He doesn't wait for me to respond. He disappears back down the hall.
I stand there for a long moment.
Then pain hits low in my abdomen.
Sharp and sudden, like a fist closing around my organs.
I gasp, bending forward instinctively, one hand clamping to the counter as the other slides to my stomach. The cramp tightens, twists, and for a second I can't see.
"What—"
Another wave hits immediately.
Heat floods through my lower body. A thick warmth slides down my inner thigh.
Slick.
My stomach drops.
My heart slams into my ribs with sudden terror.
"Oh god. No. No, no—"
I straighten slowly, afraid that moving will make it worse.
Another pulse rolls through me, and more slick trickles down my leg.
My heat.
It's here.
Now.
Of courseit is.
The air is saturated with alpha pheromones and omega heat. My body has been breathing it for two days, my instincts rubbed raw by it. Of course my omega physiology would respond.
Of course my suppression couldn't hold any longer.
I stand there shaking, slick warm against my skin, panic making my throat close.
I need to get to my room.
I take one step. Pain hits again. I hiss through my teeth.
I take another step. Another wave. My knees buckle.
I cling to the wall, panting.
The hallway seems impossibly long.
Slick keeps sliding down my legs, soaking the fabric, pooling in humiliating warmth.
I shuffle forward inch by inch. I make it to my door with a sob and shove it open, stumbling inside.
I collapse into the chair with a cry as another cramp tears through me. The blanket is draped over the armrest. I yank it over myself like it can hide what I am.
Another wave hits.
