Page 9 of Chosen Beta

“You don’t have a psychologist on staff, do you?”

“Unfortunately, there’s a reason for that,” I admit, hand still on the door handle.

He glances at the bathroom door before he motions to me to step back.

I do so, leaving the room and giving him the space he needs to join me.

He closes the door firmly but quietly behind him.

He doesn’t take his hand off the handle.

His gaze is intent, locked on mine.

For a second, I don’t remember what I’m doing here.

It takes a beat to realize I’m the one who needs to speak.

He doesn’t know why we might have a problem getting apsychologist on site.

“Right,” I start. “You’ve heard of Warren Corvina?”

There’s instant recognition in his eyes, and a flash of anger.

“He brainwashes Omegas,” he states, his tone icy-cold. “What does he have to do with …”

He sucks in a breath. “Was he the psychologist here?”

“Officially, no, and you’ll have to take all of this off the record, but his daughter was here at Goldcrest. He was brainwashing her, and we believe there’s a good chance he was brainwashing other Omegas here. He also trained a lot of other psychologists. He was an established name with a lot of clout, and he had hisfingers in a lot of pies. Even if we can find someone who doesn’t have any on-paper affiliations with any of his organizations, we know we need to be really careful about who we bring in because there’s always a chance that person could be compromised.”

He lets out a weary sigh. “That’s worse than I suspected.”

“It’s pretty bad, but I’ve contacted the Alpha Alliance, and if that fails, I have Brooke Corvina’s number.”

I can feel my face warming at that last admission.

I don’t know why I told him that.

I have no intention of calling Brooke.

I guess she’s just been on my mind. A lot.

“Warren Corvina’s daughter? You know her?” he sounds surprised.

“Uh-huh,” I manage to mumble back. “We’re … close friends.”

God, I started to say close and friends at the same time and both came out in a rush, sounding like something way more illicit. I might wish our relationship was like that, but it’s not, and it’s also dumb as hell to let my work crush think I’m spoken for.

“Well, this patient could use help now, and I’m not having much luck getting her to listen to me. I mean, it seems like she understands what I’m saying, and she’s not deaf. I just don’t know how much she’s taking in. She isn’t very responsive.”

He’s speaking softly and I can imagine him using the same tone on her, so it’s not his words or the way he’s saying them that she doesn’t respond to, but when I think about the place she came from, I can see where the problem might be.

“Let me try,” I find myself offering, surprising myself.

He blinks at me, and frowns before he nods. “That could work.”

He doesn’t like the idea, probably because I’m not a professional, but he’s open to it.

He’s an Alpha. They have good instincts.

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