“I’m sorry, I missed what you said,” I offer, raising my voice slightly as I slide off the edge of the stage. My knees nearly give out as I walk face first into the clouding scents of a roomful of Omegas using scent blockers. Most of it rushes past me. Most, not all. Like a wolf catching a trail mid-hunt, my attention locks on a scent that stops me cold. It’s so fucking familiar and goddamn confusing at the same time.
She reacts like a scared rabbit and leaps off her seat racing in the opposite direction, to an exit. I’m stuck where I am, but I see the disaster she races blindly towards.
Her hands push at the door. Her fear makes her strong and instead of just opening the double doors enough to get past, she shoves them so hard they fly outwards. A lone student returning early from lunch cops the full force of those doors.
Her squeal of pain vibrates through the auditorium as she grabs her wrist and crumples to the floor. The blonde manages to catch her just in time, but by the time I reach them, both are pale as ghosts, barely able to say a word. The increasing whirlpool of their emotions seems to be the way they’re communicating.
“We need to get her to the hospital,” the Omega who was doing her best to avoid me says quietly. I have to strain to hear what she’s saying over the whimpers of pain from the other Omega.
Using my phone, I call through to reception, letting them know we’ve had an emergency and to call for an ambulance.
“I’ll get some ice,” she says, as she races down the empty corridor, but she stops like she forgot something, and sheends up back in front of the injured girl. “Lydia, are you okay with him?”
Even Lydia looks startled. But in a handful of words, I get an inkling she’s been a victim in some sort of interaction with an Alpha previously. Her question was the first indicator but when her defence posture becomes more pronounced, protective of Lydia, it’s a punch to my chest.
“How about you stay with her? I know where the ice is,” I offer, keeping the tone light despite the tension buzzing beneath my skin. It takes effort to hold steady when all my attention wants to shift to the blonde—not the one who’s hurt.
And it’s only when Lydia agrees that I jump into action. My legs feel like lead as I race away from where I want to be. I seriously have to argue with myself, promising the sooner I go the sooner I’ll return.
By the time I’ve found the ice and turn back into the last corridor, there’s extra people around to help. My eyes jump past every person in the small group until I find the blonde from earlier, and then that squeeze of something inside my chest lets go. We all work together, to make sure Lydia is as comfortable as possible. When the ambulance arrives, the blonde whose name I still don’t know insists on attending the hospital.
The college gives their approval instantly, other staff members are going and as I follow behind the convoy of vehicles behind the ambulance, I know I’m doing the right thing by going.
Someone needs to watch her.
Chapter
Seventeen
SIMONA
The doctors confirm Lydia’s hairline fracture will be straightforward and heal within a few weeks. I am relieved but still feel so freaking awful and full of the guilts. If I wasn’t running from Ryder, it wouldn’t have happened, and we wouldn’t be sitting in the emergency room.
Even when Lydia waves around her plaster cast, telling me she’s already forgiven me, I can’t stay entirely focused which adds to how crappy and guilty I feel. No matter how hard I try to give her my full attention, my gaze continually floats back to wherehesits in the corridor.
“I should be thanking you.” Lydia giggles like she’s tipsy. She’s not, she is however off her head on painkillers. “Now I’ve got the best reason for not getting up on stage!” She waves her hand around dangerously.
If I wasn’t so completely thrown by being in the same room as Ryder, or if I had left the auditorium with everyone else, she wouldn’t be off her tits on drugs in the hospital, and I wouldn’t be apologising over and over.
After spending the morning deciding to cool things withRyder and Hendrix, I was in an okay headspace. I wasn’t thrilled with my decision, but once I’d made up my mind, the guilt that has been a constant companion since meeting them both, pretty much disappeared.
I don’t feel regret for the time we got but knowing I was leading them both on, in a situation that has a termination date, weighs heavily on my soul. Who does that? Who uses someone for their own selfish reasons? Me, it seems, but that’s not the type of person I ever want to be.
Walking into the auditorium it appeared the universe thought differently. Call it fate or destiny, whatever it was, Ryder and I were in the same place at the same time, and that rattled me to my core.
He didn’t recognise me, not that I’m surprised. I’ve given him very little in our chat in terms of identifiable features. Regardless, it stings he doesn’t remember me from New Year’s Eve.
Ryder using a different name—Ben Franklin—well, I couldn’t begrudge him doing that either.
So, while he was seemingly unaffected by me, I was struggling in his general proximity.
Turning my attention back to Lydia, she’s talking about nothing but also yawning every few seconds. With one final apology, I leave her to rest and walk to where the Omega Mothers, plus Ryder, are waiting.
Between one step and the next, an ear-piercing alarm blasts through the PA system. Behind us doors lock, standard hospital procedure, in case of an Alpha with ADV rampaging.
“Quick, down here.” A nurse appears down the end of the corridor.
There’s no time for questions, as everyone moves instinctively, following the safety procedures posted throughout the hospital. St. Gabriel’s is the leading care facility for Alphas battling the disease. Many doctors specialising in the fieldhave offices here, and everyone who walks through the doors knows that—and what to do in case of an emergency.
