3
Silas
“Ihearthat the rescuedomegas have made their way to Stonecrest.” After the day Silas had endured, Thaddeus’ voice was a welcome distraction. Silas had never come across an omega like Elijah before, and he was still reeling from their session. “Seth has been keeping me updated. He keeps asking about Mal.”
“I’m afraid I can’t disclose information about the cases,” Silas replied. “But I will tell you that I’m not working with anyone named Mal. I’m only responsible for one case this time around. There’s a particularly stubborn omega who needs my help.”
“Just one?” Harrison asked. “What are you doing with the rest of your day?”
“Believe me.” Silas cradled the phone to his ear and stared up at the ceiling. “One is enough. It’s an intensive case. I’m with him all day, every day. The damage done is so deeply rooted that he doesn’t even know it’s there. We’ve got a lot of work to do before he can integrate successfully.”
Talking about his problems with his brothers was therapeutic like nothing else was. As different as they all were, Silas loved Thaddeus and Harrison and respected their opinions. As identical triplets, they knew him like no one else did.
“Seth says that some of the omegas under Baylor’s employ were like that,” Thaddeus replied. “It’s tragic. You’d think after all of the civil rights movements we’ve gone through in the last fifty years that people would stop suppressing others. I see it all the time at The Soup Pot, and I don’t tolerate that shit.”
“We’re on the upswing, at least.” Harrison said. “Compared to how it used to be, there’s been improvement. It’s going to take a while to get to a place where being an omega isn’t wrapped up in stigma, but I’m sure we’ll get there eventually.”
“Mm.” The injustices Silas saw day to day made it hard to believe they’d come far at all, but he knew what Harrison said was true. A good forty percent of his coworkers were omegas, all of them with masters or doctorates in rehabilitation counseling. There were more omegas joining the workforce and reversing the stranglehold betas and alphas had on the job market every day. The abandoned and abused omegas that made their way into Stonecrest were a small percentage of the population, and he had to remind himself of that.
The world was a brighter place every day, and Silas and his brothers all did their best to add to its brilliance.
“That reminds me,” Silas said. “Harry, one of the omegas we’ve taken in is pregnant. Owen’s been telling me that they’re looking for someone to help out with the pregnancy. We don’t have a doula on staff—what does your schedule look like?”
“I’ll have to check it out and get back to you later,” Harrison replied. Hesitation dragged at his words, and Silas frowned. It wasn’t like Harrison to sound so sullen.
“What’s the matter?” Silas asked.
“I’m worried about you spending so much time with an omega,” Harrison admitted. “Normally you don’t spend prolonged periods of time with one patient. A few hours at a time is fine, but all day? It’s worrisome.”
“You don’t need to worry. I’m not interested.”
It was a lie, and Silas knew it. On a biological level, he was drawn to Elijah as he’d been drawn to few omegas before him. There was a need, almost crushing in its intensity, that lit inside of him the second he opened the door and detected Elijah’s scent on the air. Beyond the biological, he found Elijah fundamentally attractive. Elijah’s soft, rounded eyes sharpened when he made scathing comments, and every time he saw it, Silas had to hold back a smile. A soft-spoken, quivering, timid omega Elijah was not. Elijah’s stubborn personality irked him as much as it drew him closer.
“You sure?” Thaddeus asked. Silas heard the grin in his voice. “I’m not hearing conviction.”
“It’s unethical to pursue a patient,” Silas replied firmly. “There is nothing between me and him.”
“There was nothing between me and Seth for a while, and now look.” Thaddeus laughed. “I’m going to be a dad.”
“How is his pregnancy going?” Harrison asked, shifting the tone of the conversation. “Has he been taking it well?”
“You can say that.” Thaddeus let a beat pass, then snorted. “I think he plays it up and complains for attention… and now he’s punching me in the arm. Great.”
In the background, Silas heard Seth mouthing off at Thaddeus. The two of them were cute together. The first time Silas had met Seth, he hadn’t been sure he was a good match for Thaddeus. Now, he couldn’t imagine anyone else for his brother.
What would the two of them think of Elijah?
Silas blinked and shook the thought from his head. Elijah was his patient, and there was no way he’d allow himself to think indecently of him. He hadn’t gone to school for years to destroy his career. There was no way Silas would allow himself to fall for a patient. Biological impulses could be suppressed, and Silas had suppressed them successfully since the first days of his internship.
Elijah tested his limits.
The thought of pinning Elijah down and running his fingers through his soft hair while Silas nuzzled the side of his face from behind flashed through Silas’ mind. Elijah, round eyed but sharp tongued, would whisper something scathing and needy and push back against him. Present himself. Beg to be knotted.
No.
Silas picked himself up from the bed and started to pace. Hand shaking, he took his phone from his ear and worked his tie over his head. A toss saw it land over the foot board of his bed. One by one, Silas undid the buttons of his shirt until he was able to shrug the garment off. He tossed it onto the bed.
“But back to the topic at hand, I don’t think we have anything to worry about from Silas,” Thaddeus said. “You’re too straight-laced to consider something like that, aren’t you?”
