Page 59 of The Heat of Us

“What’s wrong with you?”

I looked up from where I had my head buried in my arms on the counter of the nurses station. Aleks was eyeing me like he was fighting the urge to sweep my depressed form away with his notebook.

“My scent matched omega is in heat,” I said miserably.

“Why are you here then?” he asked.

“Because I wanted to get to know her. As a person.”

Aleks looked at me warily. “I don’t…know how to talk to you right now,” he said with a shrug.

I’d gotten to know the beta a bit better over the course of the last couple weeks since we attended our first emergency call together. He did not keep his distance from me simply because I was a doctor and he was a nurse. I think it was because he could tell I was flying by the seat of my pants just like he was. I wasn’t sure if we were so much friends or side by side in our own trenches together but I liked him.

I pulled out my phone. “How…long…is…a…typical…omega….heat,” I recited as I typed.

“Shouldn’t you already know that, doctor.”

I shushed him as I waited for the page to load. I technically already knew but maybe googling it would make the information in my brain change somehow. “Anywhere from 5 to 7 days,” I groaned. At least 4 more days of waiting minimum.

“Who is tending to her, anyway?”

“I don’t know!” I put my head back in my hands. Moments later I felt myself being patted awkwardly by a clipboard.

Aleks spoke to me slowly, like I was a child. “Well, you know omegas are people, too. Just like you and I. I would think getting to know them is a pretty good way to go about making sure you tend future heats for them.”

I snapped my fingers at him. “You. You are very smart.”

He looked bewildered. “I think you have some sort of alpha brain rot, Ben. Nothing I am saying is groundbreaking in any way.”

I was afraid of that.

In my defence, I did listen to Aleks.

Apart from a text to Juno asking how long Hazel’s heats typically were (and got a waspish “I’m not fucking answering that” in reply), I did not text Hazel and continued to focus on work, purposefully taking on more hours at the hospital. I was right on the cusp of what was legally acceptable. Work, go home, sleep, go back to work. Hit the gym when my alpha got riled up. Rinse repeat. Partly to distract myself, partly to build up my quota for the fortnight in preparation for what I had planned.

Because after those 4 days were up, I stopped listening to Aleks. I stopped denying my alpha instincts and went into full stalker mode.

If the universe had decided I was going to be an alpha then I was going to fucking be an alpha.

Even though I had not heard from Hazel since the panicked messages I sent to her five days ago, I went to our gym. Ignored my routine entirely so I could use every single machine and see if I could pick up traces of her scent.

There was nothing for two days. And goddamn were my nostrils pissed the fuck off with me. I would get home and stuff my head in my instant coffee jar to try and deodorise what I’d put them through.

On the upside, Hazel did finally reply to my texts though.

Hazel

Hey Ben. It’s over now. I was looked after and I’m alright. Just tired.

Take it slow, ok? Is there anything I can do?

No, I’m fine. Thanks though.

I knew what ‘I’m fine’ meant.

It meant I had to continue my diligent gym scenting routine until I found her because she was not fine.

I picked up her sweet, fresh coconut on the handles of the row machine a day later and my alpha almost had me howling to some invisible moon. I had to remind him that there were security cameras everywhere and I was not about to get my membership terminated for some truly insane behaviour.

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