Page 72 of Wicked Truths

“Would you prefer to stay in a different room during my heat? I don’t want you to get caught up in pheromones or feel obligated to participate.” She leans up, careful of her IV, and nuzzles her cheek to mine.

“No, I want to be with you,” I assure her. “Your pheromones have never influenced me to the point where I can’t think through my choices.”

“Okay, good. Do you enjoy cuddling?”

“I do, with you anyway,” I admit. “There have been times when I wanted to try more than that.”

“Me too.” She nods against my cheek. “But only if you’re not just saying that to make me happy.”

“I’m not.” I run my fingers through her hair, tilting her face up to mine. “There just may be times where I need a break from physical touch for a while, but I’m not even sure about that.”

“I get it,” she says, licking her lips. “We can figure it out as we go along.”

My fucking god, I’m out of my depth here. Her eyes are so damn blue as she looks down at me that I slide my hand into her hair, pulling her mouth to mine. She groans into the kiss as I lick the seam of her lips. Her entire body is hot to the touch, but somehow, she ends up lying right on top of me.

I like that she isn’t afraid to guide the kiss. Her hips grind over mine, making me groan into her mouth. My cock seems as desperate to jam its way through my zipper as I am for the wiggly little omega. I’ve missed her so much, but it’s the relief that takes my breath away. This could have gone so much differently. She’s got options, and it’s hard to fathom she might be willing to accept what I have to offer, even when I don’t know what that is at this point.

There’s a light knock on the door, and Oakley pulls back, gasping for breath as she slides to lie at my side. She keeps her leg thrown over my pelvis, hopefully it’ll give me some added protection from whatever medical staff is about to walk through that door. They don’t need to see my raging erection.

The night nurse pops his head in, and I can only pray our scents aren’t saturating the room.

ChapterTwenty-Three

Oakley

Ican’t seem to shake the giddy feeling in my chest.

The nurse ruins an absolutely perfect moment. Once he leaves, Sullivan and I talk a little more, but there are no additional sensual kisses. My knees clench as I recall how plush and soft his lips felt against mine. The way he held me tight to his chest made everything even more mind-blowingly special.

We’re stuck in the medical room for several more hours until Jess gets in for the day.

Hawk comes in, and Sullivan reluctantly gives me a kiss on the forehead before heading out. It’s wild to see them trading shifts like we’re an actual pack.

Jess takes my vitals a final time and agrees I’m good to go.

“Cuddle with your alphas, nest, and relax. Let nature take its course. I’m here if you need me,” she says, pulling off her gloves. “If you start vomiting again, experience a severe headache, or your fever gets back up to 105 with no symptoms of the heat starting then you’ll need to come back down so we can monitor you.”

“But if she’s perfuming and begging with that kind of temperature then that’s fine?” Hawk asks, clearing his throat.

“I’ll send you up with a pamphlet of information. But yes, omegas can relatively safely spike temperatures of up to 110 during a heat, but we don’t like it to stay there for long. The longer the omega goes without being knotted the higher the fever will get. Anything above 110, that doesn’t come down immediately, is an emergency and should be treated as such.” She smiles, gesturing at me. “Omegas are extremely resilient when it comes to fevers. It was the fever combined with the nausea and other symptoms that concerned me. If she had been in heat when you brought her in, then that level of temperature would have been acceptable.”

“Got it,” Hawk grunts, scratching his jaw.

Sometimes I question whether or not I was even meant to be an omega. My face feels hot just fromlisteningto them discuss me being knotted.

* * *

“It was hard as hell being away from you last night.” Hawk carries me out of the elevator and toward where our suite must be. “It’s equally as difficult scenting Marcus and Sullivan all over you.”

“Just to be clear, you’re legally divorced, right?” I ask, grimacing.

Well, way to come right out and just say it. I’m not comfortable with him participating in my heat if he’s not. I get that they aren’t together and haven’t been for many years, but it’s still not something I’m okay with.

“I am.” Hawk nods. “The final divorce decree is in that packet of papers I gave you. I know shit kind of hit the fan right after. I don’t blame you for not having the chance to look through it.”

“Oh, well, that’s good. Did you want to stick around for my heat in that case?” I bury my face in his shoulder, breathing in deep hits of his sandalwood scent.

“Fuck yes,” Hawk growls.

---