Richards laughed bitterly. "You've known her five weeks."
"Five weeks, five years, five minutes. Doesn't matter. She's mine now," I stated.
"No, she's fired is what she is. The league won't tolerate this. A doctor sleeping with a player? A claimed Omega treating the Alpha who bit her? It's a lawsuit waiting to happen," Richards said.
The rage surged again. "They can't fire her for being claimed," I growled.
"They can fire her for compromising the integrity of the medical staff. For showing favoritism. For about a dozen other reasons that all boil down to 'she fucked a player,'" Richards spat.
"Don't talk about her like that," I warned.
"It's how everyone's going to talk about her!" Richards shouted, stepping closer. "You've destroyed her career. You get that, right? No team will hire her after this."
The words hit like a punch to the gut. But I pushed past him, heading for the exit.
"Where are you going?" Richards called after me.
"To find her," I said without looking back.
"Knox, if you leave now, you're done. No arbitration, no appeal. You're finished in this league," he warned.
I kept walking.
The taxi crawled through traffic and I refused to think about what I’d just done. My chest was tight, as if an elephant were sitting on it. On the taxi’s radio, the sports announcer talked about me. The excitement in his voice as he mentioned, “most violent incident in the last three years.” A sigh l
The hotel lobby was empty except for the desk clerk who took one look at my bloody knuckles and disappeared into the back office. Smart.
I took the stairs three at a time. Twelve floors. My ribs screamed, hand throbbing, but the pain was nothing compared to the need to see her, to explain, to fix this.
Her door was locked. Of course it was.
"Harper," I called through the door.
"Go away, Knox," came her muffled reply.
"Open the door," I said.
"No," she said firmly.
"Please," I tried again.
"You nearly killed him," she said, her voice sounding like she was pressed against the door. "Briggs is in the ICU."
"He'll live," I said dismissively.
"That's not the point!" she cried out.
"He called you my pet. Said things about you. Disgusting things," I explained.
"So you beat him unconscious?" she asked in disbelief.
"Yes," I said simply.
"Knox, that's not normal!" she exclaimed.
"Nothing about us is normal!" I pressed my forehead to the door. "Harper, please. Let me in."
"Why? So you can tell me this was protecting me? That you did it for us?" she asked bitterly.
