“Hey, beautiful,” Jack said, suddenly sitting on the edge of my bed and taking my hand. “You’re awake.”
I let my eyes flutter open so I could drink in the sight of my gorgeous, strong alpha. “I’m sort of awake,” I said groggily.
Jack’s face burst into the most amazing smile of relief. “You did so good,” he said, scooting up a little so he could brush his hand carefully over my bandaged head. “I’m so proud of you.”
“I didn’t do anything,” I said, slurring my words a little. “I just held still while Fletcher did it all.”
“You were brave,” Jack said, kissing my forehead. “So brave.”
Tears filled my eyes, but they weren’t the wild, uncontrollable kind I’d been experiencing for years. They were genuine and heartfelt. They came straight from my soul, which felt like a plant that had been brought out of the closet and into the sunlight for the first time in years.
My inner omega took a deep breath, threw his arms wide, and reveled in the sunshine.
I spentanother few days in the hospital, and a week on bedrest once I was home. I wasn’t sure how necessary all the fuss was, but Papa and Jennifer were over the moon taking care of me and suggesting redecorating ideas for the house.
“Everything is fine, Papa,” I explained, gesturing for him to sit down after he’d brought me a bowl of homemade soup for lunch. “I don’t even know why I have to rest so much like this.”
“Um, duh,” Jennifer said. She’d turned thirteen last month and was living up to the bratty little sister role perfectly. And Iloved her for it. “You had holes drilled in your head and lasers messing around in there, dummy.”
“The lasers were cleaning things up, not messing with them,” I corrected her.
“Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes.
A second later, she sent me a loving, little sister smile that made my heart melt.
“Really, I’m fine,” I said. “And this time, I’m not even lying when I say that.”
“Those Bangers & Mash scientists are amazing,” Papa said, sitting down at last. “I would do just about anything for them in thanks.”
I smiled, knowing how he felt. At this point, I would do just about anything for the guys at the Dark Fantasies Club for matching me and Jack together to begin with.
The momentI’d been waiting months for, no, years for, came about six weeks after that.
I was puttering around the house on a Wednesday afternoon, completing the onboarding paperwork that The Grand Hotel, Norwalk had sent me as a new hire, when things started to feel a little warm. I was distracted, so I didn’t grasp what it was at first.
When I was just getting hotter and hotter an hour later, despite turning the AC on, even though it was May, everything clicked.
“Oh, shit!” I said, then let out a half-crazy laugh.
This was it. My first heat after completing the ReBond procedure. This was where all of Dr. Fletcher and the team’s hard work was tested.
I ran to get my phone from the kitchen and called Jack.
“Hey, baby,” Jack answered right away.
“Jack! This is it! My heat just started!” I shouted, excited and terrified and horny all rolled into one.
“I’m on my way,” Jack said, deadly serious. “I’ll call Dr. Fletcher to let him know.”
“Yeah, okay.”
That was it. We ended the call, and I paced around the kitchen for a bit before going upstairs to make sure we had everything I would need for my first few heat waves.
That meant making sure there were enough sheets on the bed to replace them quickly as things got messy. It meant checking to see that all the pillows were in place. It meant I took a quick shower, then fluffed my hair, which had been shaved off completely for the procedures, to make it look okay.
It looked terrible and fuzzy still, but at least I’d had some time to dye it bright turquoise a few days before.
By the time I heard the downstairs door open and shut, I was already naked and splayed on the bed, playing with my hole both to ease my desperation and to get myself all worked up for my alpha.
