Chapter 19

Parker

I pace the length of the bedroom, watching Harlow writhe on her nest. Her skin glistens with sweat, dark curls plastered to her forehead. My hands clench and unclench.

“She needs to go to the hospital,” Asher mutters, checking her pulse again. “This isn’t right.”

Dr. Samuels sweeps into the room with Oliver, her white coat swishing. One look at Harlow and she’s pulling out her stethoscope, pressing it over Harlow’s chest.

“Hold her up for me,” she asks Asher.

Asher holds Harlow against his chest. Her eyes flutter open for a moment, but my heart plummets when I see they are vacant and glazed.

“Okay, we need to get her to the hospital.” She pulls out her phone, hitting her contacts name. “Hello, this is Dr. Samuels. I need a private room prepared immediately. I’m seeing signs of an omega awakening, but the patient’s body is failing to adapt.” She pauses, listening. “Yes, it could be age-related, but...” Her sharp eyes scan the room. “Has she been using designation blockers?”

I shake my head. “We don’t...we haven’t known her that long.”

“She thought she was an alpha,” Oliver says from his position by the window. “Her boyfriend. I mean, her ex-boyfriend was convinced she was one too. But I could smell her omega scent the first time we met.”

Dr. Samuel’s eyebrows shoot up. “An alpha male believed she was an alpha? For how long?”

“Years,” Oliver replies. “They dated for eleven years at least. And apparently, her alpha designation showed when she was fifteen years old.”

“She was very young to reveal as an alpha.” The doctor taps her chin. “This is fascinating. She could be a switch - a rare designation that can present as either alpha or omega depending on the circumstances.” She gestures at us. “Your pack bond might have triggered her omega side to emerge, but her body isn’t prepared for the transition.”

Harlow moans, curling into herself. The sound tearing through my chest.

“We need to move her now,” Dr. Samuels says. “Before the symptoms worsen.”

“We can take my car,” I say. “I’ll have to wake Jagger.”

The fluorescent lights cast harsh shadows across the white linoleum floor as my footsteps echo in the quiet sterile hallway.

I inhale. I can’t smell Harlow, the smell now is the sharp scent of disinfectant and it burns my nostrils.

I stop outside her room, listening to the steady beep of monitors telling me Harlow is still here.

Jagger’s small form is curled up on one of the plastic chairs, his Batman blanket wrapped around him. I should’ve left him with my neighbor, but there wasn’t time.

A commotion erupts at the end of the hallway.

I turn to see Carver Sinclair barreling through the double doors, his face twisted with panic. He spots me and charges forward.

“Where is she?” His voice cracks.

I point to her room. He rushes past me, nearly knocking me over.

Through the window, I watch him gather her limp form in his arms, burying his face in her hair and whispering words I cannot hear.

I push on the door.

“What did you do to her?” he hisses when I enter. “She was fine before she came here. Before she met all of you.”

Dr. Samuels walks in, clipboard in hand. Her face is grim. “Initial blood work shows multiple organ systems beginning to fail. We need to do a full body scan immediately.”

My stomach drops. “She’s not going to die, is she?”

“She is seriously ill.” Dr. Samuels glances at her chart. “Does she have any family we should contact? ”

Carver’s shoulders shake as he tries to hold back tears.

Oliver starts pacing, muttering, “No, no, no” over and over as the sound of retching comes from the bathroom. I know that was Asher losing his battle with nausea.

Carver strokes Harlow’s face, his tears falling onto her cheeks. And for the first time in years, I feel utterly helpless.

Dr. Samuels scans the room, her eyes landing on each of us. “Her family. We need to contact them immediately.”

Carver’s grip on Harlow tightens. His shoulders slump, defeat written across his face. “Please.” His voice cracks as Oliver rushes to her, taking his place. “Stay with her. All of you. I’ll—” He pulls out his phone with trembling fingers. “I’ll call her mother.”

He stumbles out into the hallway.

I follow, keeping my distance as he presses the phone to his ear.

“Vivian.” His voice echoes in the empty corridor. “It’s Carver. Harlow’s in the hospital.” A pause. “She’s in a bad way. Really bad. Did you do something? Did you make her present as an alpha?”

I lean against the wall, my chest tight as his voice rises.

“That’s what you do, isn’t it? You’re a fucking doctor who helps omegas. You’re an omega. Her sister, Grace, is an omega. How the hell can Harlow and Bardot be alphas?” His fist slams into the wall. “Help her or we’ll lose her.”

His voice drops to a broken whisper. “I love her. I’ve always loved her. Please help. Please tell the truth.”

I glance up to ceiling to stop my own tears from falling.

He shakes his head. “No. Tell me. She is going to fucking die. Now tell me what you did to her. I know you had a particular perfume made up for her to wear. I know you insisted she stayed with Colton when they nearly broke up after the accident. You wanted her with him because he never awakened her omega genes. But I did… ”

He wipes a tear from his eye. “Please. Let her be who she is meant to be.” Seconds later, he sucks back a breath and says, “Thank you.”

The phone slips from his grip, clattering on the floor. When his knees buckle, I rush forward, catching him before he hits the ground.

He turns to me, tears streaming down his face. “She’s an omega,” he chokes out. “She has an implant in her nipple. Under the nipple bar.”

“That’s fucking illegal,” I tell him.

“I know. But we can’t tell the doctors her mother had it put there. She told me she had her reasons.”

I burst back into the room with Carver on my heels. “She has an implant that tells her body she is an alpha,” I tell Dr. Samuels. “It is under her nipple piercing.”

Dr. Samuels’ eyes go wide. “Are you certain?”

“Yes,” Carver says. “Left side.”

Everything moves fast after that. Harlow is wheeled away to surgery, leaving us in the empty room.

I lean against the window, watching the sunrise paint streaks of pink across the LA skyline.

The antiseptic hospital smell burns my nose, but underneath it lingers the traces of Harlow’s distressed scent.

“Her grandmother was taken when she was sixteen,” Carver’s voice breaks the silence. He sits slumped in a chair, his head in his hands. “Some alpha packs thought they had the right. And Vivian, Harlow’s mother was the result.”

Oliver curses under his breath. Asher’s fingers clench around his coffee cup.

“Vivian helped develop the implant technology to protect her daughters and others,” Carver continues. “She couldn’t bear the thought of history repeating itself. ”

“But suppressing Harlow’s true designation nearly killed her,” Asher says.

“I get it. She thought she was keeping her safe.” I run a hand through my hair. “Fear makes people do desperate things.”

“Still, the authorities will want answers,” Oliver warns. “That kind of tech is illegal for a reason.”

I catch Carver’s eye. Despite everything, I see the same protective instinct in him that I feel. “We have to keep Vivian out of it.”

“Vivian is prepared to own up to it.” Carver’s phone starts ringing, he answers, “Hello.”

I stare at Carver as he talks. I still hate that Harlow called for him.

That she wants him.

But does that mean she doesn’t want our pack?

He disconnects and sighs. “That was Bardot, Harlow’s sister. She wants her mother kept out of it. She wants us to blame their dead grandmother.”

I blow out a breath as I shake my head in surprise.

“That works,” Asher says, his voice stiff. “No mother should face charges for trying to protect her child.”

“Thank you,” Carver’s voice cracks. “I know I’ve been...difficult. But Harlow—”

“Is our pack omega,” Oliver finishes. “Whether you like it or not, we all feel it.”

Carver growls under his breath.

“Maybe that’s why you decided to come to the LA Raiders, Carver. Maybe you were seeking your pack too,” I tell him, testing his reaction.

Later that day, the door swings open. A woman in a crisp suit steps inside the room, her heels clicking against the linoleum floor. Her clipboard is tight under her arm as she surveys us with sharp eyes.

“I’m Agent Roberts from The Designation Regulatory Authority, or the DRA,” she announces. “I need to ask you gentlemen some questions about the illegal device found inside Miss Foster. First, how did you discover that the omega had this implant?” She taps her pen against her notepad, eyes narrowing.

I glance at Carver, who runs his hands through his hair.

“It was during intimacy, I was sucking her nipple,” he says, his voice rough.

Agent Roberts just stares.

Carver continues, “Her nipple was always sensitive, especially at hockey games. She always complained about it in New York, especially in the cold. And then I thought...” He swallows hard. “I thought I’d hurt her when we were together. When I was sucking on it while we...”

The administrator shifts in her seat, crossing her legs tighter. “Did you knot her?”

“I did.”

“Why did you knot an alpha? Did you know she was an omega?”

“I’ve known...” Carver’s voice breaks. “I’ve known her scent since I was thirteen and she was eleven. All these years… I realized she was an omega. Not a switch, as was suggested earlier. A true omega whose designation was suppressed. How could she believe otherwise when everyone told her she was an alpha? ”

The agent writes furiously in her notes. I stay quiet, honoring Carver’s wish to protect her mother’s involvement.

I watch Agent Roberts’ pen write on her notepad, each stroke making my jaw clench tighter.

The hospital room feels smaller with each passing second, the walls closing in as she fires question after question. But also because I need to hear news about Harlow. I never realized until now how much I wanted her.

“So none of you suspected anything when she joined your pack?” Her eyes narrow at me specifically. “As head alpha, didn’t you notice anything unusual?”

As I glance at Jagger as he sleeps, I decide to not tell her she isn’t our real pack mate. I still have to protect his future, too. So I lie. “We noticed she was special,” I say, choosing my words carefully. “But she joined the pack as an alpha.”

“And you just happened to form a pack bond with her?” She taps her pen against the pad. “All of you?”

Oliver shifts beside me. “We haven’t formed a pack bond yet. We’re in discussions about it.”

“But you told me you scented her while believing she was an alpha?” Agent Roberts’ eyebrow arches. “Did you know or not?”

“Look,” I lean forward, my patience wearing thin. “Is Harlow in trouble here? Because she’s the victim in all this.”

Agent Roberts purses her lips. “That depends on whether she was complicit in the deception or truly innocent.” She flips through her papers. “Though, eleven years with an alpha boyfriend who never noticed? That is quite the performance.”

“Exactly. She never knew.” My fists clench under the table. “She believed what she was told her entire life. How is that her fault? ”

“Perhaps.” She closes her folder with a snap. “But someone knew. And I intend to find out who.”

The threat in her voice makes my skin crawl.

I glance at Carver, seeing my own worry reflected in his face. Harlow’s mother might have acted out of fear, but she’s put her daughter in an impossible position. Is he going to mention anything?

“When can we see her?” I ask, desperate to change the subject.

“Once she’s stable, I can ask her some questions and determine her level of involvement.” Agent Roberts stands, smoothing her suit. When she reaches the door, she says, “You can talk to her afterward.”

The tension in the room is thick enough to cut with a knife as we wait for news from surgery. Yet Jagger sleeps on, oblivious to the drama unfolding around him.

Oliver paces by the window while Asher sits with his head in his hands.

But it’s Carver who says, “Don’t worry. Harlow won’t implicate herself or anyone.”

“How do you know that?” Oliver hisses.

“Because her mother told me that Harlow and Bardot never knew about the implants. She took the opportunity to have them done when both girls wanted piercings.”