Page 76 of Broken Ice
Beau gaped after him, too stunned by the sharp rejection to protest.
He just stood there, barely listening to what Freddy was chattering on about as he wondered what the fuck was going on.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Beau was getting pissed off. He had tried texting Emilio a few times to no avail. There was a tight, sick feeling in his stomach. The only thing that made sense was that Emilio was mad at him for him accepting a present from another Alpha, and it was dumb that Beau felt bad about it.
Emilio had claimed not to be that type of guy—the kind that got pissy if their Omega had an Alpha friend outside of the pack.
Not that Beau was his Omega. Obviously. But…it did kind of feel like they were heading that way.
He was so pent up about it that he didn’t even notice the pain in his stomach for what it was until it was a blinding cut through his middle.
“What the fuck?” Beau never got his heats when he was anxious. It was a failsafe that evolution had bred into Omegas—a person who went into heat in a dangerous place was far less likely to survive than someone who didn’t.
Of course Beau’s stupid, needy body had to be different. Had to rebel at the mere notion of Emilio’s anger, signalling to hispreferred Alpha that Beau needed to be taken care of. That he needed to be mounted and kept safe.
“Fuck you. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you,” he cursed his body resentfully, ignoring the tiny part of him that was relieved.
Beau couldn’t stand silent, cold anger. Couldn’t stand being shut out and ignored—especially not by Emilio.
They were supposed to fight things throughtogether. Emilio wasn’t supposed to just cast him aside if Beau did something wrong.
He texted Greg and then, for the first time in months, hesitated to message Emilio.
What if he said no? What if he—
Beau shook his head. He might not know exactly what was going on, but he knew Emilio well enough to acknowledge that him abandoning Beau during a heat wasn’t something the Alpha was capable of.
He sent Emilio a message.Hey sorry heat came a little sooner than expected.
He curled up on the couch, for once not having succumbed to the floor’s gravitational pull.
He stared at the screen, waiting. Waiting.
A notification popped up.
He opened it.
You need to call freddy.
That was it. Beau was frozen, reading the line over and over, wondering if something had been lost in translation.
I’m in heat right now, Beau sent with trembling hands. Emilio wasn’t that cruel. He just hadn’t understood.
I can’t.
Call freddy.
Beau sucked in a sharp breath.
That wasn’t…Emilio wouldn’t do that. He checked the contact information, checked the text history—it was the right number.
It was Emilio.
Beau went blank. The reality of what was happening was trying to push in, the taste of panic in the air, but it wasn’t breaching the numb buzzing in his head.
Was Emilio…punishing him? Handing him over like a used toy to the next Alpha for daring to smell like someone else?
