I know I'm staring but I can't seem to stop. My eyes trace the line of his spine, following it down to where it disappears into those low-hanging sweatpants. My fingers itch with the desire to touch, to run my hands over all that smooth skin and feel the muscle beneath.
Another rush of slick coats my panties and I shift uncomfortably on the couch, my thighs pressing together tighter. This is getting out of hand. My body is responding with an intensity that feels almost dangerous, like I'm losing control of my own reactions.
That's when I realize what's happening. At Harmony House, suppressants in every meal kept our heats from triggering. Without them flooding my system, I'm powerless to stop this. An actual heat, triggered by being around compatible Alphas and finally feeling safe enough for my body to do what it's designed to do.
At Harmony, they sedated us through heats, making the whole thing happen while we were unconscious. They said it was for our safety, that heats were dangerous for unmated Omegas. But the drugs never worked fast enough for me. My body metabolized them too slowly. I'd spend hours in the medical wing, burning from the inside out, cramps tearing through me, begging for unconsciousness before it finally came.
This time, there's no drugs.
A small cramp tears through my stomach as panic spreads through my chest. I need to get to the hospital. I need medication before this gets worse, before I'm writhing in agony like I always do when the heat hits full force.
Before these Alphas decide that I’m not worth the trouble because I can’t control myself.
Another bout of slick coats my panties, so much that I can feel it soaking through the cotton and starting to slide down my inner thighs. Embarrassment floods through me as I push to my feet. The sudden movement makes my head swim slightly, my vision blurring at the edges and I stumble, catching myself on the arm of the couch.
Kade looks up from where he's preparing lunch, his knife pausing mid-slice. His eyes are so dark they're almost black, his nostrils flaring as he scents the air. The look on his face is terrifying in its intensity, predatory and focused entirely on me.
"Sweetheart..." His voice comes out rough, strained like he's holding himself back from something.
"No, I'm sorry." The words tumble out in a rush, panic making my voice shake. "We have to get to the hospital. I... fuck!"
The cramp that tears through me, this time, is worse than the previous ones, sharp enough to make me gasp. I need to get out of here before something bad happens.
I rush down the hall and blow past Dustin who's coming out of the bathroom, his eyes widening as I barrel past him. I shove through the bedroom door and slam it closed behind me, silently begging for relief but being locked in here is worse.
The room is saturated with their scents, cedarwood and leather from Kade, hay and honey from Dustin, all of it mixing together and wrapping around me. The nest in the corner calls to me, every instinct screaming that I should be in there, surrounded by their scents and soft pillows.
I double over, my hands hitting the floor as I drop to my hands and knees. Another bout of slick fills my panties, so much that it's not just soaking through anymore. It's running down my thighs in rivulets, coating my skin and dripping onto the hardwood floor beneath me.
A scream tears from my throat, horror and panic and embarrassment all mixing together into one overwhelming emotion. There's no warden coming to save me from this. And Harmony House most likely didn't give my Alphas any sedation medicine when they signed the papers. They probably did it on purpose too, knowing this would happen. Knowing I'd go into heat without suppressants and my Alphas wouldn't know what to do with me. It's the perfect excuse for them to demand I be returned, to claim that Kade and Dustin are unfit to care for me if they can't handle something as basic as an Omega's heat.
Another cramp tears through me, this one bad enough that I cry out again. I try to scramble backward as the door opens, some irrational part of my brain convinced that it's a warden coming to drag me back to Harmony House. But then strong arms scoop me up, cradling me against a familiar chest. Dustin's scent wraps around me, hay and honey blocking out some of the overwhelming intensity of the bedroom's combined scents.
My nose presses into the crook of his neck instinctively, seeking comfort in the warmth of his skin. For a moment, everything calms. The cramping eases slightly, the panic receding just enough that I can breathe. Being in his arms feels right in a way nothing else does, like this is exactly where I'm supposed to be during a heat.
"Why didn't you say you were going into heat?" Dustin's voice comes out gentle despite the concern evident in his tone.
"Because I didn't know," I gasp out, my fingers digging into his shoulders. "You have to take me back for the medicine. So they can sedate me. Please, I don't want to hurt like this."
Chapter twenty-one
Dustin
I rock Solana back and forth in my arms, trying to soothe her as she attempts to explain something through sobs that are tearing my heart apart. The words come out jumbled and broken, interrupted by gasps and cries of pain that make my Alpha instincts roar with the need to fix this, to make it better somehow.
But I can't pick out heads or tails of what she's trying to tell me, unable to put together coherent sentences from the fragments she's managing to get out between the sobbing.
What I do know is that she's not screaming anymore, which feels like a small victory. But her slick is soaking into my pants, absolutely drenching the fabric until I can feel it against my skin. She needs relief and she needs it desperately.
My cock is already responding to her scent, hardening in my jeans despite the inappropriate timing, but I force myself to ignore it. This isn't about me or my needs. This is about Solana and whatever hell she's going through right now.
Fragments of her words start to penetrate through the panic, catching my attention in ways that make my blood run cold.Sedate. Doesn't want to hurt. Medicine. The pieces are coming together to form a picture I really don't like, a clearer understanding of how her heats must have gone at Harmony House.
Of course, they wouldn't have let Alphas take care of their Omegas during their heat. That would require acknowledging that Omegas have needs beyond what suppressants and institutional care can provide. That would mean admitting that their whole system is fundamentally broken.
But this is so much worse than just denying her access to Alphas. They were drugging her into unconsciousness, medicating away something that should be natural and beautiful, turning it into a medical event that required sedation. The thought makes me want to drive back to Harmony House right now and burn the whole place to the ground.
A growl rumbles from my chest before I can stop it, the sound vibrating against Solana where she's pressed against me. I look up to see Kade standing a few feet away from us, just inside the bedroom doorway. He looks pissed as fuck, his arms folded across his chest and his jaw clenched so tight I can see the muscle jumping beneath his skin. His eyes are dark with rage, that dangerous kind of anger that usually precedes violence.
