"Don't," I manage through gritted teeth. "Please don't call anyone."
"You're in heat." She backs toward the door, putting distance between us. "I should get the healer. They have suppressants that can help with the worst of it."
"No healers." I force the words out past the fire in my throat. "No one can know."
"Nova, your scent is..." She trails off, pressing her hand to her nose. Her discomfort is obvious now. "It's making even me uncomfortable and I'm female. Every male within range is going to know. They'll all be drawn here."
I know. I can feel it broadcasting outward like a beacon, invisible waves of pheromones announcing to every shifter on campus that I'm available, fertile, ready to be claimed. Come find me. Complete the bond. Mate with me.
My Silverpelt nature makes it worse. Instead of calling to one potential mate, I'm calling to four. But I can't tell Lily that, can't explain why my heat is so much stronger than it should be. She's been nothing but kind to me since I arrived and I hate keeping secrets from her.
Lily hesitates at the edge of her bed, caught between concern for me and her own rising discomfort. "Nova, I think... I think I should stay with Emma tonight. Give you space to get through this." She bites her lip, clearly torn. "I don't want to abandon you but the scent is making my wolf restless and I don't think I can help you if I stay. I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize. You're being kind by giving me privacy."
She searches my face for a long moment, then nods and grabs her overnight bag, shoving clothes into it with shaking hands. "If you need anything, anything at all, you call me. Promise?"
"I promise."
She leaves and I'm alone with the burning.
I kick off the sheets and stumble to the window, pushing it open. Night air rushes in but it doesn't help. If anything, it makes things worse because now my scent is pouring out across campus. Every shifter with working senses will smell it.
Julian. The bond between us flares painful, responding to the heat. Somewhere on campus he's feeling this, my arousal flooding through our connection. I can sense his reaction, how his control fractures under the weight of my need.
Caspian. The pack claim pulls tight. Alpha instinct demanding he respond to his pack mate in heat.
Even Knox. Even Nico. Wherever they are, they're sensing this. Being drawn toward it.
I press my palms against the windowsill and try to breathe through it. This is biology. Natural. Every female shifter goes through heat cycles. I just have to ride it out and hope morning comes quickly.
My hand slides down my stomach without conscious thought. Under my shorts. Finding the ache that's building unbearable pressure. I touch myself, trying to ease it, but my fingers aren't enough. They're not what I need.
I need more, need someone larger, stronger, filling me and completing the bond that's demanding completion.
I need my mates.
I pull my hand away and grip the windowsill again, trying to focus on anything else. The cool night air. The distant sound of campus settling for the night. The stars barely visible through the light pollution.
It takes me several minutes to notice the shadow moving below.
Someone crossing the quad, heading toward my building. I track the movement and see him stop at the base of the wall directly beneath my window. Looking up.
Caspian.
He stands there for a long moment. Even from two stories up I can see the tension in his shoulders, how his hands clench and unclench at his sides. Fighting with himself.
Then he starts to climb.
Wolf strength makes easy work of the brick wall. He finds handholds in the mortar, pulls himself up with measured power. Within seconds he's at my window, hands gripping the sill where mine were moments ago.
I step back and he pulls himself through, dropping silently to my floor.
I should be afraid. Male in my room, middle of night, me in heat and vulnerable. But fear is the last thing I feel looking at him.
"You shouldn't be here," I say. My voice comes out breathy and desperate.
"I know." He straightens to his full height, towering over me in the darkness. The moonlight from the window catches his face and I see his eyes are completely amber now. No brown left. Wolf at the surface, barely contained. "Your scent is everywhere, spreading across campus from this open window. I tried to stay away, tried to give you space, but I can't think anymore. I can't breathe. All I can do is follow the pull that's dragging me here."
