Page 62 of Excess

She nodded, immediately hiding the device from view. It was a miracle I hadn’t sent a desperate message to Blake already, and my self-control was only going to get weaker from here.

A burning tear tracked over my overheated face, and everything was so uncomfortable that I wanted to claw my own skin off my body for relief.

This time, I couldn’t quite suppress my pained whine. I didn’t want a service alpha. I wanted my alpha.

Why didn’t he want me? How was I meant to survive this without him?

A valiant little voice in the back of my head tried to remind me that I did this all the time. Not alone, granted, but I could and would survive a heat by myself. That I’d survived without an alpha to call my own all of these years, and I’d keep managing it until I found the alpha who was truly meant to be mine.

But that voice was fighting an uphill battle. All I wanted right now was Blake.

Chapter 19

BLAKE

“You two are great company this evening,” Dad groused, glaring at me then Leo in turn.

Leo looked up from his phone, face still a medley of colours from an assortment of bruises, seemingly surprised that there was anything amiss.

“What’s your problem?” he asked me gruffly.

“I don’t have a problem,” I shot back, briefly contemplating suggesting that we go to that new club Leo had found. This time, I was the one with some aggression I needed to work out. It wouldn’t help, though.

It might in the moment, but ultimately, I’d just end up feeling worse.

We all started as my phone buzzed, lighting up offensively where I’d abandoned it on the arm of the chair.

Unknown Number.

“Who’s calling you?” Leo asked at the same time Dad said, “Bit late for a client to be calling, isn’t it?”

“Hello?” I said, holding the phone up to my ear and ignoring both of them.

“Hi. Is this Blake Alwis?” a nervous, feminine voice replied.

“It is.”

“This is Maia Gallagher. Inika’s assistant.”

Fuck. I stood immediately, ready to… I wasn’t sure what. Something. Anything. Whatever was required.

“What’s going on? Is Inika okay?”

“Yes and no.” Maia cleared her throat. “Her heat seems to have come early. Possibly from being involved with an alpha in the lead-up,” she added, and I absolutely heard the censure in her voice.

“I can’t…” I exhaled heavily, fingers flexing at my side. I wanted nothing more than to go to her. At the same time, I selfishly wished that Maia hadn’t told me what was going on. Ignorance was bliss, and now I had to think about Inika in heat and I doubted I’d be able to think about anything else. “She asked me if I could go into her nest and I already explained that I couldn’t. Have you called that… agency?” I asked, forcing the word out.

“Inika told me not to. She only wants you. But she’s also respectful of the fact that you said no, and gave me her phone with strict instructions not to let her have it back until her heat is over. Look, I shouldn’t be calling you at all, but I don’t know… I had to check. I had to try. She’s in pain, and she’s going through it alone. I know this is normal for omegas or whatever, but I’ve never seen it before and it looks fucking horrible.”

Maia had been a fucking pain to deal with when she was hunting me down to work on Inika’s house, but I was suddenly very grateful that she had such a compassionate assistant.

“I can’t—” Leo snatched the phone out of my hand before I could finish my sentence, holding it to his ear and shoving me back when I went to grab it.

“Let me talk some sense into him. He’ll call you right back,” he said before hanging up and tossing my phone to Dad, who clumsily caught it and shoved it underneath him on the seat.

“Very mature,” I snarled.

“What’s going on?” Leo demanded, crossing his arms over his chest. “Who asked you into her nest? Does someone want you as a mate?”

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