Greg takes one look at my snarling face and answers for me. “Hi, yes, I’m calling about a reservation for a Ms. Sarah Zhaing. We had an option to check in through tomorrow, but it’s not coming up online for me as existing, and we’re going to end up needing it for at least the next three to five days.” His voice is calm, but his arms twitch with tension.
“I’m sorry, sir, who am I speaking with?” Her voice has lost a bit of its pep, but still sounds cheerful enough that I want to put my fist through her no-doubt smiling teeth.
“Oh, Sorry. I’m Greg, Sarah’s beta mate.” We aren’t officially mated, but fuck this woman.
“I’m sorry Mr…Greg. But I’ll need to speak to Ms. Zhaing since the room was reserved under her name. I don’t have you on file at all.” Her voice is downright chilly now, and my own answering growl feels like fire in my chest.
Greg holds the phone out for me, still on speaker so I don’t have to fumble with it. My hands are balled into fists with the pain, and there’s a good chance I’d accidentally hang up on this frigid bitch on purpose. My voice is raspy and gritted through my teeth. “This is Sarah Zhaing. I can’t find my reservation and I hurt like mad fucking hell. Please talk to my beta, or tell me what the fuck is going on so I can take care of this heat.”
No sympathy, not a shock, but the lack of false platitudes does take me by surprise as she huffs out a breath, sounding annoyed by having to deal with me. “Ms. Zhaing, I understand you’re in pain, but please refrain from using profanity while speaking to me. It looks here like your room reservation was canceled when we had an emergency heat come in. My manager made that decision yesterday as you only had one day left on it. But to compensate you, I’ve doubled the reward points you would have gotten by staying here to your account, and we’ve refunded your deposit.”
“Yes, my deposit was supposed to be refunded if I didn’t use the suite anyway…fucking hell this hurts. Are you fucking serious right now…motherfucking fuckity fuck fuck! My uterus feels like it’s being put through a goddamned juicer right now and I want to scream at everyone. What, exactly, do you suggest I do now since I’m starting my heat and have no place to go?” The line cuts off, but instead of a dial tone we’re put back on hold with more muzak.
Yeah, she told me not to use profanity, and guess what? It made me want to use it more. I’m spiteful that way. Also these cramps fucking hurt. I don’t know if we were dismissed and need to hang up or what, but thankfully this one lasts less than a minute before a bored-sounding male voice comes on the line. He doesn’t even try to fake enthusiasm like the front desk did. “Yes, Ms. Zhaing, thank you for calling. It looks like your room reservation was canceled yesterday on my authority when we had an emergency heat come in. But don’t worry, I’ve refunded your deposit and doubled your reward points.”
If I could reach through the phone, this man would be lying dead in a pool of his own blood. Instead, I snatch the damned thing out of Greg’s hand and yank my arm back, ready to throw it across the room. It won’t help, but I’ll feel better for a few seconds.
Greg plucks it lightly out of my grip, bringing it back down, but keeping a tighter hold on it now. His voice is level, but his whole body hums with tension. “Thank you Mr…um…Sir. We appreciate all that.” I don’t, actually. “But now we need some options. My omega is starting her heat, we can’t fly back home until it’s over, and we can’t easily stay where we are either. Do you know if there are any other heat suite hotels in the area?”
The bored-sounding manager makes a thoughtful humming sound before completely crushing my hopes. “Oh, no. We’re the only one within several counties. You know we offer a specialtyservice here; it’s why rooms are at a premium. If you knew your heat was coming, you really should have booked for that time frame, or at least gotten checked-in sooner. About the only other option would be the free heat clinic across the border north of us.”
My whole body shivers at the thought of that sort of place. I’m sure they do their best, but I don’t know how they would react to having my beta there to help me through it with or without any of their alphas. I’m not comfortable with strangers. They’re similar to the heat helpers we have at the center, but for families who have an unmated omega living with them.
Usually there’s enough time to meet the helpers and get to know each other in those situations, but my body has said fuck it to any sort of normal schedule and screwed me right the hell over. I don’t want a bunch of strangers; I want my beta and my toys. I was willing to use their heat helpers as a last resort, but even that’s gone out the window. My mind throws a quick flash of the three alphas I’ve been getting to know this week and sudden cramps tear through my midsection, making my whole body curl into a tight ball and my breath squeeze out in a frantic whine. Oh, this fucking sucks.
I can barely make out Greg on the phone. “Yeah, fuck you guys, that’s not helpful at all. You suck.” He presses the end call button and tosses the phone down on the comforter. If I wasn’t ready to pull out my own uterus, I’d appreciate how gentle he is with my stuff. As it is, it’s still soothing when he pulls me into his arms and rubs his big, warm hand across my abdomen. My eyes squeeze shut, tears running down my flushed cheeks. I wish his guitar was here so he could play for me.
Chapter 69
My breath puffs through Sarah’s hair as I hum against her forehead, once more cursing my inability to purr for my mate. Sweat breaks out across her flushed skin, her whimpers growing louder in the quiet room. She’s burning up in my arms and my mind spins out in a frantic scramble to figure out how to fix this. I can help, we’ve already discussed that, but this came out of the blue and she doesn’t have any of her normal suppressants to make it easier.
Maybe if she hadn’t been spending so much time around alphas she’s attracted to, but even that’s just guesswork at this point. My only clue is that these spikes are happening after she spends time with them, and they’re getting worse.
She moans quietly, her body contracting where she’s curled up in my lap, shudders wracking her system. I pick up her phone again and call Teddy, since he’s the only one I know who hasexperience with her heats…or any heats really, short of calling her family, and I’m pretty sure they would just say “I told you so” and gloat. Fuckers.
The phone rings four times before he picks up, laughing. “Hey Shorty, I know it’s early, but you could have just walked down the hall, as long as you put on clothes first.” I hear his footsteps out in the hall and a deep huffing inhale before he comes back on the phone. “Greg, is Sarah starting her heat? Have you already called the hotel? Do you need Sam to drive you both? It smells like she’s already pretty far gone.”
My composure cracks and my voice comes out croaky and broken. “I don’t know what to do. The hotel canceled her reservation since she hadn’t checked in yet. They suggested a heat clinic a few towns over, but I don’t know anything about those and she started shaking like crazy when he brought it up. I know we can’t stay here.” This last part is a half desperate plea for him to assure me that it’ll be fine for us to crash, but I know that’s not plausible either. We don’t want to risk messing up his cycle with her hormones flooding the house. “Plus, it’s Saturday, I don’t even know what doctor I would call, or if they could get her emergency suppressants right now. I don’t know what to do, Teddy.”
My voice cracks again at the end, and I hear his reply of a loud, heartfelt “Fuck!” through the door and the phone at the same time. His footsteps trail away, but I can still hear him calling Sam’s name from the other room.
A few minutes later the big, grumbly alpha arrives, and I can hear him inhale loudly. Without Teddy even saying anything, he lets out a low growl and his voice is muffled when he talks to Teddy. “Holy shit, Sarah went into heat? Do we need to take them to the hotel? Is she gonna be ok? It’s alright, Omega, just breathe. I’m here. We’ll get your friend fixed up. I know she’s in pain, but we’ll get her some help.” He must take the phonefrom Teddy because his voice is more level as he speaks to me. “What’s going on, Greg? What can we do to help?” Thank fuck for level-headed people who aren’t emotionally involved in the situation, because I’m tempted to break down on the alpha right now. Instead, I try to be as clear as possible when I explain the situation to him. His replies are mostly the same as Teddy’s, with a bit more creative cursing involved.
“Ok, lemme just…Shit. There should be channels for this shit. I’ll call Joseph and ask him about services in the area, since he’s been mated the longest of anybody I know. Then I’ll reach out to the station. They should have a list of numbers for emergency services, and hopefully something that will point us in the right direction. Don’t worry. Just take care of her as best you can, and we’ll get this figured out. If it’s bothering Shaggbutt, just let me know and somebody’ll come collect him from you at the door. She doesn’t need a strange alpha in her space right now, but you can pass the little fuzzball over. One of us can watch him, or Kelly can take over when she gets home; they get along pretty well.”
I nod before realizing he can’t see me through the phone. “Thanks Sam. I…I can’t tell you how much I—”
He cuts me off. “Not a big deal, kid. Your girl there is my omega’s best friend. As far as that goes, you’re pretty much family now. It’s what family does. Now, I’m hanging up so we can get this shit sorted and get her back on her feet.” The line goes dead before I can try to thank him again and Sarah continues to shake against me.
I do the only thing I can think of and rock back and forth, rubbing my hands down her back and singing her favorite songs to her while I wait for someone else to help me figure this out. I feel like shit that she’s in pain and there’s no way I can help. This is so fucking far out of my depth, and I’m surprised I’m not curled into the fetal position right next to my omega.
Panic must burn a lot of energy, because I jerk awake to Sarah’s phone ringing. She’s still curled in my lap, little whines slipping out instead of her normal soft snore. Bringing the phone to my ear, it looks like it’s been less than an hour since I talked to Sam, but Teddy is the one on the other line, and he doesn’t wait for me to answer before he starts talking. “So, I’ve got good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?” Fuck my life, I tried this joke earlier and it sucked, but he doesn’t wait for me to answer, his own voice frantic as he steamrolls on. “I talked to Brice and he’s going to call around to any unmated packs in the area who might be willing to help. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of social services in this direct area, because there aren’t a lot of omegas who might need them. We’re a pretty small town in a sparsely populated county.” He waits for this to sink in, and I don’t argue against it, waiting to hear what the good news is. He takes my silence to continue. “Not good news, but awkward. The main emergency services we have in the area revolve around that hotel that canceled your reservation and the heat clinic they told you about. My guess is that someone else used the heat hotline and since the room was available, they got it.” He huffs out a sigh. “Lastly, the…maybe good news. I don’t know, I mean it’s more awkward than good, specifically. I don’t even know if I should say it ’cause it comes back to what Brice said earlier.”
If I could reach through the phone, I’d probably throttle Teddy for drawing this out. It’s not his fault, but dammit, I’m frazzled. “Anyway. Sam was calling the non-emergency number at the police station to get information, and Paul’s partner picked up. I guess Paul mentioned Sarah a few times since he’s been back at work full time, and this idiot suggested that Pack Miller might volunteer to help her through her heat. Now, normally I would say that’s batshit crazy, and don’t trust a random third person on this, but have you tried calling Spence? I know how much he likes her; it’s pretty obvious. Even having one alpha might help.”
It’s like playing telephone as a kid. I don’t know if Sarah would go for that or not. I’d like to say yes; I haven’t exactly been subtle about my nudging her in that direction, but she still holds some fucked up sense of loyalty to John—despite the fact that he’s been stringing her along for the last few months. Still, if it’s them or strangers, I’m sure she’d rather have them. I know she says that she’ll be fine with just me and toys, but I don’t think she realizes that this is gonna be worse than normal without her suppressants, and I’ll do everything I can to help her not hurt anymore. Besides, at least these guys already know we’re a package deal, so they won’t get butthurt and try to kick me out. I’ll call Paul and ask. I’m sure Spence would agree immediately, even if he was uncomfortable with it. He doesn’t seem the type to turn down anybody who asks for help. But that’s not what she needs right now; she needs someone to take care of her for real, not just sympathy.
I’m in my own head for too long, and Teddy prods me through the phone. “Do any of those sound plausible? I don’t want to rush you to a decision, but you’re going to need to sort something out soon because she probably won’t be lucid for much longer with how strong her scent is. Seriously, the hallway smells like slightly burnt cake and overripe strawberries at this point.” I’m sure he’s not wrong.
