Page 31 of Knot the Alphas' Feral Omega

I swallowed hard as I made my way into the room, her scent hitting me like a ton of bricks and making the hole in my chest ache fiercely. It was beautiful, all soft colors and warm woods. Luxurious fabrics were piled around the edges of the bed, creating a cocoon that would have cuddled all four of us comfortably without any of us crowding each other.

It was exactly perfect, exactly what I would have expected Lilah to make for herself and a pack. The idea that she was never going to use it—that she had been ripped from her pack because of the decisions of one stubborn asshole—made me grit my teeth.

Now was not the time for a conversation with Oliver, though. I needed to know where Lilah was and how she was doing before I could facethat.

I swallowed hard before turning on my heel and shutting the door to the nest firmly behind me. I retrieved my car keys as I made my way through the house and even whistled a low, threatening tune as I made my way to the car and hopped into the vehicle for the first time in days. It took a moment to remember exactly which buttons turned on the car, but then I was on the road, flying and ignoring the prodding from my packmates along the bond as I made my way through the city.

I wasn’t ready to talk to them. They weren’t the ones I needed to talk to, not right now.

Lilah’s mother’s house was as nondescript and cute as I remembered it, and the slamming of the car door was loud in the quiet street when I got out. I walked up to the front porch and took a deep breath, ignoring the throbbing in my chest as I lifted my fist and knocked on the door three times.

It took a moment before anyone answered, and I took a tiny step back at the small, blond woman who looked up at me curiously once the door swung open. She wore a starched white uniform, and her hair was pulled into a perky ponytail. A tag hanging from her pocket declared her to be an in-home nurse.

“Hi, I’m here to speak to Katrina?” I said, my voice rough with disuse.

The nurse eyed me suspiciously, not saying anything, and I sighed, leaning in a little closer and lowering my voice. “It’s about her daughter? I’m her alpha, and I need to speak to Katrina, please.”

Everything inside me screamed for me to shove past the nurse, barge my way into Katrina’s room, and demand answers without engaging in the social niceties, but I knew that wouldn’t be the way to get what I wanted. This nurse would just as likely call the cops on me for breaking and entering as she would allow me to have a conversation with the invalid in the bedroom, so I waited.

A moment passed before the nurse sighed, stepping to the side and allowing me into the house. “She’s awake, but she might be a little loopy. We had to increase her medication this last week for the pain,” she said quietly.

I swallowed, ignoring the voice in my head that said Lilah wouldn’t like that. She would want to be here if she were around—the fact she wasn’t told me things were so much worse than I thought they were.

“Okay,” I agreed quietly. “I’ll be quick.”

The nurse let me go, but I felt her eyes on me all the way down the hallway before I knocked on the bedroom door and waited.

It took a moment, but then a soft voice croaked, “Come in.”

My stomach twisted, and I let myself into the bedroom, quietly shutting the door behind me and turning to face Lila’s mother.

The sight made my throat dry, and sympathy fluttered inside me.

I’d only met Katrina once in the weeks that Lilah had been at our house. I’d come here with Lilah to tell Katrina that Lilah would be a member of our pack and that we were inviting her to live with us. Katrina had been thrilled that Lilah would have a family to take care of her, especially—she had emphasized—since she was not doing well and wasn’t certain how much longer she had.

However, even as she had said that, she’d looked fine—a little tired, of course, with dark circles under her eyes and her skin a little waxy-looking. But her weight had been good, and there had been some color in her cheeks even if she was hooked up to monitors and an IV.

Any image of health was gone now, though. Katrina had lost a stunning amount of weight in the weeks since I had seen her, and her cheeks were hollowed. Her wrists were thin and fragile,and the monitors she was hooked up to seemed to be even louder than they had been before.

She looked like she was on death’s door, and I hated that Lilah wasn’t able to be here for her mother.

Katrina’s eyes flickered with recognition as she looked up at me. “Killian,” she croaked. “Why are you here?”

Even sick as she was, the distrust in her eyes made me want to smile, and I carefully approached before I pulled up a seat next to the bed. I let all of the pain and anger that I felt read on my face, and after a moment, Katrina’s face softened, and she reached out with her hand to touch my wrist.

“You’re not looking good, sweetie,” she said hoarsely.

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling a little, chuckling humorlessly. “I think that’s the pot calling the kettle black, Katrina,” I said. I gently put my hand on her forearm and squeezed, and I looked up at her, blinking away the sudden sting of tears. “Have you seen Lilah? In the last three days or so?”

Katrina frowned, and slowly, she shook her head. “I...”

I saw the hesitation on her face, and I swallowed, pushing forward, needing to speak and make sure I was heard before she shut me down. “I understand why you might not want to tell me. What Oliver did...I’m still pissed with him about it. I’m sure you know at least some of the story by now?”

She nodded, and I continued. “It wasn’t my plan or my intention to hurt your daughter in that way. I promise. And I...I just needto know if you’ve seen her. The last I saw her, she was upset, she was in wolf form, and I saw her being carried away...”

The way Katrina’s eyes narrowed confirmed my fears. “Where is she?” I asked.

Katrina pressed her lips together and sighed, running her hand through her limp hair. “A few men came to the house the day before yesterday,” she said, glancing at the closed bedroom door as if the men in question would appear right then and there. “They said that they were doctors at Melvin Rehabilitation and that Lilah had been admitted there for a case of shifter ferality.”

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