Page 54 of Knot So Broken

I feel Jax, Ledger and Theo all tense around me as Maddox touches me. He must sense the tension and quickly lets go of my hand.

“Alright, come on in so we can get started.”

Maddox leads us towards a room in the back of the house. Surprise fills me as we walk into the room. It looks like something pulled right from a hospital I’ve seen on TV but all condensed down into the same room. Equipment alluding to - what I imagine an operating theatre looks like - is set up in the furthest corner of the room. The side of theroom is set up with a small laboratory; flasks, microscopes and strange looking machines included.

At the front of the room, a desk and a few chairs are set up where Maddox takes a seat behind the desk. There are only three chairs in front of him so Theo pulls me into his lap, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Kennedy, tell me what's been going on.”

I sigh as I begin to tell Maddox what is practically my entire life story. He nods along with me as he jots down notes every so often.

I feel my Alphas tense around me when we get to particular rough spots in my story. I don’t let it derail me, knowing that if I stop talking now, I might not have the confidence to keep going.

Once I have finished, I feel numb in a way. It is different telling someone that isn’t my Alphas about the trauma in my past. Not like telling them how my life has been up until this point was easy. Even though he is clearly a professional, it still feels nerve-wracking.

Maddox takes a moment and finishes jotting down a few notes before looking back up at me.

“I think that we need to do some bloods first of all, just to see where you are at. You are right though. Not having a heat for this long isn’t normal but I have no doubt that we will be able to get to the bottom of it.”

Maddox collects some equipment and leads me over to a bed situated against the wall.

All three of the guys hover over him as they watch him take my blood. Each of my men growl as I let out an embarrassing whimper of pain as the needle goes into the crook of my arm. Maddox just rolls his eyes and scoffs before muttering something about overprotective

Alphas.

It's then that I notice that Maddox isn’t an Alpha. Normally that’s something that I take catalogue of right away but seemingly like Theo, he has that same air about him that puts you at ease. As well as you can be while seeing a doctor, I guess.

Once bloods have been collected, he gives me a cotton ball to hold against the pin prick while he returns to his lab and begins running tests.

After a few minutes he comes back over to us and indicates for me to lie down on the bed.

“I want to do an ultrasound just to confirm that everything looks good internally, if that's okay with you?”

I nod my head in agreement as Maddox hands me a sheet.

“Lie down on the bed and cover your bottom half with that so I am able to access your stomach. I’ll leave the room to give you some privacy. Just let me know when you are ready.”

Lying down on the bed, I follow his instructions, smiling at Theo as he helps put the sheet over me. Once I am covered and my dress is lifted up to expose my bare stomach, Ledger calls Maddox back in.

I wince as the cold gel Maddox squeezes plops onto my stomach. I watch carefully as he moves the wand over my stomach, anxiety clogging my throat as each second passes.

It doesn’t take long for him to get all the images he needs before leaving the room again.

Jax grabs a handful of paper towels and wipes the gel off my stomach, his care for me making me smile.

Discarding the towels in the bin, he helps me to sit back up as Maddox comes back into the room.

“Finally, I want to do a full body x-ray. From what you have said, I want to make sure that there is nothing too far out of whack. Ideally, I would have liked to have done an MRI as well but unless there are any concerns, we will just get these images for now.”

I nod again and follow Maddox into a room just off his office. As I stand in front of the x-ray machine as he directs me into different positions to collect all the images, I realize just how sheltered my life has been.

I know for a fact that over the last seven years I have received my fair share of broken bones. I can’t even begin to count the amount of times my ribs have suffered under the fury of the man that sired me.

But never once have I been brought to a doctor for any of it.

I’m pretty confident that I haven’t even seen one since my mother passed. Even then, were we ever given the chance to see one?

It’s obvious to me that my mom was receiving abuse on a daily basis. Every single image of her that I am able to conjure in my mind has her face and body covered in bruises.

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