The memory of her standing, curled in on herself in the corner of the holding cell makes my blood run cold. She looked at me with those big brown eyes, her gaze full of pain, but also hope.
I know imprinting on a beta isn’t typical. Especially with an alpha in the room. It’s…rare. But it has happened. Twice, actually, as recorded medical records state. Though I’m not cocky like Emmett or confident like Gage, or even attractive like Diego, so I’m not entirely sure why Auryn would do such a thing. The only theory I can surmise is that her dislike for alphas makes me the lesser of the evils, and therefore this isn’t an imprinting situation; it’s just pure, unfiltered survival.
An omega’s instinct is to placate. To satisfy, to nest, to…breed.
Not to attack and pit hierarchies against one another.
My mind wanders back to her hand around Emmett’s throat. That glaze in her eyes as she stared at him.
The cursor on the screen blinks, and I do something I haven’t done in a long time. I clear out my log and grab a notebook.
The words come out faster than when I type, but at least with a hand-written document no one will be pouring over my finds and thoughts, and for some reason, that makes me feel more relieved.
I’ve never second-guessed my briefs or documentation before, but something tells me it’s best to keep my recordings to myself, at least for now. Until I can form a solid hypothesis and really know what we’re dealing with.
Omega has uncharacteristic strength. Omega smells like cinnamon and peppercorn to me, but not to the others. Omega has…
I stop, looking at the words before I erase every “omega” and replace it with her name.
Auryn.
I have a name. It’s Auryn.
Auryn has uncharacteristic strength. Auryn smells like cinnamon and peppercorn to me, but not to the others. Auryn has brown eyes and is highly excitable.
The pencil moves quickly as I fight to get all the details in my head out.
Auryn has scars. Lots of them. Some look medical, while others look like she’s sustained a lot of injuries. Auryn’s heat seems to come and go, and she responds well to the suppressant.
My hand stops as I recall the memory of earlier. In her cell.
“It’s just heat suppressant. It’ll help with the pain, and uh…should help you relax a bit,” I said as I slowly approached her cell.
“Heat suppressant?” She looked at me inquisitively. “What’s that?”
I hadn’t questioned her at the time, mostly because I had one goal and that was to get my patient the help and care she needed, but as I sit here in my room, at my desk, it dawns on me that an omega of any standing would know what a heat suppressant was, likely because they’d received it upon their first heat.
Most omegas don’t go into heat until their late teens, so those suppressants help regulate their cycles and train their bodies to prepare for the symptoms of heat.
But Auryn, an omega actively in heat, looked at my syringe as if she’d never seen one in her life.
“It’ll help cool the temperature of your body. Make those cramps and pains stop. Make you feel…human, at least that’s what I’ve been told.” I offered her a soft smile. “I wouldn’t know, but there’s enough records to indicate there are minimal side effects, and it works pretty quickly.”
Auryn looked from me to the needle and carefully stepped out of the shadows. “Is there another way to administer this…suppressant?” she asked. “I don’t like needles.”
I met her gaze as I took two steps towards her, never breaking it. “I could find you a pill version, but this will work faster. At least, for tonight it will.”
She stood in front of me, looking up at me with hazy eyes, and I could see the pain etched there. It was then I noticed the scars. The ones that looked almost surgical. I wanted to ask about them, but I couldn’t find the words, and I felt as if we were both perched precariously on a ledge I was unfamiliar with. She swallowed harshly.
“Will it hurt me?” Her words were careful, her gaze strained and worrisome. I shook my head. I should have said no. I should’ve answered her professionally, the same way I’ve answered a hundred omegas when they ask if what I plan to do will hurt them or if there are side effects, or…
But that’s not what I did. I didn’t answer her the way I’d answer any patient, because Auryn is clearly unlike any patient I’ve treated before.
“I could never hurt you.” I speak the words aloud in my room, knowing no one else will hear them. I turn the page, sucking in a breath as I write my name at the top.
My heart catches in my throat as I do what I have never done and write down my own recordings.
Beta smells different things than the alphas. Beta feels concerned for the omega. Beta likes how omega smells. Beta wants…
