“I’m right here.” I slip my hand over hers. “What’s wrong?”
“Go.” She stares at me, gritting her teeth. “You need to leave.”
I’ve never heard her tone so biting, so forceful before.
“What? No.” I grip her fingers in mine. “I’m not leaving. Tell me what’s the matter, and I’ll get the doctor over here immediately.”
She rips her hand away, her eyes blazing. “Leave. Now.” Her gaze turns pleading. “Please, go.”
Now my worry grows tenfold. Perhaps I’ve only known her for a few months, but something is very amiss for her to make demands.
“Talk to me,” I say earnestly. “What ails you? I’ll leave if you truly need to be alone, but if you’re sick?—”
“Yes! I’m sick.” She retreats under the blankets and pulls them up. “Deathly ill. You’ll catch it if you’re too close to me.”
I narrow my eyes at her. Selene is not a very good liar.
“And where would you have gotten this illness?” I ask, leaning closer. Her breath speeds up, and her black pupils swell in size. “Seeing as you rarely go out.”
“I caught it from Sadie.”
I laugh outright at this notion, and Selene frowns. She’s about to reprimand me when her eyes squeeze closed again, and this time she moans.
Whether it is a moan of pain or something else… I’m not sure. But down between my legs, underneath my stiff pants, my cock hears it and listens.
Fuck. This is not what I need right now.
“Selene.” I lean toward her, and she tries to retreat into the pillow, but she’s already on her back. “Tell me what’s wrong. How I can help you.”
She doesn’t seem to be sick with the way her face has been growing redder, her eyes brighter. When I get close, she moans again, this time in a way that is most certainly erotic.
What is happening?
“Please,” Selene begs one more time, her eyes openingjust barely. “It hurts. And I can’t… I can’t fix it.” She gasps, then jams a hand down under the blankets.
“What can’t you fix?” I ask gently.
“Myself!” Her hand works under the blanket, and her eyes fall closed again. “I can’t be fixed. I’m broken. I’m wrong. I’m terrible, Harry, and you must go before…” Another moan escapes her, and my cock is swelling at the distinct look of pleasure on her face. There’s a strange scent in the air, like an orange blossom, but much stronger.
“There is nothing wrong with you.” I try to sound as certain as I feel on this point. “Nothing at all, Selene. But I can’t do anything to help if I don’t know what’s wrong.”
Her hand is moving under the blanket, but then it stops and she groans with frustration.
“I…” Tears build in her eyes as she finally looks up at me. “I… I lied to you, Harry.”
I stare down at her. “About what?”
“About why my father locked me away.”
That wonderful smell fills my head, and I try hard to focus on Selene as she speaks.
“He did it to protect me, but also to protect the worldfromme.” Her voice sounds so broken, I want nothing more than to embrace her. “I’m… an omega.”
At first, I don’t understand why these things are connected. Omegas are rare—prized. A handful live in our township, each with families of their own, so their heats are properly managed and cared for. There is even an omega noblewoman who lives in the house up on the hill with her alpha and beta husbands.
Alphas, on the other hand, are not always so… tempered. Many are mated, but sometimes there will be a brawl at the saloon, and at the root is always a loose alpha. The rest of us betas do our best to handle them, but sometimes their strength is too much for just one or two of us.
This is why her father locked her away?
