Page 105 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

I mumble under my breath, half-hearted in my defense. "It wasn't hourly. There were four of them, and they took turns. Well, Blaze and Shade shared."

She pinches between her brows and exhales. "Too much information, Sparks."

"I remember when you used to love sexcapade stories."

She reaches for my chin again and turns my face toward the window. "That was back when I had a sense of humor and whimsy. All of my whimsy is dead, Sparks. It suffocated under the weight of bullshit your mates created. Now hold still, I need to look at these bites."

I lift my chin obediently while she inspects the marks on either side of my neck and at the back. Her gloved fingers are gentle, but her mouth is pinched tight.

"They look okay?" I ask.

"They look like four possessive idiots mauled you." She presses lightly around the skin. "No infection or angry inflammation. Scars are a good color. The healing was clean."

Everlyn steps back and taps a short report into her datapad. The tremor in her left hand makes her finger jitter across the screen.

"Ev," I say quietly, "when did you last sleep?"

"Define sleep."

"That bad?"

She snorts. "I hid in the supply closet at some point yesterday and got a few minutes. The infighting within the ranks hasn't stopped. Mostly between the Alphas as they jostle for power, and some from trying to get to the Omega in heat. I patch them up, but reattaching body parts takes time and focus."

I grimace. I was kept separate from Alphas for eleven years in The Omega Division because of the violence an Alpha is capable of when trying to claim an Omega. "Shit. I'm sorry."

"Mhm. Not your fault." She loops a blood pressure cuff around my arm and tugs it tight with more force than strictly necessary. "Your mates, however, suck," she repeats dryly.

I feel selfish.

I kept all four of my mates in my nest for an entire week. Maybe I could have made do with just one Alpha for my heat while the rest kept doing damage control, but I remember the fits I pitched when they tried to leave.

I swallow back the guilt and self-loathing before it consumes me. Those are not emotions I indulge in anymore.

"Stone was a bastard and a shitty leader," she says, pumping the cuff until it bites into my bicep, "but he was the mortar holding this place together."

She glances at the gauge, then adds, "His death seems to have ripped every weak seam in this place apart."

I wince at the pressure. "That bad?"

"Worse." She releases the valve in a slow hiss and peels the cuff loose. "His loyalists wanted retribution against your Pack. His critics wanted immediate reform." She drops the cuff onto the trolley with a clatter and reaches for her pen. "Nobody could agree on what to do first, so everyone just shouted louder and for longer. And thank rut the Human army didn't march on the Pass in the meantime. There is no chance anyone would cooperate long enough to mount a defensive operation."

Frack. Yes. I am selfish. So very selfish.

"That sounds exhausting," I say for the sake of saying something. It's weak and I internally cringe.

She lets out a tired breath and leans one hip against the exam trolley, as if she does not entirely trust her legs to keep her standing upright.

"And it wasn’t just the big political drama that was causing fights either. It was all the petty, basic shit too. Quartermasters refusing to release extra ammunition because no one had the right authority to sign requisitions. Two patrol captains started a fistfight over an incorrect patrol roster right in front of a line of injured soldiers I was literally patching up."

Her voice climbs with each example until she cuts herself off, jaw tightening.

"I finally said enough was enough," she mutters, pushing a greasy strand of hair out of her face. "Told everyone I was in charge now because I was the doctor and I know where the morphine is."

I blink at her. "That worked?"

Everlyn shrugs, but it comes out more like a tired sag. "What can I say? People respect morphine."

"Morphine doesn't even work on Alphas!" A laugh slips out of me. "And I really don’t think it was the drugs that convinced them you were the right person for the job."