Page 14 of These Bonds that Unite Us
Several minutes of awkward silence pass before a nurse walks in. She perks up when she sees me awake. Quickly typing out a message on her phone before coming over to check my vitals. I answer her questions, but my eyes stay glued to Donovan, fighting to regain my missing memories. Despite only waking up five minutes ago, I feel as though I haven’t slept in weeks.
A doctor walks in before I can give in to the sleep threatening to drag me under. “Miss Powell! It’s wonderful to see you awake! I’m Doctor Russell.” She checks over the information the nurse gathered before pulling a rolling chair over to the side of the bed opposite Donovan. “Are you comfortable if your guardian stays in the room while we discuss your treatment?” I nod and she continues. “Excellent! How are you feeling?”
“Exhausted and in pain,” I admit.
She nods, a sympathetic smile aimed my way. “I imagine you are. That’s to be expected with everything you’ve been through. Any stiffness in your neck?”
I turn my head to the right and feel a sting on the left side. My hand lifts to trace over the bandage there and everything comes flooding back to me. The confrontation with my father and Doctor Harrison. The chemical rejection. The epic mess that is my life now.
I survived.
Why did I survive?
They must see the realization on my face because the young doctor rushes to speak. “When they brought you in, you had extensive damage to your body. The cut on your neck was deep enough to leave you with severe blood loss. There was minor damage to your scent gland, but with a few dissoluble stitches, we were able to save it. You also had several broken ribs and a brain bleed from the trauma to your skull.”
My mind reels learning the severity of the damage my father was able to create. I shouldn’t be surprised. I knew letting them drag me back to the church could be a death sentence. Maybe it’s the inner child in me who is still shocked by our father’s lack of humanity.
“There is something else I need to discuss with you. I must ask again if you would like Mr. Griffith to be present for this discussion?”
My brow furrows with her repeated concern about Donovan being here, but I don’t ask the alpha to leave. Anything this doctor has to say he can hear.
“When our team was removing your clothing to check the extent of your injuries, we found a partial bond mark.” I hear a sharp inhale to my left but I keep my eyes locked on Doctor Russell. “You were aware of its presence?”
Of course, I know it’s there. Though I’d prefer to pretend it doesn’t exist. It is just another reminder of how badly I’ve failed as an omega.
“When you were diagnosed with chemically induced Rejected Omega Syndrome, did you mention the mark to your doctor?”
“No, I didn’t think it was relevant.”
She nods several times. “I can see why you’d think that, but the opposite is true. It is likely the bond mark is what is causing your rejection. The bite was deep enough to break the skin but your partner's teeth weren’t in place long enough for the bond between you to solidify. So your body is reacting to the initial flood of bond-building endorphins by assuming the lack of completion is a rejection.”
“So, you’re saying without the partial bond mark, I wouldn’t have ROS?” My mind feels too sluggish for me to fully understand what this would mean for me. If it changes anything at all.
“Honestly, there is no way to know for certain. Depending on the situation, your instincts may still have taken your partner's actions as a rejection. What we do know for certain is that the bond mark is intensifying the symptoms of the ROS.”
I nod slowly. Working through everything in my head. If Nexus hadn’t helped me through that horrendous heat… Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Either route is a death sentence. I never would have survived the heat without him, and I won’t survive this rejection without them.
“There is some good news in all of this,” Doctor Russell says. “While it isn’t a cure or even a permanent fix, we do have medicine to counteract some of the side effects from the partial bond mark. They should slow your decline. Is that something you would like to try?”
“I-”
“Yes.” Donovan’s growled response cuts me off. I swallow thickly before agreeing.
I will try. For him. For my sister, and my friends. I know there are people in my life who will be devastated if I give up again, and I don’t want to hurt them.
“Okay, I’ll get things moving then! We are also going to be giving you a low-dose heat suppressant. With the damage to your body from both the ROS and your assault, a heat could be life-threatening.”
“Makes sense,” I murmur weakly. My eyes are so heavy I can barely keep them open.
“Rest. You’ll need your strength for these next steps in your journey.”
She adjusts the setting on the machine connected to my IV and waves to Donovan before she leaves. The door clicks shut behind her and I slowly turn to meet his eyes. His eyes are lit with concern as he watches me. I offer him a small smile, my mouth open to speak, but whatever drug she gave me is alreadystarting to work and I quickly drift to sleep. Whatever words slur from my lips are probably undecipherable.
The lights are dimmed when I wake again. The sky outside of the hospital windows is dark, telling me I’ve been here for at least a day.
I turn my head, a sigh falling from my lips when I see Donovan slumped in the same chair he was in earlier. His eyes are closed, his clothes more rumpled. I doubt he’s left me alone for more than a few minutes.
Pulsing pain in my neck has me shifting uncomfortably. I must make too much noise, as Donovan’s eyes fly open. “Sorry,” I whisper quietly, urging him to go back to sleep.
