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But, in some places, unmated Omegas were given free rein to satisfy their lustful urges however, and withwhomever, they pleased. She had heard whispers among the Omegas who arrived after the fire of long, luxurious Heat spells that were far more pleasure than pain. Other Omegas whispered about it, but couldshetake those kinds of liberties? Here? In Morris Hill? Not likely. Hunter and Colt swore to her parents they'd look after her, but "look after" hardly entailed letting her try out half a dozen knots to find the one best to her liking. No way: they probably wouldn't even permitoneAlpha to join her in her nest, no matter how much she begged.
She could only imagine. But imagine, she did. Thoughts of a heavy body at her back, pressing her into her sweet-smelling nest and driving a heavy cock deep inside her, unfurled a dark ribbon of brewing need. Zorah bit back a whimper. A cramp twisted to life in her lower pelvis, stealing her breath and leaving her with little more than a pained gasp. She gripped her belly. Damn. This was coming on hard and fast.
"I'm gonna need a few days..." Zorah grit out.
"Let me get Lars to finish bedtime." Before her sentence was out, Grace stuck her head out the door and yelled for her husband, her unruly, bedtime-resisting kids still squalling in the background. Grace planted an absentminded kiss on Ginny's temple and snapped at Pixie and Jace to settle down before turning her attention back to Zorah. "Once Lars gets here, we'll get you moved into the Heat Hut. Good thing it's finished, right?" She flashed Zorah a wry smile. "Now. What will you need for your nest? What kinds of food do you like to have on hand?"
Zorah's spirits plummeted; she hadn't even thought about her nest. In River Bend, she'd always had her private room, with her own things, arranged the way she liked them. She didn't want to go home — notnow, not with her entire plan in shambles and no solution in sight — but she craved her pillow's comforting feel under her cheek and the scent of the nourishing bone broth her mother made her. She wanted to hear Nana's soothing voice tell her stories and feel the old woman's cool, papery-thin skin mop sweat from her brow. For the first time since arriving in Morris Hill, homesickness twisted up her insides, not helped at all by another seizing cramp. She murmured a curse and bent in half. More sweat sprinkled her brow, and she dashed it away, still trying to get her head around what was coming.
"Just tell Rue,” She panted out to Grace, "she'll bring my things."
Grace hummed a noncommittal note and went to bellow out the door for her husband again. The sound bruised Zorah's eardrums, her senses already raw and reactive. As much as Ginny's shrieks pierced Zorah's brain like a thousand shards of glass, she understood and even felt a little jealous that Ginny could fuss without reproach. If Zorah could, she would wail and protest, too.Why now?She would scream. After all these months in Morris Hill, why had her Heat arrived when the sand of her hourglass funneled down to dust?
Maybe the accumulated proximity to the Alphas brought it on early.
Maybe one Alpha, in particular.Her inner Omega's eerie voice sibilated deep in her brain.
"Go away," she silently commanded. "He doesn't deserve another second of our attention."
Whether her inner Omega acknowledged the sentiment or not, at least she shut the hell up. It wasn't enough, though, to dispel all the memories of Jake that floated to the surface of her fevered mind. The memories she'd waged war against for the past week all danced in front of her like they'd been rehearsing for this moment. Was there no end to the insult? It was bad enough that she obsessively retraced every interaction they'd ever had, trying to sort through what had gone wrong (and what had gone oh-so-wonderfully right). She'd metabolized the hurt and rejection. Set the entire episode aside and forced her mind toward choosing one of the Morris Hill Alphas once and for all. And after all that work, after all that effort, to have her stupid inner Omega pipe up and thrust his stupid, handsome face in front of her eyes, she wanted to howl.
But she couldn't. If she started screaming, she wouldn't stop. Plus, it would hurt. Her feet felt heavy and sluggish, the solid weight of dread towing her under. Her immediate future stretched out ahead, days teeming with the misery of unholy lust while also keeping herself from tripping down the rabbit hole of mercurial Jake and his deficiencies. She couldn't do it, she simplycouldn't.
And yet, she had no choice.
"Grace," Zorah whimpered through a veil of tears. "Can we go? I need to lie down."
***
A thumping scrape on the roof crashed through the small room. As Zorah bobbed between consciousness and unconsciousness, her head lolled against the brand-new cedar planks that made up the walls of the Heat Hut. The freshly hewn and only lightly sanded wood scratched and snagged at her skin, but at least it felt cool, the smell clean and non-offensive. She'd stripped down to nothing and sat naked on her improvised bed in a haphazardly thrown-together nest. She didn't like it, it didn't call to her, but what else could she do? Oblivious to the inferior nest, slick had begun to leak from between her thighs, and she could smell herself, the fragrance both alluring and disgusting.
Outside, the wind whipped the trees into a frenzy, continuing to announce the impending storm. On the roof, the raspy thud happened again, probably a branch slapping against the corrugated metal. Wind whistled between the cracks in the door. Zorah narrowed her eyes at the structure, staring at the security bolt as if she couldn't remember how it worked.
She remembered setting it, of course, but distantly, the way one remembered a dream from the night before. Somehow, Grace herded her to the Heat Hut, along with some spare bedding for a rudimentary nest. The maternal Omega also managed to get word to Hunter and Kess about what was going on. No one had yet used the Heat Hut for its intended purpose, and it became glaringly clear, even to Zorah's fevered mind, that no one quite knew what to do now that they had it.
Unfortunately, that meant it all had to be worked out in hushed tones while Zorah sweated and cramped and generally wanted to decompose directly into the earth. So humiliating for the Alpha of Alphas to discuss such a private matter out in the open, wondering aloud how vocal Zorah would be in the worst of it. The hut, located opposite the settlement from the Alpha bunkhouse, wasn't far enough away to limit the impact her pheromones and guttural moans might have on the Alphas. What would they do if some of the Alphas had trouble staying away from an obviously Heat-sick Omega? In the end, Hunter decided against posting a security guard nearby. He didn't want to subject any poor Alpha to that awful task. The solid wood bar lock someone had thoughtfully installed during construction would have to suffice. It could only be set or released from the inside, and while it wouldn't keep a truly Rut-mad Alpha from breaking in, it would slow him down enough that others could come help.
At least, that was the hope.
During the deliberation, Rue slipped in and out like a ghost, depositing a huge bundle of Zorah's things and giving her a brief, but tight, hug before disappearing into the night. The pile sat where Rue had dropped it, and Zorah gave it a baleful look.
At home, items for a perfect nest had been the one comfort her parents provided. They paid an exorbitant amount to procure nubby, sweet-smelling chenille and plush cashmere blankets, cozy fleece-covered pillows, and silken, cool-to-the-touch satin sheets. In River Bend, she'd collected an entire closet overstuffed with everything she'd been gifted since her first Heat. Luxury and abundance inconceivable to the Omegas of Morris Hill. Those women had been near ecstatic over the rough and ready Heat Hut she now occupied. But her disgust for the structure shamed her almost as much as it dug the pit of homesickness ever deeper.
The unrelenting pulse of the Heat-drenched blood throbbed in her temples. Maybe this was a sign that Morris Hill was never destined to be her home. An acute sense of wretchedness punched her in the guts, adding to the surging Heat misery. Maybe this rustic life wasn't for her if she couldn't sustain a single Heat without the trappings of wealth and comfort she'd grown up with. The proof was in the pudding: she wasn't meant to live outside of River Bend. A life mated to Nelson was what she'd been raised for and the best she could hope to attain. This entire ruse had been doomed from the start.
The way they always did when her Heat kicked into high gear, the licking flames under her skin began to migrate. The intolerable warmth trudged a steady path from distant parts of her body to between her legs, picking up speed as it continued its slow crawl. Slowly, her shame and disappointment gave way as her mind filled with more overt sexual ideas.
Outside, the first fat raindrops hit the roof like a dozen tiny fists requesting entry. They struck the salvaged tin in forceful, heralding pings before rapidly shifting into a steady downpour. Clean, pine-scented rain wafted into the cabin, speaking of cool drops and promising relief for her overheated skin.
Rain. Water.Relief.
Cool water would feel good against her body. Like swimming. She'd never gone swimming while in Heat, but it probably feltdivine.
The idea caught fire, and she was on her feet before she knew it, testing her ability to stand upright. Cramps twinged in her abdomen, but not intolerable, and a drop of slick wandered down her leg. Swimming would also wash that away, which was fine with her. More would inevitably return.
Satisfied she could walk, Zorah considered her lack of clothing. She could put her clothes back on from earlier, but the mere thought of that kind of confinement made her skin revolt in a horrified shudder. Alternatively, the nearest blanket, a sun-bleached linen, worked just fine. Wrapped around her body in an improvised dress, she wouldn't be embarrassed if she ran into anyone.
Ran into anyone.Crap.The thought stayed her plans. After the whole discussion with Hunter about her safety, could she, an Omega in Heat, honestly traipse through the settlement and expect to be left alone? It was a risk. A big one. In fact, probably the biggest one she'd yet taken, all the swim-lesson sneaking notwithstanding.
