Page 38 of Claiming the Pack’s Omega (Riverwell Omegaverse #2)

“I am!” She says, taking a seat on the wheeled doctor’s stool and flashing a bright smile at me. “Please, call me Charlotte.”

She’s stunning, with her dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and curvy frame. I can see the hint of bondmarks peeking out from under her lab coat. I also clock the fact that all the jewelry she’s wearing easily adds up to over twenty-five thousand dollars.

Her apple pie scent is sweet and fruity, the perfect kind of omega scent you’d expect from a Northside omega.

“I didn’t know there were omega doctors,” I say.

“Yeah, I’m technically the only one, though I know there are a few omegas in nursing and PA school right now!” She says. “You sound surprised, though. Did Killian not tell you?”

“N—no,” I say, shaking my head. “He didn’t.”

She lets out a soft huff of laughter before rolling her eyes. “That sure sounds like the Killian I know.”

I blink at her in surprise. To be completely honest, I don’t think I expected that kind of sass from a Northside omega, especially one as well put together as her.

“Yeah, he didn’t tell me a lot about today.” To be completely fair to him, I really didn’t ask all that much. I know I probably could have said no, but I really don’t think it was worth the fight it would’ve caused. He seemed really intent on making sure I saw a doctor. “How do you know Killian?”

“He’s been really helpful in advocating for grants and a government match for the Rockwell scholarship, which helps omegas pursue higher education," she says.

“There’s a scholarship like that?” I ask, perking up.

“Yeah, my family started it a few years ago. Are you interested?”

“For myself? Nah, not really. I think my sister would be a great fit, though—she hasn’t presented yet—but if she does… she’s really smart, you know?”

“I think it’s great you’re looking out for your sister,” Charlotte says, a soft smile on her face. She has this sort of glow about her, maybe from growing up in the Northside, maybe from getting pampered by her bondmates. It looks good on her.

A deep, ugly part of me twinges with jealousy.

I want that.

“How about this, if she does present as an omega, just give me a call and I can get things set up with an interview, sound good?” She says, writing down her phone number on a spare piece of paper and handing it to me.

“Seriously? Just like that?”

“Of course.” Her smile grows a little tight at the corners. “I don’t know exactly what you’ve gone through, down in the Southside, but I have an idea. I’ve heard you’ve met Luna? I treated her when she first got to the Northside, and she was in pretty bad shape.”

I bite my bottom lip before nodding.

“Okay then, thank you.”

“Now, onto the whole reason we’re seeing each other! I hear that you’ve been taking suppressants?”

“Yeah, since I had my first heat at eighteen.”

“Do you by any chance have any of them with you?”

“I actually do,” I say, reaching into my back pocket and pulling out my last two pills. “I normally take them every week. They’re strong enough to get rid of my heat, but they’re not strong enough to hide my scent or anything.”

She takes the small plastic baggie and peers at the nondescript pills.

“Can I send these into the lab for testing?” She asks.

“I mean, sure, I don’t know if it’s even a good idea for me to be taking them, to be honest. I don’t even know what’s in them or how they’re made.”

She nods as she wheels her chair over to press a button on the wall.

“I need something run to the lab from exam room four," she says.

A minute later, another smiling beta female nurse comes in and takes the bag.

“Do you only hire women here?” I ask, when we’re alone again.

“Yup," she says, popping the p. “I’m an ob-gyn by trade, but since opening my own practice here, I’ve sort of become a general practitioner too. I see a lot of omegas who may be experiencing different levels of stress. It just keeps everyone comfortable, you know?”

“I’ve never—I’ve never been to a place like this,” I say, fidgeting with the soft blanket in my lap. “It’s nice.”

“I’m really happy to hear that! Anyways, one of my biggest concerns is that you haven’t had a heat in six years.

Regardless of whether or not the suppressants were altering your hormones—and I’m sure they were, we just don’t know to what degree until we run some tests in the lab—you not having your heat certainly has. ”

“What does that impact on my hormones do?” I ask, pursing my lips together a bit nervously. “I’m sorry if that’s a stupid question, I’m sure that’s something I should know.”

“Don’t apologize, Reyna. You have nothing to apologize for. No question you could ever ask me would be stupid, okay?”

I swallow hard and give her a jerky nod.

This was definitely the last thing I expected to walk into. I expected sterile coldness and an invasive alpha doctor, not this.

“Okay, good,” Charlotte says. “And to answer your question, not having a heat at all or not having a fulfilling heat with the aid of alphas can affect a lot of things. It can affect your overall health, fertility, the eventual intensity and pain level of your heats. One thing they’ve also been known to do is impact your ability to sense your scent matches. ”

“Scent matches?” I say, letting out a huff of laughter.

When Charlotte’s expression doesn’t change from her normal, open, reassuring smile, I freeze.

“You mean, those are real? Like, people actually have those?”

“Certainly! Do people always find them? No, but there are definitely those that do.”

“And you’re saying because of the suppressants I’ve been taking, I just wouldn’t be able to tell?” I ask, my brows drawing down.

“From what you’ve told me of the intensity of the suppressants and the research I’ve been doing on this sort of thing over the past few months, it won’t be a big thing, but there should still be some signs.”

“Signs like what?”

Signs like feeling tingles every time these alphas touch me? Signs like their scents being the most delicious I’ve ever smelled in my twenty-four years on this planet? Signs like my omega feeling unreasonably safe around them?

Charlotte lists off a bunch of different signs, all of which I’ve felt.

Felt around the members of the Graylock Pack.

I go pale.

No.

No fucking way.

What in the world? What the hell are these chances? How can they be my scent matches ? The equivalent of a biological soulmate ?

“Are you alright, Reyna?” Charlotte asks, scooting closer to me on her chair, her brows drawing down in concern as she reaches out to hold my hand that’s fisted in the blanket.

“Would—would they be able to tell?” I croak out.

“Your scent matched alphas? Sort of, in the same way there are signs for you, there would be signs for them as well, just not the struck-by-lightning sort of effect you’d normally expect.”

“Holy shit,” I breathe out, leaning my head against the wall behind me.

“You have an idea of who they are, don’t you,” Charlotte murmurs, her expression going soft.

“I think I do. Either that or I’m going crazy,” I laugh bitterly.

“Is it the Graylock Pack?”

I press the back of my hands against my cheeks. My fingertips are as cold as ice, but my face feels like its on fire.

“How could you tell?” I groan, covering my face with my hands.

“I mean, I’ve worked with Killian a long time and I’ve never heard him as passionate as he was on the phone, telling me to clear my schedule for one o’clock today. I’m normally home with my daughter on Fridays.”

“Oh God, you came in on your day off for me?” I say, my hands falling limp onto my lap. “I’m so sorry.”

“Again, you have nothing to apologize for. Helping omegas, especially omegas like you, is the reason I spent years working to become a doctor when, quite frankly, I didn’t need to.

It’s because I wanted to. Almost desperately, if we’re being honest.” She reaches over and squeezes my hand again, offering me a soft, reassuring smile. “How’re you feeling? This is big news.”

“Fucking terrified,” I say, staring up at the ceiling. I feel my throat closing as an impending sense of doom seems to claw its way up from the depths of my gut.

“Why is that?”

“I—I’m not like you,” I say, my brows drawing down. “No offense.”

“None taken.”

“I—I’m not the kind of omega that a pack like the Graylock Pack would go for, you know?”

“Because you’re from the Southside?”

“Yes. No. Maybe?” I shake my head. “They don’t really seem to care about that, I don’t think, but if they were to go after a Southside omega, wouldn’t they want someone more like Luna?

She’s all soft and sweet and I’m—” I wave my hands down at myself.

“I’m not. I know some of Luna’s past. She was forced to do the things she had to do. I... I chose to, you know?”

“Has the Graylock Pack given you any indication they judge you for your past?”

I swallow hard, trying to clear the lump in my throat.

“No, but—but they don’t know everything. What if when they find out they realize I’m too much? That they don’t want to deal with someone like me? Someone with as much fucked up baggage as me?”

“That’s an awful heavy what if,” Charlotte murmurs, continuing to hold my hand.

“That’s an awful doctor like thing for you to say.” I let out a bitter laugh that makes me feel pathetic, with how strained my voice sounds. “You’re not going to tell me I’m crazy?”

Her expression grows more serious as her blue eyes dart between mine.

“No, I’d never tell you that you’re crazy.

I can think that I don’t believe the Graylock Pack would do that to you, but I’d never say that you’re crazy for feeling the way that you do.

Only you know where that comes from, what thing in your past taught you that you have to be on guard all the time, fearing the commitment and intimacy of a scent match. ”

I purse my lips, fighting the tremble in my bottom lip as I stare right back at her.