Page 18 of My Shy Alpha

Kira keeps her distance with a wide circle through my kitchen. Her voice is oddly rigid. “I’ll get her some cool washcloths.”

Amy smiles. “Thanks, babe.”

After making me drink water, Amy tests my temperature with her hand against my forehead. My head spins. Hugging the shirt Noah wore to my chest, I take a deep breath of the fabric, aching for his presence.

Heat swells in my core. My untouched arousal rises until my stomach gurgles in pain. I try my best to hide it, but I have to squeeze my knees together, arching my back in discomfort.

Amy holds my hand, pressing my cold water glass against my cheek. “I know you’re uncomfortable, babe. I’m so sorry your guy isn’t here. It hurts a lot without him, doesn’t it?”

What the hell? For how confusing this is, Amy isn’t asking enough questions.

“Amy, what’s wrong with me? What do you know?”

Amy groans, rubbing her head. “Thank God I can tell you all about it in a minute! You’re so damn perceptive, and I love you for it, but it’s really difficult too, you know? Your guy better not try to hide anything from you. It’ll never work.”

I whimper, realizing by “my guy,” Amy means Noah. “If he even comes back...”

“Oh, he’s coming back. Believe me.”

I grip the couch. “What?! How do you know?”

“His scent is everywhere. I’m surprised he left today at all, but this tells me he must’ve had to run for a huge reason.”

God, I hope she’s right, but not if that means something bad happened to him to make him leave.

“Wait, you can smell him too?”

Amy stares for a moment, sorting out my hair. “You’re pretty deep into this fever thing you’ve got going here, A. I want to explain some things to you before it fully hits, so pay close attention, okay?”

Sweat drips down my temple as I squirm again, my heartbeat pulsing between my legs. “It’s going to get worse?”

“I’m so sorry, but yes. I’ll be here the whole way through, though.”

“Amy, you’re starting to freak me out. I don’t feel like any of this is real.”

Taking my hand, Amy clears her throat. “Does the word ‘mate’ mean anything to you?”

I recoil where I lay, uncomfortable by the rising urge in my core strengthening at the word “mate” alone. “You’re scaring me, Amy.”

“I know you better than that. You know exactly what I’m saying, you just haven’t processed it enough yet to admit it.”

I swallow hard, feeling painfully called out. But a part of me is dying to hear more. For this to be real.

Amy strokes my hand. “I love you, okay? I just want you to know the truth.”

I nod, my desperation to hear more winning over anything else. “I love you too.”

Whatever the truth is, it makes Amy take a deep, shaky breath. “Do you remember that trip your dad would take every month? He’d go hunting for something special to cook?”

“Yes.”

“Do you happen to know which day he’d go?”

I think about it, long and hard...

But the words “long” and “hard” remind me of something else.

Dammit, I need to focus!

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