“So, what do we need to do to prepare? Do you have your heat here? I can cook for you.”
Smiling, I pepper kisses up her throat and jaw until I reach the corner of her lips. “I love you, Angel.”
Her eyes pop open and lock on me. “Y-you love me?”
“Mmm, more than anything. And it’s because of that love that I can’t have my heat here. I would lose my mind knowing you were nearby and not having you in the nest with me.”
Kaitlin ambles into the room and gives us an odd look as she shakes her hands. “Eats now?”
I let Hannah go, and grab both plates to carry to the table. She’s still standing in the same spot when I get Kait settled. “Come eat, Angel. We’ll figure everything else out when our Alpha gets home.”
While they eat, I wash the dishes and clean off the stove. I want there to be no chores to distract my Beta from cuddling with me for the rest of the afternoon. If I have to be away from her for my heat, I want to spend every free moment until then with her in my arms.
Shepherd walks through the door a little after three. The frustrated expression on his face melts away when our princess greets him with the same hug she gave me earlier. “Good afternoon, Princess. How was your day?” He joins us on the couch while he listens to Kaitlin chatter. She quickly gets bored with our cuddle pile and dives back into her toys, leaving the three of us wrapped around each other.
“I spoke with Donovan. He’s going to assign an agent to guard you while we’re away for the heat,” he tells Hannah. My lip wobbles, worries crashing back in, and a purr rattles to life in his chest. “They’ll be safe. The DAU won’t let anything happen.”
“Where will you go?” Hannah asks as she runs her hands through my hair, nails scraping along my scalp. It feels amazing and makes me melt onto her legs.
Shepherd joins her in turning me into a puddle of Omega by rubbing his hands up and down my back beneath my tank top. I bury a groan against Hannah’s thigh when he digs into a tight spot between my shoulder blades. “A heat hotel.” He explains more, but the words are static in my ears as I get lost between their touches.
I’m half asleep when Shep shoves my phone into my hands, and steps away. “Find us a helper,” he commands. “Hannah can help you pick. I’m on dinner duty. Want to help me make a salad, Princess?”
When they’re both gone, I roll to a sitting position and scoot close to Hannah’s side. My head meets the back of the couch, my body still limp from being so relaxed.
“What does finding a helper mean?”
I peek one eye open and navigate to the Heat Helper app on my phone. “Heat helpers are volunteers who assist single Omegas with their heats. They are carefully vetted and use rut-blockers. Omegas with only one mate can also use the app to find helpers. That’s what we do with my heats. We find a Beta to help us through the heat.”
“Your instincts are okay with having strangers there?” she asks, curiosity lining her tone.
“Sometimes. Most of the time, I’m so lost in the heat that I don’t care. Some Beta helpers only sign up for caretaking roles. Making sure the Omegas and their partners eat and shower, things like that. Others participate sexually, which can give the Alphas time to sleep between knottings.”
With the app loaded, I show her the different ways I can narrow a search for a helper. Designation, sexual orientation, kinks, any preferences a person can have are included as a toggle option for the search. I flip through them quickly, having saved them from my last heat. The only change I make is to switch off the option for female helpers.
The only pussy I’ll be sinking into is the one beside me.
We swipe through the helpers who fit my requests together. Seeing how alike and different our tastes are is an entertaining experience, and reminds me of the abuse my angel has suffered. She isn’t as willing to trust others as I am, even ones vetted by the Heat Helper team.
“Oh, what about him?” she asks, tapping my screen to enlarge the picture.
A male Beta fills the screen. Cool chestnut skin paired with dark brown hair. A light stubble covers his jaw, and two black studs sit on his ears. What pulls me in are his eyes. They’re a light blue that leans toward purple.
I back out of the picture and scan his information. He’s older, almost forty, though his age doesn’t show in his pictures. His history of heat helping runs back to a few months after the app was invented fifteen years ago. Scrolling back up, I frown when I see he’s listed as being single. How has a man this attractive never found a partner?
The logical part of my brain swears there has to be something wrong with him, but my instincts scream“yes, please!” drowning those thoughts out before they can convince me to pass him by. I screenshot his profile, and send it to Shepherd before quickly closing out of the app.
My heart is racing, and I’m so hard it’s unbelievable. Maybe this was a bad idea.
“I think you picked a good one,” Hannah murmurs, stretching beside me. “His eyes looked sad. Lonely. But kind, too.”
I hope she’s right, but even if she isn’t, Shepherd will be with me. We can make him leave if he turns out to be creepy or controlling.
Opening the notification about my heat must have flipped an internal switch that sent me headfirst into pre-heat. According to my research, it is likely that my concern for Hannah and the kids temporarily overrode the initial nesting instincts. Temporarily being the keyword because they have roared back to life over the past day.
I’m officially a weepy, whiny mess of an Omega.
And I’m horny as hell.
