“I’m going to get the nurse.” Ozzi hurried out of the room as Jason came to stand beside me.
“Good morning, Eloise. We’re all so happy to see you awake. Lyla here has been incredibly worried. She hasn’t left your side since we brought you here.” Jason didn’t touch me, but his arm was less than an inch away from mine. The pull just to lean on him was insane.
Miss Eloise managed a small smile and tried to speak, but her voice cracked. I reached for the cup of water beside her bed with a straw in it, but Jason shook his head.
“Don’t give her any liquids yet. She could choke or swallow wrong and aspirate. Let the nurse see her first.”
“Right, okay.” Good thing I had a paramedic here to keep me from doing anything stupid. If I’d given Miss Eloise the water and she had choked, I’d never forgive myself. But it was hard, knowing how parched she must be. I only wanted to take care of her.
Ozzi was back with a nurse in tow. She shooed us all away from the bed and checked over Miss Eloise. I wrung my hands together, waiting for the verdict. Apparently the nurse knew my housemother as she was telling her about the charity event for the children at the hospital and how everyone loved Mariska as the new young Mrs. Claus.
I reached a shaky hand out to my phone and texted Mariska and Emberlee that Miss Eloise was awake. There were still no replies from my bestie, and I swallowed my anxiety over that as the nurse turned with a smile.
“Eloise is doing excellently. I’ll have the doctor come in and see her, but if you want to give her some water, you can do so. I raised her bed a little. If the doctor gives her the allclear, we’ll transfer her out of emergency and away from this wall of machines.”
“Thank you!” I flew forward and hugged her, much to her surprise. I didn’t care. Miss Eloise was going to be alright.
The world was shiny and bright again. Angels were singing Christmas songs and elves were dancing around the North Pole. Sure, Miss Eloise was still in the hospital with a long road of recovery ahead of her, Mariska was missing in action, and I was having porn fantasies about two hot EMTs, but yup, all good.
Mostly.
Why was I feeling so hot again?
CHAPTER SIX - Jason
I was so fucking hard when it was time for our shift at eleven. Lyla’s sweet scent had thickened, and I couldn’t stop inhaling it. At one point, I was behind her, trying to discreetly scent her right from her gland on her neck, but she made a quick turn and bumped against me. I nearly came on the spot.
Once Eloise got the okay from the doctor, Ozzi and I helped transfer her to the long term care ward. She had a roommate who snoozed through most of the activity, and while I was glad Eloise was doing good, I was there to see Lyla smile her gorgeous fucking smile.
“Jason!” Ozzi snapped his fingers in front of my face and jerked me out of my Lyla filled thoughts. “Are you going to help me restock the ambulance or are you going to stare at that shelf of gauze like you want to fuck it?”
Why was the guy on edge? He’d been snapping at me ever since we left Eloise’s room.Get your uniform on, properly clock in, clean the gurney. Blah, blah, blah.
The ambulance was just cleaned by the previous shift. If I couldn’t see it, I could definitely smell it. They had only one call, and so spent their time giving the inside a thorough scrubbing.
“What’s up your ass, man? The ambulance has been sanitized and stocked. Sit and relax.” I leaned back in the desk chair and linked my fingers behind my head. “I just want to savor the good vibes from our morning with Lyla. Never has there been a hotter Omega.”
Ozzi shook his head and snatched up a pack of gauze in front of me. “We’re on the clock, man. Now isn’t the time to be daydreaming about girls. If your head isn’t in the game—”
“Jesus, Oz.” I grunted and sat rigidly on the edge of the seat. “We chat all the time like this. You know when we’re on call that I’m focused on the job.” I’d noticed he kept his distancefrom Lyla all morning. He was nice to her, but maybe he didn’t like her. The thought pissed me off more than I expected. “How can you not like Lyla?”
“What?” Ozzi shot me a narrow-eyed glare. “I like Lyla.”
“Then why have you been acting weird?” Usually he was a people pleaser. Everyone always liked him. Whenever I’d get hot-headed, he was there to make peace.
“I haven’t been acting weird.” He huffed and folded his arms. “You’re just too gone on that Omega already. You barely know her.”
“So thisisabout Lyla!” If he didn’t dislike her, then maybe, shit, was he jealous that she and I got along so well? We both had dated before, but never had any trouble with the other over it. Certainly he couldn’t feel like he’d lose me. We worked and lived together. We saw each other all the time. Or, fuck, he did like Lyla and was jealous of me. “You have nothing to worry about, bro. We’ll always be packmates.” There was also another option good for both of us. “We could share her. I have no problem with it just as long as you know I’m her favorite.”
Ozzi rolled his eyes, but I saw the amusement there. “That’s not it. I like her fine enough. She’s hot, but my family would totally disown me if I even considered dating her.”
Of course they would. They barely approved the fact we were friends. I sometimes thought they believed I was the reason Ozzi didn’t become a doctor, which I knew was bullshit. Good thing I didn’t care about their approval or not, but his family was important to him. “Well, yeah, she’s not a docile little Greek Omega wanting to play house and have babies for you.”
He didn’t deny it, and instead sighed, putting down the supplies he held and sitting in the chair across from me. “The thing is that I do like her. A lot. The way she smells… like the Garden of Eden. Paradise.”
I leaned forward with my forearms on my thighs. “Fuck, yeah, she does. I’m pretty sure she’s my scent match. I’ve been sniffing her all morning. And when we touched, BOOM!” I made an explosion gesture with my hands. “I knew for certain. Scent matched, compatible, and all the Alpha instincts I try to keep on the downlow are busting free.”
Ozzi nodded slowly and sat back, a look of contemplation on his face. I knew him too well. He’d never commented on the scent of any Omega before. Not even the rich sophisticates his parents introduced him to. He was also the most loyal friend I’d ever had. He was trying to pick the right words to support me, please his family, and back off what could be a potential mate for him too. So as his best friend, I wasn’t going to allow it. “You’re a scent match with her too.”
