Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
“It does. Does that make you uncomfortable? I’ve never intentionally hurt anyone, and I’m as bound by my Hippocratic oath as any other doctor.”
Olivia pressed both palms to her cheeks, clearly overwhelmed. “I don’t know what to think, but I know you’ve been nothing but kind and helpful to me,” she finally said.
Brielle nodded with understanding. “We can talk about it more if you have questions later. It was a surprise to us as well.”
Olivia nodded and fell silent.
“I’m sorry, I’m going to need you to back up.” Gael’s voice was harsh, disbelieving, as he stared laser beams through my palm, as if he wanted to carve it off my skin with his eyeballs.
But I couldn’t focus on that.
Breathe in, breathe out, Leigh. Just breathe, so you don’t pass out.
“Of course, Gael.” Brielle was in full doctor mode and not the least put off by his surly attitude.
“Does it mean this baby is an omega? We’re now on the run from the ODL for more-” He cut a look at the still-pale Olivia and cleared his throat, changing directions. “We’re now in danger of the ODL hunting our child?”
Brielle bit her lip, shooting an apologetic look at Olivia, who maybe didn’t need this much information dumped on her when she was already in shock.
“Omega mothers only have one child. And that mark means that the baby will be an omega.”
Darkness prickled around the corners of my vision, and I slumped back in my seat as the implications dragged me under.
I was cursed. My Petal would spend her whole life on the run, in danger.
Or she’d be killed as soon as she was born, ripped from my arms, and murdered right in front of me.
It was too much.
Too much.
The blackness was a tunnel, getting longer and longer, and the last thing I saw was Gael’s panicked face as he shook my shoulders as all the light winked out.
SIX
Gael
Leigh’s eyes rolled into the back of her head, and my heart tried to claw its way out of my mouth as she slumped in her seat, unconscious.
“Leigh, Leigh!” I barked, shaking her shoulders, trying to get her to wake up.
Shit, shit, shit, shit?-
“Gael, back up. Give Bri some room,” Reed tried to peel me away from her, but I couldn’t let her go, not like this.
“Gael! Back up, now!” Kane’s alpha command knocked me back, and I sank helplessly to my knees as I watched Brielle hover over my pregnant female, checking her pulse and snapping for someone to lower the seat.
She got her flat, then checked again.
“I need something cold, a bag of ice or a wet rag, something to shock her out of it.” Brielle seemed perfectly calm as she directed the situation, and I was glad, because if she panicked, I was going to shift right here in the middle of the damn plane.
The flight attendant ran on her spindly heels to get it, but I couldn’t peel my eyes from Leigh’s ghost-pale face to watch her go.
Leigh was usually golden, glowing from the sun, her skin a lovely tan that perfectly matched her natural blond hair. But now she looked ill, worse than when she’d been vomiting and clammy in her bathroom.
And I was pinned to the ground with alpha dominance, helpless. Unable to go to her, touch her, smell her?-
The flight attendant was back in a flash, passing a white rag to Brielle, who gripped Leigh’s limp arm, lifted it overhead, and pressed the cold fabric straight into her armpit.
Leigh gasped, eyes flying open like she’d been electrocuted. She jerked, trying to get away from the blast of cold, but Brielle hung on, shushing her.
“You’re okay. I just need you to breathe a little better for me and try to relax,” Brielle said soothingly, while Shay hovered over her shoulder like a ghost.
I strained against my bonds, finally looking at Kane.
“Alpha, please,” I said, working to keep the growl out of my voice. My wolf was close to the surface, and I was sure my eyes were glowing at this point. But I needed to touch her. It wasn’t optional. Just her hand, just something to settle my wolf and prove that she was going to be okay.
“Take it slow,” he warned me as he gradually pulled back the command.
I rose and stepped toward her at a glacial pace, not wanting to spook her all over again.
“Can I hold your hand?” I asked in a low murmur, and I hated the shakiness in my words. My wolf was so close to the edge, it wasn’t funny. But we needed to be strong right now, not flying off the handle when our pregnant female was sick. I wrestled him down as I waited.
The nod was so tiny, I might have missed it if I weren’t studying her like she was the Mona Lisa. But I sank gratefully to my knees at her side and laced my fingers with hers.
My wolf instantly calmed, and she shuddered at the contact, clearly needing that touch herself right now.
She might hate me, but her wolf didn’t. Her wolf needed pack, and had to recognize that we wanted to protect her as much as our young.
But I wouldn’t push it, not yet. Not when she was fragile.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was Leigh, and the baby. What they needed, they got, even if I had to walk over hot coals to get it for them. I’d take the blisters with a smile if she’d stop pushing me out of their lives.