“You know they say autoimmune diseases are common in women who prioritize other people's well-being over their own,” Manuela says casually. “If you suppress enough of your feelings, your body gets angry and starts attacking itself."
“Really?” Veda asks, lowering her forkful of ugly gnocchi.
“If I liked cake as much as you do, I’d stop suppressing everything.”
Veda rolls her eyes, and Manuela chuckles. Of course, none of us believes that she’d be able to eat gluten after all these years, but it is still a very interesting theory. Veda’s grandfather made her eat her own feelings for so long that it’s not crazy to believe that her body rejected itself after a while.
Omegas are sensitive. They respond to their environment differently from the rest of us. Thinking St. James traumatized his granddaughter into an autoimmune disease, just to then shame her for it, makes my blood boil. I shake it all off when I’m handed Mirasol, as her mother cuddles me on the couch. I play with the baby while everyone watches TV, my mind far away until Manuela says she’s going to sleep, and she can take Mirasol with her.
“Just relax for the night,” Manuela tells her. “I think it’s coming.”
She doesn’t tell what she thinks is coming, but whatever it is, Veda knows. She sits up, eyes wide as saucers, and gives the sleeping baby to her mother. My heart dares to beat faster as if it’s a horse that knows its destination. Fuck me, I’m going to keep her regardless of what happens, but if what her mother thinks her heat, is coming? That changes everything.
“What’s coming?” I ask, but all she does is shake her head and look at the TV.
Over her head, I glance at my pack brothers, not surprised to find their confused eyes staring back at me. We all sit together on the biggest couch, Veda right in the middle, and I put my arm around her, holding her against my chest.
She feels warm like this, her breathing coming out in rapid gulps, and I wonder why she’s so nervous. We had a pretty good day today. She was happy and had more energy than I’ve seen since she got here. I turn to her completely, my hand over her naked leg as I call her attention.
“Are you okay?”
She whimpers to my touch, and when her eyes find mine, I suck in a breath when she asks, “How does heat feel?”
forty-five
Veda
I’m warm, hot, and tingling all over.
From the moment I opened my eyes, I felt something was different, but then everythingwasdifferent, so I decided not to worry too much.
The whole day, I wanted to jump the guy's bones. I’ve been eye-fucking them like crazy, but really, when someone rescues your daughter and brings your mother back from hell, of course, it changes how you see them. But it’s not just Major who changed in my eyes. I’m melting into a puddle any time Derrick or Jesse holds Mirasol.
Big arms holding a tiny baby? Yeah, that would do it.
So really, I didn’t think much of it. And then they made me a birthday cake. Rough cowboys learned how to bake for me.
For me.
It’s a very normal reaction to fall deeper in love with them. It’s areasonabledesire to want to kneel right there and give them a blow job. I really didn’t think much of any of this, but as the day went by, my temperature rose, and now I feel on fire.
My mom obviously noticed. She’s been eyeing me since the morning, checking my temperature constantly as if I’m a kid asking to skip school. She says they are mine, so my heat can kick off at any point.
“I don’t know,” Derrick tells me as his eyes zigzag over my face.
“What’s happening, sweetheart?”
Jesse’s hand covers my forehead, and I lean into the touch as if he’s touching a much more interesting part.
“She’s burning up.”
Major sucks in a breath as he reaches for me, too, hands on my neck. Suddenly, everyone is a doctor, and I’m falling apart with the most innocent of touches.
“I’m starting with my heat, right?” I lick my lips as I ask them.
The question comes out soft, and I know it’s because it’s full of hope. Mom told me last night that if I think they are mine, it means they are, but really, a scent-match and a heat would make everything so much easier for us.
Yet now that it is actually happening, it feels a little more out of control than I anticipated.
