Page 33 of Knot A Chance

Ally dropped his hand and tipped her chin toward the array of monitors and bags of medicine behind Felix’s bed. “One of the nurses came in and said to tell you they’ve switched his pain meds. You likely won’t see many withdrawal effects because of his other meds, but you may notice him sweating. She said not to be concerned about it.”

I nodded, eyes filling again as I thought about him having to go through withdrawal at all. “He’s already done the hard work,” I said, my voice cracking. “He shouldn’t have to go through this again.”

“Aw, Benny,” Oakley said, quickly wrapping her arms around me. I sank against her petite frame and draped myself over her shoulders as I lost control, sobbing loudly.

“How the fuck did we get here?” I cried.

She rubbed my back. “He’s going to be okay.”

Ally’s hand closed around my shoulder. “He’s strong. He did this once and he can do it again. You’ll be there for him the whole time.”

I nodded against Oakley’s neck, marking her just enough for comfort. With two alpha siblings, she was used to the gesture of affection.

A loud beeping sound made me jump to attention as I whipped my head around to face Felix. The machine monitoring his heart rate and blood pressure seemed responsible for the noise and I watched in horror as the numbers dropped quickly.

“Get a nurse,” I yelled as I dashed back to his side.

Oakley ran out of the room while Ally stepped closer to me, squeezing my shoulder as we waited, completely helpless.

Julia came running into the room with Oakley following behind and she quickly looked over each of the meds. “What the hell?” she said, quickly turning off one of the pumps. She flicked a few other switches and the steady decline of his blood pressure slowed. “Get into the bed and hold him, it might help regulate him faster.”

I slid back onto the bed and pulled Felix into my arms. It wasn’t easy with all the tubes and wires keeping him alive, but I got my arms around him and curled around his side, my tears dripping on his shoulder.

“What happened?” I asked.

Julia looked at Ally and Oakley warily before facing me. “I’m not sure. I might have a guess, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to share it until I can investigate this further.”

“Why?” I growled.

“Probably because you’ve been growling at everyone for the last twenty-four hours,” Oak said, sitting down in the corner.

“Just tell me,” I said.

Julia took a deep breath. “It looks like there was an error made in the amount of methadone Felix was receiving. He was receiving too much, too quickly and that was the cause of the decline in his heart rate and blood pressure.”

“The other nurse who was just in here? Did she make the mistake?” Ally asked.

“I don’t know the answer to that,” Julia said. “It could have been an administration error or a problem with the order put in by the doctor. Either way, I’ve stopped it for now and we’ll let his body regulate and restart it again in an hour or so. I’ll let Dr. Tanaka know what happened so she can adjust his treatment if she feels it’s necessary.”

“Who was the nurse?” I asked.

“Bennett, let it go,” Oak said.

I bared my teeth at her. “I will not.”

She rolled her eyes and looked at the nurse. “Two alpha siblings. I’ve been dealing with this shit my whole life.”

Julia chuckled. “My siblings and I are all betas, so I can’t imagine.”

“I don’t want that nurse in here again,” I said.

“Of course,” Julia said. “I’ll let Dr. Tanaka and our nurse supervisor know.”

“Thank you,” I said.

When she left the room Ally sighed. “You want me to call Wyatt, don’t you?”

“Yes, and tell him not to pass me off to Donovan this time. I want him to do a background check on the nurse. Actually, make that Felix’s entire care team.”