Love? No one said anything about love. Is love what I’m feeling? I undo the top button on my blouse. Has it suddenly gotten hotter in here, or did telling the girls my news just get under my skin?
“Anyway, I better go.” I decide I need to hang up before Sabs asks me any more questions I’m not ready to answer. “I’ll see you tonight.”
My three best friends wave before disconnecting. I fold my clothes carefully to smooth out the creases before gently placing them into my suitcase.
“Ouch!” I keel over, clutching my stomach and lurching forward, feeling as if I’ve been jabbed by a hot poker.
The intensity takes me off guard, making me grit my teeth. A wave of nausea rolls over me as realization hits.
“No,” I chastise myself, hoping that I can somehow think my way out of this. Mindset is everything. At least that’s what Delilah says. “This isn’t happening. Not now. I refuse.”
We’ve just figured everything out. We’re courting, but we’ll take things slow so we can keep getting to know each other. Clearly, my body has other ideas. It seems that finally accepting that the Valen Pack is my match has had an unintended consequence.
Unable to continue packing, I sink to my knees, starting to count backwards from one hundred in my head, hoping that I can somehow stop my body from succumbing to its natural instincts.
I throw my neatly folded clothes around, digging around for my emergency pack of heat patches. I tear at the box, a brick of unease dropping to the bottom of my gut when I find it’s empty.
“Kady?” I jump at the soft knock on the door. “Can I come in? I need to get a book.”
I let out a strangled sound that he must take as a yes, because he steps inside. As soon as he sees me, his entire body tenses, and his nostrils flare as my perfume fills the room. Seeing my Viking alpha with hulking shoulders filling the doorway sets every nerve ending in my body on fire.
“Kady, are you…?” Riven swallows hard, his pupils eating the blue of his irises.
“Going into heat?” I wince from the pain, slightly breathless. “Yep, I think so.”
He clears his throat. “I should tell the others to stop packing.”
“No!” I jump up and grab his wrist, throwing myself at him. I wrap my arms around him, clinging onto him like a koala while nuzzling into his chest. His calming presence is exactly what I need. “It may be a false alarm.”
Riven inhales deeply, his voice scratchy as he strokes my head, holding me close. “It doesn’t smell like a false alarm to me.”
“I can’t believe this is happening right now,” I groan. “Everything was going so well.”
“Don’t worry.” He pats my back. “It’ll be okay. Hale will know what to do.”
“I don’t want Hale.” I snuggle into him. “Right now, I want you.”
“Me?” He blanches, pulling back. “But I don’t know what I’m?—”
I cut off his sentence with a kiss. Riven may not have a lot of experience with omegas, but he’s an alpha, and instincts count for a lot.
His long fingers weave through my hair as he kisses me back. I slide my hands under his shirt, pawing at his rippling back muscles like a feral cat.
“Can we…?” He pulls back, leaving my lips tingling and chest heaving. “Slow down?”
His rejection stings. Usually, I wouldn’t react to a comment like that but, right now, my impending heat has stripped away all my defenses and dropped my guard. My lower lip trembles uncontrollably as my vulnerability slips through. “You don’t want to?—”
“No!” He pulls me back to him. “Of course, I want to. I want to more than anything.” Even with his voice steeped in shyness, his touch erases my worries. “I’d like to savor this moment a little longer, if we can?”
His mouth brushes against mine, bringing a tender calmness to counter my frenzied panic, grounding me further. He wants me. Thank fuck. I snuggle into him, wishing I could bury myself under his skin. Riven isn’t like the others. He’s who I need right now. During this early stage of heat, he will keep me from spiraling into a tailspin.
He gestures to his bed. “Should we…?”
I grab his hand to pull him down onto his comfortable mattress. I climb onto his lap, wrapping my legs around him, resisting the urge to grind against the hard bulge in his pants… For now.
My body hums with need as he brushes a strand of hair from my cheek and tucks it behind my ear.
“I never thought I’d find an omega like you.” He gazes into my eyes. “An omega who wants me. Like this.”
