Page 15 of The Price of Ice

“There you are. Can you sit up?” he asked, putting down the glass and reaching for Kallen’s elbow to help him recline against the headboard.

“Drink a bit first,” Levy told him, and actually brought the glass to his lips.

Kallen couldn’t seem to look away from him, the tenderness of his expression like a beacon. He drank when the glass was tipped for it, then again after a moment. He couldn’t have said how many times it was before his body woke up enough to blare at his brain that he wasparched. But Levy caught the hand he raised to take over in his own, gentle but firm.

“Take it easy,” he advised, shaking his head.

Since arguing was quite beyond him at the moment, Kallen allowed the heavy blanket of Levy’s attention to cover him again—every sip was as careful as the one before, like he had nothing to do but stand here in front of Kallen, making sure... It was the emotion welling up in him that made him turn his head away before the glass was empty, throat working hard, not to swallow but to hold back tears.

“Hey,” Levy was already getting rid of the glass and jumping into the bed, kneeling by his side and placing his hands on the sides of Kallen’s face. “You’re okay,” he promised. “I’m here. It’s all over, I swear.”

Kallen kept his gaze low, feeling like any more contact would shatter him. It was probably only weeks of taking comfort in casual touch that allowed him to let his forehead drop forward into Levy’s chest.

His friend’s arms immediately came around his shoulders, pulling him closer and he made a low sound, not shushing exactly but close, yet another promise that he was safe. Kallen didn’t needtelling, not when he was being shown it so clearly, but all he could manage right then was to cling to Levy’s soft hoodie and cry very quietly into his shirt.

It was perfectly normal to be emotional after going through heat, the intensity of it dragging out things you’d been putting off when your body wasn’t overtaken by need. Like a wave that swept everything that had been hiding under the sand, leaving it all exposed to the merciless light of the sun. Kallen was used to being tender in more than body afterwards, but he normally slept it off on his own, and if he cried, it wasn’t anything he could control or remembered much afterwards. Having someone there should have made it easier somehow, but in a way all it did was give him permission to fall apart.

Levy just held on, rubbing his back and making sympathetic noises. It was probably he who rolled them over until Levy was on his back and Kallen was curled up on his chest, trembling with the emotions rushing through him like a tsunami, desperate for a port in the storm that raged inside.

Eventually it came to an end, and he was just lying there in Levy’s arms, drained and blank. He could have fallen asleep any minute, but Levy seemed to sense that too because he made himsit up and finish the water, trusting him with the glass since his right arm was still around Kallen’s waist.

It was only with the sheets pulling down around his waist that he became aware he was naked. He tensed up, glancing down, nostrils flaring. But he didn’t smell... He looked about the room, realising they were on the second bed.

“You want more?” Levy asked, thumb absently rubbing at the bare skin of Kallen’s hip. Kallen’s eyes went to it, face growing hot. What was Levydoing?

“I—” He stopped, his voice was wrecked. “I’m cold,” he managed to push out. It wasn’t exactly true, not with Levy plastered to his side. But he was aware enough to realise he was naked next to an alpha he found attractive, who probably—

“Okay, one sec.” Levy squeezed him against his body before letting go and rolling off the bed. Kallen’s gaze followed him, noticing he was in different clothes. He had on the purple hoodie he’d leant Kallen and soft-looking jogging bottoms instead of jeans.

There was a set of his own clothes laid out on one of the chairs, including boxers, and Levy brought them over. He must have seen the confusion on Kallen’s face. “You didn’t... I think you needed the skin-on-skin contact,” he explained, glancing to the side with a little shrug. “You... I slept with you... Like, not— Obviously not like that, but you just didn’t want to be alone, so....”

Kallen’s stomach fell right off the rooftop. So, Levy had got in bed with him naked, after Kallen had fucked the two other alphas but not him.

Fuck, he was an arsehole.He kept his gaze on the coverlet, tongue pressed flat against the top of his palate to keep from saying something stupid on top of everything else.

“Kallen?”

Kallen shook his head and reached blindly for the clothes. The first thing he touched was the shirt and he was shoving it over his head, quick and careless like it would make the difference between life and death. He regretted it as soon as he was done and the dizzy spell hit him. He leaned back on the headboard, eyes scrunched shut.

Levy was tutting at him. “You haven’t eaten in, like, ages,” he warned, not quite managing to sound angry. “Just... Forget about everything else, let me get you some soup.”

The soup was cold, since it must have been there since the previous night when Levy had ordered them all a feast. It hadn’t beenthatlong since he’d eaten, really. He didn’t know why his body was struggling so much. He’d heard of omegas needing aftercare for heat before, but Kallen had managed post-heat on his own just fine for months, and now...

Now Levy was putting the cup to his lips and telling him to sip because bone broth was full of nutrients.

Was that it? He wondered, obediently drinking, eyes kept low now that he was awake enough to have some shame. Did his body somehow know that he didn’t need to push him to survive because someone else was here?

Fuck hormones and instincts and their fucking lack of boundaries.

Levy was being a good friend, that was all, but Kallen had just gone through heat and this was... This was too much like what an alpha did for his omega. It felt good,too good, and Levy hadn’t signed up for that.

Kallen couldn’t afford to get confused.

IT WASN’T UNTIL THEnext time he woke up that it occurred to him to ask about the time.

Levy didn’t reply for long enough to be suspicious. “Levy,” Kallen growled. “Are you supposed to be at the game?” He glanced towards the window, but he couldn’t tell anything other than that the sun was up. The game was at three.

“Practice,” his friend objected. “I told Coach Weller I was here, it’s fine. I’ll go join them for the game, if you are okay,” he added with a mulish expression so unlike his habitual ease that Kallen could only stare.

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