He looked like magick from head to toe.
I was tired, but I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t want to close my eyes and drift off and wake up to find out what the new day brought. Would his heat be broken? I mean, oral is sex, right? Would he be Jules-in-heat or just Jules tomorrow? Would it be weird between us? Would everything go back to normal? Was what happened between us ever going to happen again, or would Jules be prepared and find a girl for his next heat? Would I survive if he did? My mind raced, looping back to think the same thoughts over and over, as if I was afraid I’d forget them if I didn’t. I was exhausted and irrational with lack of sleep. Anxiety gnawed at my insides. I tried not to move, lest I disturb him. I tried to relax and to keep my breathing even, hoping it would help me drift off. It didn’t work. I was still awake by the time the sun lit up the gaping hole in the doorway.
I got up eventually and sat on the bench outside, waiting for Jules to wake up. It was after ten by the time he came stumbling outside. I smelled him before I saw him. The smell of his heat lingered around him; it was so intense, it felt like it was charring my nostrils.
“You all right?” he said, handing me a mug of coffee.
I sat up a little straighter. “Yeah, I’m fine. You?”
“I’m okay. I mean, I feel a bit weird, but okay. Better, you know? You?”
“Uh, we already did me.”
“Oh, yeah, right.” He smiled and looked at me sheepishly. “I, uh, guess I just want to say thank you, Sully. I know that was, like, going above and beyond as a friend in a big way. I appreciate it and hope like fuck it won’t make things weird between us. I know I don’t say it often but you’re the best . . .”
I cut him off there. His voice sounded the same as it used to sound when he did a presentation at school, forced and affected. I couldn’t stand to hear him like that. “Jesus, Jules. Don’t be all earnest. That really will make things weird.”
He started smiling even harder. “It was pretty weird, right?”
“Name one thing that hasn’t been weird this week.”
He thought about it for a while and then shrugged. “Shit, I got nothing.”
We both started to laugh at the sheer absurdity of our situation.
After breakfast, we went down to the river to bathe. As we walked down the path, Jules chattered about this and that. He was speaking a little faster than normal. And a little louder too.
“How many times did you shift last night? Your hair’s gone insane.”
“I know. I shifted a lot. I couldn’t hold the shift. It was a strange night, okay?”
“That’s putting it mildly. But it wasn’t that bad, was it? The whole heat thing, it wasn’t even that bad. Right? It wasn’t great, but it was okay. It was totally survivable. It’s no problem. Being an omega won’t be that bad. Right? It will be fine. Those stories about omegasallegedlydying of their heats must be bullshit. They must be total bullshit. Otherwise, those omegas must have been total pussies. That’s all I can say.”
“Mm-hmm,” I said.
That was all I could say. It was occurring to me that Jules didn’t realize his heat hadn’t broken. Not by a long shot. If his scent was anything to go by, his heat was only getting warmed up. It was merely gathering force.
“Or maybe they’re not pussies exactly. Maybe I’m just a fuck ton tougher than they are?”
Jesus. Jules-in-heat was a handful.
When we got to the banks of the river, I picked up a stick, trying to think of a way to distract him and possibly wear him out a little.
“Psst, Jules,fetch.”
“Fuuuck off,” he said. “I’m not a fucking dog, Sully.”
“Oh, no? But if you’re not a dog, who’s a good boy? Hmm? Who’s a good boy?” I waved the stick around in front of him and noticed with glee that his eyes started to track it.
“Shut up!”
“Come on, shift, so you can play fetch.”
“A wolf chasing a stick? No way. That really would be a case of glorified fetch. Not on my watch, alpha boy.”
“Come on, shift. It will be fun.”
He gave me a look. A defiant look that was set around his eyes. My wolf didn’t like it.
