They were all busy with tasks in the house and I’d slipped out the back door with little notice and out into the yard. The air held a chill to it that soothed my skin as I stood in the middle of the grass and tilted my chin skyward.
The clouds above my head were dark and swollen with rain, ready to release at any moment. I’d stumbled outside for fresh air, but I was sure that rain would do more to cool me off than a breeze ever could, and I was right.
The first drops of rain practically sizzled against my skin as they fell. I opened my arms wide as the water began to fall in earnest, quickly soaking me to the bone and providing some of the much needed relief that I hadn’t been able to give myself.
I was eventually going to need to go inside and tell them that my heat started, and that I’d need their help with it. It felt a bit like I was forcing it on them as nothing about our relationships was clear cut. I hadn’t even told them that I wanted to stay yet, the last bits of doubt having crept into my mind while I dealt with my hair-trigger emotions.
What if I was making a mistake and there wasn’t really room for me in a pack that already had an omega? What if our time together was short because the Titans killed us all?
What if I regretted never seeing my family again? That thought rattled me the most, always punching the breath from my body when I let it in. I missed my mother, Nicky, Ivy, and yes, even Timothy. But just the thought of returning to the dullness of 1915 life sent me right back in the other direction.
1915 didn’t have Podcast, whose green eyes saw right through me. He was the person who understood me the most, it seemed, and his touch was the first to ever light me afire.
1915 didn’t have Storm, Doc, or Bat either. They all played different roles. Storm was calm and easy, his presence a balm to cool my soul. Doc was my safe haven, I knew that as long as there was breath in his body he would do anything to keep the pack and me safe. Bat brought omega instincts out of my body that I hadn’t been aware that I even had. No one had everneededme before and while the feeling was overwhelming, it felt so right that I wondered if I would ever feel that for anyone in the past.
1915 didn’t have Rex either. Out of the entire pack, Rex was the one that I knew the least, but also the one I was most curious about. He could infuriate me in one moment and make my heart pound in another. Even though our only kiss had been when I was jumpstarting his magic, I still remembered the way that he’d let me slide down his body inch-by-inch. After that we hadn’t touched again, but now as I stood in the pouring rain images of his hands roving over me filled my mind, causing a stomach twisting cramp, the final sign that I was indeed about to tumble head first into my heat.
“Juneau?” Storm’s voice found me over the din of the rain. I turned to look at him hazily, watching the way that the water rolled down the planes of his jaw. I was filled with the sudden urge to follow the drip with my tongue.
Instead I gave him a silly smile. “I think I finally understand why you like the rain so much, this is amazing!” my last words came out in a shout as I spun around in the rain like a child. Something about the mixture of my heat and the cool rain made me feel delirious and it wasn’t long before I was stumbling over my feet, nearly falling.
Thankfully a pair of warm hands steadied me and I grinned at the owner of the hands.
“Thank you,” I told Storm sweetly before pulling him in for a kiss. His mouth was different from Bat, Doc, or Podcast’s, probably because he was a bit stunned by my sudden shift in demeanor. His mouth was tense for another moment before a sigh slipped out of his lips, tickling my sensitive skin.
“Fuck,” he growled against my mouth before his arms went around my back and I was pulled fully against his chest. His fingers dug into my hair, tugging on my scalp deliciously as he chased my tongue with his own. I returned the favor, wrapping my fingers through the wet strands of his dark hair and giving it a pull, drawing a rumbling purr from the alpha which made my insides quake with need.
After what seemed like an eternity, the rainfall continued to grow heavier and heavier until the grass started to turn into slippery mud, making it hard for my feet to gain enough purchase to continue standing.
Suddenly, I was up in Storm’s arms and he was striding back toward the house. “You’re in heat, sunshine,” he informed me as he kicked the door open, not caring whether or not he was trailing water behind us as he climbed the steps.
“Juneau’s in heat!” he shouted loud enough to wake the dead and his exclamation was answered by doors opening and a flurry of three other alphas and one very concerned omega as they surrounded us in a heartbeat.
“Why the fuck was she out in the rain, she’s going to catch a cold,” Doc fussed, reaching for me but Storm’s growl stopped him.
“Too hot,” I slurred. I watched Storm’s face hazily before finally giving into the urge to lick the water away from his face, the flat of my tongue picking up as much moisture as possible before I slumped back into his embrace.
“Did she just lick him?” I heard Rex say from behind Storm as he pushed the bathroom door open.
“She’s probably dehydrated,” Doc informed him as they crowded into the bathroom with us.
“If that’s the case, I’m next,” Bat chimed in from the back of the group. I found his dark eyes amongst the bodies and shuddered with delight when I found unbridled lust blazing within them.
The sound of a hand slapping the bathroom counter drew all of our attention to Podcast who was standing, a stern expression on his face. For just a moment I was scared that he was going to be upset over all of the fussing that the pack was doting on me.
Podcast’s hands flew and I struggled to keep up with his words throughout the blurry tinge of my heat.‘You are all going to listen to me now, this is Juneau’s first heat with partners and I will be damned if you fuck it up.’
“We’ve done heats before, PC—well all of us except for Bat,” Rex’s words were defensive, but my mind was glued to the fact that he was even discussing staying for my heat.
I began to shiver. I wasn’t sure if it was from the rain or the fever-like symptoms that heats always brought, but it suddenly felt as if someone had injected ice into my veins.
“C-c-cold,” I managed to say through chattering teeth.
Podcast frowned and reached out to place a soothingly warm hand across my brow before he jumped into action.
‘Rex, Doc, go get everything we’ll need to eat and drink together, Storm put her on the toilet for me,’Podcast signed, pointing at the closed lid.
Storm looked as if he wanted to argue, but one green-eyed glare from the other omega had him depositing me gently and stepping back. Podcast stepped in front of me, blocking my vision as his hands continued to move.
