Page 56 of Knot Their Safe Haven

Has to be the drugs.

They probably dampened olfactory input to prevent sensory overload during recovery.Smart, actually.The last thing a healing Omega needed was to be bombarded by Alpha pheromones while trying to mend.

Another page turned.

Then another.

The silence stretched past uncomfortable into insulting.

"Are you going to sit there and read unnecessary documents this whole time?" Adyani's voice carried that royal edge that surfaced when she felt disrespected. Even transitioning, even having given up a throne, she still expected certain protocols.

"Those appear to be medical records." Malcolm's observation was quiet, but I heard the undercurrent.

He recognized the format, the particular way medical files were bound.

"Why does that fucking matter?" Knox again, still radiating fury. "Answer my question."

Another page turned.

Then, with the kind of calm that preceded hurricanes:

"She only had six months to live, and you completely dismissed it."

My heart stopped.

W…What?

My heart hammered so hard I had to focus every ounce of control on keeping my breathing steady, on not letting the monitors betray the earthquake happening inside my chest.

Six months?

Six fucking months?

I forced air through my lungs in the same measured rhythm, but internally, I was screaming.

Six months to live.

Less than a year before my body just... gave up. Shut down.

Stopped fighting the biological imperative it had been denied for almost four decades.

"That's..." Malcolm's voice cracked slightly. "That's not possible. I would have noticed?—"

"Would you?" Another page turned. "Multiple symptoms documented in the last ten months of checkups. Omegas require monthly evaluations regardless of age—you know this, Doctor. Yet here we have reported dizziness, sudden weakness, episodes of confusion, unexplained fatigue, irregular heat cycles, and notably, three instances of complete sensory shutdown lasting over twelve hours."

The sleeping pills nights. When I'd wake up after half a day, confused and disoriented. I'd blamed the wine. The pills. The combination.

But it had been my body failing.

"We weren't aware—" Knox started.

"I was out of the country—" Adyani cut off.

"I wouldn't invade her medical privacy without cause—" Malcom interfered.

They all spoke at once, excuses tumbling over each other like broken glass.

"Interesting." Alessandro's voice cut through their protests like a scalpel. "If she was my Omega—which she is now—I would ensure I knew every detail about her health. Every change, every concern, every whisper of something wrong. Because her wellbeing would be my priority. As it should be for any Alpha who claims to love their Omega."