Page 3 of Altius
Rubbing the pressure point between my brows, I exhaled. “Thank you.”
The words were reluctant but genuine. It didn’t matter how much I hated moments like this—painful reminders of my body’s limitations—I still appreciated their thoughtfulness.
“Of course.” Cal pulled up a chair and settled beside the bed, totally at ease as he crossed his legs and locked his hands behind his head. “And they’re not going to ask us to leave. Kelsey signed an overnight permission slip.”
“But…” I glanced between my current boyfriend and the man who’d almost held the title a decade ago. Neither of whom I had a legal relationship with. “But we’re not…”
“I’m your healthcare proxy for the time being. Wyatt’s acting as your parental pack’s representative, which means he’s got your parents’ seal of approval to stay. All the necessary paperwork has been signed, and we’ve received our credentials.”
He unclipped a visitor’s badge from his belt and set it on the table. Lines of abbreviated jargon and a security barcode framed a low-res photo of Cal.
Wyatt likely had a similar badge, and despite my confusion over who in my family would approve of his presence at a time like this, I decided to accept what I couldn’t change.
My head fell back against the pillows. “Fine.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to get rid of us.” Cal flashed a crooked smile, nudging the cheese cubes closer.
Wyatt shifted in his seat, still trying to get comfortable. “I grabbed a few meals from your fridge, if you’d rather have something warm.”
Pack suites came with an attached second bedroom and a kitchenette—unnecessary luxuries for a single omega. Especially me. There was no need for added creature comforts or soft furnishings. I planned to leave as soon as possible.
“No, this is enough,” I said, picking at the corner of a cheese cube.
The door swung open, and my younger sister, Piper, rushed in. She was wearing a full face of stage makeup, her brunette hair slicked back into an intricate bun, topped with a glittering pink crystal tiara.
Had she come straight from her dress rehearsal forThe Nutcracker?
“What the hell happened?” she demanded. Piper shucked off her coat, revealing a long cardigan and baggy sweatpants hastily pulled over a nude leotard. “And turn up the air purifier. It smells like shitty perfume in here.”
Piper tossed her coat on the sofa and squeezed onto the bed beside me, clutching my hand in a death grip as she fixed Cal with a fierce stare. “I want answers.”
Cal maintained his air of amiable professionalism, as unbothered by my sister’s temper as he was by mine. “Still waiting on some blood tests. We’ll know more in the morning.”
“I’m all right,” I told her, straightening a partially dislodged bobby pin in her hair.
Her amber eyes widened with alarm. “You had a seizure!”
“Won’t be the last time,” I said with a shrug, trying to project a casual indifference I didn’t feel. “But I don’t want you rushing around late at night on my account. You didn’t even take off your makeup.”
“As if I’d risk getting a speeding ticket for you,” Piper scoffed. “That’s what your boyfriends are for.”
I turned to Cal in confusion. He gestured toward the entrance.
The long, dark form of Joaquin Toledano leaned against the doorway, watching me with unsettling intensity.
His nostrils flared as he tilted his head back. A devilish smile spread across his angular face, exposing his sharp incisors. The epitome of a predator closing in on weakened prey.
“Hiya, doc,” he drawled.
Ignoring the staccato beats on my heart rate monitor—a normal physiological occurrence caused by my illness, not a sudden influx of nerves because Joaquin seemed liable to pounce—I turned to Cal, raising a brow in challenge.
“Does he have an overnight permission slip, too?”
“No, of course not,” he said, having the decency to look a little sheepish as Piper and I stared him down. Cal cleared his throat and stood up. “We’ll give you ladies some privacy.”
Joaquin pressed his back to the wall and crossed his arms.
“But I just got here.” Despite speaking to Cal, Joaquin’s eyes never left mine. “Why can’t I help kiss her better, too?”
