Page 14 of Follow Your Instincts

“I trust you guys,” I said, and surprisingly, I meant it. I’d only known Steffi for like a day, but she already felt like a friend. I swiped my signature across the touchscreen and handed it back.

“Now comes the fun part,” Andreas said. “You’ve got a couple of months until your first heat, so we’d better start thinking about options for how you’d like to handle it. I know Dr. Kimber said no suppressants, so you’ve got three options: solo, professional, or pack. Solo means we’d give you access to everything to get through the heat safely. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but we’ve had plenty of Omegas take that option if they aren’t ready for anything else.”

“I’ve spoken with some of the girls who go that route,” Steffi said. “They say it’s quite uncomfortable. I don’t want to scare you off if that’s your choice, but I do want you to make an informed one.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“Option two is hiring a professional heat partner. We work with several agencies that employ Alphas for this purpose. You’d have a chance to find an Alpha with a compatible scent and meet them beforehand to make things less awkward. They are all fully background checked and fitted with teeth caps, of course,” Andreas said.

“Teeth caps?” I asked, bewildered. “What the fuck are teeth caps?”

Steffi and Andreas exchanged a look. “Oh, dear, we really do need the long version,” Steffi said.

Andreas smiled at me. “We’ve been talking about unbonded and unclaimed Omegas. Do you know how that process works? The bonding process?”

“Well, if it involves teeth caps, then obviously I do not,” I replied.

Andreas chuckled. “Alphas and Omegas create bondsthrough claiming bites. When an Alpha claims an Omega, a bond is formed between them. Like a tether between souls. They’re still researching the science behind it, but I can speak from experience.”

He pulled down his cream colored sweater to show two scarred bite marks on the smooth, dark skin of his neck. “These are two of my bond marks,” he said. “The third one is in a place I’m not allowed to show you in the office.”

I stared at him, dumbfounded. “I thought it was like, signing a document or something.”

Steffi burst out laughing, and I scowled. “Oh, chicken, I don’t mean to laugh at you, but there couldn’t be anything further from signing a document as getting a bond mark.”

“Omegas in heat are known to ask for claiming bites, even if they wouldn’t want one in their normal, non-hormone-addled state of mind,” Andreas said. “Hence the teeth caps on professional heat partners.”

“This shit is fucking weird, guys,” I said and leaned back in my chair, rubbing a hand across my forehead.

“They don’t show this in the porn?” Steffi asked.

“The WHAT?” Andreas said.

“The porn, the Alpha and Omega porn,” Steffi said, exasperated. “Maggie told Kimber she’d watched it before!”

I flushed again. “I mean, I guess I never really watched it all the way to the end of a video,” I said, then started laughing too. My efficient masturbation skills had let me down. “Can we please change the subject?”

We had to give Andreas a moment to catch his breath and stop laughing. “I can’t believe you got Steffi to say ‘porn,’” he said, still gasping. “Okay, okay, option three. Finding a pack.”

“How soon can I find one?” I asked.

“Well, that depends on a few factors,” Andreas said. “The best way to find potential pack matches is through scent compatibility. We have scent samples from most of the packs in the state, and whichever ones smell the… yummiest are the ones you should be most compatible with on a biological level. We’ll also try our best to match you with packs that have similar beliefs and life goals - there’s a questionnaire for that part. And once you’ve chosen a few packs that seem like good options, we can set up meet and greets. If and when sparks fly, you’ll start getting to know them.”

“We used to call it courting,” Steffi said. “But Andreas thinks that’s too old-fashioned.”

Andreas rolled his eyes. “Do you want me to call it courting?” he asked me.

“I really don’t care,” I laughed.How long has it been since I’ve laughed this much?I thought.

“Finding a pack can take a while, which is why we encourage you to consider a professional partner for your first heat. Two and a half months is not a lot of time, and many Omegas do not feel comfortable going through their heat with Alphas they may not end up liking once the pheromones settle down,” Andreas said. “But, of course, the choice is ultimately yours.”

I nodded, digesting all the information. “So, once I find a pack and we do the whole bonding thing, my perfume will chill out enough that I can be in public without getting mauled by a feral Alpha?”

“I might say that once you find the partners that make your heart sing and you all make the choice to spend the rest of your lives together in blissful harmony, you’ll settle into life as a bonded Omega. But yes, that’s the basic idea,” Steffi said.

“She’s a romantic,” Andreas said and gave her an affectionate pat on the shoulder. “Not every pack match is based on ooey gooey feelings. A lot of Omegas choose their mates based on more practical considerations, like finances and personal beliefs, rather than the packs that smell the most enticing. Love and harmony still grow in those matches, there’s just fewer fireworks.”

That sounded like my ideal situation. I could find a pack that would be open to me working as a detective. I wasn’t so sure about kids, but I wasn’t completely against the idea, so that would be a factor, too. Nice, easygoing Alphas that wouldrespect my independence, even if the feelings weren’t too strong. I could probably live with that if it meant continuing my work.

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