“First, actually. But being the absolute first of the first is better than best.” Halo smiled, despite the situation. Even sad, her smile was radiant. The smile didn’t last though. “I’m not hanging up until the last possible moment,” she said.
“Hey,” Crux lightly bat me on the shoulder and I looked up. A doctor was walking down the hall in our direction, with purpose.
“One second, Halo,” I said, rising from my chair.
“The Heller pack?” The doctor asked.
“Yes, I’m Severen, the pack lead.”
“I’m doctor Houser, the cardiologist. We’ve run a battery of tests and I’m sorry to inform you that Skye is in critical heart failure.”
“How?” Crux and I asked, stepping on one other’s words.
“Since when?”
“How did we not know?””How do we fix it?”
“Let me talk to him,” Halo’s voice cut through the phone speaker clearly. She was the most level headed out of the three of us. We passed the phone to the doctor.
“Who am I speaking with?” Asked the doctor.
“Halo Kwan of the Heller Pack. Skye is my omega as well.”
“What do you know of her birth pack’s history?” asked Dr. Houser.
“We just moved here,” I said. “Our medical records are probably still hidden away in a box somewhere.”
“She didn’t have a birth pack,” Halo clarified. “Both her parents were monogamous betas.”
“Very traditional,” Crux said. The way he said it transformed the wordtraditionalintooppressive.
“Her aunt on her mother’s side is a paragon omega,” Halo continued. “Other than her and Skye, it’s all betas as far as I know.”
“I see,” said the doctor. “Was she, by chance, late to perfume?”
“Yes,” Halo said.
“How soon after she perfumed did you bond with her and claim her as your omega?”
Halo murmured under her breath as she thought. “About a year and a half, I suppose? Maybe two?”
“Two,” Crux put in, confidently.
“She’s had a few heats since then?”
“Yes,” the three of us said together.
Dr. Houser’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “This all confirms my diagnosis. I believe Skye is suffering from Congenital Atrial Inefficiency Syndrome. It’s a rare condition that occurs in omegas with a long line of beta parentage. Their omega heart is overwhelmed by the very nature of being an omega. The heats, the bonds, the presence of others in their aura, in their blood. The atria, the two upper chambers of the heart, literally become scorched from being overworked, thin out, and eventually break down. Unfortunately Skye was one of the few.”
As the doctor spoke, every nerve in my body burned. I wanted to tear him apart with my teeth and my bare hands. I wanted to smash through walls until I found where they were keeping Skye. I wanted to pick her up, feel her perfect body in my arms, and take her home. Our home. Our new beachfront home that she dreamed of.
Her heart was perfect. Skye was perfect. Nothing could ever change that.
“Okay, so how do we cure it?” Halo asked, calmly.
“For the time being, we have her on an ECMO machine. It’s pumping the blood for her so her heart can have a rest. However, this is only a temporary solution. At this point, the only course of action for her health is a complete heart transplant.”
“And if she doesn’t?” My voice shook. It didn’t sound like mine.
