Page 38 of Worthy or Knot (Serendipity Omegaverse #3)

Thirty-Eight

MEGAN

“ G et yourself together,” Loren orders, his arms tight bands across my chest.

I shake my head in an attempt to clear it.

“You need to,” he says, misinterpreting my movement. His voice brooks no argument. “I can get you into a second room if that respirator has failed, but you need to pull yourself out of that rut before it settles in completely.”

He’s right. I know, logically, that he’s right.

I can’t do a damn thing for Cole if I’m out here having a meltdown over his condition.

Closing my eyes, I try to find that center of calm when the case is horrific and I need to manage through it, but that numb place is gone.

All I can see is Cole’s bleeding head wound and the other nurses continuing to give pulse-less updates.

With a gasp, I force my eyes back open, staring at the empty nurses’ station in the middle of the room.

Cole is… Jesus, he’s sick. He has OBS and is in a crisis event. The list of outcomes runs through me unbidden: kidney damage, lung damage, heart damage, blindness, memory loss, partial or total paralysis, coma, even death.

A desperate rage burns through my veins, slowly obliterating common sense. My entire body trembles. Holy fuck, I need to get away from here before I do something rash, like try to fight Loren even more than I already have.

“Okay, yeah, I need a room,” I admit, forcing my body limp in Loren’s arms.

Without hesitation, he turns us away from the trauma bay. He’s only taken a couple steps when someone calls my name.

“Loren, wait up.” It’s Riley. Why isn’t he in the room with Cole? He’s supposed to be saving my Omega’s life right now, not talking me down. Loren stops but doesn’t turn around. Riley grabs my elbow, and I force my eyes open. His eyebrows are furrowed, his hair an absolute mess.

Tears line my lashes, and I do my best to blink them away.

“Compressions?” I croak out.

Riley shakes his head. “We got ROSC. They’re working to get his blood markers out of the danger zone while we wait for the specialist to make it over from Brooklyn.

Then he’s going to the Omega ICU.” He looks at the security guard.

“I’ve got her, Loren. If you’ll stay nearby just in case, though, I’d appreciate it. ”

Loren eases me to my feet, silently stabilizing me when my knees buckle. Riley grabs my elbow, but I rip out of his hold, not trusting myself right now. He might be a Beta and my closest friend, but that doesn’t mean much when a true, uncontrollable rut happens to an Alpha.

Even as I think that, though, I mutter, “I’m fine.”

Not that anyone will believe me right now, not with how I just lost my absolute shit on my coworkers during a relatively routine OBS event. A shiver of rage goes down my spine. Fuck, I can’t even think those letters right now.

“You’re not fine,” he says sharply, giving me one of his don’t-bullshit-me looks and crosses his arms. “Don’t lie to me right now.”

Wordlessly, I nod. After a long minute, he guides me to one of the open computer stations, helping me into the chair and then spinning me around until I’m looking into his eyes as he crouches in front of me.

“Your respirator fail?” he asks without preamble.

I shake my head. It worked as intended, not a single scrap of apple scent hitting me while I was in there. He purses his lips and sighs.

“All right. So what’s going on with you? You’ve never reacted to an OBS crisis before.”

I twist my hands together before shoving them under my legs.

“It’s Cole.”

My voice cracks. Riley takes it as a question and nods.

“Yeah, that’s what EMS said. His partner should be here any minute.”

Charlotte .

Oh, God. That’s why she called me so many times.

I don’t say anything. I can’t. Just saying his name has my throat closing and that red haze crowding the edges of my vision.

Fuck, I need to get to him. Now. I try and push to my feet, but Riley stops me, holding me immobile with a biting grip on my knees.

A growl rises in my chest but I manage to keep it from surfacing, practically choking on it.

Riley’s frown deepens. “You know him from somewhere?”

I swallow past the horrid lump in my throat and nod once, sudden, angry tears blurring my vision. “Let me go.”

“Absolutely not, Megs.” Riley’s an immovable mass in front of me. Loren edges closer, a hand on his stun gun. “You’ll hate me in another couple hours if I let you ruin your career right now.”

Aggression floods my veins, so overwhelming my entire body shakes with it. I can’t hold back the growl this time. Riley’s throat ripples with a swallow, but he doesn’t loosen his hold on me. I push against him anyway, needing to get away, needing to get to Cole so I can fix him, help him, bond him.

All at once, my vision blurs out again, the red haze worse than before.

An inhuman snarl rips up my throat as I push to my feet, forcing my way out of my friend’s hold.

Loren’s right there, though, silently demanding me to stay put.

Riley’s eyes are wide, like that terrified nurse in the trauma bay.

“You don’t get it,” I snarl at him.

He nods, grabbing my wrist. “I know.” His voice is so gentle now, coaxing me like I’m a wild animal.

Fuck, I just might be one right now. “I don’t understand, so tell me.

Tell me why this one is affecting you like this when the one two weeks ago—with way more horrible neglect evident—didn’t bring out this kind of response. ”

“It’s him,” I croak.

“Him who?”

“ Him ,” I say with more emphasis. “He’s… he’s ours .” My voice breaks on the word, and then I’m holding back large, racking sobs.

Realization dawns on him, horror replacing the worry of a moment before.

“Oh, God,” he mutters. “And you didn’t know?”

I shake my head. No, we didn’t know. Fuck, I’d have gone with him to whatever appointments he was hiding from us.

I’d have helped organize his medications, kept up with his bloodwork.

I’d have done anything to help him from getting to this point.

All at once, the fight drains out of me, and I collapse in a heap onto the chair.

Riley follows me down, keeping me from hurting myself.

He looks over my shoulder as the doors to the waiting room open. I follow his gaze. A man with salt-and-pepper hair and beard strides through the department, a grim set to his mouth and worry lines creasing his forehead.

There’s a relieved sound from near the trauma bay.

“Thank goodness,” Dr. Peterson breathes. Then, louder, she says, “This one’s an absolute mess.”

The new man who, logically, must be the specialist they called in from the Gallagher Clinic, walks by us, his strides eating more ground than mine when I run.

“Fallon, right?”

“Yep.” Dr. Peterson’s voice is grim. The new doctor mutters a curse, and Dr. Peterson raises an eyebrow. “He one of yours?”

“Not yet. Was supposed to see him tomorrow. He’s been working with a colleague out in Seattle for the last two years.”

Two. Years.

Cole’s had OBS for two fucking years.

My strangled, heart-wrenching sob breaks the quiet of the room, and the new doctor glances back at me with a frown.

“Let’s get him upstairs, and I’ll work out a game plan,” he says as he turns back toward the trauma bay.

My muscles tighten in the span of a heartbeat, that red haze back.

Riley moves so fast, I don’t even realize his intention.

Then, his hand is over my eyes, blocking out everything, and his other arm acts as a cage, keeping me pressed against the desk.

There’s murmured voices, too many speaking at once to be able to parse out any meaning.

“She talked down?” It’s Dr. Petersen.

“No.” Riley’s answer is tight.

“The Omega’s partners are here.” One of the triage nurses. It sounds like Erica, but I can’t tell. I’ve never heard her be quite so unsure before. My muscles tighten, ready to pounce, to strip Riley’s hand off of me and rush to Cole before Charlotte or Marcus can.

Riley mutters a vicious curse.

His hand is an unshakable brick on my face.

“No one say a word about him,” he says, more vicious than I’ve ever heard him. “If you want Megs to have any chance of calming down without sedation, everyone just needs to shut the hell up right now.”

I don’t try to fight him. I count in my head, using his breathing as an anchor.

My mind finally empties out, that numb center I’ve honed over the last eight years accessible again.

The red haze fades from my mind, and the tension bleeds out from me.

My shoulders slump, and Riley blows out a breath.

He lets his hand drop. I can’t help the reflexive glance toward the trauma bay, but it’s empty now.

“His other partners are here?” Riley asks.

Erica nods once.

Luke clears his throat. “Your discharge is done, and the abdominal pain is waiting for ultrasound.”

Fuck, how the hell am I going to finish today when Cole is six floors up fighting for his life?

Riley glances at the other nurse before focusing on me again. “I’ll clock you out for the rest of shift. Take them upstairs to the Omega ICU waiting room. Whatever else you need, tell me.”

“Okay,” I whisper. I push to my feet, but he grabs my wrist.

“You need to change out of those scrubs before you do,” he says carefully.

Right. The fabric will carry Cole’s distressed scent.

“Luke, Vera, I need you to split her assignments until I can call in the stand-by nurse,” Riley says.

I edge around him, but he palms my shoulder before I’ve managed two full steps. It’s only then I realize the entire nursing staff and our doctors are surrounding the desk, their faces a mixture of confusion and worry. Most still have their respirators on. It takes me too long to realize why.

“I need to get out of these scrubs so everyone can get out of the masks,” I mutter.

Erica glances between us with a frown. “I can go grab her bag,” she offers. She’s disappearing deeper into the department as soon as Riley gives her the ok.

“I’m serious, Megs.” Riley quietly pulls my attention back to him. His voice is that same carefully soothing cadence. “You need time off, I’ll handle the suits. You need help coordinating food, I’ll get it organized.”

Erica’s back before I can formulate half a coherent thought.

She and Riley create a crude barrier as I gracelessly strip out of the scrubs and slip into my own jeans and shirt, all thoughts of work protocol nonexistent.

One of the techs grabs the abandoned scrubs and takes them into the laundry drop.

It’s then that the gossip articles from when we were in Seattle drop into my mind.

“Cameras,” I whisper.

Riley frowns. “You need them?”

I shake my head. “There… there might be some that come. Remember when I was in Seattle?”

Recognition lights in his eyes. He turns to the gathered employees. “Anyone approaches you about that code, you send them to me. You say nothing else to anyone, understand?”

There’s a murmured agreement.

“Good.” He turns to Erica. “Go get her partners from the waiting room, please.”

There’s a collective gasp as the dots connect all at once.

She ducks away, her eyes wide, and opens the doors to the waiting room.

It’s less than a minute later when Charlotte’s running through the room.

Tears fall down her cheeks and onto her shirt, but she doesn’t bother wiping them away.

Her hand is held by Marcus, his knuckles white. His eyes are wide, his panic obvious.

“Megs, oh God,” Charlotte sobs as she hugs me tightly. “He… I…”

“Take them upstairs,” Riley instructs again. Then he turns to our coworkers. “Let’s get back to everyone else. There’s still a full waiting room, and it’s not even ten yet.”