Page 31 of Pack Rivals: Part Two
A soft knock sounds against the door. Then Courtney’s gentle voice.
“Bea? It’s time for your next dose of painkillers.”
I roll onto my back. The curtains are closed and so is the window. But somehow the bright sunshine of the day still stings my eyes. I would kill for the cool breeze of the ocean right now.
“Thanks, Court,” I call back, trying to keep my voice natural sounding, although it’s clear as day how strained it is. “Just slide them under the door.”
“Are you sure I can’t come in? Can’t help you in any way?”
“No, no, I’m fine,” I say as cheerfully as I can, biting down hard on my tattered lip as another of those waves of agony sears through my body, so painful it feels like I’m being hacked in two.
I hear a scraping sound from the other side of the door and then the packet of pills skids into the room.
“If you need anything, just call, okay, Bea?”
“Uh huh,” I say, my teeth slammed down hard on my lip.
Bea hesitates. “Are you sure I can’t call those alphas, Bea? This is crazy and–”
“No,” I yell out. “No, Courtney!”
She sighs and I imagine her shaking her head. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.”
When her feet pad away, I drag myself to the edge of the bed. The door seems like it’s miles and miles away and I sob. The painkillers have been next to useless – not like whatever they pumped me full of at that clinic – but they have numbed the pain just a little. Enough so I don’t want to throw myself through the window and drown myself in the ocean.
Oh god, that sounds so blissful. The cool waves swallowing me up and then nothing. Nothing at all. No pain, no agony, no ache.
I flop off the bed, meeting the carpeted floor with a hard thump that rattles every bone in my sore body. I straighten my arm out hoping to snatch the packet. It’s too far away. With gritted teeth, I pull myself along, the carpet burning against my irritated skin, and finally my fingertips brush the packet. My first attempt to snag them only pushes them further away and I sob again. Second time, I manage to pinch the foiled plastic between my fore and middle fingers and drag the damn things towards me.
Wisely, she’s only given me two. If there’d been more, I would have downed the lot.
Swallowing them dry, I curl up in a ball, the pills scraping along my gullet. I whimper on the floor rocking myself, trying to think of the sea and the sand. Trying to imagine I’m anywhere but here. Finally the pain eases and I fall into a restless sleep.
* * *
Time stretches and elongates,every painful second lasting for hours. But finally, finally, I flick open my eyes, staring up at the same white ceiling I’ve been staring at for God knows how long and realize the pain and the ache, the heat and the confusion have all gone.
I roll up, sitting for the first time in days. My head swims, my body is stiff and a wave of nausea passes through me, but I feel a million, billion, trillion times better.
I sigh with more relief than I’ve ever felt in my life.
I was right the first time. Being an omega sucks. It sucks big time. I can’t believe I have to go through these heats regularly. I need to find another doctor and a whole cargo ship’s load of drugs.
I shuffle to the edge of the bed and drop my feet to the floor. I’m naked and covered in dry slick, which is frankly gross. I nearly vomit.
I glance towards the mirror hanging on the wall and flinch. Half my hair is plastered to my face and the rest is sticking up in strange angles around my head. There’s also a trail of dried drool running down my chin and dried blood on my arm.
Very damn attractive.
No wonder Karl left me.
I need to take a shower. I needed to take a shower like two days ago. But first, as my stomach reminds me with an angry growl, food and water.
I find my gown hanging on the back of the door and tie it around me, then with unsteady steps, I head for the kitchen. I haven’t walked in days and my legs are wobbly. Somehow though I make it.
Courtney’s in there, sitting at the counter, reading a book with her earphones plugged in. I walk up right behind her, the music from her earbuds blaring, and tap her on the shoulder. She leaps three feet off her seat and lands back down with a yelp.
She tugs the earbuds from her ears and twists to look round at me, her hand on her heart.
