She was going to thrive, no matter what it took.
Chapter Fifteen
Bonnie
“They love you already,” Archer said, and those words flipped my stomach upside down in the best way possible. He was so handsome. I found myself staring at him while he was entranced in work or talking to the animals.
They were all treated like royalty. They had the best food and were allowed to eat grass and bugs and worms most of the day.
He explained to me about the different Silkies and other chickens and how rare some of the livestock was.
“Which?” I asked.
His eyes met mine. “Um, the goats. They’ve been nudging you all day. That’s their way of asking for affection.”
We cleaned our hands with the garden hose and left our shoes outside, and Archer joked about the trouble we might be in if we got mud in the house. “Trouble?” That struck a chord. This place and these alphas were magical and the last thing I wanted to be was in trouble.
Archer put his hand on my arm; that one touch set my whole body on fire. “Omega, no one is in trouble. Justice prefers the house kept a certain way, and he does most of it himself. I was only kidding. He might grumble under his breath but he’s harmless. He would never hurt us or especially you.”
My heart slowed. Justice was the scariest of all but when he looked at me, all that big bad bear seemed to fade away. I didn’t want to be on his bad side. Ever. “Okay.”
I had noticed the house was spotless.
“Are you hungry?” Archer asked, patting his stomach. “It’s about lunchtime.”
My stomach rumbled at exactly that moment. “I am. I usually go most of the day without eating after breakfast, if I even have that, but…”
“I’m gonna say something and I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, okay?” He handed me a towel as we made our way to the back porch. We dried our hands.
I nodded.
He reached out and took my hands. “You are very beautiful, but also thin. It has nothing to do with how you look. We think. Well, you are the most beautiful female I’ve ever seen, but I’m concerned, we are concerned about your health.”
“We didn’t have much food sometimes,” I admitted.
“I understand. And…you were on some heat suppressants? Scent blockers?”
I thought it over. There was so much I didn’t know about myself. “Marie had me take pills, and if she thought there was anyone in the forest, I had to spray myself with a bottle of stuff that made my nose sting. I don’t know about suppressants. What are they for?”
“Let’s go inside and make some sandwiches and talk about it. Sound good?”
“Only if you let me help.”
“I promise.”
Inside, we made a big spread for lunch. Toasted sandwiches and pickled vegetables and tiny cheese cubes. Archer added a few slices of cake and glasses of iced tea to the tray and then winked at me.
When he did that, my core pulsed and became wet. That hadn’t happened much before. Was Marie controlling some of my body with those pills?
We went to the front porch where we set up a picnic on a blanket Archer pulled out.
“Can you explain what you meant? Please? I feel so stupid not knowing what is going on in my own body.”
“That must be scary. I’m going to explain some things, but we can also get you some omega biology books and there are tons of videos online explaining everything. We can also bring you to an omega doctor. In fact, I think that might be for the best. I can only explain so much, and I’d never want to tell you something untrue.”
“Thank you. You said heat suppressants.”
Archer folded his hands over his lap. “Omegas have times when their bodies need intimate connection.” I must’ve looked confused. “Sex. It’s biology mostly, but her scent becomes potent and powerful. The heat scent is obvious to all alphas, and it can cause some to lose control. Omegas may choose to take suppressants to make the heat never come. But it’s dangerous for an omega to be on them for too long. It can affect her natural urges and…her fertility.”
