Page 9 of Pucking the Enemy

“Duchess!” Roman called out as he rushed into the kitchen, wearing only a pair of boxers. Cormac was hot on his heels as he went straight to the omega, pulling her into his arms. She melted into the embrace, her tiny body shaking against his as she buried her face in his chest, his hand coming up to softly stroke the back of her head in a comforting gesture.

“They said I’m going into heat. I can’t be going into heat!” she sobbed.

Roman’s nostrils flared as he took in the obvious scent of slick. “Uh… I hate to break this to you, but you definitely are, Duchess.”

“But I’ve never had a heat!” she cried, pulling back to look at Roman. “Can you take me home?” As she spoke, she leaned forward, clutching at her stomach, whining in pain.

“Where do you live?” he asked her before turning to us. “Are either of you guys sober?”

“Shit, no. This one”—I pointed at Cormac—“drank more than a fish, and I’ve had a few. We walked back.”

“Hey, I’m not that drunk.” Cormac frowned.

“Can you drive?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

“No,” he pouted.

“Where do you live?” Roman asked again, gently rubbing his hands up and down her forearms.

“I live in a dorm at Hawking,” she said.

I cringed. “That’s a twenty-minute drive, and none of us are fully sober.”

“Can we walk her back?” Cormac asked.

“We can’t go walking through a college town with an omega in heat. There’s no way in hell we could keep her safe. A group of alphas could easily grab her.”

Hazel paled, looking at me in horror before whimpering and burying her face in Roman’s chest again. I didn’t mean to upset her, but walking her back was out of the question, and we wouldn’t be able to trust a cab driver to take her home.

“Just let me stay in a room here. I can lock myself in and wait for this to pass,” Hazel insisted.

“We can find a lock somewhere if you really want, sweetness, but it’ll hurt. Heats can be a bitch,” Cormac said.

“I can help you through it, Duchess,” Roman soothed, resting his chin on the top of her head. “I’ll happily help you.”

“Roman.” I spoke in a low voice, giving him a pleading look. “It’s her first heat. She’s been suppressing for years…”

“So?”

“You won’t be enough.”

Roman pursed his lips. What was he thinking? We had never shared omegas before, even though we wanted to… the right one had never come around.

“You’re going to need all of us,” Roman admitted, looking down at the omega.

“What?!” she cried, looking between us. “I’ve only just met those guys, and that one doesn’t even like me!” She pointed directly at me as she spoke. Roman bit his lip to contain his laughter.

“He’s not that bad…” Roman said.

“I’d never even taken a knot until tonight!”

Roman’s eyes widened as he looked down at the sobbing omega. “You’d never taken a knot?” he asked in a strangled voice. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because that would have killed the mood, wouldn’t it? And I wanted it, so it was no big deal!” The impact of her words was somewhat dampened by how watery her voice was. “Surely I’ll be okay with you? Or you can take me home, and I’ll lock myself in a room and sleep it off.”

There was no way she was going to be able to sleep it off, unless she went to a medical center and took extremely strong sedatives. Some omegas opted to do that, but it had its own risks, since the medications that had to be used were so potent.

“Your friends never told you how bad their first heat was?” I asked.

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