Page 15 of The Fall Before the Heat

“We can still romp. We’ll just use condoms. There’s a whole machine that spits them out for free down in the lobby. We walk past it every day. It’s between the snack machine and the water fountain,” I said, trying to clear up any reason he might find to go to his own bedroom alone.

“Rex?”

He hadn’t said anything for a few seconds. What did I need to say to convince him that it wasn’t just the heat that made me want him? What would reassure him?

“Del,” he said my name, finally raising his gaze to meet mine across the living room. “This is your first heat.”

I opened my mouth to reassure him again. None of that mattered. I was his.

“Rex?” I said his name again, loaded with questions.

“I think so.”

My wolf whined inside my thoughts and clawed at my ribs to get out.

“Is this what I think it is? Is that what you mean?” I asked, gripping the sofa arm for dear life.

He raised his fingers to his shoulder and felt along it until he found his claiming gland. I strained my ears to hear the clear magical fluid slushing under his skin but couldn’t hear anything over my heart pounding in my ears. A second later, I mirrored his actions, wincing when I found my own claiming gland. It’d lived my whole life unnoticed more or less. Really unnoticed, because I and everyone else thought I was a beta for a long time. Except, there it was in all its glory. The skin was pulled taut over it, but it squished beneath my fingers full of the clear magical fluid that would bind me to my true-mate for the rest of my life.

“Mate,” I said the word aloud.

Rex held out a hand for me and before I knew it, I was in his arms. Then pressed up against the hallway wall with his tongue slipping back into my mouth. The odds were against us meeting like this. Even more against us if I hadn’t gone into heat while we were roommates.

“Let’s go to the bedroom. Yours. Mine. I don’t care,” I said, my words muffled from his mouth pressed up hard and sweet against mine.

Without saying anything, Rex lifted me from my feet. I squeaked and wrapped my arms around his neck, suddenly feeling as if I floated at the top of a skyscraper. Then we were in his room, where we both slept the night before. His scent, musky and clean aftershave was everywhere. Still, even after a single night sleeping in here, mine was here too.

He lay me down on the bed and stood between my feet. His amber eyes raked down my body making me want to show him more of myself. I wasn’t the fittest guy on campus, but I didn’t consider myself hard on the eyes either. With Rex watching, I sat up just enough to pull my shirt off over my head. His nostrils flared and I grinned to myself as the world took on a dream-like haze. That was just the heat or maybe the surreal realization that I’d lived with my true-mate for weeks now and didn’t know until this evening.

“Is this real?” I asked Rex, reaching out for his hand to anchor me down.

“It is,” he said, taking my hand and entwining our fingers together. “Though, I imagine everything hitting you at once probably feels a bit surreal.”

He stretched out on the bed next to me, still holding onto my hand. I squeezed our hands together, wanting to feel him, any part of him.

“Are you okay with this?” I asked, needing to hear him say it.

He turned onto his side and swallowed hard, making his adam’s apple bounce. He kissed my forehead and then my eyelids.

“You were right, why not in this lifetime,” he whispered back to me, and I grinned despite the horny butterflies in my belly fighting to get out.

“Can you love me in this lifetime?” I whispered, as I turned onto my side too.

The tips of our noses touched as I waited for his answer.

“I think we already decided that lifetimes ago, mate,” he said, his voice husky with need.

Mate.

The word spun around my thoughts until my head spun. I’d looked up the symptoms of heat enough times since finding out I was indeed an omega to know that dizziness and lightheadedness weren’t totally unexpected, especially during an omega’s first heat.

Rex cupped my chin and kissed me gently. I scooted closer to him, until my naked torso was pressed up hard against his shirt. For a second, I wished the shifter who invented clothes was never born. Then his stupid shirt with all its buttons wouldn’t be between me and my mate. Wiggling my hand between our bodies I untucked Rex’s shirt and slid my hand up under it. Under the button down he wore a T-shirt.

“How many layers are you wrapped up in?” I laughed.

“I know how to dress for the cold,” he laughed and kissed me again.

“Well, it’s hot in here,” I said, my words all muffled from his lips smooshed hard against mine.

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