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“Hey!”

Abandoning his cart, Royce ran after the veterinarian. The omega yelped and then bolted.

“Wait! Stop!” Royce commanded, running after him. But it was no use. The omega’s only response was to drop a litany of items from his hip bag and lock himself inside his yellow car. The tires screeched as he tore from the parking lot.

“Damn it all!” Royce grumbled and cursed as the car disappeared.

The strangest urge to chase it swelled up in his breast. It was as if his life depended on catching up to that damned car.

Shaking the absurdity from his head, he tracked the omega’s path through the parking lot, retrieving his discarded items.

He froze.

Mint.

His nostrils flared, and he huffed what was in his hand. It had recent and direct contact with the omega in question, so the scent was stronger, but it was off.

Royce hardly scented omega. Every omega and alpha had a distinct scent that accompanied the general musk of their type. But this was muted and muffled. It was wrong. Was the omega using suppressor?

It wasn’t illegal to use suppressor, it could be found at any drug store, but it typically wasn’t this effective.

For the first time, Royce noticed exactly what it was he was holding. A blister pack of pills, four rows of seven with little letters at the top to signify the days of the week. Above that was the name of the medication. It was birth control for female alphas.

His wolf growled.

Chapter five

Theodore

Someone had chased him out of the grocery store. He’d heard them call for him to wait, but he ran without looking back. Hopping in his sedan, he sped away, pretending he’d been oblivious to what was happening.

And of course he’d dropped his darned alpha birth control. He kept it on him because of the dose schedule, but he was careful to keep it hidden. If anyone asked him where he’d gotten it or spent a minuscule amount of brain capacity thinking about it, he’d be in big trouble. Technically, the case of pills he had was stolen. And then there would be follow-up questions about why he was taking it.

Hurrying to park his car at the cabin, he paused to double-check his hip bag was zipped properly before running inside. He didn’t need any more mishaps. Storing his groceries, he rushed to his pile of bags in the bedroom. Theodore hadn’t bothered unpacking. What was the point when he’d just have to up and leave again in a few months? He found the stash of pills in a side pocket of his duffle.

Crap.

There were only two blister packs left.

He’d have to leave town and knock over a pharmacy at some point. Maybe he’d ditch Elk Cove earlier than anticipated in the process. Theodore didn’t think he wanted to stay in a place where it was considered ‘normal’ to be chased through a grocery store.

His phone alarm went off. He was supposed to be back at the clinic by now, but still hadn’t eaten anything. It had been a few days now, yet he didn’t feel hungry. Not a good sign. His phone buzzed again with a text from Margarette. The next appointment had arrived early and was now being checked in by the vet tech.

Crap!

Running from the cabin, he went through the employee entrance of the clinic in the back.

“Sorry!” he said to Margarette.

“Not a problem.” She waved him off. “Everyone needs groceries, and our store typically closes before the clinic. You know, now that I think about it, after Dr. Granton became a widower, he had them bag up his orders for him most weeks and deliver the food to the cabin. I’m sure they’d be happy to do the same for you.”

“Thank you, Margarette, for everything.”

In addition to rearranging the appointments so Theodore had time to get food before his Sunday off, she’d given him an advance on his check.

“Nonsense! Like I said, everyone needs groceries. Did you find everything you needed? I know our store is a bit small; sometimes the new arrivals aren’t too impressed with it.”

“The last place I was in was smaller than Elk Cove, I’ll manage just fine.” He smiled.