Page 30 of The Omega Switch: Part 2

“Ronan?” I whispered.

“He brought the food,” Elias said. “He’s outside.”

Safe, then. I was safe, and cared for. I let my head sink back into the cushion as Elias adjusted the blanket over me. Before sleep pulled me under again, I heard him set the soup aside and tell Puff to settle down.

I slept, but it wasn’t peaceful. My body ached as though I’d come down with the flu, my muscles sore while waves of heat, then chills, rolled through me. One moment I was sweating beneath the blanket, and the next I was shivering so hard my teeth nearly chattered. My thoughts tangled together into strange dreams about overflowing orders, empty shelves, and customers waiting impatiently outside the locked boutique. I surfaced sometime later with a gasp.

“The store,” I said.

Elias appeared beside me almost immediately. “What about it?”

“I have orders.” My tongue felt thick, and it took too much effort to form the words. “The workshop tomorrow. I need to prepare the samples.”

“The store is closed,” he said calmly.

My heart began beating faster. “No, I can’t close. People are waiting.”

“Ivy.” His hand settled lightly over the blanket near my arm, not restraining me, just grounding me. “Nothing is going to happen to the store tonight.”

I tried to sit up, but the room tilted. Elias caught my shoulder before I could fall and eased me back onto the cushions.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.” He said, and I nodded, closing my eyes. I turned my face away and drifted off again.

The next time I woke, I gasped, my mind flashing images of Puff. “Where’s Puff?” I asked, and Elias was sitting in a chair nearby, reading something.

“He’s fine,” Elias murmured. “Walked and fed. Everything is fine. You can sleep.”

Hours passed in scattered pieces. Occasionally I woke to Elias checking my pulse or pressing a cool cloth to my forehead. And sometimes I heard low voices near the front of the boutique, too distant to understand. The feverish ache gradually settled deeper into my bones until I stopped trying to keep track of where I was.

At some point, I sensed someone standing near the doorway. Someone tall and broad, and a pull deep in my chest woke me, demanding I turn to him.

The light behind him blurred his features, but even through the haze I could make out the shape of powerful shoulders and the dark outline of a suit jacket. He looked impossibly handsome, and my confused mind couldn’t place him, until I could have sworn it was Hunter. I lifted my hand without thinking.

“Alpha?”

The figure turned toward me, and I let out a whine. “Alpha!” I whimpered, and a moment later, warm fingers closed around mine. The touch was careful and hesitant, as though he was afraid I might pull away.

“I’m here,” a deep voice murmured.

I opened my eyes wider, but his face remained blurred. All I could see clearly was the concern in his expression. For one moment I forgot everything that had happened between us. I forgot all about the betrayal, the heat, and the months of pain. I only knew that I needed my Alpha near me. My fingers curled weakly around his. His thumb brushed once across my knuckles.

“You can rest, Ivy.”

I let my eyes close. Hunter’s hand remained around mine as sleep carried me away again, and this time the dreams were quieter.

Chapter 17

Elias

The moment Ivy’s name appeared on my phone, my heart stopped.

For months, I had imagined dozens of reasons she might call me, though I felt like a fool for hoping. And yet, she’d finally called. Maybe she wanted to ask about the investigation, or needed help reviewing a formula. But when I answered, I never imagined she would sound the way she did. Her voice was barely there, and she sounded unfocused. Every hopeful thought vanished beneath a sudden wave of fear.

“I...” she began, but the rest of the sentence tapered into silence.

I was already reaching for my keys.

“Where are you?”