Page 34 of Where the Current Takes Him
“If you keep touching me…” Beau closed his eyes and swallowed hard. “I’ll impale myself on your dick in front of Dr. Enas.”
Loriun stood there in shocked silence before doubling over with laughter. He was still laughing when the doctor returned.
“Am I interrupting?”
“No,” Loriun and Beau said in unison.
Dr. Enas narrowed his eyes at the two of them. “Well, here is your corrected prescription. It should take effect within a few minutes.”
He handed Beau a tablet and a small cup of water. Beau tossed it back, praying it would work before his cock tunneled a hole through his pants.
The doctor gave the air a delicate sniff. “Hmm. Why don’t you wait in the exam room until the suppressant takes effect?”
Beau wanted to sink into the floor. He must reek of desperation if even the Omega could smell him.
“And Loriun, perhaps you should go to the waiting room until Beau is ready.”
Loriun cleared his throat and strode out of the room with a marked protrusion in the front of his slacks.
Dr. Enas grunted and closed the door once again. “Beau, is everything alright? Your Alpha is not pressuring you to stay quiet about any sexual activity? If you are experiencing any form of control or abuse, you need to tell me.”
Beau’s head jerked back. “What? No, no, it’s nothing like that! Loriun is… Well, he’s wonderful. Very… giving.”
Stop talking.
The doctor was giving him a hard look. The amber hue of his eyes pierced into Beau. “Are you certain you did not have any form of sexual contact?”
“Dr. Enas, come on, I just met Loriun.” Beau forced a smile. “He’s great and all, but we met two days ago.”
He wasn’t technically lying.
Dr. Enas nodded. “If you say so. When you’re feeling better, you can rejoin your Alpha in the waiting room.”
∞∞∞
“How much do you know about Mer mating?”
The question pierced the uncomfortably quiet atmosphere Beau had been stewing in moments ago. Loriun kept his eyes on the road, but there was a muscle in his jaw flickering.
“Um. It’s…” Beau shifted in his seat, trying to quell the spark of panic. “Kind of like the Mer version of marriage? But more permanent?”
Loriun hummed. “That is a simplistic way to put it.”
“The human public education system isn’t exactly chomping at the bit to educate kids on our alien overlords.” Beau slapped a hand over his mouth. “I mean, that’s what some people call you. Notyoubut like, the Mer, and it’s only the crazy right-wingers who—”
Loriun laughed, the expression cracking through the brooding mask he’d been wearing since they left the clinic.
“It’s fine, Beau. You think I haven’t heard that kind of thing before?” He shook his head, smile falling. “Being mated permanently alters your chemistry. Your pheromones won’t elicit a strong reaction from any other Alpha from now on. Just as my pheromones will have a weaker impact on other Omegas.”
Beau was silent. Permanently altered. Not only had he inextricably linked himself to an alien he hardly knew, but his body would never be the same again. His ribs tightened, refusing to let a full breath pass through his lungs.
“That’s not all,” Loriun went on. “Once a pair is mated, they grow reliant on one another’s pheromones. It starts strong, making it hard to be apart from your mate. As the bond solidifies, that need loosens its hold and allows for greater distance when necessary.” Loriun paused, watching maroon shrubs pass by. “Our research indicates that these changes are biological functions, intended to bind a mated pair together swiftly and tightly.”
Fear and dread sank into Beau’s bones, as if he’d been doused in ice water.
“So,” he finally said. “We can’t be apart anymore?”
Loriun shot him a glance. “Well. We can. But it will be intensely uncomfortable.”
