Cole and Mack are both touching her back, and when I see the doctor and two employees enter the bathroom with a stretcher, I know I’ve ruined everything. I shake my head, but I know this has to be for her own safety.
Mack grabs her arm as the doctor takes out a syringe, flicking it twice and placing it in her bicep. It only takes a moment for her to go limp and I can’t help but to feel like I betrayed her completely.
Cole and one of the moderators puts her on the stretcher and Mack covers her up with a blanket, before holding out a hand to help me up.
My tailbone and ass hurt, but none of that matters as I look at her on that stretcher.
Maybe I was wrong, and I wasn’t ready to be pack Alpha, to have an Omega, to take care of someone so small and wonderful.
Mack is fully dressed and follows the Heat Haven workers.
“Meet us in the medical center when you get dressed,” Mack says, and I nod as Cole goes to the nest, and they cart her away.
I take a few steadying breaths and work on putting myself together. I can’t fall apart right now. I need to make sure she’s alright and accept the fact that she may want nothing to do with me after this. I’d deserve it.
I throw on the first pair of clothes I can find, pretty sure the shirt isn’t mine with how tight it feels, and silently follow Cole to the medical center.
He doesn’t say a word and I wonder how much he hates me right now, how much he rightfully blames me.
He found Shiloh; he had an instant connection with her, and I’ve ruined everything.
When we get there, Mack is sitting in a waiting room chair with his head in his hands. Cole and I sit next to him wordlessly as we wait for the doctor. The silence is deafening and all I can do is look down at the white and gray marble tile. I can’t look at Mack and Cole right now or I might completely lose it.
I’m not emotionally stunted, far from it. I came from a family where showing emotion was taught, where I was allowed to cry and show a wide range of feelings. But right now, I’d really rather not.
It feels like hours before the doctor comes out, holding his tablet.
“Shiloh has sustained a lateral malleolus fracture, it’s a break on the outer bone of the fibula,” he says, showing us the X-ray and bile raises in my throat.
I truly feel like I’m going to vomit.
I broke her fucking ankle.
“The good news is it seems stable, which means her treatment won’t need surgery. We’ll need to keep her leg elevated with ice on and off while she goes through sedation. She will receive IV fluids. I want the swelling to go down before we put a cast on. I have a colleague I recommend for followup care,” he says, pulling out a card and handing it to Mack. “We’ll bring her back up to the Lunar Suite shortly, where you can stay with her during her sedation. I will continue to check in on her, along with my staff. I expect she’ll be awake in around twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”
“Thank you,” Mack says, speaking for us.
The doctor nods his head and Cole and Mack stand while I stay seated.
“You two go. I need a minute,” I say, looking at the floor.
Mack squeezes my shoulder in solidarity before leaving to head back to the room.
It’s fucking stupid, and I know I’m a grown ass man, and I have no clue what time it is. But all I want to do is call my dad. So as soon as Cole and Mack leave, I make my way down to customer service and check out my phone.
It’s three in the morning, which makes me feel like shit, but I decide to make the call anyway.
I have three fathers, but I call my dad who has always been steady, sure, the pack’s Alpha, and always there when I need someone to talk to.
The phone only rings three times before he answers.
“Jonah, son, are you alright?” he says in his deep voice that still comforts me, even in my late twenties.
The sound that rattles out of me is pathetic.
“Jonah, what’s wrong?” he says, and I can hear the panic in his tone.
“I’m at Heat Haven with Cole and Mack. Cole had an Omega on his flight who went into heat, and we offered to help her. It was a chaotic situation, but it felt right. She feels right,” I say, my voice cracking on that last bit.
