Page 120 of Pack Rivals, Part One

I'm halfwaythrough packing up my bag for the second time in twenty four hours when it happens. A sudden cramp in my gut that has me bent double and sucking in air through my teeth.

I screw up my eyes and clutch my belly. Colors spike against my eyelids and a drone pierces my ears.

I keep breathing and breathing.

When it finally passes and I manage to uncurl my body, I find I'm drenched in a layer of sweat, my skin piping hot.

I sniff. The air is thick with my scent. I stride over to the door, slam and bolt it shut, and march back to the bed, dialing Doctor Hannah as I fan my face.

It this it? My heat? Except I don't feel that incessant need I've read about. No ache between my thighs, no slick, no desire to run and jump the first alpha in sight. Am I sick instead?

The receptionist answers and promises the doctor will call me back as soon as possible.

I lie down on the bed and wait as a second cramp rips through my gut.

However, by the time my phone rings beside me, the pain has passed and the temperature of my skin has cooled.

"Bea?" the doctor asks as I answer.

"Hi Doctor. I'm sorry for disturbing you–"

"You've gone into heat?" she asks a little panicked, her voice punctuated with pants. "It's early but we can make this work if–"

I frown, unsure what she's talking about. "No, No. I thought it was my heat but now I'm not so sure. I had stomach cramps and my temperature spiked but it's all passed over now."

The doctor breathes into the receiver with relief. "Any intense feeling of need? Any slick?"

"Nope and nope." I massage my belly. Perhaps it feels a tad swollen but there's no pain. "What does it mean?"

"It means, as suspected, you're drawing closer to your heat proper. You're probably going to have your heat sooner than we first believed."

"Urgh," I moan.

"I would seriously consider making arrangements. We can help with that here in the clinic–"

"Arrangements?" I say in a daze, thinking of the two men I kissed last night. Thinking of Nate in the pool and Hardy in the cafe. I can almost taste their scents on my tongue. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad, would it? Sharing a heat might even be … satisfactory if those darn kisses are anything to judge by. "You think it's really necessary?"

"I think perhaps for your first heat you would be better off at the clinic where we can monitor and check on you."

"At the clinic? With an alpha?"

"No. We wouldn't be able to admit any alphas but we have new ways, new advances, that can help see you through a heat."

"I haven't really heard much about that." Most people have been pushing me to consider hooking up with alphas when the time comes.

"Like I said, these are new advances. Not widely known about at present. But in your case they might be preferable."

"I don't know …" I say, massaging my belly as I think of Axel's mouth against mine and Angel's lips on my throat.

The doctor sighs again, this time with frustration. "I would strongly advise you to come into the clinic. But whatever your choice, you need to start making arrangements. It's what I, and everyone else, has been telling you for the last fortnight."

Yeah, and maybe it's about time I started listening.

* * *

Pack York isn'thappy that I'm moving out. They're even less happy when I explain who organized my new apartment.

"No," Axel says simply, folding his arms across his broad chest. Nate and Connor flank him, looking equally dissatisfied. "No way."

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