Page 125 of Freeing My Alpha

“Natalia already ordered this based on your symptoms, but I also know you’ve been feeling a bit queasy and dizzy. Let me know if you feel faint, okay?” The nurse says.

“Okay,” I say.

But Noah isn’t okay. His eyes flick between the nurse and me. As the nurse pricks a vein on my inner arm, Noah tenses his chest, drawing even closer until his wide form blocks the overhead lights.

The nurse laughs. “Alpha, please just let me do my job without hovering.”

Noah flushes, taking a step back. “Sorry, I'm just— I don't know. My hormones are a little raised after everything today.”

God, now I really don't feel like I can tell him what triggered me.

Right on cue, Noah's eyes flicker to mine. Are you still feeling nauseous? Yas mentioned you had a trauma trigger that caused you to feel sick?

Unfortunately, yes... And those Alphas you mentioned, were they...?

I don’t even need to finish asking if they were Alpha-domination cultists. Noah suddenly can’t meet my eyes.

He’s never come home with an injury from them before. Does he hide his wounds from me, or are things getting even worse?

“You're all set, Luna! Here’s your room, right in front of us.” The nurse waits for Noah to help me through the door across the hall. When I’m nestled safely on the examination bed beneath a blanket, the nurse gives us a bright smile. “Natalia might need some time, so please make yourselves comfortable.”

With the door shut behind the nurse, Noah presses a soft kiss into my cheek. “Are you still feeling triggered?”

“A little.”

Noah raises one eyebrow. “You smell like you’re hiding something.”

I sputter out a laugh, burying my head in my hands. “I’m not intentionally hiding something, but you’re right. I didn’t want to admit that I got myself way too worked up trying to solve our dads’ potential murders on my own, ultimately triggering myself instead.”

Biting my lip, I glance at Noah for his reaction. Thankfully, his tense eyebrows soften. “Oh, my sweet Omega. Let’s put that aside until you feel better, and then we can work on it together when we’re both feeling ready. You don’t have to go through that torture alone anymore, okay? I’m on your side.”

I sigh. “God, you’re right, thank you. I’m on your side too.”

“How triggering was it, exactly?”

I groan. “Well, it was more of a momentary thing. Now I mainly feel really exhausted and sick—and dizzy after I puked my guts out in the cafe, then in front of Yas. It was so embarrassing, Noah.”

He whines in sympathy, hugging my head to his chest.

His leftover damp blood on his shirt hits my nose again, and I hum. “Maybe you're right and I am anemic.”

“I think that’s possible, but I’d also want to know why. You really think it was just stress, and not—" Noah clears his throat. “I still think you’re pregnant.”

Biting my lip, I groan as my racing heart aggravates my nausea. “I don't know. Didn't you say I smelled like I just started ovulating yesterday? But I was too tired to have sex beyond ten minutes, so I mainly just laid there like a boring lump.”

Noah sputters out a laugh, backing away from my bedside to plop into the room’s additional chair. “I mean, I enjoyed it. If you weren’t pregnant already like I thought, you probably are now.”

I laugh with him despite my cheeks flushing hot. But my focus wavers, landing back on the blood staining his shirt. Now that he’s a few feet away from me, the browning coats more of his chest than I thought, curling my guts.

Noah’s smile fades. “I’m not going to let them hurt you, okay?”

“But they hurt you.”

Dropping his head, Noah scrubs his forehead. A low, stinging hum strikes our bond. I’ve never felt dread like this, but it has my heart racing in seconds. I shuffle on the bed, struggling to stave off my nausea.

“Talk to me,” I say.

Noah puts his head in his hands. He takes a deep breath. Then another. “I’m starting to really panic, Aliya. I don’t know if I can handle this Alpha-dom situation alone. It’s growing bigger than I expected, and I really hate admitting that, especially if you’re pregnant. These assholes have the worst timing possible, every time.”

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