Page 100 of Hidden Fates

I don’t think he can hear her. The thoughts in his head are too loud.

Shifting her plate from beside me, I nudge her with my arm, gesturing toward him. She takes the hint and walks around to plop herself on his lap, forcing him to meet her eye. “It. Isn’t. Your. Fault.”

“But my scent⁠—“

Onyx grips the back of his neck firmly, cutting him off. “We won’t know anything for certain until we speak with the specialist. Stop borrowing trouble.”

Caleb’s breath rushes out of him, his head falling to rest against Skye’s neck. “I’ll try.”

Dealing with the whirlwind of his emotions is something he must face alone. All we can do is support him as he powers through it.

The rest of the morning passes slowly. I keep track of time, encouraging my packmates to rest and recover post-heat. We decided after breakfast that only Onyx, Caleb, Skye, and myself would make the journey to meet the specialist.

Sterling and Bellamy made plans to take Mama Aisha into town to get her hair done and restock her groceries now that the majority of the snowstorm has passed.

While they’re gone, Emmett will be video chatting with his family. He’s worried about his grandmother, who is still in a cast after breaking her leg.

Pulling the SUV from the garage, I turn on the seat warmers and keep it running outside of the front door. The air is frigid with another wave of snow predicted over the weekend, and I don’t want Skye to have to wait for the car to heat up.

“Are we ready?”

Onyx is sliding into a pair of thick-soled combat boots when I step into the house. He holds out Skye’s coat for me to take. “She went to grab Caleb.”

My Omega and her newest Alpha mate appear a moment later, hands entwined and their smiles weak. Helping Skye into her coat, I loop her arm through mine and guide her to the car.

Caleb follows, his hands tucked into his pockets and a thick beanie on his head. I stop him on his way into the backseat. “Whatever happens at this appointment, know that we all support you. You’re a member of the Crowley pack now.”

“Thanks, Quentin.”

The waiting room is empty when we arrive, so we’re called back quickly. I can feel Skye’s nervousness more than I can smell it thanks to the scent blocker she put on before we left. Part of me loathes not being able to sense her through her pheromones, but I recognize that it is necessary when we are in public.

Onyx would have lost his mind if he was stuck wrapped in the acrid scent of her stress for the hour and half drive here.

We sit in fairly comfortable chairs while Skye and Caleb are taken to have their vitals checked. Worry pinches my brows when they take Skye’s weight, but she doesn’t look at the scale, nor does the nurse mention the number she reads on it. I realize as she leaves the room, telling us the doctor will be with us momentarily, that many of the patients seen here must have similar struggles with their weight as my Omega does.

Is it terrible that I am relieved by this knowledge?

“Hello Pack Crowley. I am Doctor Koch, but please call me Alva.” A middle-aged Beta woman enters the room, her graying brown hair pulled into a tight bun on top of her head. She winks at Skye as she takes a seat on a wheeled stool. “I hear the two of you have been going through it.”

“Yeah, I suppose we have.”

Taking Skye’s hand in mine, I give it a squeeze. “Don’t downplay this, darling.”

“I agree. Being honest about how you’ve been feeling will help me help you. Can you tell me what’s been going on?” The doctor flips open a notepad and pulls a pen from her front pocket. She doesn’t rush Skye, waiting patiently for my mate to speak.

“I should start by telling you that our Fated connection is shared emotions.” Skye goes on to explain about her lack of emotional control, the mini heats, heat irregularity, and, most recently, her overtaxing super heat.

“She’s also struggled to gain weight,” Onyx cuts in when Skye tries to shift the doctor’s attention to Caleb. “It’s something she’s dealt with since she was a teenager, but it never regulated as she got older.”

Skye’s winces, but I don’t try to soothe her. She has to face this head on if she wants to get better. To have that chance at feeling normal that she is so desperate for.

Doctor Koch hums, adding it to her list. “Are you certain there’s nothing else? Little things you might not think are related?” When Skye shakes her head, the doctor’s attention shifts to Caleb. “Walk me through what you’ve experienced.”

Caleb scratches the layer of stubble on his jaw, his eyes lock on an informational poster across the room. “I guess I’ve felt the overwhelming emotion thing. And some depression. Lack of appetite. Nothing as strong as what Skye’s been dealing with.”

“Do you feel that helping Skye with her symptoms is more important than your own?”

“I mean, kinda? It’s my fault she’s been suffering all these years. Whatever I’ve been facing hasn’t done nearly as much harm to me as it has to her.”