Forhersake.
“I haven’t had a spike in two days,” she snaps right back. “Maybe the doctor was wrong, and my heat ain’t comin’ after all!”
I give her a look. “Really? That’s bullshit, and you know it.”
She huffs, before her head falls back, baring the column of her throat to me.
Fuck, I want to bite it.
Why does fighting with Jo turn me on so much? Maybe her pheromones are sending me into a pre-rut.
Her groan makes my dick twitch. “Dammit, I know! We should have waited to schedule the dinner until immediately after my next spike so we’d have some time. But now, we’re havin’ me go to dinner with them tomorrow, and what are we supposed to do? We can’t just…notgo!”
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I sigh, wondering who the hell could be texting me when very few people have this number, and they’re all currently on the compound.
I blink when I see it’s a message from West, who last time I checked, was in the room next to the nest. He had said he needed to check his emails on one of the computers Declan supplied us with today.
The message is a link to an article labeled “The Six Knottiest Ways to Induce Your Heat Spikes” from a website called “The Omega Oracle”.
“What is it?” I glance up at Jo to see her frowning at me. “Is everythin’ okay?”
“I think…” A huff leaves me as I shake my head. “I think that maybe these walls are thinner than I thought.” I turn the phone towards her, her eyes widening as she reads the title of the article.
I laugh, taking it back just in time to see another message pop up.
West
It’s our best option.
“Well…” she trails off, and when I look back up at her, she’s twirling a piece of hair around her finger. “I only caught a glimpse of the first one, but I’m pretty sure it said sex could trigger them.”
I frown. “I don’t want our first time to be because we’re trying to induce a spike.”
She pops a hand on her hip. “So you’d rather it bedurin’the spike? Or worse, durin’ my heat when I can’t remember any of it? Or were you plannin’ to sit out on the days-long fuck-fest?”
“Of course not, but—” I stop when she jams a finger into my chest.
“But what, Sam? Those are our options. It’s too late for anythin’ else. We had plenty of time at the safehouses, but you were on some self-righteous mission to cock-block yourself. At the time, I accepted it. But we’resafenow. And I can’t…I can’t help but feel like you don’t really want me.”
My mouth gapes, and it’s like my mind goes blank. That’s the only explanation for the next words that come out of my mouth. No adamant refutal of her completely incorrect statement. Not even an explanation. “Why would anyone evenwantto induce a heat spike? How do we know this article isn’t just some weird, made-up bullshit designed to…keep heat clinics in business?"
She gives me an incredulous look. “Keep heat clinics in business? Do youhearyourself right now?”
I wince, but instead of admitting I’m being an idiot, I double down.
You know, as is in my alpha nature.
“They’re probably trying to make people check in to heat clinics for the length of their spikesplustheir heat.” I cross my arms. “I’m not going to be bullied into rushing our first fully intimate moment by a company who…has such little respect for omegas.”
“Are you bein’ ridiculous on purpose? Even if that were true—which, it’s not, by the way—that doesn’t mean…” she trails off with a sigh, crossing her arms as a look of pure resignation takes over her face. “You know what? Believe it or not, Sam, omegas have lives and commitments outside of their heats, and they might try to adjust the timin’ a little. Life doesn’t stop for us. It never has, and that won’t change just because our bodies turn against us.”
For the first time…in, well, ever, I don’t know what to say. And it must be written all over my face because she sighs again. “Alright. Well, I’m goin’ on this mission one way or another, so I s’pose I’ll get one of the other guys to help me. Do you mind?” She gestures to the door as if motioning for me to leave, and my chest tightens.
The rejection, even if that’s not really what it is, stings like a bitch, and something in me snaps.
“Yes, Idomind,” I growl, crossing my arms. “I’m not fucking goinganywhere.”
“Well then you’re about to get an eyeful of someone else fuckin’ me, and I don’t want you touchin’ yourselforme.” Fire burns in her fucking infuriating eyes, and I find myself uncrossing my arms and taking a step towards her. Her voice only raises, her chin tilting up as she continues to lay into me. “You’re not my bodyguard, and I’m not a damn client! I’m your fuckin’ omega, and if you want to keep me, you better start fuckin’ actin’ like it!”
