Page 4

Clark

“T hank you so much.” I took the bags from Carlos and Castle under the watchful eye of the woman in pink scrubs at the desk inside the locked omega unit. After practice, they’d gone to my place to get some things for Gwen and me and check on Snowball.

“Of course. Is she awake?” Castle asked, blonde hair up in a messy bun.

I shook my head. “Not yet.”

“Can I see her?” Carlos looked worried, brown hair in his eyes.

“Gweny’s not awake yet, but the doctor thought having friends around might help, so you can come back. Dimitri and most of Grif’s pack are here already. You do have to sign in, though,” I replied, desperate to help her. While she’d come out of the spiral, she wasn’t conscious and this was far from over.

He and Castle signed in at the desk and got stickers, I was already wearing mine. Dean and company had shown up after practice. A little earlier Ty–Gwen’s fellow EBUG–and a couple of her teammates from NYIT had come by. Lenny had been in and out. I’d also been officially discharged from the hospital.

A man in a suit came into the unit, wearing hospital credentials. Something about him didn’t say doctor. He came right for us.

“You’re Clark Edwards, right?” he asked me, eyeing my sticker. “A word?”

Yeah, I didn’t like this at all. My belly twisted.

“415,” I told Carlos and Castle, still holding the bags.

“I’m Yates, one of the administrators here. Your insurance isn’t covering your girlfriend’s treatment.” Yates said girlfriend like it was distasteful.

“Okay. I’ll get it worked out and appeal if needed. Thanks for letting me know.” I’d already talked to HR and gotten the forms, since Gwen was on my insurance. When Dr. Kristy came back to check on Gwen, I’d get her to sign off. I’d emailed Dr. Alvarez, too.

“I don’t think you understand. This is the omega ward. The treatment they’re giving her is for omegas. She’s a beta . I don’t know why they even put her up here to begin with. We need to move her to the general ward before it becomes more than you can afford.” He slowed his words down like it would help me understand.

“It’s working . Why wouldn’t insurance cover treatment that’s doing its job? That’s what insurance is for.” I gave him a look. She already looked and smelled so much better, even if she was still unconscious.

He wasn’t an alpha, but certainly not a beta. Probably a delta, to help stand up to alphas, so he wasn’t just barked into allowing things. I could see how a loved one being ill could make an alpha use compulsion, even if it was illegal to use your bark on hospital staff.

“She’s a beta. ” His look said duh.

“So, she should get substandard care because of her designation?” I held his gaze, not liking this at all.

“She’s taking beds away from omegas who need it. She doesn’t belong here.”

A couple of alphas sitting on the couch drinking coffee gave me a look.

“Funny, the ward looks half-full,” I told him. “Dr. Kristy and Dr. Alvarez say she belongs here, and this is the treatment she needs, and I trust them. I’ll work things out with my insurance.”

“Dr. Kristy is not from this hospital. Look, we're moving your girlfriend down to general and stopping her current treatment. Really, with her injuries, she doesn’t need to be in the hospital at all,” he told me.

What fuckery was this?

“She’s unconscious. What do you mean she doesn’t need to be in the hospital? Just because you don’t understand her medical needs, doesn’t mean they’re not valid.” My voice rose and people were watching us now.

I started walking toward Gwen’s room. Yeah, they weren’t discharging her. Doesn’t need to be in the hospital, my ass.

“Look, I’m trying to help you. Insurance will cover beta-appropriate care for her, because she’s a beta.” He trotted after me. “I don’t think you can afford to pay out of pocket for care she doesn’t need. Are you even out of university yet? You work at an ice rink ?”

Oh. He thought we were kids. I was twenty-one, thank you very much.

The door to Gwen’s hospital room was propped open and the little pack-sized suite was full of hockey players. There were also flowers, balloons, stuffies, and a shit-ton of food that some of the MASOs–the hockey mates and significant others –sent.

People loved Gwen and wanted to support her–and us. For that, I was grateful.

“Tens, Yates here doesn’t think Gwen should be in the hospital at all,” I blurted, putting the bags down.

Tenzin sat in a chair next to her and gave Yates a hard alpha stare. “She’s unconscious, what do you mean she shouldn’t be in the hospital?”

“She shouldn’t be unconscious with her injuries.” Yates looked at his tablet, then up, eyes widening as he took in everyone in the room. “There are too many visitors.”

“Omega ward doesn’t have limits during visiting hours.” I’d checked. “You’re not moving her–and certainly you’re not discharging her. We’ll work out the cost if insurance doesn’t cover her care, but like I said, I have the paperwork.”

“This is about money?” Dimitri snarled. “Don’t worry about the money.”

It wasn’t about the money. It was because she was a beta. Someone had already questioned her presence here. But they’d backed off as soon as Tenzin stood.

Yates scowled, “It’s my job to worry about money, Mr…”

“Belikov. Dimitri Belikov. There is no need to worry about the money,” Dimitri snapped in his Russian accent, gesturing to the room full of hockey players.

We took care of our own.

“I’m supposed to know or care who any of you are?” He grimaced.

Clearly, Yates didn’t like hockey.

“No. But if I have to get her family involved, it won’t be pretty.” Lenny leaned in the doorway, in an expensive suit, fancy watch flashing. “We’re good for it. But we know it’s not about the money. It’s about her designation. She’s not taking beds from omegas, and if her care suffers because of your prejudice…”

“Are you threatening me?” Yates scowled.

“Of course not.” Lenny’s look went sinister. “You’d know if I was. You know, it’s illegal to withhold lifesaving medical care because of designation.”

“Gwen stays,” I told him. “She’s not being dramatic by going unconscious for attention.”

Dramatic beta was an awful stereotype used to bully betas into not speaking up for their needs.

“I’m just doing my job,” Yates snapped. “We’re setting a bad precedence here, letting betas–”

“You need to go,” I snapped back, as the room filled with growls.

Tenzin stood and took a step toward him, his imposing face on. “Dr. Kristy and Dr. Alvarez made it clear that she stays until they say otherwise. Stress is bad for her, so please leave.”

“Fine.” Yates left, muttering about uppity betas.

Lenny was on his phone and slipped out after Yates. Yeah, he could deal with him.

“Fucknugget,” Carlos muttered.

“Right?” Castle snickered.

One alpha from the lobby came to the doorway. “There’s a beta in here?”

Tenzin growled, still standing. “ Gwen is in here.”

The alpha took a step back and looked up. “Got it, man. Shit, you’re one big alpha.”

“Your omega won’t get worse care because Gwen’s up here.” I stood next to Tenzin.

“Understood.” His eyes flickered over her still body, then he turned and left.

We all hung out, ate, and talked. People came and went. It was nice having visitors. It helped keep my mind off worrying about her not waking up. I could tell that even though she was unconscious, she enjoyed having everyone around, too.

Tenzin left to get some stuff from his place. Everyone else went down to the cafeteria for a change of scenery. I stayed behind, as did Dimitri, just in case anyone tried anything–or she woke up.

I went to the bathroom. When I came out, Dimitri sat in the chair next to her, having a soft and earnest conversation with her in quiet Russian, a pensive look on his face.

“Is everything okay? That sounded serious,” I said. Not that I spoke Russian.

“I need Bozh'ya Korovka to talk some sense into me. She’s gentler than my sister,” he told me.

“Okay.” I sat down on the sofa. “Want to talk about it?”

He shook his head and looked at Gwen. “I just hope I can be strong like her.”

“You’re one of the strongest people I know.” I frowned.

Dimitri sighed. “My mamochka was one of the strongest people I knew, until my mama died. In the end, even my fathers weren’t enough for her. It was bad for everyone. Given the PHL already made me offers, and Sasha’s school wanted him, I brought them to this country where they wouldn’t have to deal with sad alphas and their tempers. The fathers were so busy with their work and grief that they didn’t even notice we were gone for months–and that was because one of their friends saw me in a game and told them.”

“Shit, I’m so sorry.” They didn’t notice for months?

Everyone came back, and we ate again. The whole time I kept looking back at Gwen, hoping she’d wake up and demand cuddles.

“She’ll wake up,” AJ assured Tenzin. “After all, I need to know the story of the vintage custom Dubois hanging in my coat closet. Mercy said it’s Gwen’s. Did she win it in a dare? Trade a lasagna for it? I’m dying of curiosity here.”

I had no idea what a vintage Dubois was. Not a car if it was in his coat closet. Gwen would look cute driving a vintage car.

Eventually, visiting hours ended and everyone left. After all, the Knights had a game tomorrow.

“Hey.” Lenny came to the open door with black calla lilies, dipped in glitter.

“Hi.” Awww. He’d brought her space lilies. Well, what passed for them, considering they were fictional, from her favorite space series.

Oooh. Maybe I should read the books out loud to her–or play the audio book. That might help.

“You can stay, but Buttons and I need to have a conversation,” Lenny told us.

“Of course.” I left the bed and sat on the couch with Tenzin, who was on his phone.

Lenny put the vase of flowers on the table.

“Buttons, you have until tomorrow morning to wake up. If not, your dads will be on a plane. All of them. Matty, too. I know you don’t want to wake up to a dad ambush. It’s been hard to give you this much time. I have work to do tomorrow, but I’ll be by. Wake up and I’ll bring you shit from that Italian restaurant you like, even if it’s not quite your nonna’s.” He lightly touched her hair in a brotherly way, then turned to us. “Call me if you need me. Oh, that Yates asshole won’t be bothering you again.” Lenny left.

“I’m so curious about Lenny, but I watch too many action movies,” I replied, getting up and going over to the bag of things Carlos had brought.

“No, I’m pretty sure your instincts are right. There are possibly some excellent reasons Gwen doesn’t want their money or their meddling,” Tenzin replied, looking up from his phone.

Oh. But that changed nothing.

“Everyone’s gone home?” Dr. Bouchard, who’d taken over for Dr. Alvarez, came in and checked the monitors, making notes on his tablet.

“When will she regain consciousness?” I didn’t want to wake up to Gwen’s dads. They were probably scary.

“Hopefully soon. The longer she stays under, the greater risk we have of her not waking up at all. I thought for sure between the spiral breaking and having you and her friends around it would do it.” The doctor looked worried as he continued noting things. “You might want to, um, let her know you’re here. That can help.”

Had we not been doing that this whole time?

I showered and changed in the little bathroom, then took one of the pills I’d been prescribed, and crawled into bed with Gwen. Her face was really purple today. Though my face hurt, too. Part from the accident, part from all the fights I’d gotten into at the game.

“Please wake up, Gweny. Not just because I’m afraid of meeting your dads. There’s so much for you to look forward to. Like the championship cup dinner. I still haven’t taught you how to drive. My dad thinks I should retire the motorcycle until we stop playing hockey. I don’t know about that. But we can get a car. What should we get?” I asked her. “Maybe a sports car? Like Grif’s sleek one? Or more like Verity’s cute pink one that goes super-fast?”

I’d be fine with whatever.

“I let your coach know that you’re in the hospital. Some of your team came by and brought you the blue hydrogels you like. Don’t worry about your away game on Saturday. Bonnie says they’re not very good, so the other goalie will be fine. They hope you’re better by the time they play BosTec though. Oh, and your coach let your professors know and is trying to find people to get your class notes.” Because she’d worry about that.

I kissed her forehead. “Everyone wants you to get better. Lots of people came by today, not just your friends and the other goalies, but some of the coaches, too. A few of the MASOs made snacks. Lenny got you space lilies. You have balloons and flowers, too. No omega lilies. I know you don’t like them, because of your mom. Please wake up, Gweny. Tens is here, too. We need you.” My voice broke. “We need you so much.”

If she didn’t wake up, I wasn’t sure what I’d do. I settled down with my Game Buddy to play a little to relax.

Tenzin came out of the bathroom, shirtless, hair wet. He grabbed a book and slid onto the other side of the bed. While the couch pulled out, this mattress was fine as long as we were careful.

“Hey, how’s Squiggles’ mom?” I asked.

“Still in the hospital, but alright for now,” he replied, expression heavy. “Babies are okay and still cooking.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Gwen will wake up, right?” My voice broke. I couldn’t face the alternative.

“Hey.” Tenzin reached over and his fingers stroked my face, burning themselves into me. “She’ll wake up. She sleeps a lot after a game, right? Remember after the game against UNYC? She took forever to get up, and after yoga and visiting Marty, she slept all afternoon. She’s just resting. Spirals can take a lot out of you, too.” His lips brushed her forehead. “Not clammy, not feverish. See, she’s just exhausted and her body is healing.”

“Okay.” I gulped, wanting to believe that. “I'm so glad you’re here. I… I missed you.”

Tenzin’s eyes met mine. They were such a beautiful shade of brown. Like polished hardwood. “I’m right here.”

“Okay.” We turned off all the lights, but the small one, and I returned to my game and him to his book.

It felt almost normal, him reading, me playing a game, Gwen between us. Now we just needed her to wake up.