Page 50 of Knot the Alphas' Feral Omega

Lilah

I stayed like that for most of the morning with Emmett and Killian. The three of us cuddled, and it was...nice.

Yes, I felt like a traitor to myself by thinking that, but I couldn’t deny that they offered me something I desperately needed—contact and comfort. I might not be able to remember exactly what had happened to me while I was at the rehab facility, but I knew that it was bad. The few snippets of memory that I did have made me shiver every time one of them popped to the forefront of my mind, and every time that happened, one of my alphas made sure to soothe me until I was a puddle of calm omega again.

Although I didn’t particularly want to see him, Oliver’s absence was notable. I thought several times about whether or not I wanted to ask where he was, but every time, I chickened out.

I knew that he and I were going to have to face each other eventually, but I was hoping that that moment would be later rather than sooner. Yes, that made me cowardly—but I knew myself well enough to know there was no way I would handle it well if I saw or scented him right now.

By the time noon rolled around, my stomach was growling, and I could tell that Killian and Emmett were both getting a little bit antsy. I had the feeling that they would have spent the entire day in bed with me if possible, but when they glanced at each other over my shoulder, I knew something was up.

“What is it?” I asked. I forced myself to sit, gasping a little as I did so. I was shaking, and not light, feminine tremors that could be explained away. No, these were full-body shakes, as if I were going through withdrawals of some kind, and Killian immediately sat up, wrapping his arms around me from behind and steadying me.

Killian let out a long, slow sigh as he gently turned me to face him. “We’re having a doctor come to the house to see you today,” he said in a low, earnest voice. He looked at me with wide eyes, their green sparkling, as he searched my face for any sign of distress.

There was a low flicker of said distress in my belly, but I nodded. “Okay,” I managed, my voice a little raspy. “That makes sense. When are they going to be here?”

Emmett sat up, his hair slightly rumpled from laying down and having my fingers in it, and he picked up his phone from the bedside table. “In about twenty minutes.”

I nodded again, already mentally preparing myself to see someone else—a stranger with whom I had no connection. This was going tosuck. “Okay.” I paused, then said, my voice even shakier, “Is Oliver going to be there?”

Emmett and Killian glanced at each other again, and then, with a mildly guilty look on his face, Killian nodded. “He has to be, baby girl,” he said, his eyes pleading with me. “He has to be informed about how to care for you, the same as we do. Please tell me that you understand.”

I swallowed the nausea from the thought of being near Oliver and slowly nodded. “Yeah. Of course I understand.”

They both looked at me for another long moment, knowing this was an impossible situation. Oliverhadto be there—he was Prime Alpha—so we had no choice but to be near each other.

I wondered if the doctor would mind examining me in wolf form but tried to push the thought down.

Buck up. You’re no coward. You can face him.

No matter how much my rational mind tried to convince me of that, my body didn’t seem to get the memo. I hopped in the shower for a moment, rinsing the sweat and pheromones from the morning off my body, and when I came out, my hands started shaking again.

Emmett was waiting in the room for me, fully dressed, when I walked out. I wore one of Killian’s shirts and a loose pair of shorts that had been left outside the door for me, and it made me feel marginally better to be so completely covered ahead of seeing Oliver.

Not that anything was going to happen between us, of course. He probably wasn’t even going to look my way after everything that had happened.

The thought sent a pang of pain through the faint bond in my chest, and I couldn’t stop myself from whimpering. My blood pressure rose, and my head started to pound. My hands flew up to my head, trying to rub away the sudden ache, and Emmett was immediately there, wrapping his arms around me.

“It’s okay. It’ll be okay,” he whispered, his breath puffing out over the top of my damp hair.

I clutched to him, not saying anything—what else was there to do? My rational mind screamed that I was overreacting, but my body was in full panic mode. I felt like I was on the verge of a panic attack, and I just...didn’t know how to handle it.

Only Emmett’s arms around me kept me calm enough to take several deep breaths and rest my forehead against his chest.

“Let’s get this over with,” I mumbled.

Emmett didn’t say anything else, merely nodding and taking my hand as we exited Killian’s room. The house was quiet as we made our way through it, and my hand tightened in his as we reached the main floor and the first faint whiffs of Oliver’s scent hit my nose.

“It’s okay,” Emmett said quietly.

I swallowed and then nodded, and we followed the faint sounds of conversation to the main dining room, where I heard the distinct sounds of Oliver’s and Killian’s voices—and anunfamiliar woman’s voice that made my instincts go even more on high alert.

I didn’t want to do this. I knew that Ihadto do this, but fuck, I didn’t want to do this.

I swallowed again and plastered a smile across my face before releasing Emmett’s hand, and I shoved my way into the dining room unceremoniously. Killian and Oliver were standing side by side when I walked in, talking to a woman wearing a pale pink shirt and jeans under a white doctor’s coat, and I mentally rolled my eyes at the cliche.

I knew that I was coming down to see a doctor. She didn’t need to go out of her way to dress the part. In fact, it only reminded me of...

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