Chapter Two

Benson

 

 

 

My shoulder rams into the door as I race out of my room. It’s very dark now and difficult to keep my footing along the uneven stone floors. Oliver is unconscious in my arms, not even stirring a little.

 

What could have happened?

 

I begin to worry that I’ve taken things too far. The animal side of me craves him more and more these days. Sometimes I allow that side to take over so much so that I feel purely animal. Oliver seemed fine until… this happened.

 

“Doctor!” I yell as we exit my wing into the main hallway. “We need a doctor immediately!”

 

My voice booms throughout the castle, waking up nearly every beta staff resident. Their rooms are at the south wing, and lights flicker on everywhere. The first door swings open and I see a small female beta with black and gray hair. She looks up at Oliver with worried eyes.

 

“I’m a nurse, Sire,” she says, and I stop near her. Something about her seems more nervous than ever. “What happened?”

 

“We were—um…” Then, the beta nurse looks me up and down. I glance down for a moment and realize what she’s staring at. In the commotion, I didn’t have time to dress. I am now standing in the center of the castle, completely naked. Oliver is nude, too, and nearly lifeless in my arms. I decide to ignore the elephant in the room. “I need a doctor as quickly as possible!”

 

“Yes, Sire!” says the nurse and she looks down at the floor while pointing with her hand toward my father’s wing upstairs. “We’ve set up a medical room for your father. I can have a doctor there within minutes.”

 

“Thank you,” I say gruffly before bounding up the stairs and shoving into my father’s wing.

 

I scan every door, sniffing the air for the space that might be the medical room. Then, I notice the clean smell of surgical steel. My body leans into the door, and I twist the handle while still balancing Oliver in my arms.

 

We enter the room and the lights automatically switch on. The space is small and looks much like the rest of the rooms in the castle. The walls are old, multicolored stone—mostly dark brown, gray, and with dark shades of green. However, electric lamps have been installed here, and they hang from the ceiling.

 

Steel racks are spread around the room. Most hold monitoring equipment, likely designed to carefully keep track of my father’s health. I can smell that a few betas inhabit this space… the nurse from downstairs has her scent faint in the walls.

 

The room has two beds. One bed has ruffled sheets, and I assume that my father has recently used it. So, I place Oliver in the cleanest bed. Bending over, I carefully lay him down. As I stand next to him, a lump forms in my throat.

 

The omega sprawls out on the bed, not blinking. His body is completely lifeless. Suddenly, his appendages move just a little and his head rocks from side to side. Yet, after a moment, he is still.

 

I lean down to check his breathing…

 

Up… down… up… down…

 

“Okay,” I say to myself with my chest feeling tight from worry. “He’s still breathing.”

 

I quickly walk around the bed and see a white wooden closet on the walls. The closet seems out of place next to the stone walls. I open the doors and see several lab coats swinging from the top rack.

 

My eyes find the largest, one and I pull it off of its hanger. There are also a pair of scrub pants, so I slip my legs into those. The fabric stretches to its max to fit my muscular thighs. The coat goes over me next. I accidentally tear through the sleeves, so I just pull them off.

 

In the nearby reflection of a metal table, I can see myself draped in white. My meaty arms protrude through the stretched fabric. I look back at Oliver who is hardly breathing. I don’t smell blood, but—

 

Knock, knock!

 

“Sire?” asks a deep, male voice. He knocks again and pushes into the room. When he enters, I immediately pick up the scent of another alpha. It’s not something that I’m used to, but this alpha calls me “sire.”

 

The doctor is tall—almost exactly my height. He has light brown hair with some sprinkles of gray near his temples. His nose is large, and hooked, but not in an unattractive way. Every part of his face is sharp looking and well-defined. He’s also very tan with striking ice blue eyes. I can see them scanning a tablet in his hand. The tablet flashes a light over Oliver, as if to scan the boy.

 

If I were to guess, I’d say that this doctor was in his late thirties. His musk is slightly stronger than mine, from what I can tell. That’s the thing about alphas—our musk grows stronger well into our fifties.

 

“Hello,” I say with my eyes sharpening on the doctor. He’s wearing a lab coat that’s the right size for me. It’s huge, white, and covers his well-concealed muscles. Part of me feels almost threatened by him. The other alpha doesn’t look up to me. Instead, he examines his tablet. “You the doctor?”

 

“No,” he grunts, “I'm a fucking omega.”

 

My face sours for a moment, but he looks up at me and smiles a bit. I don’t like his sense of humor. I glower for a moment and feel my eyes flash an aggressive red. Is this really a time for jokes? He notices this, but instead of taking my challenge, he backs down a little.

 

“I’ll remind you that I’m the Prince,” I warn him.

 

“Yeah, you’re right,” says this cock asshole of a doctor. “I’m used to working with these idiot betas lately. Anyway, I’m Dr. Kent.”

 

“Alright, doc,” I say before turning to Oliver. “Just take care of him.”

 

Dr. Kent slowly turns and spots Oliver on the bed. He stops, taking a moment, as though he didn’t realize that Oliver was ever there. I suppose that I understand. Before meeting Oliver, I wouldn’t have noticed an omega either.

 

“An omega?” he asks. “Why are you so hung up about one of them?”

 

I growl a little. “Just make sure he’s okay.”

 

“Well, he’s breathing…” says Dr. Kent before turning Oliver on his side. “And he’s… leaking…”

 

I half expect the doctor to turn around and scowl at me. Oliver’s scent picks up in the room, and I can see Dr. Kent’s body tense. It’s the same reaction that I have face-to-face with Oliver. Quickly, I dash forward and place my hand on his arm.

 

“I know what you’re thinking,” I growl with my hand shifting into a claw.

 

“You do?” asks the doctor with his eyebrow cocked.

 

“I saw you react,” I warn him.

 

“It’s been a while since I’ve smelled an omega’s scent like this, Sire,” says the doctor, coolly. “But I assure you, I’m not interested in breaking the law.”

 

I stare him up and down. He may have tensed for a moment, but he doesn’t seem to care. He is, after all, a doctor. I’m sure there are times that they find themselves attracted to their patients. Nevertheless, it’s his job to hold back.

 

“Fair enough,” I say, releasing his arm. A few dots of blood soaked his sleeves. “And, sorry about that.”

 

The doctor doesn’t respond. Instead, he goes to one of the metal drawers near the closet and pulls out a syringe. Slowly, he walks over to Oliver and plunges the needle into his arm. Dr. Kent takes the needle and tosses it into a medical bin.

 

“Did you knot him?” asks the doctor.

 

I take this as an insult. “What are you getting at?”

 

“You have to be careful,” chides the doctor as he glares at me. “I know some alphas like to play with these little ones. Carrying an alpha’s young can be deadly to them.”

 

“Deadly?” I ask with a dry throat.

 

“Yes,” grumbles the doctor, seemingly annoyed with me, “didn’t you know that before you shoved it in his ass?”

 

My eyes flash the brightest red. “Are you—”

 

All at once I stop myself. My fists are tightly curled into balls. My shoulders raise into an aggressive posture. I could punch this guy out right now, no matter what size he is.

 

Yet, I stop myself. I take a deep breath and exhale. My beef with this doctor—or his seeming beef with me—won’t help us save Oliver. I glare back at him, feeling my senses cool. My shoulders loosen a bit.

 

I want to be angry, but there’s something about the doctor’s eyes. H stares down at his tablet and back to Oliver, almost woefully. As I watch him, a sting of regret pierces into my stomach.

 

What could this be? It’s like he knows from personal experience how dangerous all of this is. My mouth opens a bit, but I don’t have a response. I wonder if I’ve made a colossal mistake.

 

Suddenly, a nurse pushes into the room. It’s the same one from downstairs. She looks at me and seems relieved that I’m wearing clothing—even if it doesn't fit. She grins sweetly at the doctor, who doesn’t return the favor.

 

“It’ll be a few hours,” says Dr. Kent as he stands up. “You might want to get some shut-eye, and we’ll see how he is in the morning. In the meantime, this very skilled nurse will look after the omega.”

 

“What’s wrong with him, doc?” I ask.

 

“His life is threatened,” says Dr. Kent with a shrug.

 

“That’s all you’re going to say?”

 He doesn’t respond right away. The doctor moves toward the door and opens it. Before he exits he speaks again.

 

“You shouldn’t have done it, Benson,” says Dr. Kent. “A little one like him might not make it through.”

 

“Done what?” I bark.

 

Dr. Kent’s eyes meet mine. “You shouldn’t have gotten him pregnant.”

 

“Pregnant?” I ask before looking back at Oliver lifeless on the bed. As Dr. Kent leaves, I feel a wave of panic flood over me. I can’t take this anymore. I turn to the beta nurse. “Don’t have anyone bother me tonight.”

 

“Yes, Si—” Before she can finish her sentence, I shove out of the room.