Page 1 of The Beta: Part Two
Chapter one
Talia
There is something on my face.
It smells like plastic.
It is the only thing I can smell.
Plastic surrounded by sterile nothing.
I blink open my eyes and shut them immediately against the bright sunshine streaming through the window. I am laying on a bed and I feel sore but clean. I can feel the scratchy material of the shirt I'm wearing that smells like nothing. My feet are bare, and I am only covered by a thin sheet.
The more I awaken, the colder I become. I need my blanket, and my pillow, and all of Jasper's clothes. And Nathan's hair ties. I blindly reach for where one should be on my wrist but find nothing. Everything surrounding me is nothing and I'm going to start screaming. I try cracking open my eyes again, slowly, and find that I can keep them open as long as I don't look at the window.
I am in a hospital room.
There is an IV tube stuck into my arm pumping foreign blood that I can't smell into my body. I slowly sit up and blink through the dizziness, and when it's over I very carefully and gently drag my legs over the side of the bed. When I think I can manage it, I slowly start to stand, but an alarm goes off so loudly that I slam my palms over my ears to block out the offensive, blaring noise.
A nurse with a cautious expression comes running in and pushes the button that ends the ear-splitting assault. She looks me over, then softly speaks, “good morning, Miss Graves. My name is Lizzie. I’m your nurse today. Do you know where you are?”
I shake my head, I know but don't know exactly where I am. “A hospital?” I choke out around the dry ache that is my throat.
She smiles gently, like she's afraid I'm going to panic and try to run away. “You are at Mercy Hospital. You have been asleep for eight days. During that time you were given many transfusions of enhanced blood to speed your physical recovery. Do you remember anything about your attack?”
Yes, I fucking do. I remember every single thing I was conscious enough to experience. I give her a tight nod.
“Is there anyone you'd like me to call for you? There are several numbers listed in your chart. An omega shouldn't be waking up to face this trauma alone. Don't you have a pack, honey? Let me call your alpha,” she means well, she's just wrong. And loud.
I shake my head, “I'm a beta. I don't have a pack. I'll be fine,” I rasp, my voice so rough that I don't recognize it. “Water. Can I have water, please?” I ask the terribly concerned nurse.
She's quick to get me a sip in that plastic set every bed comes with, but she makes me recline back in the bed before she'll let me have it. “Honey, you don't have to hide it. We had to do blood work for the transfusions, you don't have to pretend to be a beta here. You're safe.”
Oh.
A single tear slides down my cheek. “Have I been given heat suppressants?”
She blinks at me and then starts clicking on the computer in the corner of the room. “No, no suppressants. Have you been taking them so nobody knows you're an omega? You'll have to start a new regimen, I'm afraid. Honey, can't I call someone for you? You really shouldn't be alone. Now that you're awake I can bring you extra pillows and blankets and things. Would you like that?”
Would I? I don't think I'd like more scratchy, rough sheets or flat pillows that smell like nothing. I shake my head and then look out the window. The light still hurts my eyes, but I look anyway. I'm an omega. There's nothing to be done. I can’t avoid it any longer.
“They thought I was a beta. They had to think I was a beta, that’s why I used the suppressants.” I can hear how lost I sound, it can’t be helped.
“Who? Who had to think you’re a beta? The alphas who left you here?” the nurse pries, making her opinion of Devon and Kaleb obvious.
“No, the rogues who took me. They said I couldn't be an omega because my body wasn't built to take big alpha dicks. They liked that, hurting me. They said I deserved it for pretending to be an omega.” My words tumble out of my mouth, sounding like someone else said them. I should probably be alarmed at how little it bothers me to repeat what those bastards said while they were hurting me and laughing about it, but I just don't care enough right now to be alarmed.
She blushes at my blunt words but tries to comfort me nonetheless. “The amount of suppressants we found in your system wouldn't allow your body to have a natural reaction to sex, much less an omega reaction to an alpha. You'll be right as rain by the time you're ready for sex again.”
Ready for sex again...no, there will be no more sex. The only person I want touching me is an impossibility at this point. “No, thank you,” I say and close my eyes so I can ignore the nothingness of this room as much as I possibly can for as long as I possibly can.
She interrupts, of course. “The note in your file has a number to call as soon as you wake up. Would you like me to call?”
I don't think so. It must be my mother’s number, no one else would have left a number. Devon certainly wouldn’t leave a number, this is his chance to be rid of me at last. After a moment I realize I haven't spoken aloud, so I repeat, “I don't think so. Not right now. Maybe later. Can I have more water, please?”
She gives me a tight, small smile and helps me take another drink.
I close my eyes and I'm glad when I hear her footsteps leave the room.
