“What?” he asked weakly. He grasped my wrist. “Ken, what’s wrongwithme?”
“I’m afraid you’re about to have yourfirstheat.”
Wesley stared at me like I’d said something ridiculous. Then the gravity of the situation hit him and he sank back on the pillow before burying his face in it andgroaning.
“Great,” hemuttered.
“I know it’ll be hard,” I said, trying to be as comforting as possible without touching him for reassurance. “But there are ways to get through it. I can call my omega friends and they can help you, ifyouwant.”
Wesley said nothing for a while. Then he turned and glanced at me over his shoulder. “What should I do?” hemurmured.
“There’s methods of… sating yourself,” I said. “None of them are as effective as the real thing, but there aretoysand-”
Wesley just groaned and slumped backintobed.
“I’ll leave you alone for now,” I suggested, backing off. “Just call me again if you needanything.”
He grunted in response. I didn’t wait to hear if he saidanythingelse.
I shut the door behind me and stalked to the other side of my apartment. I ended up pacing for five minutes while I wondered what to do. Once Wesley’s heat hit, he would be insatiable. The first heat was always especially hard, even more in this case since Wesley’s was so late in his life. I bit my lip thinking about our options. I could leave for a week, and ask Mason or Charlie to watch over him and make sure his recovery continued. But neither of them weredoctors.
But did he still really need a doctor? He was almost completely better. If that was the case, maybe he could move outnow,and…
No, that was ridiculous. He didn’t know anybody in this pack and had no means of finding his own place, not right now. Sending an unmated omega in heat into the wild, so to speak, would end up in adisaster.
I groaned and nearly ripped my hair out. Once his heat fully kicked in and his omega pheromones permeated through the air, it would be nearly impossible to avoid thinking about him inthatway.
I grabbed the phone and called myfriends.
“Charlie? Mason? Can you two meet me downstairs in my office lobby, as soon aspossible?”
* * *
Hearingthe urgency in my voice, they arrivedpromptly.
“What’s going on?” Charlieasked.
“It’s Wesley,” I said. “His first heat is starting soon, and I don’t know what the hell to doaboutit.”
They exchangedglances.
“Aren’t you a doctor?” Charlie said almost teasingly. “That’s not really a big deal to you,isit?”
“Well, they are sort of living together,” Mason added. “Plus Ken’s clinic is downstairs. So I guess it would be pretty distracting when he’s tryingtowork.”
“It’s not that,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t know…” I sighed, and figured I would have to tell them the entire truth, since they were trying to help. “Something happened between us a few days ago. We were laying down together and he started getting really close to me and kissing my neck and… I had to break it off, fast, because I’m his doctor and he’s my patient. I couldn’t let anything happen, but I think he took it pretty hard. We’ve barely been speaking, but now he’s worried and scared because of hisheat,and- “
“Whoa, whoa, slow down,” Mason said. “You think helikesyou?”
I threw up my hands in exasperation. “I don’t know. Maybe. Why else would hedothat?”
Mason’s face scrunched up in thought, but Charlie suddenlygasped.
“Wait a minute, Ken,” Charlie said slowly. “Doyoulikehim?”
“What!?”
“Do you like him?” Charlie repeatedsimply.
