Damn, she looks pathetic.
It seemed her energy hadn’t lasted long, or perhaps the cramping pain had grown so quickly, she couldn’t run far. She’d made it to the detached garage on the property, the door ajar when they went outside to follow her tracks. She’d gone out through the bathroom window, down the lattice on the side of the wall, then across the yard. A few places showed indents in the dirt—hands and knees—where she’d tumbled.
Each one tugged at him. By the time he actually got a look at her, curled up in the corner of the garage, a soft whimper on her lips, he just didn’t have it in him to be angry.
Finding her took the tension down a bit. Whether anything they experienced between them was real or not didn’t change that his instincts had recognized he was responsible for her, that all the alphas were. Her going missing had turned the three into snarling, possessive beasts.
“Sweet,” Daniel said, keeping his voice gentle as he dropped to his knees beside her. Sweat coated her forehead, and she’d squeezed her eyes shut tight.
She flinched when he brushed her hair from her face. “Fucking drug,” she whispered.
Damn it.Heats at the best of times weren’t all that fun for an omega, but when spurred by that drug? They tended to hit harder and faster.
Even though a part of him, that primal side that didn’t care about right or wrong—the one that thrived off survival—loved the idea of her going into heat, of servicing her, of watching her grow with his child afterward, the logical part knew this wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.
“Breathe slowly, pet.” Trent sat down beside her, then managed to get her head into his lap, so at least she wasn’t entirely lying on the floor. “I want you to try and take a couple of deep breaths.”
“And just how many heats haveyoubeen through, oh great expert?” Even though her words were strong, the tone came out breathless and strained.
“Keep mouthing off,” Daniel said. “You might as well get your money’s worth out of it right now when we can’t punish you for it.”
Lines appeared in her face just as she curled in on herself and cried out through gritted teeth.
Trent stroked across her forehead while Daniel rubbed her hand. They weren’t much, but right then that was all they could offer.
“We have a sedative, sugar.” Kyle crouched, tilting his head as though he could look into her face even though her eyes were shut. “We made sure to have it on hand just in case. It’s already pre-measured, so we can knock you out. You don’t have to suffer.”
Her swallow was loud, and her wince said her throat was already dry. The trembling that racked her entire body showed the strain her heat had already placed on her, and it hadn’t been more than an hour. She jerked her head from side to side, a quick, decisive refusal.
“You can’t suffer like this,” Daniel told her.
“I thought you liked a little pain.”
The joke drew a smile from him. “This is not to my taste. Don’t be stubborn, not about this. We’ll get you into bed and medicate you and you won’t have to hurt. We’ll watch over you the whole time.”
She shifted, nuzzling her cheek against Trent’s lap, an oddly affectionate gesture that Daniel was sure she’d never do if she were in her right mind. “I don’t want to be drugged.”
“I don’t like taking meds either, but I can promise you, if my insides were tearing themselves apart like yours are, I’d make an exception,” Trent told her.
Again, she shook her head. “I’ve made it through heats before.”
“But never when caused by a drug and never when living with three alphas. Look, pet, even if you could make it through the entire thing without giving in, I’m not so sure we could.” The way Trent said it, the tightness in his jaw—it made Daniel ache.
The man worried too much. Daniel had no question that if she wanted to ride the entire thing out without a lick of help—he ignored the way the word ‘lick’ made his mind go—that Trent and the rest of them could resist.
Another wave hit her, so close to the last that it proved this would not be an easy heat. She dug her fingers into Daniel’s thigh, a grip that would leave bruises, and ones he happily accepted. If bruising him helped her, he’d take it with a smile.
Alison shuddered at the end, then slid her hand beneath Daniel’s shirt. “I won’t take the drug,” she said, this time more weight to her words.
“I don’t want to see you suffer.” Trent sounded defeated and backed against a wall.
“Then don’t,” she said, crawling into Trent’s lap and taking his lips in an aggressive kiss. Her robe opened enough so she was bare to his eyes.
Trent’s groan was loud, and he didn’t resist, not at first. Instead, his hand went to her hair and he kissed her back.
Daniel rubbed his hand over his face, looking for strength. For what, he didn’t know. God, he wanted to give in… He wanted to service Alison through her heat, to knot her over and over again until the insanity of the heat abated for them all, until none of them could move anymore and fell asleep sated and exhausted.
But he owed it to her, to all of them, to be sure.
