Page 97 of Choosing Their Omega

Everyone files out, clapping Cruz on the shoulder or briefly grasping his hand with muttered words of glad to hear it, Cap and glad you’re okay, Cap.

When it’s just us left, Cruz looks at us with this expression of… almost shock on his face. “Lily said people cared about me for who I was, not… not what I do on the team. I guess I still wasn’t sure I believed her.”

“Lily’s right about a lot of things,” Miles agrees. He hugs Cruz. “We’re glad you’re okay.”

“More okay than I thought. Doc said that we want to get ahead of things. I should be okay if I sit out a couple of games, and meet with him for exercises—he gave me some stuff at home to do, too—but we also have a list of symptoms for me to watch out for. If I notice any of those things, we might have to bench me for longer.”

“But that’s probably not going to happen now, right?” Lawson asks. “Now that you’re getting ahead of it.”

Cruz nods. “It’s not as bad as I was afraid it would be. I’m… I’m really grateful.”

“Listening to Lily was a good call,” I point out.

Cruz chuckles. “Listening to Lily is always a good call.”

Speaking of Lily, when we get into the car, I pull out my phone and realize I have a voicemail from Lily. I had no idea she’d called, I didn’t have my phone on me. I pull up the voicemail and listen.

“Hey, Knox, it’s Lily. I hope you guys had a good practice, and you made sure Cruz saw the doctor. I just wanted to let you guys know that Ben’s come down with a bit of a fever. I’ve put him to bed and warmed up some soup for him but you guys should be quiet when you get in so you don’t disturb him. He needs rest. Anyway I hope you guys are home soon, I… I’m excited to see you all. Bye!”

Her voice is soft and calm, and I wonder dimly in the back of my mind if she was going to say something else before she changed her mind and said she was excited to see us.

But the rest of my mind is occupied with cold terror flooding me as I hear that Ben is sick.

I lean forward and pat Miles on the shoulder. “Speed up. We’ve gotta get home.”

He doesn’t ask questions, he just does as I tell him, turning on that Lawson aggression and speeding and weaving through traffic.

The moment we pull up the driveway I’m bursting out of the car, frantically unlocking the door and then skidding inside before I remember to try to be quiet. I slip off my shoes and tiptoe upstairs, my heart hammering in my chest and pounding in my ears.

I know it’s fine. I know Ben’s fine. Just a fever. He’s three, kids get sick, it’s fine.

But my sister thought it was just nothing too. We thought it was no big deal. And then next thing we knew she was in stage four and there was no way out.

I creak open the door to Ben’s room quietly.

He’s lying in bed, asleep, his little chest rising and falling. Lily’s sitting with him, humming and stroking his hair. She looks up when I enter.

For a second, I’m distracted by the image. She looks like she could be Ben’s mother, and like Ben could be her son. It makes my heart throb with something that’s beautiful and painful at the same time.

Lily’s not my sister. Ben will always have a dead mother. But he needs a new one, and seeing him with Lily like this… I want to keep seeing it. I want her in our lives forever.

I move toward the bed, my heart in my throat, as Lily stands up. She gestures for us to go outside. Her scent is calm, and it does calm me as I inhale it, that familiar wonderful scent and knowing with every fiber of my being she’s not worried. But…

I sit on the edge of the bed and feel Ben’s forehead with the back of my hand. He’s burning up.

Lily gently tugs on my arm and leads me out of the room.

“He needs to go to the hospital,” I hiss once we’re out of the room. “He’s got a fever!”

“Knox, he’s fine. It’s just the flu or a cold. Kids get sick like this all the time.”

“But you don’t know for sure. We need to check. Has he had enough fluids? Is he breathing okay? Did you feel anything in his throat that could be swollen?”

“Knox.” Lily slides her hands up my chest and presses them to my neck, letting me feel more of her scent. “He’s okay. He’ll be okay.”

“You don’t know that.” I take her hand and drag her down the stairs. I don’t want us to wake Ben up while I figure out what to do.

The other Alphas are still in the foyer, frowning and taking off their shoes as I hurry Lily down the stairs. “How’s he doing?” Miles asks, keeping his voice low.

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