It was fine.
Eric was used to it.
Chapter 16
Rubbing his forehead, Hugh glanced at his schedule for the day. There was one more appointment and then he would be done.
Sighing, Hugh slumped back in his seat and loosened his tie. The work exchange program had sounded like a good idea when Serena had suggested it. This was the best AO clinic in Pelugia, as prestigious and respected as theirs. Working with new people for a few months and getting out of his comfort zone had seemed like something that might help him deal with the sense of despondency and dissatisfaction that had plagued him lately.
Yes, keep telling yourself that’s why you’re back in Pelugia.
Hugh grimaced. All right, the clinic’s appeal wasn’t the main reason he was here. It was his… restlessness.
Restlessness, right. More like fixation. Obsession.
Hugh pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t even lie to himself anymore. Over the years, he had told himself that he just didn’t like unfinished business and loose ends, but it had felt like a lie back then and still did. Unfinished business shouldn’t make a man lie awake at night, wondering if he’d done the right thing years ago.
Stay away from me.
Modern Kadarian alphas prided themselves on respecting omegas’ wishes and not enforcing their will on them. When an omega told you to stay away, you stayed away, period. Pushy alpha behavior was a thing of the past.
And yet.
Eric had always been good at bringing out both his best and worst instincts. Three years ago, Hugh had wanted to push. He’d wanted to refuse to leave. He’d wanted to pull the stubborn little omega close and make Eric admit that he needed him. He’d wanted to throw Eric over his shoulder and take him home with him, kicking and screaming if needed. And it’d sickened him. He wasn’t that controlling asshole. He refused to be.
So he’d left.
And he’d even managed to leave him alone. He hadn’t kept tabs on Eric, no matter how badly he’d wanted to. And he’d wanted to. He’d been this close to hiring a private investigator to report to him on Eric’s life and health before realizing what it essentially was: stalking a former patient, a young omega half his age who’d asked him to stay away. It would be creepy as fuck. So he’d stopped himself just in time. He’d buried himself in his research and tried to move on with his life. He wasn’t a slave to his base instincts. He could stay away.
And he had. Not that it had done him much good. He still thought about Eric far too often for it to be healthy.
His intercom chimed. “Your six o’clock is here, doctor. A married couple.”
“Send them in,” Hugh said, fixing his tie and donning his professional mask. Married couples weren’t rare in his practice, but it usually meant either infertility problems or alpha-omega dynamic issues, and Hugh wasn’t particularly fond of either subject.
Infertility was rarely treatable in Eilans. No one liked being the bearer of bad news, and Hugh was no exception. As for AO dynamics… He often felt like the worst sort of hypocrite when he had to give his patients advice on alpha-omega relationship dynamics. He was yet to sustain a successful relationship with an omega. At least he was now free to do so if he wanted to.
The thought failed to lift his mood.
One would think his life would improve after finally making the breakthrough that allowed him to break the mating bond that had ruined his life for decades—and it did, physically. Without the blasted bond he didn’t have to be on suppressants anymore, and his senses were much sharper than they’d been in over a decade. He could actually smell things and didn’t feel like he was half-blind.
But there was an unexpected downside to removing his bond to Nadine. The dull yearning to go back to Pelugia had become a persistent itch he could no longer fight. Hugh had come to an uncomfortable realization that the bond to Nadine wasn’t the only thing his suppressants had been suppressing. It seemed he’d formed a rudimentary connection to Eric while he was on suppressants—which shouldn’t have been possible. And yet, here he was, in Pelugia, against all common sense.
Because it was too late, even if he wanted to approach Eric.
He was married.
In his defense, Hugh hadn’t looked that up on purpose. But Eric was the brother of the prince-consort of Pelugia. No one could completely avoid news about him unless they lived under a rock. So yes, he’d heard that Eric had gotten married more than two years ago. Although Hugh had been on suppressants, they hadn’t stopped him from feeling hollow when he’d heard the news. They hadn’t stopped him from getting smashingly drunk. Now, without the suppressants, he felt… There was a reason he didn’t look up Eric’s husband’s name. He didn’t trust himself not to do something ill-advised.