Page 13 of Pack Rivals: Part Two
I remember the clinic.
I remember … changing into this gown.
I remember … taking a glass of water.
And then … nothing.
After that, nothing at all.
Blankness until only a moment ago when I woke up here.
This isn’t the heat room in the clinic.
But maybe there’s no need to panic, right? Maybe this is perfectly normal for a heat? Maybe I passed out from the pain and they had to bring me here and … what? Tie me to a couch?
Yep, that doesn’t seem right.
When I peer down at my arm, I can see a catheter in the crook of my elbow, a tube leading up to a bag hanging on a trolley.
Drugs, right? Except the liquid in the tube is a dark red. Blood. Mine or someone else’s?
I consider calling out for someone. I consider demanding answers. Then again maybe I don’t want to come face to face with whoever brought me here.
Turns out I don’t get a choice in the matter.
The door clicks open.
A tall man in a white coat strolls through, the lower half of his mouth is covered in a surgical mask but he’s familiar nonetheless. It takes me a few minutes to decipher where I know him from. But then the scent of nutmeg hits my nose and I remember.
The doctor. The doctor from the clinic.
“Where am I?” I ask, my voice sore and croaky.
He ignores my question, absorbed in the clipboard he carries in his hands. When he looks up from the pages of scribbles, his eyes are hard.
“What did you take?”
I blink at him. “Where am I? Who are you?” I struggle against my restraints. “Why am I tied to the bed?” Fear trickles down my spine.
He doesn’t answer my questions. “You took something didn’t you?”
I don’t understand what the hell he’s going on about. “I took painkillers for the pain and–”
He huffs like I’m an irritating child who won’t behave. “We’ll find out eventually, we’ll work it out, but it would make all our lives a lot easier if you just told me.”
I frown. Is the man mad? My voice shakes when I speak again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Little beta, you took something. Something that triggered your change. Something pretty damn effective. I want to know what it was.”
I stare at him, my mouth falling open.
“You think I took something? To change myself into an omega?” Is he crazy? Insane? “Why the hell would I do that? I was perfectly happy as I was!”
Well, not strictly true but I certainly never had a desire to become an omega.
“Don’t lie to me,” the doctor says, his voice and face twisting ugly.
“I’m not. I never wanted to be an omega, and I certainly didn’t take anything to turn myself into one.” Fear gives way to anger. This man has no idea what a mess my life has been these last few weeks; how everything I knew and understood got thrown upside down in one vicious hurricane of chaos. I thought I knew who I was. I thought I knew the path my life was destined to take. And in an instant, everything changed. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. (Okay, again, perhaps not strictly true, but still.) “Is that why I’m here?” I ask him.
