Page 17 of Knot All is Forgiven

"It's okay," I say, sitting up straight to let her see I'm awake and functioning. "He's my Alpha."

"Excuse me?" she shoots a glare at Vick. "You did not disclose that when you said you were her doctor."

"I didn't know." He shrugs and buries his nose in my neck. "Imagine my surprise when I get in here and realize she's my scent match."

"I don't believe that for a second. She's your patient. You'd have known before now." The nurse is backing out of the room, eyes shifting from side to side. I think she's about to call for security, and the last thing I want is my newly discovered Alpha getting ripped away from me.

"No, he wouldn't have. Up until today, I hadn't presented as an Omega." She opens her mouth incredulously like she wants to protest. "I have plenty of medical records that will attest to that,identifying me as a Beta. So, please. Vick…" He clears his throat and raises his eyebrows at me. "Icarus is telling the truth. Don't make this a big thing."

The nurse deflates a little, her eyes darting between us. "This doesn't pass the smell test," she mutters, pushing her computer in on a cart. "But not sure what I can do here other than have you fight it out with security and administration."

"I'd much rather not," the doctor says. He tightens his grip on me, and I happily sink into his embrace. "You know me, Ruby," he implores. "I would not lie to you about something as serious as this."

She tuts, clicking her tongue as she scrolls through something on the computer. "I know nothing. Now, Miss Cross, how are you feeling?"

"Just fine. Do you know what happened?"

"You went through a minor heat spike, but that's the only thing your blood work tells us. As of now, Dr. Valentine is the lead doctor on your case, but I think we'll need to remove him."

"Don't worry about it. I'd like to leave."

She shakes her head, closing her laptop screen as she does. "No, Dr. Valentine is your Alpha. Therefore, he is unable to be objective about your care. I'm going to get Dr. Carr. He's on call right now. When he says you can leave, you can."

The nurse leaves, pushing her little cart, and I slump back onto Vick's chest. "I don't even know why I'm here," I whine.

"You were found passed out in a milk cooler, Jordan. They've got to do their due diligence here."

"Is that why you came, Vick? To do your due diligence?"

He groans, scrubbing his hands on his face. "Are you going to insist on calling me Vick?"

"It's better than Ick."

"Everything is better than Ick, and neither is my name."

I make a show of sighing and rolling my eyes dramatically. "Okay, fine, Icarus. Were you here doing your due diligence?"

He stumbles over his next few words. "They found my card on you, told me you were an Omega, and I knew I had to come. It was like a visceral need to be near you when you were in my office. I was drawn to you."

"I think… I think I felt the same, yeah."

Our conversation tumbles off, and we fall into a comfortable silence together. Eventually, the nurse returned and took my blood, and an hour later, Dr. Carr came in.

"There's nothing wrong with you, bloodwork-wise. I can't see any reason to keep you. But you did pass out today, and we're not sure why. So you have to take it easy for a couple of days." His gaze falls on Icarus. "You need to take care of your Omega, Russ."

He tenses beside me, hand gripping my knee. "Of course I will. That's all that matters to me."

And I don't know this Alpha, but I believe every word he says.

Dr. Carr nods, happy with Icarus' response, and says, as he walks out the door, "Nurse West will be back with your discharge papers."

When we're alone, Icarus looks around nervously. "I suppose we need to talk about what happens once we leave here."

"What do you mean?" All I can think about is getting home, curling up, and watching TV while I relax. I haven't thought much past that.

"Are you coming home with me?" He looks bashful and vulnerable, a slight flush on his cheeks.

"I hadn't thought about it. I live alone. I have a nice place. I don't necessarily want to abandon it." His face falls, and he busies himself, rubbing his thumb across the back of my hand.

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