TALIA
My scraped skin was tended to; cleaned and bandaged. The nurse dispensed pain medication to dull the ache of my untended heat and gave me an injection of heat-reduction medication to cut the duration down significantly.
The only wound remaining was the ravaged bite mark on my neck. The nurses here were kind, asking before they touched any part of me and checking in regularly on my pain level as they disinfected and bandaged.
No matter how nice they were, I couldn’t bring myself to let them touch that bite mark.
Holding a hand over it, I shook my head. “It’s… No. Please don’t touch it.”
“Talia,” the head nurse, Phoebe, said gently. “It could get infected if we leave it like that.”
“I know. I’m a nurse, so I know what could happen to it. I just…” Fresh tears welled up. “My mating mark was never supposed to look like that. Or feel like this.”
She gave me a sad smile. “No one ever should have done something like this to you, I agree. I don’t want him to make you feel any further pain, though.”
If the rough-edged bite ended up infected, I could die. I’d be in even more immense pain than I already was. Cleaning it was vitally important. An alpha would usually tend to their own claiming mark, which was much more pleasant than disinfectant and a bandage, but I didn’t have that luxury.
“Can I clean it myself?” Reaching out, I grabbed the wipes she had set out.
She didn’t object to me taking them, though she did look worried. “Do what you can in front of the bathroom mirror, alright? I’ll let your alpha know that you’re ready for company.”
My lips turned up into a small smile. West was here—he’d rushed after me as soon as I’d called him. He could cuddle me and help make this sterile nest into a real, comfortable place. Some of my pain would melt away as soon as I could touch him, I knew it.
Of course, the strong painkillers I’d been given would help too.
I stood up from the edge of the stool Phoebe had me sitting on, looking at myself in the large mirror. My skin was pale, and there were dark circles under my eyes. I’d tied my hair up into a messy bun when I’d gotten here, but strands were falling out already.
The worst part was the dried blood caked on my neck, clinging to the edges of the wound. It made my skin seem even lighter and more sallow.
Swallowing, I lifted a wipe and cleaned away the streaks of blood that had dripped down my throat.
Phoebe was still in the bathroom with me, watching every move I made. It was unnerving. “You can go,” I said quietly. “I’d like West, please.”
She smiled. “It’s good that you have him here. He’s a good guy.”
She was halfway out the door when I realized why that sounded off. “How do you know him?”
“Oh, he’s been visiting Violet here for a few years now.”
Instincts rose up, jealousy making me grit my teeth. “Violet?”
“Yes, his sister.”
The jealousy vanished on my surprised exhale. West had a sister? One who was staying here, in housing for traumatized omegas who need around the clock care?
Why had he never mentioned her? I chewed on my bottom lip as Phoebe said some parting words that I barely heard. The door shut behind her and my nest was officially my own until my heat broke, but it didn’t feel right.
My alpha hadn’t even bothered to tell me he had a sister. Had he not wanted me to meet her?
I knew I was being unreasonable. West didn’t know a damn thing about my family—certainly not the most important part; that my fathers were powerful mafia bosses. We’d barely known each other, and I hadn’t even been sure he’d liked me.
Yet with heat hormones washing over me, it stung that I’d had to learn about Violet from a nurse.
“Talia?” West’s voice came through the nest’s door, right after a knock. “I’m coming in.”
I pouted. He opened the door, glancing around the cozy room with its huge bed piled with pillows and blankets. When he didn’t see me, his gaze swung over to the open bathroom door, and me standing just beyond it.
He spotted my neck immediately.
