Chapter Six
The pain, when it came back, was bad. Liam tried to keep still and quiet, but he couldn't. The door opened, quick footsteps coming to his side.
"Liam?"
His response was a muted whimper as he bit down on his lip.
"Hold on," Jensen urged. "I’m going to give you something for the pain. You'll feel better in a minute."
There was a rush of cold in his arm and the pain dulled. Another voice joined Jensen's. Joe.
"What happened?"
"The pain broke through. I'll need to take a look, make sure there isn't something wrong with the healing wounds."
Jensen's voice moved closer, a soft murmur in his ear.
"Liam, I need to examine you. Can you roll over onto your back? Take it slowly, now."
Liam didn't want to move, didn't want to turn over, but it seemed better to do what he was told. It hurt to move, stealing the breath from his lungs.
When he glanced up, there were two shifters staring down at him. He didn't know where to look, trying to avoid meeting their gazes.
"It's alright," Joe said. "Here, you can hold my hand while Doctor Jensen examines you."
A warm hand found his and Liam gripped it tightly.
"Liam?" That was Jensen, leaning over and trying to catch his eye. "Don't worry, this won't take long. I'll be as gentle as I can."
The blanket covering him was tugged down and the shirt he wore pushed upward. He looked down at himself, wincing at the wounds that crisscrossed his stomach. Nevan had really done a number on him this time.
The alpha's large hands started pressing gently on his stomach. He pressed at a point just beside Liam's hip bone and the pain had his back arching as he cried out.
"Easy, Liam, easy. That's it, we're all done."
The hand left his abdomen. "You had a few fractured bones in your pelvis. They're knitting up and that's causing bursts of pain. We can't predict when they'll come, so you need to tell us when you feel the pain building and we'll increase your medication."
There was no direction Liam could turn his head that let him avoid the shifter's gazes.
"Why?" Nevan would have let him suffer.
Jensen's fingers were on his chin again, gently nudging him to look his way.
"Why what?"
"Why are you helping me?"
It seemed the simplest question. If no one was going to claim him, then shouldn't they toss him back out where they found him, leave him to fend for himself?
"Because that's what we do," the alpha said simply. "We help people."
"I... I don't deserve it."
Joe, still holding his hand, squeezed gently. "Why would you think that?"
"I... I haven't earned it."
He could though, if they'd let him.
The alpha sighed then stroked Liam's forehead again. He wasn't used to people being so careful with him. So gentle.
"That's not how things work here. Now, you need to get some rest. Joe will stay with you while you get settled."
Liam tried to sleep but he couldn’t. The alpha had seemed so angry about how hurt Liam was but those things he was saying… they couldn’t be right. Shifters didn’t live like that. Omega didn’t live like that.
Joe offered him a magazine or a book to read. Liam just looked away. Omega didn’t read, why would they need to? What would be the point? It wouldn’t help him obey his alpha any better. It would just ‘give him ideas’. Nevan talked about that a lot. Not wanting Liam to get any ‘ideas’. He didn’t know what the alpha was worried about. He didn’t think he’d ever had an idea. Except climbing out the window and running away. And if those were the kind of ideas that Nevan meant, then maybe the alpha had been right about it being a bad thing.
“Not a reader?” Joe said.
Liam shook his head.
“Here, you can play games on my phone if you like,” Joe offered.
Omega didn’t play games either.
“Let me show you.” The beta was persistent and within minutes, Liam was playing a colorful game where the goal seemed to be to pop as many bubbles as possible.
Time seemed to fly by as he played, Joe sitting next to his bed reading a magazine. The game seemed to get trickier as he played until he got to a level he just couldn’t get past. On his third attempt, he got it, little multicolored fireworks exploding across the screen. He laughed, then looked up as he heard a noise at the door. Jensen was standing there, watching him silently, a smile on his face. Liam took a risk and smiled back.
Jensen was finding it a struggle to stay calm when faced with an omega who so very clearly wasn't used to compassion or care. He went for a run, knowing he was leaving Liam in good hands.
An hour later, as he jogged back toward the clinic, he found Ollie waiting for him.
“How’s your patient doing?”
“He’s scared, in pain, and struggling to understand why we’re helping him. I think he’s waiting for the catch.”
Ollie looked as troubled as Jensen felt.
“The connection is strong. One of the strongest Cade and I have ever seen. You and he are meant to be.”
Jensen frowned.
“How did you even—”
“The window, while you were feeding him soup. He feels it too, the second he saw your eyes it was like you’d hypnotized him.”
“He’s hurt, maybe even broken, and I don’t just mean physically.”
“Then it’s just as well you’re good at fixing people, isn’t it?”
“Ollie, I don’t even know where to start.”
The omega clapped him on the shoulder. “At the beginning, of course. Don’t overthink it. Just be there. Let him get used to you, let him learn about you and the kind of shifter you are.”
“Do you think that will be enough?”
“I think it’ll be a start,” Ollie said softly.
Jensen went back inside to find Joe sitting with Liam while the omega played with Joe’s phone. He didn’t stay long, going to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. Joe joined him a while later.
“He’s sleeping. He had another cup of soup after you left.”
“Did he say anything?”
“No. Quiet as a mouse.”
Jensen went back into the room to sit with Liam, happy that the omega was sleeping peacefully for once. He grabbed a book from his room and tried to get lost in the story but, again and again, he found his attention drawn back to Liam. The omega was underweight, which wasn’t helping his healing. They’d have to get him to eat more than soup.
There was no sign of the omega waking, so Jensen could watch him unobserved. He had a lot of healing to do, but once the physical wounds were taken care of, Jensen fully intended to show Liam what life in a den was really like.