Page 18 of Lost Wolf (Exiled Omegas #2)

Eighteen

Ollie

My plate is still nearly half full when the doorbell rings, the sound echoing through the house. Everyone looks up from their food, and Julien’s gaze slides first to Luke then to me.

“That’s probably Doctor Benton,” he says. “When I talked to her last night, she said she was very excited to meet you. I guess she couldn’t hold out any longer.”

“Oh.” I give Julien a strained smile, not sure what else to say.

Even though I know the doctor is here to help, my stomach immediately twists with anxiety as all my fears catapult to the front of my mind. What if there really is something wrong with me? What if something the humans did permanently damaged me? What if I’ll never be normal?

Blind to my slowly growing panic, Keir hops up from the table and heads toward the front door. There’s the sound of some murmured greetings and then Keir returns to the kitchen with a female beta following him.

“This is Doctor Benton,” he says, gesturing at her.

The doctor is a tall woman with dark skin. Her face is narrow and her are features sharp, but her eyes are warm and friendly as she walks toward me with her hand held out. “You must be Ollie,” she says. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I don’t get a chance to meet many male omegas.” My gaze darts to Keir and she chuckles. “Okay, so I’ve only ever met one other.”

The warmth of her manner puts me at ease, and I give her a genuine smile as I take her hand. I can’t say I was looking forward to being poked and prodded, but maybe this won’t be so bad.

She glances at Julien slightly tilting her head to the side as a gesture of respect. “Alpha Matisse, is there someplace private we can go for me to examine him?”

Julien nods. “Ollie and Luke are staying in the guest bedroom at the end of the hall if you think that would work.”

“Perfect,” she says. Her attention moves back to me. “Go ahead and finish eating and head on up whenever you’re done.”

Easy for her to say. I only manage a couple more bites before I give up, nerves making my stomach feel overfull.

“Do you want me to go with you?” asks Luke.

My gaze darts toward his still pretty full plate, and I shake my head. There’s no point in pulling him away from his breakfast. Whatever the doctor is going to find, she’ll find whether Luke is there or not.

“I think I’ve got it,” I say, rising to my feet and pushing my chair in. “You still haven’t finished your breakfast yet. I’ll let you know what she says.”

Luke’s brows pull together and he gently takes hold of my arm. “I don’t care about the food. I care about supporting you.”

“Okay.” I shuffle my feet, glancing up at him from under my hair. “I guess I’d like to have you with me then.”

My mate pushes away from the table without another word and the two of us retreat upstairs, following the path back to the room at the end of the hall that we slept in last night.

Doctor Benton looks up as we enter, offering me a small smile. She pats a spot on the edge of the bed near the chair she’s sitting in. “Come sit down.” I follow her instruction and she takes my hands in hers, giving my fingers a quick squeeze. “I can tell you’re nervous, but you don’t need to be. I’m here to help however I can.” She releases my hands. “Julien filled me in on the basics, but why don’t you tell me any specific worries you might have about your health.”

I think for a moment. “Well, there’s the whole memory thing, but I don’t think that’s your area, right?”

“You’re right,” she says. “I’m a general practitioner, not a neurologist, but I can tell you the longer you go without getting your memories back, the less likely they are to come back.”

“Is there any way to tell what caused the memory loss?” asks Luke from where he’s hovering beside the bed.

“Not for sure, not with the equipment I have available to me,” she replies. “And, in my opinion, I don’t think that’s the most important thing anyway.”

“You don’t?” I ask, unable to hide my surprise.

“Nope,” she replies. “I’m not trying to downplay the amnesia issue. Yes, it is a problem, but there’s not really treatment for it except time. At this point, I think what’s most important is making sure you’re physically healthy, from there we can determine if there’s anything we need to worry about.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I say.

“I’m glad you agree.” She gives me a small smile as she pulls a stethoscope from the bag at her feet. “Do you mind removing your shirt? Or I can use this under it if you prefer.”

“No, that’s fine.” I quickly strip off Luke’s shirt, my gaze sliding to my mate as rests his hand on my bare shoulder in a gesture of support.

“This might be a little cold, I apologize.” She sets the stethoscope against the skin of my chest, and she’s right, it is kind of cold, but not unbearable and it quickly warms up. She listens for a few seconds, then moves the stethoscope to my back, instructing me to take a few deep breaths.

Her hand brushes across the back of my neck. “You have a small scar here, but you haven’t completed the mating bond…”

“That’s where I found the tracking chip,” says Luke, an angry edge to his voice.

“I see.” She frowns and leans closer, studying the area where the chip was. Her gaze darts to Luke. “Based on the placement and what I know about fated mate bonds, it’s possible the physical effects of the bond—that tingling sensation in the back of the neck—might have shorted the chip out eventually, but it’s good you removed it.”

I huff out a laugh. “The humans placed where they would on an animal. I guess they didn’t take into account the possibility of anything about being a shifter might affect it. Maybe that’s why it took them over a day to find me.”

“That’s quite possible,” replies Doctor Benton. She continues her examination, draping the stethoscope around her neck, then pulling out another instrument and using it to peer into my ears, eyes, and nose.

She nods to herself. “Everything seems normal so far. No murmurs or abnormal heart rhythms and your lungs sound fine. Would you please lay down?” I follow her instruction and she reaches across my body and places her hands on my stomach. She glances up to meet my eyes before continuing. “I’m going to be pressing into your abdomen. Let me know if there are any spots that are painful or uncomfortable.”

Luke’s phone lets out a loud noise, and Doctor Benton pauses as Luke pulls his phone from his pocket and glances at the screen. He frowns, brows drawing together.

“It’s Macy,” he says, a clear apology in his voice. “I need to call her back.”

“It’s okay,” I say, reaching up to grab one of his hands. “Do what you need to, just let me know what she says.”

My mate sends me a grateful smile, then nods in doctor’s direction before leaving the room to call his second back. Hopefully, Macy will have some good news, but something tells me that’s probably not the case.

“Do you want to wait for him to come back before I continue?” asks Doctor Benton.

“No, no, it’s fine,” I reply. “Let’s just get this over with.”

She chuckles, and returns to the examination, her hands gently moving across my stomach and pushing in to, I assume, feel my organs. After she’s done, she uses the stethoscope again, this time on my stomach, then sits back in her chair.

“Now, I can’t speak to your male omega biology without at least an ultrasound, but as far as I can tell, physically speaking, you’re perfectly healthy except for being underweight and somewhat malnourished.”

“Whatever they were injecting me with didn’t cause any permanent damage?”

She shrugs. “I can take some blood and run some more tests, but I wouldn’t have results very quickly, and without knowing what to look for since we have no idea what those injections were supposed to do, I might not be able to tell if something’s off.”

I clear my throat and stare down at my hands, my cheeks heating. “So, I’m basically healthy then. Is there any reason Luke and I shouldn’t…”

“Complete the mating bond?” There’s a hint of amusement in her question, enough to turn the heat in my cheeks into an inferno. “Nope. Not a one.” She pauses. “Is that something you’re worried about?”

“No?”

She rests her hand on my knee and waits for me to look at her before speaking. “Well, you have a clean bill of health from me, generally speaking.” Her voice turns hesitant. “I know things are… different for male omegas, and I can tell you what I know about the medical side of things, but as far as your reproductive system, I’m simply going to assume everything is in working order.”

“My reproductive system? Why would I worry about that?”

Doctor Benton’s voice grows hesitant. “I don’t know if you were aware of this, but Keir is the one who carried the twins.”

“Okay…” I give a blank stare, unsure where she’s going with this.

“You don’t seem surprised by that.”

“Why would I be?”

“Because he’s a male?” she says, her words laced with bewilderment.

“He’s an omega,” I reply almost automatically. “ Omegas are breeders .” The words flow past my lips without thought, and I jerk, unsure where they came from.

Or where I’ve heard them before.

Doctor Benton’s brows draw together. “The fact that male omegas can get pregnant is not common knowledge, not even among shifters.”

I blink at her. “Apparently, it’s common knowledge to me somehow. But why?” My hand goes to my stomach. “You don’t think…”

She shakes her head. “I see no evidence of any pregnancies.” She pauses. “The only thing I can think of is that your pack must have at least one other male omega.”

“I thought male omegas were supposed to be super rare?”

“As far as I’m aware, they are,” she replies. “But that doesn’t mean it’s true for all packs. We already know packs don’t always report things as they should to the triumvirate, especially the more isolated or rural packs.”

“That’s…” I let the word trail off, unsure what I’m trying to say.

She pats my knee and pushes up to her feet. “I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. The question of whether male omegas are rare isn’t exactly something that has much effect on day-to-day life either way.”

“You’re probably right,” I say, letting out a small sigh. “Thanks, Doctor.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiles and shoots me a wave as she heads out the door. “Feel free to ask Julien for my number in case you have any more questions or if you’d like me to go ahead with those additional tests.”

Once she’s gone, I sit there, staring down at my hands and wracking my brain trying to drag out a memory or two that might help me understand why the existence of male omegas—and the fact that they can get pregnant—is common knowledge to me. But, after fifteen minutes of struggling, all I succeed in doing is giving myself a headache, and a knock at the door interrupts any further attempts.

“Remy’s made some progress in tracking down your pack,” says Keir’s voice from the hallway. “But he needs you to take a look at some stuff to help him narrow it down further.”

“I’ll be right there,” I say, feeling more than a little apprehensive about what Remy might have found.