“You just being here with me going forward is going to be a help. I take care of the patients, you’re going to be there doing the same, and at the end of the day, we’ll come home when we can, and if needed, we can talk about how things affected us.”
“I think I’m probably completely in over my head,” I told him. “I’ve only ever delivered babies and helped set severely broken bones so they would heal properly.”
Another kiss from Maxwell had me closing my eyes and relaxing even more. “You will be amazing,” he said. “I helped heal the physical wounds. Castiel, Garin, and Pierce do the really difficult parts with addressing the mental wounds. I’m not sure how they do it sometimes.”
I reached up and placed my hand on Maxwell’s arm. “I would hope that they have an amazing and understanding mate to support and reassure them.”
“Hawthorne is the only one who isn’t mated, and he works mostly with younger children. He hasn’t been with the council for long, and as far as I know, he’s not been in the same positions as the others as of yet. Thankfully, there haven’t been any young children that have been rescued. I do know he works with some of the younger omegas, and there have been a few teenagers that were rescued, but as far as I know, not too many in recent times.”
I shook my head. “I can’t imagine. I mean, I’m obviously going to see this in the future, aren’t I?”
“Possibly. The council is still actively searching for certain questionable characters that have been linked to trafficking.”
That made sense. “I know it will never happen, because bad apples emerge continually, but I hope that the council is able to at least stop a lot of them.” I had lived a very sheltered life. I knew this. I was also incredibly fortunate in that I had a caring family that, despite all of their issues, had always been incredibly protective of me and my brothers.
“How are you feeling?” Maxwell asked, suddenly changing the subject.
“I was actually just going to ask you about how things went. I don’t really remember much. Well, lots of sex, and I have fuzzy images of you taking care of me in other ways. Feeding me with small bits of food, maybe taking a shower?”
“I did all of those things, yes.”
“Thank you,” I told him. “I’ve never had someone to take care of me during a heat like that. Of course, I’ve had others who would make sure I was fed and things, but beyond that, I always have had to go at them on my own.”
“I cannot imagine that,” Maxwell said. “I know that as a warlock, not presenting until I meet my One is immenselybeneficial. Omegas have had such a disadvantage for so long though.”
Did we though? “How so? We know from the very beginning who our mate is going to be. Male omegas are going to have an alpha or sire, for the most part. I know there are a few instances where there are alpha-alpha pairings, but I’ve never heard of an omega-omega one. We have access to suppressors though, which help tremendously. If they don’t stop our heats completely, they make them to where they are very minimal. I haven’t suffered too many heats in my lifetime. I know some who have, but I was very fortunate in that my family had access to suppressors and were willing to do whatever it took to help.”
“That’s good to hear. We’ll need to discuss your family a bit more, but that can wait. You didn’t answer about how you were feeling. You said you felt like you had been dropped off of a cliff. Are you still feeling that way? Is there anything I can do to help you more?”
I grinned and snuggled back into Maxwell’s embrace. “I’m feeling better. There’s something about the water that is incredibly soothing for both my physical aches as well as my energy. I don’t know what is in that oil, but it’s amazing.”
Maxwell chuckled. “I can ask him if he knows what is in it, but it’s also possible that Master Edison doesn’t know either. Or we might not want to know what’s in it.”
“Oh, I’ve not thought about that.” We fell into a bit of silence, and I took the moment to run my hand down Maxwell’s arm where it was wrapped around me. I laced my fingers through his and brought his hand up to my cheek before I held it close to my heart. “Where do we go from here? I need to move, yes?”
“One or both of us do. It will be painless though, I promise, because I can have us moved in a moment. But yes, we will have to figure out the logistics of where we’re going to live.”
I shook my head. “No. I want to live here. I’ve seen three rooms in your house, but it’s gorgeous. And bigger than the one I was given. Maybe they expected me to move soon? I’m not sure. It’s not a bad house, but it has two bedrooms, and with us in the main one, that leaves only the one for the baby or babies.” Maxwell kissed the side of my head. I was feeling well enough that I moved out of his embrace and turned sideways so I could make eye contact. “I don’t even know how many bedrooms you have.”
“Four. This one and three more. There is a fifth one downstairs, but I turned it into a home office with a library with all of my books.”
“Oh. That sounds nice. I have a few books too. Is there anywhere that I can have mine? I don’t want to take over your space.”
Maxwell grinned and pulled me back toward him. When he leaned down, I met his lips. He kept the kiss chaste, but I understood. Now certainly wasn’t the time to try and start something. Did I want my mate? Always. But at the moment, I wasn’t in the mood. My head was still throbbing, my body could certainly use a day’s break at least, and I really wanted a huge meal.
“How would you like to spend the day?” Maxwell asked. “I know how I feel you should spend it, but I’m going to let you make the call.”
I groaned. “I know I need to rest. I’ll go back to bed. I was looking for you. I heard the water and thought you might be in the shower. I know I could have used our bond, but I hadn’t realized until I was halfway to the bathroom that I really should have stayed in bed.” I sighed. “I didn’t remember my heat starting. I was under the impression it was Monday and we needed to get to work.”
“I have no doubt that news has spread at this point that the new doctor for the council is also my One and we wasted no time claiming one another. I did receive a few messages, all congratulating us, and another letting me know that we aren’t needed at the clinic for the foreseeable future.”
“But who will see the patients?”
“I’m not the only doctor in the area. Both the pack and the den have a doctor on staff. Both work more part-time than I do, but they are quite capable. If a warlock doctor is needed, the one from Amherst coven, which is Master Edison’s previous coven, is always willing to come and help.”
“Oh. Well, I guess that’s a good thing. I didn’t realize there were other doctors so close.” Why did the council need me, then? If there were two others that the council could have come and fill in, why was I here? “Why was I needed if you have others so close by?”
“They have patients off of the mountain they care for. The last I heard, they were going to combine clinics in between the pack and den lands, and everyone would just come to them there. But they have all of the den and pack, which are more patients than I have here.”
