Page 45 of Galaxy Between Us

“I think his brain is no longer processing visuals. It must not be serious or else the alarms would automatically trigger the ejection process. I would guess he’s relying on his other senses but shows no signs of retreat.”

“Pull him out,” I mutter, becoming dizzy at the thought of something going wrong.

“Nothing’s wrong, Arius. We’ll know when to bring him back,” Dr. Ritza scolds me.

Gomez looks like he's on my side, worried and desperate for Knox to return, but as a Beta, he keeps his mouth shut.

“Just pull him out! This is enough! You can practice on other Alphas and Omegas later!” I complain in a rising state of panic.

“If we pull him out now, the ejection process could still take days. It's safer if we wait,” the scientist explains, waving me off and returning to her surveillance.

“Dr. Ritza,” I turn to her with pleading eyes. “Please, something's not right, I can feel it.”

The judgement is clear in her sharp eyes. She thinks I’m being a difficult, hormonal Omega. I don’t know how to explain it to them, but I have a bad, heavy weight in my gut. In fact, the more I panic, the more nauseous I become. I swallow it down, wiping the sweat on my forehead.

“We’ll monitor his condition closely, but we’re not pulling him out until it’s necessary. Get some rest, Arius.”

I want to fight and argue, but my insides are doing acrobats. She's right. I need to take it easy and rest, whether I want to or not.

“Gomez…bathroom!” I clamp a hand over my mouth, suddenly in severe need to release the storm happening in my stomach.

He notices my urgency and quickly guides me out of the room. Hand on my arm, he drags me to the nearest restroom and tugs the large trash bin to my chest when I heave. The sensation is awful, burning my throat all the way up. Tears well up in my eyes from the unexpected internal queasiness.

“Are you okay?” Gomez stays by my side while I get it all out.

“I’m fine,” I choke out the words. “Just symptoms of the– “

Another wave of heaving into the bin interrupts my sentence. Fuck, this is awful. I didn’t even know nausea was a recovery symptom from the transfer bed, but then again, my whole operation had failed on me. It must’ve elevated the side effects. I need to rest.

Once my stomach is empty, Gomez leads me to a private room where I lie back on the bed to sleep. For the next few days, everything falls into the same cycle. I wake up, throw up, visit Knox, sit with Dr. Ritza, and then sleep the rest of the day away.

By the fourth day, I’m starting to worry about my symptoms. Recovery shouldn’t be this bad, but my stomach is still twisted, and without Knox, I have the deep urge to nest in his scent again, but I’m too embarrassed to voice my needs.

Dr. Ritza comes into my room, catching me pacing with worry.

“The results of your blood test are back,” she holds up a folder with my name on it. “We did a comprehensive exam that’ll show us any little detail as to why you’re still not feeling well. I haven’t checked the results yet, but I’d say it’s probably low iron.”

She sets the packet down and reaches for the blood pressure cuff. I should offer her my arm, but…I feel weird right now being around another Alpha. I must be getting my heat back soon and maybe that’s what’s causing this. I don’t think I have low iron; I think I’m having Knox-withdrawal. And going into heat while he’s gone will certainly elevate all the annoying symptoms. My body is adamant that I need him even though I already visited him today.

Before we can figure it out, both of us glance at the door as someone comes bolting down the hallway. A Beta in a lab coat bursts through with urgency.

“Doctor, you’re needed!” he breathes harshly, saying nothing more as he retreats back down the hall he came from.

“Stay here,” Dr. Ritza nods at me before following the Beta in a hurry.

They’re both gone in a flash, leaving me stunned in the room by myself. I really hope that was about something else and not Knox’s condition. Otherwise, they would’ve told me to come, too. Wouldn’t they?

Alone, I approach Ritza’s folder with my blood results and take a peek. It’s extensive as promised, showing a long list of acronyms I’m unsure of, though I recognize the ones for oxygen blood count. The ranges are all normal. Negative, negative, negative.

I skim down the list until my eyes hit one highlighted result. My heart stutters at the word pregnancy, but I read the segment carefully to ensure I'm not misinterpreting this before I freak out.

Pregnancy. Positive.

There’s no mistaking it. I don’t have low iron, and I’m certainly not going into heat…I’m pregnant. Trembling in shock, I lift my eyes from the paper. Before I can even react, a deep and agonized shout travels down the corridor right into my soul. A wave of bumps travels up my arms, and my spine tingles hard enough to make me squirm where I stand.

The Omega in me did not like the sound of that. I begin to panic as more shouts follow the first one until there’s a full meltdown happening somewhere down the corridor. I’ve never heard Knox yell like that. Something must be seriously wrong.

Ditching the folder, I jog out of the room, unable to move much faster due to my queasy stomach. I follow his cries, calling out his name as if he could respond from so far away.