Page 146 of The Ashpaw: Part One

“I’m afraid I’m not feeling very well. A summer cold, perhaps.”

Serich frowned. “Wolfkin do not get colds,” he said, feeling her temperature with his wrist. “Hm, you are warm… Would you mind laying down for me?”

He helped her onto the examination table, checking her pulse and her breathing before moving lower. “Any abdominal pain?” he asked, pushing slightly on her belly.

“A little. Cramps, every once in a while.”

He nodded. “Increased slick?”

“Pardon?” she squeaked.

“From your sex. Do you feel more slick than usual?”

If she’d been warm when she’d entered, she was on fire now, and the healer took her embarrassed silence as confirmation.

“Lady Fern, this isn’t an illness.”

“It’s not?”

He helped her sit up. “You’re going into estrus.”

She stared at him blankly.

“Heat.”

That wasn’t clearing things up, and she swallowed nervously. “I’m sorry, perhaps I didn’t quite hear you. Did you say… heat? Like… like an animal?”

He gave her a pitying smile. “We are wolves, dear. And you are an omega.”

She screamed internally at her wolf. You kept this from me?

Her wolf shrugged. How was I supposed to know humans don’t go into heat?

Because you live inside one! she hissed.

She shrugged again.

Fern took a couple of deep, calming breaths. “Alright, so… so what happens?”

Serich went to a shelf containing several medical texts, and quickly found what he was looking for in a book titled “The Compendium of Omega Nature.”

“Never thought I’d get to reference this book for a patient,” he said, flipping through pages until he found what he was looking for. “Ah ha, Omega Estrus. It says symptoms typically occur one to two days before the cycle begins, and that cycles can range from three to seven days depending on the omega’s age and health.”

Her heart raced. It all sounded terrifying so far. “What exactly are the symptoms?”

He read through the passage and Fern’s mouth dropped with the horrifying realization that they all matched how she’d been feeling.

Body aches, low fever, stomach cramping, increased slick, scent ripening…

And more were to come.

“As far as the estrus itself, I of course have never had the chance to witness it in person. But from what I’ve read it can be disorienting.”

Fern closed her eyes tightly, holding herself and trying not to scream. “Please, Serich. Tell me everything you know.”

* * *

It was even worse than she thought.