My designation. The fact that I am a needy, heat-drivenomega.
“The blindfold, please,” I request, frozen in place.
She points behind me and I follow her finger to one already hanging on the wall just outside of my nest. “There’s anotherinside of your nest too. You are not permitted to remove yours either. Mutual respect and trust are important in these types of…situations.”
Before I can ask the thousand more questions swirling in my mind, there’s shouting from down the hallway. It’s coming from the direction of the waiting room, and I jump at the sound.
The nurse turns her head toward the yelling, but doesn’t react otherwise. “I have to be going. He will be across from you soon. If you need anything at all, come find one of us or utilize the buttons in your room,” she says, shutting the door and leaving me to this empty and unfamiliar space.
Moving shakily towards the couch, I fall down onto it. Reaching over, I grab my bag off the table and dig through it until I find what I’m looking for.
Tony’s clothes. A hoodie and a pair of sweats.
Even after all this time they hold his essence.
The sight and smell fill me with an immediate relief that cannot be replicated. His scent had been sickly sweet when we first met. I had written him off, but as time passed, I grew more and more accustomed to it. Until one day, I craved it.Neededit. Like it was an addiction. Tony didn’t have a pack, which as an alpha, was practically unheard of. It was almost too normal,surreal. As if our designations didn’t even matter. It was one of the things I loved so much about him.
Once we started dating, he said he would accept more alphas if I wanted them. But he always said I was enough for him. And he was always enough for me.
Tony was always enough.
But now he’s gone.
And I’m here in a clinic waiting to be fucked by another man.
Steeling my nerves and breathing in and out a few times, I prepare myself for what’s to come.
four
Xenia
Changed, washed, and refreshed, I sit on the couch. My chin resting on my knees as my heart pumps loudly into my ears. My gaze is focused on the wall.
A door opening and closing on the other side has me tensing further. Part of me wants to jump up and run, to dive and hide in my nest, but I don’t.
“Hello?” The word is sultry with a slight country drawl as it washes towards me.
Even with the wall between us, the alpha’s voice is gruff but with a soft warmth to it.
It’s silent for several beats.
“Hello? Are you there, Little Omega?” There is an edge of an unknown inflection in his tone.
It leaves meannoyed,and I huff out, “I’m here. I’m notlittle.”
A deep toe-curling chuckle vibrates towards me. In a trance, I shakily get up from the couch and walk towards the wall that separates us.
My hand comes up to touch it, but I pull it back.
“Have you done this before?” I ask.
There’s rustling followed by footsteps. When the alpha speaks again, I can tell he is just on the other side of the wall.
“Not for a long time,” he advises.
My eyebrows furrow in confusion. “Aren’t you young?”
He doesn’t answer for several tense beats, and I am nearly afraid I have managed to offend him. Just as I accept that I might need to request a new alpha, he speaks again.
