far ahead right now. I couldn’t allow myself to acknowledge it.
In my broken soul, thinking about having real feelings for an Alpha felt far too devastating. But on his word, I let him console my nerves with a good meal. And at dinner, I did drink the entire bottle of wine.
I practically wobbled into the house. It was past dark when we arrived home and Snowball greeted us in the foyer with his arched, dark silhouette as if to reprimand us for being gone too long.
I reached down to pet him, my head swimming, my balance off, and he purred. I nearly fell over.
Orion caught me.
I turned and grabbed onto his shoulders. He looked so well put together, so in control—and he smelled good, like rain spiced with cinnamon and warm, so warm. In my drunken moment, I didn’t think of him as an Alpha, but just someone safe. Someone who was making all my problems go away.
I didn’t want pity or charity, but this felt different, like he wanted to help me pull myself together, not do it all for me. It was why he’d given me a job. He was helping me be whole again.
But why did I have to be drunk to realize it?
My forehead came up to his jaw and pressed there against the hard bone and slight scruff. I moved to rub my skin against that and my whole body flared with warmth.
He had his hands under my arms to balance me and I felt him push a little, trying to right me.
I bowed my head into his neck and breathed in. Serene and fresh. A power combined with a nature to stop and listen even to the rudest critics of his farm who yelled at owners because they had nothing to lose after nearly dying. Me. He’d stopped everything. He’d turned. He’d listened. To me.
