She grinned.
The nurse typed in the eight digits and two letter code that had followed Sasha all her life, clucking her tongue as she reviewed the data pad. "You are eighteen? How did you miss your preparedness appointment? Oh, my. It looks like your maturation is a little delayed. This may be an uncomfortable time for you." She looked up from her pad.
"An uncomfortable time for you both. You know, dear, we really like to have this appointment sooner. Your number has been flagged for ages. Did no one think to bring you to a clinic? I know they still have one in Sector 10. What is the world coming to?"
Her voice was admonishing in the way that only the medical profession could be. "You could have had your first estrous without any medicine at all. This says your mother is alive. Why didn't she bring you in? Did something happen?"
"My father was killed."
"Yes. I see that note. Two years ago. I'm sorry, but that doesn't explain this negligence. Do you know how dangerous this time is for you and the community around you? Girl, alphas kill to get to omega breeders."
She stopped her lecture with a little noise, as if realizing the direction of her tirade. Her eyes darted from Sasha to the male behind her. Her cheeks reddened, her eyes searching her data pad as if it held all the secrets of the universe.
"Well, it seems your father left a list of potential mates here for you. I'll print that out, of course. So much easier to have a good alpha's input rather than leave it to the Selection, I always tell our patients."
Kane briefly tightened his grip on Sasha’s hand.
"But dear," the nurse continued, "your Dad died two years ago, plenty of time for a make-up appointment. You should be taking supplements. You know, the blue ones? Have you been taking them? I don't see a prescription. Of course, there are always over the counter and herbal versions. The blue HealthyBs really are the best ones. So, have you been taking any vitamins at all?"
Sasha didn't know what to say. Since Maura's goal had always been to keep her demon spawn daughter as uncomfortable and as ashamed as possible, she had not given her any supplements or told her she needed them.
"What are the supplements for?" Sasha asked.
The nurse clicked her tongue. "I'll have to have the doctor speak with you about that. Let's get your height and weight, then." She indicated a box on the floor for Sasha to step on. "Come, dear. You're not the first naked girl who’s been in this room."
Sasha was sure she had said that a hundred times. Did betas have to do their appointments naked? They probably didn't care. They were born pretty. Omega breeders had to grow into their pretty. And it was a blatant, libidinous, and fecund kind of beauty that stood out and seemingly asked for comment.
Sasha couldn't imagine ever being comfortable in a skin that didn't match her brain. Fortifying herself to walk naked across the room, she released Kane's hand and did as the nurse asked.
"Up straight now, hands down. Hold very still."
The box emitted a red light, scanning her quickly before it turned blue, yellow, and green. It flashed once, then turned off.
"Very good." Over Sasha’s head, the nurse deferred to the alpha in the room. "Sometimes patients can be squirmy and even the simple procedures can take forever. She is very well behaved, this one. I now have height, weight, oxygen, pulse, respiration, and blood pressure. Let me take her temperature too."
She touched a pen-like device to Sasha's forehead and waited for it to beep, made a tsking sound, checking to be sure that all the information transferred to her data pad. In Sasha's sector, only Administration officials had data pads. There weren't very many officials roaming the streets, though.
"I need blood samples now. The doctor will be wanting to see those results before you leave. Do needles bother her?" She glanced at the alpha, but was careful not to meet his eyes.
Needles didn't bother Sasha. She went back to the uncomfortable medical bed and sat down. Needles did bother the alpha in the room, though, because he took her hand.
Hand holding had become a thing, then. When the needle went into her vein, he became so tense Sasha started purring again. Meeting his eyes, she finally saw that softening expression she'd been hoping for.
The idea that she pleased him curled through her with an almost ticklish delight, followed by a wave of painful, itchy heat and a stomach cramp that felt like giant claws squeezing her middle.
She clenched her teeth against it, then jerked away from where she was sitting as something gushed out of her. She cried out in alarm, thinking she had dirtied herself.
"I'm sorry, that was an accident. I'm sick. Can I use the toilet?"
Her words rushed out in red-faced mortification. How could she have messed the table? No way was there anything more deeply humiliating that messing on the bed in front of other people.
She tried to pull away from Kane, but his hold was unshakable, the heavy weight of his arm a fixed chain.
Instead of being repelled like a normal male, Constantine Kane savored the sight and smell, inhaling deep, chest expanding to take in the scent. She watched in amazement as his eyes changed, bled to a molten gold, pupils dilating as if on shine.
The predator in him had awakened.
"Fuck," he growled, flashing his flesh tearing canines at her for the first time. "Fuck, Beauty. You smell amazing."
