Page 1 of Seducing Selena

CHAPTER ONE

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SELENA

The cup of beer slammed down on the table. “Oh my god, I amexhausted.” Gloria slumped into the chair across from me. Kyle and I were already puddles in our chairs, ignoring most of the noise in the surrounding bar. None of us had even bothered to change out of our scrubs, because it had beenthatkind of Friday.

“I don’t even really know what I’m doing here,” I said. “I should just go home and sleep.”

Kyle shook his head. “You’re going to get plenty of sleep this week. You can stay for a little while.”

I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Is that what you think a heat is like? That I just get tonapfor a week?”

“Napping and masturbating,” he sighed. “Such a hard life.”

Rolling my eyes, I took a sip of my beer. It was too sour for my taste, but I was beyond caring. I wasn’t joking when I said I was ready to pass out.

“I’d kill for a whole week off,” Gloria said. “I know it’s not going to be all sunshine and roses, but still.”

My two best friends were Betas, and therefore didn’t know what having a heat was like. Especially a heat that I’d put off since last year at this time. “Don’t even start with that. You get just as much vacation as I do,andyou don’t have to spend a week of it on a heat.”

“Touché,” Kyle said, and lifted his beer.

Gloria tipped her head back. “If we get any more nights like tonight, next week is going to be a nightmare. What’s that now? The fifth?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I think so. There were some a couple of months ago, but we didn’t have any idea. Did we lose her?”

Gloria nodded without saying anything.

What was there to say to that? Losing a patient was always devastating, even if there was nothing you could do. It hit differently for nurses. We spent more time with the patients than the doctors, and this week had been particularly brutal.

Five patients, all Betas, all with the same symptoms, but only after they were admitted. Some kind of overdose, but we had no idea what, and there was no way to treat it. Their systems just… overloaded. It was a painful way to die, and Gloria had the Beta who came in today.

“I overheard the med director talking,” she said. “Some of the tests on the autopsies came back, and it’s like they’re Omegas. Literal heat hormones where they shouldn’t be. And they’re not synthesized. They’re real. Which begs the question, what thefuck?”

It was strange. None of the Betas came in presenting the same symptoms at first. A general feeling of unwellness. The first one we sent home. When they rushed back and died in the waiting room, we paid attention.

We kept hormones in the hospital for various treatments, but we would never use Omega hormones on Betas. It would be a disaster. Which was exactly why we were in this mess.

“I hope next week isn’t too bad,” I said.

“This is what happens when a new drug hits the streets,” Kyle said. “Everyone rushes to try it and they end up in trouble.”

“But it’s not drugs, it’shormones.” I shook my head. “Take it from an Omega. No heat is worth dying for.”

Gloria made a face. “Not like we would know.”

I sighed, wishing even more that I was on my way home. My friends meant well most of the time, but it wasn’t a secret that Gloria wanted to be an Omega. Her bitterness about it soaked into conversations like this. “Gloria, you know if I could trade places with you this week, I would.”

Being locked in my apartment, wracked with pain unless I was exhausted or using toys on myself, in order to take the edge off theferalneed for an Alpha knot, honestly wasn’t my idea of a good time. Not like I had any actual Alphas banging down my door to fuck me through it, and I wasn’t one of those people who could just have a heat with total strangers.

No fucking way.

“Yeah, well, we both know that can’t happen.”

Kyle just sipped his beer. When she got like this, it was impossible to get her out of it. And it had nothing to do with me. Losing a patient fucked with you in ways it was hard to describe. Gloria just needed space to breathe, a few more beers, and a good night’s rest.

“Topic change,” Kyle announced. “Are you sure you can’t come with me tomorrow?”

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