For her, I had to keep the beast from doing something stupid. That had been too close. My hips slowed to a stop, and I held Lyla against me as we attempted to catch our breaths.
Yet locked in her with my knot, battling the primal desire to claim her, I didn’t know if I’d be able to stop myself next time.
CHAPTER TWENTY - Lyla
Sunday all through the day and the night was crazy. We’re taught in Omega school how it’s like to go through heat, but we’re not taught the intensity of it. The teachers make it sound so sterile. ‘You’ll feel emotional and feverish, but it will be manageable if your Alpha is there to take care of you.’
They were so fucking wrong.
My emotions were slammed around like a fruitcake in a dryer. Sometimes they got squished, and other times, they were warm and toasty. My fever was erratic. Ozzi said he’d never heard of any cases as extreme as mine, but he knew the ways to lower it. Thanks, Mom.
Did having not one but two Alphas there help with my messy feelings? Nope.
Getting knotted helped with the physical pain and the fever, but it was like knots all the time. Not that I truly minded that part, because damn! Ozzi and Jason were blowing my mind. All that smut I read before paled in comparison. I had so many new noises and facial expressions to add when I read out loud to Mariska and Emberlee now.
The next twenty-four hours were literally knotting, eating, baking, knotting some more, and sleeping. The kitchen looked like a herd of reindeer charged through it, and I never got out to shovel or check on the neighbors. My existence centered around my heat for one very intense day.
I woke Monday morning feeling like a new woman. One with manic energy and an ache between my legs that wouldn’t ease. “Three days until Christmas! Time to spread cheer and clear the kitchen of all the treats.”
“We can’t keep the goods for ourselves?” Jason pretended to pout. The Alpha didn’t cook or bake, but he could pack in thefood. He said he needed the food as fuel to keep up with me. Adorable.
I gathered the blankets and pillows from what the guys were calling the nest—which I totally disagreed with because I wasn’t nesting, only enjoying sleeping in front of the Christmas tree, and there was so much more space in the living room for the three of us rather than in my room to do… things—and brought them into the laundry room to be washed. They had a weekend of sex all over them, and while I was reveling in that scent, I didn’t think anyone would.
“No. I have neighbors and friends to give them to. Also, for the doctors and nurses at the hospital when we go see Miss Eloise.” I was so absolutely excited the roads were clear enough in town we could go today. I missed my housemother so much. “I made her favorite snickerdoodles. I don’t know if she’ll be allowed to eat them, but I’m bringing them.”
Along with the pajamas I promised and gifts and her slippers and books and so much other stuff I needed to remember to pack. I wanted to decorate her room, too, so I would need another bag for that stuff. Something for her roommate too. Miss Eloise and Tansy had become good friends, being stuck together with no other visitors for days.
“She’ll be able to have a few treats.” Ozzi kissed me as I passed him by the laundry room where he had hung up their clean uniforms over a humidifier so the wrinkles would steam out. “We’re going to rearrange our schedules while we’re there. I figure you’d want as much time with Eloise as you can get, so we can get that done.”
I stuffed a blanket into the washer and cocked my head. “What about your schedules?”
“Your heat isn’t done yet. You need an Alpha with you all the time.” Ozzi leaned against the doorframe. Classic sexy man pose. Made particularly so by the fact he was only wearingboxers. “Jason and I are supposed to work tonight and shifts through this week, taking up extras so people can be with their families for the holidays.”
“But what about you two? Don’t you want time with your families?” Once the blanket was in, I turned on the machine and put in the soap before closing the lid. I didn’t know anything about their families. Did I really know much about them? And here I was sharing myself at my most vulnerable with two Alphas I didn’t completely know.
“My family is Greek, and so our main day to celebrate is New Year’s Day. We’ll go to my parents’ house in Chicago then.” Was Ozzi including me in that we? I wanted to be included but also didn’t know if I wanted to. “Jason’s family lives here in town, and we’ll be off on the evening of Christmas day to have dinner with them.”
“Where does your family live in Chicago? And why is New Year’s the day that you celebrate? Where does Jason’s family live here? Does he have siblings? Do you? I bet Miss Eloise knows his family.” I slipped under his arm out of the laundry room and grabbed another cookie in the kitchen, because, obviously, I didn’t have enough energy and I needed more sugar.
“My family lives on the north side. I grew up in the Gold Coast area.” Oh, that was fancy. “New Year’s Day is Epiphany, the climax of our end of year religious celebrations. Christmas day is just a church day for most Greeks. On New Year’s Day, we have a twelve course meal and exchange gifts.” Ozzi followed me as I walked through the house toward the stairs. “Jason’s family lives close to the lake toward the west side. He has an older sister and a younger brother, and I have two younger sisters.”
This was good. I was learning so much. These Alphas had been knotting me all weekend, but now I was finally getting some details about their lives. Did it make everything better?
I hurried up the stairs and went to my suite. I was going to have to tell Miss Eloise what happened. That two Alphas had been inside Primrose House and they were my scent matches and I’d been screaming with dozens of orgasms while cooped up with them because of the snowstorm.
Maybe I shouldn’t tell her.
God, Miss Eloise would take one look at me and know. She was like Santa. She knew when someone was naughty or nice.
I stopped in front of my door. “I have two younger brothers. Paul is in the Navy, and Joe is going to graduate next year and join the Navy too. My Army dads hate it, and there’s a real rivalry between them. Being in the same room as all of them is rough.” Sighing, I shook my head. It didn’t matter. I was far away from them. “My full name is Lyla Evangeline Berg. What’s your full name?”
The sound of my shower shutting off drew me into my suite. I hadn’t even realized Jason came upstairs to use my bathroom.
“That’s a beautiful name. Mine’s Ozias Georgiou Vakalis.” Ozzi followed me in. “What’s with the questions all of a sudden?”
Ozias. That was gorgeous. Exotic and masculine, and crap, did I want him to knot me again already?
“He’s the OG!” Jason said from the bathroom and came out wrapped in only a towel.
