“Things started to get hazy as soon as the shooting started at the plant,” he murmured, focusing on Dr. Delacroix’s amazing eyes instead of the fear that welled up with those particular memories. “That’s the way it always begins when things start getting tense. First, I’m angry, and then, it’s like someone pulls a curtain across my mind. It dulls everything until it gets thicker and thicker until I can’t see through it at all.”
He wasn’t sure that was the best way to describe what it felt like when his inner omega took over, but he didn’t know how else to say it. At least, not without coming across as delusional.
“And when this curtain falls on you like this, you’re not aware of anything going on around you?” Delacroix asked carefully, like she was horrified at the concept.
Carter shrugged. “Not really. I mean, I’m still sort of present at first. But it’s like I’m sitting on the bottom of a swimming pool. I can hear muted sounds around me, see flashes of light and color, but none of it makes sense. Though at some point, it always fades to black.”
“And you have no control over when you come out of it? At one point you’re under, and then the next, you’re back?”
“Pretty much.”
Even now, he shuddered at the idea of needing to fight his way back to the surface of consciousness.
“What happens after you come out of it?” she asked. “More specifically, what happened after you came back to yourself at the auto plant?”
As the memory of that moment played in his head, Carter immediately felt his gums start to itch, followed by a familiar tingling in his fingertips. His fangs and claws were this close to coming out.
“I know this is difficult to talk about,” Dr. Delacroix whispered. Or at least it seemed like she was whispering because the sound seemed to be coming from a hundred feet away. “But this is the part we need to get through. The part that scares you the most. You need to tell me what you saw when you first came back to yourself.”
Nodding, Carter lowered his gaze to stare at the floor, not sure if his eyes were glowing or not. “The first thing I saw was the man I’d been fighting. He’d been impaled on the arm of an assembly robot. I killed a man and didn’t even remember doing it.”
No matter how hard Carter tried, he couldn’t stop the images of the dead supernatural from flashing through his mind. Snapshot after snapshot of the guy hanging there, an anguished expression fixed on his face, blood everywhere.
Carter didn’t realize how far his control had slipped until he tasted blood in his mouth and realized that his fangs had sliced into the inside of his cheek. Heart hammering in his chest, he cursed when he saw inch-long claws at the tips of each finger.
Knowing he’d partially shifted pushed him completely over the edge and everything around him began to get hazy. He let out a low growl of frustration, unable to help himself. His omega was well on its way to taking over and there was nothing he could do about it.
Crap.
He was going to completely wolf out in front of the worst possible person in the world. The knowledge that he was putting his pack at risk only made the situation worse and he felt the curtain descending over him getting darker by the second.
Then, just as it seemed like he was going to black out, Carter felt a pair of warm, soft hands grasping his. Confused, he opened his eyes to see Dr. Delacroix kneeling in front of him. She slowly slid her fingers down each of his, starting at the top of the knuckle and gradually working her way down to the tip of the claw, like she was squeezing a tube of toothpaste. The movement felt incredibly calming.
A soft sound slipped through the haze surrounding him. It took a few seconds for him to realize that she was humming. The tune was a children’s lullaby, something he hadn’t heard since he was a kid.
When Carter felt some semblance of control returning to his legs, he tried to get to his feet. He had to get out of there—now. But Delacroix refused to let go. Instead, she continued to hum the soothing melody and squeeze his fingers. Like she wasn’t bothered by the sight of his claws at all.
He had no idea how she did it, but within moments the haze he’d begun to associate with his inner omega taking over had faded away. Seconds later, his claws and fangs receded, leaving him sitting there staring down at the beautiful woman kneeling in front of him.
“How did you…?” was all he was able to say.
Dr. Delacroix smiled. “What, you thought you were the first omega werewolf with anger management issues I’ve ever met?”
CHAPTER FOUR
Hadley sat in the leather wingback chair as Carter leaned back on the matching couch along the wall, sipping thirstily from the bottle of water she’d given him from the mini-fridge. From the way his eyes were slightly glazed over, she had no doubt his head was still spinning at the recent events. She couldn’t blame him. In psychiatry terms, Carter had suffered through what was known as a significant emotional event. It was probably going to take him a while to get himself together.
Without even realizing she was doing it, she found herself using Carter’s distracted state as an opportunity to observe him. She was his psychiatrist, which meant she was supposed to maintain a professional perspective on things, but she had to admit that he was a very attractive man. Tall with dark blond hair, piercing blue eyes, a strong jawline, and broad shoulders, there was definitely a lot to like.
Letting out a soft sigh, Hadley forced her wayward thoughts in a different direction. Unfortunately, not thinking about Carter that way turned out to be much more difficult than it should. For reasons that didn’t make a lot of sense to her, the handsome SWAT cop had slipped past her natural defenses that normally kept everyone at arm’s length.
Hadley was still pondering how a man she barely knew had been able to burrow so deeply into her subconscious when she suddenly realized that he was regarding her just as intently. Crap. How long had she been lost in thought?
“You seem to be taking this whole thing extremely well,” he said, that intent look turning a little suspicious now. “Why aren’t you freaking out?”
Hadley gave him a small smile, retreating behind the protection of her professional demeanor even if she was still a little shaken by how off balance she seemed to be around him. “Like I said, I have some experience with omega werewolves and how to calm them down when they have an episode.”
He eyed her thoughtfully. “How long have you known?”
