Chapter 4

At some point, Marko managed to get the omega to change clothes.

He was the only one that she'd let near her oddly enough over the next twenty-four hours, even though it would be a lie to say the rest of us tried.

I only went in once to get Marko to eat something while he watched over her and did nothing else. She had crawled as far she could away from me on the bed, clutching the blankets silently, breathing heavily.

At this point, the omega looked like she was half alive. Most of the time she fell asleep, fitfully. Her eyes were glazed and her body was exhausted but was no longer writhing as if she was in pain or burning up in heat.

But she was silent.

Too silent.

Silent enough that even Marko agreed when I suggested we'd call Allison. She had been a pack friend for a long time. Her family was Prestford family friends, though when they found out that she was an alpha instead of an omega like they always pictured for her, she became more of a black sheep to her parents than anything else. Most importantly right now, she was a doctor.

Not even Cal put up a fight about calling her, though he hadn't gone up to the guest room once yet. Instead, he paced the hall or disappeared altogether.

"You have an omega here?" Allison asked the moment I answered the door, quickly shutting it behind herself. She paused in the entryway with her bag, looking around the place as the distinct scent was already permeating the entire space, and reached her nose. She blinked a few times. "Oh no. Oh no no no."

"Allison."

Her voice lowered into a grumbling whisper. "You have an unbonded omega in this house, Demetri. What are you thinking? Is this why she called me? Is she… did you…"

My eyes widened at what she was insinuating. "No."

Her head cocked to the side, blond ponytail falling over her shoulder. "Do not lie to me Demetri Prestford."

"I'm not. She…"

Noticing the way my face fell, Allison's softened. "Just promise me you didn't buy her or steal her?"

"Do you think so lowly of all four of us, Ali?"

She paused and shut her eyes.

"I called you."

"No. I don't think that," she said. "I wouldn't have shown up if I did. What is going on?"

I rubbed the back of my neck as I led her inside towards the stairs. Any other time when someone walked in unless we were all working, the television on. There would be noise through the house, now it was quiet. Uneasily so. "From what we understand, the omega has been disguising herself for the past several years."

"Disguising herself."

"As a beta," I clarified. I still could barely wrap my head around it. "Marko got out of her that she had been using illegal suppressors and blockers so that it would look and smell as if she was a beta."

"Wow. Still, how did you all get wrapped up in this?"

"Cal had been dating a beta."

"Or not beta." Allison caught on quickly.

I nodded.

"Cal was… damn."

I watched her reaction. "We don't know much else of the story as of now since she went into what we assumed was a heat, but she seems disoriented, and it isn't presenting like an omega heat. She's not wanting anything and we're…"

"Still coherent enough not to do anything stupid," agreed Allison, looking me over.

She only looked at me. "I now understand why you said, be discrete. Where is she?"

"Guest room with Marko."

At that, she came to a complete stop from heading upstairs. "Marko?"

She had one of Marko's oversized t-shirts on from when he used to go to concerts and the noise wasn't too much for him and a pair of Cal's old sweatpants that hung loosely but fit her well enough.

I stood by the door listening in as the doctor slowly examined her as best as he could.

"What's your name, omega? First and last?"

She didn't answer.

He hummed, watching as she flinched at the light he shined in her eyes, asking more questions she didn't answer. "Just tell me one thing."

Ella paused.

"How old are you?"

She blinked as if weighing the question before she finally answered. Her voice was worn, but there. "Twenty-six."

I forced myself not to look shocked. The girl in that room did not look twenty-six. She was small and thin. Not to mention she was unbonded.

I ran a hand through my hair with a shake of my head. None of this made sense.

Allison on the other hand only raised her eyebrows at the omega. "No. You're not. Try again."

The omega inhaled looking around. "I'm twenty-two."

"I'll take that answer," said Allison reaching for her stethoscope. "Deep breath. Good. And your last heat was?"

She didn't answer that question right away either.

"No shame here," Allison said. "Just making sure that you're alright so I can figure out what is happening with your suppressant use and how you've been scheduling your heats."

"I haven't… I haven't had a heat before. Not since I presented."

Allison had a moment to blink, but none of the answers phased her. "When did you first present as an omega?"

"I'm not an omega." The omega hesitated her eyes starting to fill with water again.

Marko nearly ran from where he stood next to me in the doorway. "Calm down," I reached out to touch his arm.

Allison waited until the omega who clearly didn't want to be gathered herself. "It's okay, Ella. You don't need to worry about anything right now, but I would like to know so that I can best help you moving forward."

"They're all going to know."

"Who?" Allison asked. "I'm not going to tell a soul. Not unless there is something wrong that I can't fix and then we'll find the best route to make sure that you are healthy."

Ella shook her head.

"And safe."

The omega swallowed as if with those words, she was pacified. "I was sixteen."

A low whistle came out of Allison almost before she could stop it. She chuckled a little at the sound she made, somehow the picture of calm.

Sixteen. The omega, Ella, presented a little earlier than some omegas at sixteen and had a heat at sixteen. Who had helped her through it? What happened? How did she manage it and then get away alone… to this?

"I think it is your turn to calm down now, brother," Marko whispered to me.

He was right.

I could only imagine just how tough the past day or two must"ve been for him, though he didn"t seem too out of it. If anything, Marko"s eyes looked the clearest I"d seen them in the past year, the bond I could feel connecting us, warm and steady rather than its occasional cold and erratic tendencies.

I asked, "Have you gotten anything out of her? Other than what Allison is?"

Another shrug. Marko was a man of few words, but usually, he had the right ones to keep me on track and collected to do what I needed to do for everyone. "Nothing besides the obvious."

"And that is?"

"She's been alone for a long time. Most of the time was probably spent scared and out of her mind. I can't even imagine what it must've been like her finding those pills let alone what she thought she was going through every time she ran out. Living like that..." Marko clenched his jaw shut.

It wasn't Marko's situation exactly. Not even close to his situation. His was much worse, and yet, I couldn't help but watch the memories pass along Marko's eyes as he remembered exactly when he was pumped full of drugs and suppressants before…

"You can get out of here you know. Clear your head."

"My head is clearer than it's been in a long time," he said.

I dipped my head, making sure to remember to keep checking up on him. The last thing we needed was for him to lose himself in all this.

This was exactly one of the reasons why I wasn't sure about even bringing in an average omega into this house after Liam brought it up.

Our dynamic was solid, the four of us. Anything could cause it to crack. And I wasn't willing to lose Marko. I wasn't willing to lose any of us to add one.

Eventually, Allison came back out the door.

The doctor waved us away until we were far enough away not to disturb Ella lying down inside.

"I gave her something to help her sleep," Allison explained, putting her things back into her bag. "I'd love to do a blood panel to check up on some things, but I understand if that… isn't in the cards right now. Just by looking at her and from what you've told me, I can imagine that her kidneys aren't up to par. Her nervous system, quite frankly, is shot. Her mind seems to be in a sort of pre-heat setting, shutting most everyone out so that it can focus on healing from whatever physical or mental trauma that must be there."

"Trauma," said Marko, so low I wasn't even sure if Allison heard him repeat her words.

"Her omega doesn't know what to do with what is happening, so her hormones are taking a hit, unsure where to land. That kind of long-term suppressant use and at such a high dose…" Allison shook her head. "We are seeing more and more adverse effects in a lot of patients who have played with them though I've never seen anyone on them like that."

"But is she okay?" I asked.

"For now, yes," said Allison. "I'd highly suggest when she calms down and things settle that she come into me for a more thorough examination. We should make sure that she is progressing now that her body is returning to where it should"ve been. As of now, by the looks of things, I'm unsure if the girl ever had a proper heat beyond that first one. It's doubtful."

"But she isn't in heat right now?"

"No. It's unlikely she'll fall into one at all for a long while. I expect her body knows better than to risk that at this point. If she does… it won't be the best thing for her," Allison said.

"What do you mean?" asked Marko.

"She means," I said, filling in the blanks. "Ella would not make it through a heat right now."

Marko's breath turned sharp. Walking away from the two of us, he headed back towards the guest room door. He knocked before walking in straight away.

"Thank you, Allison."

She nodded. Still not moving.

"Do you need to say anything else?"

Allison sighed before nodding. "She needs support. Some of what I noticed cannot just be from the medication she had been taking, Demetri. She's over-exhausted, dehydrated, and underweight. Someone needs to take care of the omega. Can I rest assured you will get her that care? Or if you can't, do I need to make a call?"

The question was a complete slap in the face. I wanted to slam that doctor against the wall and ask him what kind of alpha he thought he was talking to. "Of course. We are just going to figure out what is going on until she is coherent enough to make decisions. I don't want to make them for her."

"I get that, Demetri, but I don't want you to get in trouble over this. This isn't your omega."

But she could be.

"I'll handle it."

"Okay," said Allison. "Call me should anything come up. If anything else happens."

"Thank you again."

I led Allison back to the door and watched as she left. She wouldn't call Omega Services or tell anyone else what happened here. I was sure that we could trust her, but even the idea that if word got out about Ella she'd be taken from the house, from us, made me uneasy.

She could barely move from bed.

I watched from the doorway of the guest bedroom where Marko was back sitting on the floor next to the. The omega was asleep again.

Marko sighed with a hint of relief when he saw me. "Gone?"

"She left."

"Good."

"Don't get attached," I warned.

"Who do you think you're talking to? Cal?" Marko asked as if in a joke, though there was no humor in his tone as he looked across the room towards the wall.

I snorted and headed down the hall to my room. The goal was to stay away from it all until she got better and could decide what she wanted to do. I find her options.

Just like I told Allison I would.

I just hoped that whatever those options were, we chose the right one.