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When she only looked at me with wide eyes, I clarified, “I just need to be sure. It’s just...unusual.”
“I can’t say it out loud.”
I placed a finger under her chin and tilted her head up to me. “Are you sore? Swollen?”
Her gaze dropped, unsure and afraid. Then she nodded quickly.
She was in Heat, all right. As teens, we learned in Reproductive Cycle modules that the Heat was nothing to mess with. It was pretty common for mated couples to experience this. In fact, the shared experience usually brought them closer together. But it usually only started once the couple was formally mated...once they shared their blood. Again, I knew that Twyla was now in pain because of my stupid inability to control my baser needs that first morning in the barn.
“How long, ’mara? How long has this been happening?”
She reacted to the urgency in my voice; her lovely eyes filled with tears.
“About a week, on and off. Ever since...ever since you held me in the viewing room. But it got so much worse today.”
My heart constricted. My grip on her chin tightened. “And you didn’t tell me?”
Her eyes narrowed. “What would I say, huh? ‘Help me, my parts are swollen and red and I hurt so much I could scream every time I sit down’?”
I shook my head. I should’ve known something was wrong. Her scent had been overwhelming these past few days, but how was I to know it was even possible for her to go into Heat? But then again, how was it possible for a non-Fanger to be my Blood Mate in the first place?
She shuddered against me again, biting her lip so hard I could see the indent it made on her lush bottom lip.
“I don’t know how long more I can take this.” Her little hands were curled into fists.
“You won’t have to for much longer,” I murmured, pulling her closer. “You know what the cure is, don’t you?”
She nodded slowly, looking away. “I—I’m so sorry to do this to you. I just can’t take it anymore.”
“Stop.” I cupped her cheek and brought her eyes back to mine. “I wish you’d told me about this earlier. It’s my fault that you’re in pain.”
“I’m sorry... If you don’t want to do this, I understand.”
“Don’t want to do this?” I felt my forehead crease in confusion. “Twyla, do you really think the only reason I’m offering to do this is because I don’t have a choice? Because you’re in pain?”
“I—I don’t know. You always push me away...and it hurts when you do.”
Her voice was small, hesitant, tearing at my heart.
I gripped her more urgently now, trying to make her understand.
“Because I don’t know if you’re reacting to me only because of the call. I don’t know if this is what you truly want—if I’m what you truly want. I don’t want you to regret anything after the heat of the moment.”
“Oh...” She bit her lip thoughtfully even as another rough shudder racked her small frame. “Do you doubt that I find you attractive, Cedra Holloway?”
I sighed, trying not to let my self-doubt shine through.
“Because you must know how beautiful you are.” Her fingers toyed with the buttons of my sleep shirt, trembling as they moved. “I have a hard time keeping my eyes off you.”
I felt a smile quirk up the corner of my lips. “I’ve caught you looking a couple of times.”
She would’ve reddened had her cheeks not already been ruddy.
I slid my fingers down to the swell of her hips and cupped her body against mine. Protecting, needing. She tilted her head upwards, her sweet pink lips willing and ready.
