Page 11 of The Fall Before the Heat

“I’ve never gone into heat. The doctor tried to say I lied about being an omega because I didn’t check the omega box on my paperwork. I didn’t even know I was until he told me.”

“Are you thirty yet?” Lee asked.

“No,” I shook my head.

“I wouldn’t worry until then. Thirty is the later part of the normal range, but it’s nothing to worry about. Bane and I also have the theory that as life expectancy increases, we’ll see more cases of what we now label ‘late first heats.’”

“Have you ever felt drawn to someone and didn’t know why?” I asked him.

“Sometimes we’re drawn to people because we’re drawn to them,” Lee said. “Not everything has an explanation. We make friends because we have things in common or we share experiences. We date people because they’re attractive and we like the same things for the most part.”

“What does Rex say about me?” I tried again as I tore into another envelope, but Doctor Lee wasn’t about to give up his secrets.

Chapter Eight

Rex

“What does Rex say about me?” Del asked Doctor Knight-Hemlock.

I froze just out of sight of the open doorway. The main computer had restarted itself while I took a coffee break, and I needed Doctor Knight-Hemlock to log me back in. No one except him, his mate, and the dean had the password to the lab’s main computer.

“I think that’s something you should ask Rex. Whenever we hear someone’s thoughts through a filter, we never really hear their thoughts,” Doctor Knight-Hemlock said. “And speaking of which, do you need something Rex or are you waiting for an invitation to join the envelope party?”

“Umm--- The computer restarted while I was in the kitchen and I need you to log me back in when you have a second, please,” I said, managing not to trip over my words for the most part.

“Come, take a break. I’ll go deal with the computer,” Doctor Knight-Hemlock said, pointing to the other empty chair in the room.

I opened my mouth to say I’d just taken a break and that’s when the computer locked me out, but he was already leaving the room.

“Hey,” I said, sitting down next to Del.

“Hi,” he said, not looking away from the envelope he currently held.

“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.”

“The door wasn’t shut,” he said.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Eavesdropping,” I grinned. “Accidentally or not.”

“What do you say about me?” He asked, his fingers frozen on the peach envelope’s corners.

“Do you really want to know?” I asked him, leaning back in the chair.

“Yes, and I want to know the part that would make Lee ask me if I was trying to figure out if you ‘fancied’ me,” he managed a nervous chuckle.

“I’ve said you’re the best roommate I’ve had. You never complain about my cooking,” I laughed.

“I do believe that, but what else?” He asked, smelling braver.

“Do you really want to know?” I asked him again.

“Why do you keep asking me that?” He finally met my gaze, frowning.

“Because once words are out in the open you can’t take them back and we still have a few months of living together left.”

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