Page 17 of My Shy Alpha

Amy falls silent. It’s so out of character that it heightens my nerves. Then I hear her clunky hiking boots dash across her wooden floor. “Horrible like how, babe? Sexually frustrated?”

“Yeah... But not in a normal way. It hurts so badly that I feel like I’ll die if he never comes back.” I slap my forehead with a groan. “Oh, God. That’s the most toxically attached thing I’ve ever said!”

Amy doesn’t respond for a good ten seconds. Did I just make a fool of myself?

Concern lowers Amy’s voice when she finally speaks. “Hun, do you happen to have a fever? Like the worst fever of your life?”

“I think so... Why?”

She pauses for a long time. I grip my phone hard enough to dent my fingers with its edge.

When Amy speaks again, her voice is gentle and even. “I might know what’s going on with you, but I have to come over and see it for myself. I’m leaving right now.”

“Really? God, thank you. I feel really sick and scared, Amy. I don’t know what I’ll do if he never comes back.”

“Don’t move. Kira and I will be there in a heartbeat, okay?”

I burst into another bout of sobbing as I hang up, guilt crushing my chest for putting my problems on someone else. I can’t believe I got myself into this mess. Why couldn’t I just have a simple crush? This whole “mate” thing sounds ridiculous.

But I believe it - he’s my mate. I can’t get myself to not believe it. It’s making me so sick.

7

Amy shows up faster than she ever has, pounding on my door within 10 minutes. “Hey, babe! We’re here!”

But I swear I heard her at home, and it takes 30 minutes by car to get here. How is that even possible?

“Come in,” I say.

Amy and Kira rush into the cottage, their eyes widening at the state of my search’s destructive mess before finally finding me in it - shaking in pounding pain as I rise from the couch.

With silky, shoulder-length red hair framing her round cheeks, Amy looks beautiful even as her eyebrows warp in sorrow. But she still gives me the wide smile I’ve known and loved my whole life. “Hey, girl! Not doing too well, huh?”

“Hey, were you already on this side of town? How did you...?”

I trail off, stunned by the sudden, wide-eyed expression in Amy and Kira’s faces as they close the door.

Kira tenses, her short, baby blue hair fading at the roots - probably after having pool sex with Amy all night. I cringe at the thought, desperate for some pool sex of my own.

Kira scrunches her nose. “Fuck, Amy. Those pheromones.”

“I know. I recognize it from someone who does perimeter runs, but I have no idea who. He must be pretty powerful. Do you think–?”

Amy eyes Kira warily, but my jaw drops. Am I delirious, or are they talking about Noah?

“We’re safe. That’s not it.” Kira grits her teeth. “It’s a different... intoxicating smell.”

Amy grips Kira’s arm. “Oh, shit. Are you going to be okay?”

“Yes, but I’m dead serious when I say I had no idea about her.”

Now they’re both staring at me.

Amy swallows hard. “I... I can’t believe this either, so...”

I grip Noah’s shirt to my chest. “B-believe what? You’re freaking me out.”

Amy steadies my dizzy body, helping me lay back down. “I’m sorry, A., it’s just... I don’t know how this fever thing hasn’t happened before for you.”

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