Page 96 of I Replaced His Husband
"Dr. Darren isn’t a nurse."
"I don’t want you to touch me," I said calmly, locking eyes with Kay. There it was again… something new in his expression: confusion mixed with intense, yet hidden joy. Had I surprised him?
"Sorry. I’m mated. I don’t let other omegas touch me."
"Okay, Jimmy, I got it," Darren said, smirking. "I’m trained in blood draws."
The moment Darren touched me, that uneasy feeling vanished. He drew my blood quickly while Jimmy stood off to the side, wearing a strange expression.
Then Kay got up, walked over, and placed his hand on my shoulder in a clearly possessive way. Jimmy flinched slightly, then walked out with the samples.
Once he was gone, I looked Kay in the eyes, and he looked back at me. Beneath the surface, there was this lingering, barely contained contentment. Had I just passed some kind of test?
"Now I’d like to separate you two for about one hour," Darren said. "That time’s needed for your veradiol levels to rise enough to be detected in the chromatograph. Our system is extremely sensitive. Usually, separation tests take at least two to five hours, but our equipment gets accurate results faster."
"How exactly does this separation work?" I asked, a little wary.
"We have two quiet rooms where you’ll wait. No contact between you, not even by phone. That kind of connection slows the release of veradiol."
I glanced at Kay. He nodded calmly.
"Okay, fine. Just make sure Kay’s room has air conditioning, water, and a restroom."
"Of course. Each room has a water cooler, a vending machine, and the restrooms are right down the hall."
Kay and I stood up and followed him. He showed us Kay’s room first, it looked like a small, unused office. Not much in it,just a desk, a small sofa, and the water cooler. I gave Kay’s hand a quick squeeze before leaving.
Then Darren took me to a similar room a floor up, but this one didn’t have a sofa, just some tables and chairs. Probably used for meetings. He gave me his number in case I needed anything.
The wait felt long.
Vacantly, I stared out the window at the parking lot, watching people come and go.
Then something unusual caught my eye.
A small van pulled up, painted in blinding fluorescent green. On the side it said:"Stop Killer Pharma!"A group jumped out: betas, omegas, and one alpha, all of them young, probably student activists. They carried buckets of some kind of liquid and rushed the front entrance, splashing it across the doors and building facade.
The two security guards in the lot couldn’t stop them, but more guards came running from inside and quickly restrained the group. A few minutes later, the police showed up and packed the eco-activists into a patrol car.
I sighed, still watching. Apparently, Malden Pharmaceuticals had made a few enemies.
But over what, exactly? Their research practices? Drug side effects? Chemical pollution? I searched "Malden + ecological issues" on my phone. A list of articles came up. I skimmed the top one as my eyes caught a line; the article was dated four years back:
"Malden Pharmaceuticals announced today the appointment of renowned omega scientist Blue Lowen as its new CEO…" but I didn’t get to finish reading.
My phone buzzed with a message. I blinked in shock; it wasn’t a person I would expect to call me…
Storm?
His opening line was typical of him.
"Hello, Raincloud. Today I peeked at Nate’s laptop and saw your old chat with him."
I muttered under my breath.
"So, Mr. Drizzle… falling for the cute widower, huh? Really? That’s the oldest and cheesiest story in the book."
Feeling a rising irritation at him and also at Nate for not being careful enough with his chat’s privacy, I typed back, "That conversation was private. You shouldn’t have read it."
