Page 43 of Worthy or Knot (Serendipity Omegaverse #3)

Forty-Three

MARCUS

C harlotte doesn’t pick up when I dial her the second time, so I call Megan instead.

It’s a shit thing to do since she’s supposed to be at work in another few hours, but promises aren’t always convenient.

I glance at the clock hung above the nurses’ station.

Nearly four in the morning. I tilt my head back against the wall of Cole’s room and let my eyes slide shut.

On the fourth ring, Megan finally answers, her voice full of sleep. “Marcus? What’s wrong?”

The words catch in my throat. All at once, the proprietary need to be the only one near Cole sweeps through me like a wildfire. My body trembles with the force of it.

“Marcus? Did you butt dial me at four in the morning?” There’s humor mixed with her irritation, and it’s enough to unglue my tongue from the roof of my mouth.

“No,” I say roughly.

Then I blow out a breath and feel the words take shape on my tongue. They’ve been the ones all three of us have wanted to hear for over a week now, but they feel so small at the moment. They don’t convey the dread I felt from him or the quiet sobbing still coming from his room.

“Did something happen?”

I just say them. “He’s awake.”

There’s shuffling on her side of the call and then something hitting the ground. I don’t say a word, knowing she’s going to Charlotte and waking her up.

“Megs?” Charlotte’s sleepiness is a whisper in my chest. “Why are you scared?”

Shit, she must be feeling the web of emotions happening in the communal bond and not realize what she’s feeling.

Of course she wouldn’t. She had less than a day of feeling him like this before everything happened.

We’ve slowly adjusted to feeling each other, but it’s never as vibrant as the Omega.

And with her tired and confused right now?

Yeah, of course she’d assume it’s Megan that’s scared.

“Not scared,” Megan says. Then, louder, “Marcus, say it again.”

It’s even harder to say them this time. Confusion weaves through the bond, and I can’t for the life of me figure out if it’s Charlotte’s or Cole’s.

“Lottie, he’s awake,” I croak out finally.

There’s a rush of excitement followed almost immediately by trepidation. Neither replace the confusion. It must be Cole’s, then.

“Have you talked? What does he remember?”

The confusion morphs back to that soul-wrenching dread, and I have to breathe through the near-feral need to rush back into that room and bury him in my scent until it goes away.

Charlotte sucks in a breath as she must feel it, too.

His dread and confusion and my entire mess.

I feel like I’ve run the gamut of emotions in the last fifteen minutes.

“Marcus? What’s wrong?” It’s Megan this time.

“We haven’t really talked, no. I got the nurse and she’s running through whatever she’s supposed to.”

“Can we come?” Charlotte asks. “Or do you want more time?”

It’ll take a while until they make it here. You have time to talk even if you say yes, I tell myself. And I can’t be that much of a selfish asshole. She’s been so torn up this entire week. And Megan deserves to see him awake and not dying in the ER before all of the hospital staff descends soon.

“Yeah, of course you can come.”

“Take the time you need,” Megan says. “Text us when you’re ready. We’ll wait outside the room.”

Bless that woman.

“Oh, of course,” Charlotte softly agrees.

Jessica steps into the hallway, her gaze catching on me as she slides the glass door closed.

Instead of continuing to the computer, she turns down the hall and into the storage room, returning with a large plastic cup and straw.

She wordlessly fills it from the communal ice maker and water fountain, then walks back toward Cole.

Except her eyes stay focused on me, and she walks right past Cole’s door.

“Okay, I’ll let you know. The nurse needs me.”

Megan hangs up before me. I let my hand drop to my side.

“He’s alert and stable,” Jessica says, “but very emotional. It’s a pretty typical reaction. The doctors say he’s free to eat but all he asked for was water. You should be the one to give it to him.”

I take the plastic cup from her outstretched hand.

“They’ll be in in another hour to do their full evaluations and coordinate step-down care, but you shouldn’t be disturbed until then. Are your other pack mates coming?”

Wordlessly, I nod.

She smiles. “I’ll call down to security so they’re ready for them at the entrance.”

She turns and settles back into the chair and computer.

My mind is oddly blank as I open his door and slip back inside.

The scene is eerily similar to the first time I saw him here last week.

The memory slams through me, stealing my breath.

The forceful emotion has Cole glancing up.

Tears run down his face, and all of my internal mess falls away.

COLE

Marcus sets the large hospital cup on the counter near the door and rushes to me, his worry and fear melding into an indecipherable mess in my chest. His nutmeg scent explodes from him, the sweet edge to it calming me despite… everything.

“Cole, fuck,” he mutters. “What’s wrong? God, please don’t cry. It’s okay. You’re okay.”

His hands are steady as he cups my cheeks and wipes away the tears. I try not to enjoy the touch, try to keep some semblance of distance. It’s only a matter of minutes, I’m sure, until he tells me they don’t want to be saddled with all of this. Panic swells at the thought.

“Omega, breathe.” The words are a command, just as potent as the last whispered order earlier. I suck in a harsh gasp.

And then the words are pouring out of me.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I hadn’t had any new symptoms since moving even with coming off the suppressor. I thought it would get better. I didn’t want to say anything if it was getting better being with you again. I thought?—”

“Stop.”

It’s a barked order. My throat closes around a whine. He gentles his voice, but his hands are firm where they still hold me. I can’t tell if it’s him or me shaking. Maybe both. My hands haven’t stopped trembling since waking up.

“Just…” His eyes flutter closed for a moment. “It’s four in the morning, and you’ve been unconscious for over a week. We weren’t even sure you would wake up at one point. Let me just be with you right now. Please.” His eyes shine with tears, and there’s desperation in the bond.

“O-okay.”

He wipes my cheeks again and then pulls away, grabbing the water. He holds it out to me, but this time my arms don’t really work.

“I…”

He seamlessly readjusts, helping me drink enough that my throat doesn’t ache as much and it doesn’t feel like I’ve been left alone in a desert for days.

“You want food right now?” he asks, setting the cup on a small table nearby. Then he sets about moving my blankets around, like he doesn’t want to stop moving. “The girls are on their way. I can have them stop by somewhere.”

I can’t help but stare at him. The dark circles under his eyes are even more pronounced than when I’d first woken up, but all I can feel is relief in the bond.

Relief and nerves, but those are Charlotte’s.

I’ve spent the last two years noticing exactly how Marcus’s emotions feel. It’s easy to decipher between them now.

“You aren’t upset?”

He freezes, and his lips curve into a sardonic smile. “Of course I’m upset.”

My stomach twists. He runs a hand down the side of my neck, his thumb running along the hollow of my throat.

“I’m terrified about what the crisis might have caused permanently. I’m hurt you didn’t trust me with this, that you thought I’d push you away if you were honest about having OBS. I’m angry that I was on the other side of Manhattan when your heat started and couldn’t help you.”

He perches on the bed.

“I’m so upset I can hardly breathe.” He cups my chin and then kisses me, just a whisper of his lips against mine. The tenderness has tears welling all over again. “But you’re mine, and the relief of you being awake is more potent than anything else right now.”

“You still want me?”

His gaze sharpens. “Listen to me, Cole.” He presses his thumb against my lips. “I loved you before I even knew your name. I’ll love you long after the world has forgotten it, too. You’re carved into me.”

And then I feel it, the warm spread of it, under my ribs, and I’m crying all over again. He calmly wipes them away, his eyes never straying from mine.

“Of course I still want you, you ridiculous man,” he says, his lips curving into that half-smile that shows off his dimple.

The words clog my throat, tripping over each other. They fill my mouth and then spill over, inelegant and messy and raw.

“I didn’t grow up in a family like this.

My dads only tolerated Sienna. They never risked leaving because they couldn’t stomach the thought of losing us.

” I suck in a breath. “I’d always thought I’d end up with something like…

like that. Especially when they told me my last real chance of curbing the OBS was finding another Alpha who would bond me.

And then you were there and… God, I love you, Marcus.

I meant what I said when we signed the finalization. You’re everything to me.”

He kisses me again, moving until he’s sitting next to me on the small bed, his head pillowed on his arm.

I can’t help but reach for him. My arms are still slow to respond, but he doesn’t move away from my jerky movements.

He grabs my hand and brings it to his mouth, running his lips along my wrist. My apple scent slowly surrounds us, soft and muted.

His eyes close as he shudders in a breath.

“You’re shaking,” he whispers.

“Sorry.” I lick my lips. “It happens sometimes after a flare.”

Marcus opens his eyes. “Cole, it wasn’t a flare. Maybe it started as one, but by the time Charlotte got to you and called for help, it was a crisis. Your heart stopped—” He chokes on the word. “Your heart stopped in the ambulance. Megan had to give you CPR.”

“I’m sorry.” And I am. Sorry I’m sick, sorry I’ve saddled them with it, sorry his nearness wasn’t enough.

“I know.” He moves toward me until his chest brushes my side. “You’re going to let us help.”

It’s another command. And despite all my fears before, following it is as easy as breathing.

“Okay, Alpha.”