Amos climbs in on my left. Dominic climbs in on my right. The bed is big enough for all three of us but I press into the center until my body touches both of theirs, my back against Dominic's chest and my face against Amos' collarbone.
"I'm scared." The words come out muffled against Amos' shirt. "The heat. I've never had a real one with people I actually... with Alphas who..." My throat closes and I swallow hard. "What if I'm different during heat? What if my body does things that disgust you? What if I beg for things that you..."
"Whatever you need during heat, you get." Dominic's voice is blunt against the back of my neck. "Whatever you ask for, whatever your body demands. No judgment."
"You don't know what I might ask for or what the heat is going to do to me." My fingers twist in Amos' shirt. "I've heard stories about Omegas in heat who lose themselves completely. What if you don't want me after? What if you see the heat version of me and it's too much and you realize I'm not worth the..."
"Niah." Amos pulls back enough to look at my face. "We watched you burst into a boardroom full of executives this morning with slick on your pants because you needed us badly enough to throw away every shred of dignity you had. You think heat is going to show us something we can't handle?"
"The boardroom was different. I was still me. During my heat I might not be."
"You'll still be you." Amos' thumb traces my cheekbone. "You'll be a version of you that needs more, asks louder, and holds on tighter. That's not a different person. That's you without the filter your mother spent years installing."
"You'll stay with me? Both of you? The whole time? Even if it's five days? Even if I'm... a lot?"
"The whole time, firefly." Dominic's arm tightens around my waist from behind, pulling me back against his chest. "You're going to be a lot. You're already a lot. That's not a problem."
"That's kind of an insult."
"It's a compliment from someone who doesn't know how to give them." Amos grins against my hair.
My body is exhausted. The drive over and then the spike on the kitchen floor have wrung me out completely. The nest smells right. Both of their bodies are pressed against mine.
"During the heat, if it happens again, I want to go deeper." My fingers tighten on Amos' shirt. "I want to know what it feels like when I actually let go."
"We'll get you there." Dominic's mouth rests against the nape of my neck. "When you're ready and not a second before."
"I'm going to be so much work during this heat."
"You're already so much work." Dominic's thumb traces a circle on my hip. "The heat is just going to be more of the same."
"Still an insult."
"Still a compliment." Amos' laugh vibrates through my chest.
Every fear my mother ever planted about losing control is sitting in the back of my skull waiting for its moment but for the first time, I feel powerful enough to keep it there. She can’t get to me here.
Mattaniah
Iwakeuponfire. It's not the slow build of a spike or the creeping warmth that gives me time to brace. This is a wall of heat that slams through my body between one heartbeat and the next, and by the time my eyes open I'm already drenched in sweat with my hips grinding against the mattress.
The nest is damp beneath me. Slick has pooled beneath my hips, soaking the throw blanket and the sheets below it.
Dominic’s hand finds my hip and rolls me onto my back. His nostrils flare at whatever my scent is doing, his pupils blown wide, his grip tightening hard enough to bruise.
"It's here." He says it over my head to Amos, his voice rough with sleep and something darker. "Amos. Wake up. His heat’s here."
Amos sits up in seconds, his hand finding my forehead. The clinical check lasts approximately one second before my hand grabs his wrist and drags it down my body. I need his hands on me.
"Please." The word comes out as a whine that I can't control. "Please, Amos, I need... I can't..."
"I'm here." He pulls his shirt over his head and his skin presses against mine and the contact sends a shudder through me so violent my teeth chatter. "We're both here, Niah."
Dominic strips the ruined sweatpants off me while Amos' mouth finds my throat. Amos' lips on my pulse and Dominic's hands on my thighs send electricity through every nerve I have. My back arches off the bed and my hands grab whatever they can reach, Amos' hair with my left and Dominic's forearm with my right.
"Both of you." My voice doesn't sound like mine. It's raw and desperate and demanding. The heat has burned through every hesitation and every filter I ever built. What's left is pure need, so consuming that when Amos pulls off my cock I cry out in protest. "I need both of you touching me right now. Not one at a time. Both."
Amos pulls back long enough to look at Dominic over my body. The communication between them takes less than a second, and then they move.
