“Prescription heat suppressants are some of the most dangerous things that the street peddles nowadays, and they’re not helping you the way you think they are. The only thing a heat suppressant does is delay the inevitable, but with a cyclewide disorder, even delaying the inevitable is impossible.”
I see the panic rise up behind her eyes. “Doctor, I don’t mean to be rude, but you don’t even know me, you don’t know my health history, and I need?—”
“What you need,” he says as he stands, “is to slow down, take these vitamins with that tea and honey like I’ve said, and rest as much as possible.”
“I can’t rest until my orders are fulfilled. I have a life to pay for. Bills that are due. I can’t just?—”
While she argues with the doctor, I simply watch her. She’s got fire in her, and it makes my inner Alpha preen with pride. It’s insane to me that someone ever gave her up. Was she rejected by just one Alpha? Or did she have another pack before all of this?
I scan the parts of her that are available to my eye, and I can’t see any sort of mating marks. I want to know everything about her. I want to ask questions until she falls asleep in my arms so that I can hold her through everything that’s going to come her way.
“Okay?” Dr. Quinn asks.
I shake my head a bit and focus back on Lia, who looks equal parts pissed and exhausted.
“I hear you, Doctor.”
Dr. Quinn stands. “Promise me you won’t just go buy more.”
She scoffs. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Those things are expensive.”
Dr. Quinn nods before he turns toward the three of us. And then he poses a question that makes Lia leap off the table and onto her feet in defiance.
“So, who’s taking her shopping and escorting her home?”
Lia
Idon’t need someone babysitting me while I’m shopping.
“No one,” I say before any other man or Alpha or whatever can speak for me. “I’ve taken care of myself for years with this issue. I don’t suddenly need a bunch of Alphas breathing down my neck.” I turn to Dr. Quinn. “How long until the prescription is ready?”
I watch him type something on his laptop before he looks at me. “Just sent it. Should be ready in about half an hour.”
“And what direction is the grocery store?”
Dr. Quinn points. “About four blocks that way. Go out the same way you came in, take a right, and keep walking until you see the sign for Hometown Corner Store.”
“I’ll walk with you,” a voice says to my right.
I turn my head and see one of those Alphas that’s in my exam room. What in the world made me think it was okay for them to stay? Alphas are always controlling. They want what they want, and they don’t give a flying rat’s behind about what anyone else wants, including an Omega.
I shouldn’t have allowed them to stay. I don’t know what possessed me to say it was okay. But their intermingled scents rush around my head, wrapping around me like a vise. Juicygrapes, a subtle mocha scent, and freshly cut grass laced with honey. It’s a mixture that settles the frustration rising up.
I just need to get home.
“What’s your name?” I ask, staring at the Alpha in the overalls.
He beams a bright smile, like I’ve just agreed to take him to the moon. “Knox Rylan.”
The one who won the pie-eating contest? “No, Knox, you won’t walk with me to the grocery store.”
His shoulders deflate. “But you’re not in any condition?—”
I hold my hand up. “I don’t need some random Alpha telling me about what my condition is or isn’t. I know what I need. I’ve dealt with my cyclewide disorder for years. I know what I’m doing.”
“Clearly you don’t,” the Alpha who had me in the alleyway speaks up. “Especially if you’re taking suppressants you shouldn’t be taking in the first place. You’re already putting yourself in danger.”
“And why do you care so much?” I ask.
