Page 10 of Fever

When Arkin started collecting Omegas, I promised she would be the exception. Her words accuse me. I broke a promise, and with it, I broke the trust. It will take me forever to gain it all back. But I’m willing to work hard for it even when the odds are against me.

“Do you remember what I told you?” Arkin asks.

I rattle loudly so Arkin understands my displeasure with their intimate chat and especially his soothing purr. He purrs incredibly low from his chest, making his voice seductive and commanding at the same time. This kind of purr is an art he learned from our uncle, the king.

“I remember,” she says. “I also remember Sotay marking my house and babysitting it, sending your Collectors away.”

“And yet you didn’t listen to me,” Arkin says. “I told you he would come for you. I asked you to receive him. You didn’t, and so here I am. Collecting.”

Brown eyes stare at me. If given more time, she would have received me in her heat. “I have an apartment in the Stronghold,” I say. “It’s not so bad.”

She pinches her lips. “It’s not about the apartment. I’m sure it’s all nice, and I’m not worried about the accommodations.”

“I understand,” I say.

“I’m wondering why you’ve come for me now.” She bites her lip. A nervous gesture.

“Sotay is needed at the Stronghold. You are a distraction we can’t afford. If you refuse, he will be placed in the dungeon while the king himself comes to collect you. He will place you inside the Omega compound. During your heat,” Arkin sniffs, “you will be serviced. Sotay may or may not kill many Alphas as they compete for you. All this is unnecessary. However, I can offer you an alternative. If you prefer Tabby’s place, I will take you there.”

“Stronghold will do,” I say. “Come on, baby. Get your shit.”

She slams the door.

Arkin lifts a fist. I slap his hand. “She’s coming.”

“It looks to me like she’s staying, and I have to go in.”

“Over my dead body, Arkin. I mean it. You’re not gonna force her out. This isn’t any Omega, this one is mine. Kindly fuck off.” I walk to the old swing on Leah’s porch. The metal springs creak under my weight. Arkin joins me. We swing, gazing ahead, neither of us speaking. The gate is everything to us, a connection between our world and this one, and though we’ve settled on Earth, we have family back home. The thought of not seeing them again presses on us.

“You think you can fix it?” Arkin asks. “Just between me and you.”

I shake my head. “The original mapping took Dreikx several cycles to figure out. Then it took another turn to figure out how to make it safe for all the Horde. The Warlords are many. We haven’t transported that many Alphas in a long time. The preparation alone took us months, and that was when the gate worked. Now?” I shrug. “I don’t know. Dreikx is not optimistic.”

“He’s never optimistic.”

We laugh.

Leah walks out, a backpack over her shoulders, and Arkin and I stand to watch her mount Deyo and take off. I whistle after him, and he stops. Arkin laughs and mounts Miyo, then taps the hound’s ass. “Ride, bitch,” he says to me.

I extend my middle finger and mount my hound behind Leah, who pulls back her shoulders, body going rigid as her back touches my front. The second I scent wet pussy. My dick twitches. The scent of Omega pussy is divine. I’ve searched her house and have watched her since Arkin did a Betaren sweep. Besides, I can scent Betaren-laced pussy, and hers is all Omega sweetness. I’m gonna lick it soon. That thought puts a big smile on my face.

I click my tongue, and Deyo moves. With a palm on Leah’s hip, I lean in to whisper in her ear. “When your heat comes, we’re gonna do it in the furs. I have rope and a cock unlike any other. There’s something you can look forward to.”

“Get over yourself, Sotay.”

“You like saying my name.”

She snorts.

I tap my knee, get the rhythm going. “My name is Fever—”

“Oh God, please stop.”

“Have dinner with me, and I won’t sing again.”

Leah chuckles. “You want to take me out?”

“I’m fairly obvious about what I want. If not, I can think of several more ways to make it more obvious.”

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