Deaton pulled on his professional face and began examining first the bruise on Lizzie's abdomen. It looked a lot better than the day before, but when Deaton pressed down on it, Lizzie still winced in pain. "Well, you broke a few ribs, but they are healing as expected."
Lizzie exhaled as Deaton pressed down on the bruise again, this time more gently. "Yeah, that's what I figured. Last time there was a lot more bruising, almost a dark red, you know?" Deaton removed his hands and moved onto looking at Lizzie's arms. "I had to miss school for a few days following that," she added as an afterthought.
"And how long did it take to fully heal before?" he asked, pausing to hold out a hand to Scott for some kind of cream.
"Um," Lizzie started, thinking back. "I'm not sure, that was a while ago. Maybe two weeks? But like I said, I was younger then – not quite as strong and I didn't heal as fast." She glanced over at Liam who looked like he was going to be sick. "Ah, cheer up. I'm sure you've broken a few bones before, haven't you?" she joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"This isn't funny," Liam said, pinning her with a serious glare. "Most of my injuries have been by accident, not inflicted on me by my father." He ran a hand down the side of his face. "You're talking about this like it's normal. Like it's normal for you to know exactly how long it takes to heal broken ribs or claw marks or bruises from an alpha."
That put Lizzie in a silent stupor. He was right of course. Obviously she'd thought about how different her life was from her classmates being a werewolf, but it really never went much further than that. To her it was just normal.
Lizzie reached over to grab Liam's hand to calm him down. "Sorry, I've never talked about it out loud before so I never considered how it would sound." Liam looked down at their interlocking hands and his expression relaxed. "I'll try to put a filter on. I'm just not used to being able to say whatever I want out loud."
"You couldn't or didn't talk about it out loud?" Deaton probed. "Is something different now?"
The vet's question set Lizzie back. Things did feel different now that she thought about it. "Couldn't," she answered, frowning. "I guess I never realized it, but I've always felt like something was holding me back. Before I moved here the idea never even crossed my mind to tell someone. Now though, it feels different. Like for the first time I have a choice and no one's telling me what I can't do."
Deaton nodded his head as if that made perfect sense. "When you're part of a pack, everyone is connected in some way. It's kind of intangible. I've been told that sometimes you can feel it. Some alphas use the connection more than others to control their pack. It sounds like that might have been what was happening to you."
Scott jumped in at that point. "The connection probably is stronger for an alpha, but it's almost like I can feel an invisible rope between everyone in my pack, tying us all together. It let's me know everyone is okay."
"For me it feels like a thread," Liam added.
Lizzie felt her mouth go dry. "A thread?" she repeated, just to make sure she'd heard him right.
"Yeah, why?"
She knew what had happened. Why things were suddenly so clear. The knowledge swept over her and she shivered. It couldn't be true.
Lizzie scrambled to get up, but Scott and Deaton pushed her back down. Not roughly, but enough that she couldn't move. "I know it's a lot to take in right now, but I promise you that it will be okay," Scott said, voice calm.
"How long have you realized it?" Lizzie demanded, feeling like her chest was going to cave in. She took deep gasps of air in, but they were growing shorter and shorter as she began to panic. Scott looked hesitantly at Deaton. "How long have you known?" Lizzie yelled.
Scott sighed, giving in and gave Lizzie an apologetic grimace. "I knew when we were in the classroom. After Malia offered to kill your father… I don't know, whatever it was, something just shifted." Lizzie sucked in a breath. "I'd never felt anything like it before, but somehow I knew what it meant. You didn't feel like the beta of a pack anymore. You didn't feel like you belonged to any pack anymore. You felt like an omega."
Oh dear... has it really been over a month since I last updated this?!
First it was those darn exams at school, and having to move everything out of my apartment basically by myself. Then, the longer I went without updating, the more I was reading of other people's stories (fanfiction and otherwise), and the thought of jumping back in was kind of overwhelming. It still is to be honest. Reading other stories makes me think too much about my own writing. I suppose it's good for growth and all that, but mostly it just messes with my head. I'm sure a lot of you know where I'm coming from. Still, I'm back, and I have a few chapters written in advance that I can edit and post soon. Then I have to take one step further and work on new chapters. I will finish this story though, sooner or later.
Thank you to everyone who has read You Don't Know Me so far. I'm incredibly grateful for the feedback and support. Please let me know what you think by reviewing, favoriting, and following!