Page 6 of The Fall Before the Heat

“That’s my number. Call me if you need something. Put it in your phone in case you get lost. The rest of the numbers are inthe student directory on top of the fridge. Extra blankets are in the hall closet. Towels too if you need them. Those are provided by the school. So, don’t worry about leaving any for me. I have my own.”

I stared at the empty archway for a long time after Rex left. Was he ready to be away from me already? Had I been rude without knowing it? Did he think he made me that uncomfortable?

“Maybe he has a hot date,”my wolf offered into my thoughts.

“Either way, I’m too beat to figure it out right now,” I groaned.

I kicked off my shoes, making a mental note to put them in my bedroom after my nap. For now, they could stay under the table out of the way. I dragged my heavy limbs into the living room and collapsed on the sofa. I called my parents while I waited for my tour guide. They were fine then. They were probably fine now too. Besides, my eyes were too heavy to stay open long enough to dig my phone out of my pocket and take a photo to send them. What use would showing them my not-home do now?

“I wish they were here too,”my wolf whispered.

It didn’t seem fair that I was the only one who got the chance to live somewhere safer.

Chapter Four

Rex

For the first few weeks that Del and I shared the apartment, we barely crossed paths long enough for more than a quick conversation. Still, I looked forward to the tiny tidbits of his life I saw. In some ways, he was akin to a welcomed commercial break from the hectic life I molded for myself as a medical student. Our conversations almost always came with news from home. Mostly, it wasn’t good news, but even bad news was good news when it meant his family was still alive to deliver it over the phone.

The hospital was gone now. Completely gone now – for certain and not just by way of the gossip train. It’d taken my future with it. I tried not to think about it too hard. People had died during that bombing. Patients who doctors, nurses, and specialists took oaths to protect were dead. That was more important than any internship or residency lost on my end. The specter of the hospital followed me everywhere I went. It rained down on me at odd moments, but being a medical student meant I perfected the art of compartmentalization. I had to. It was part of my job and Moonscale Hospital or not, I was going to be a doctor. I was going to bring some fucking good into the world that was currently tearing itself down.

Sometimes at night, I woke not to music, laughter, or the tell-tale sounds of romping or jacking off, but to the sound of sobbing tearing through the wall dividing our bedrooms. He wasn’t the first guy to cry in there and he probably wouldn’t be the last. If he were another Alpha, I’d ask if he wanted me to ignore it or wolf it. Only I wasn’t about to offer to shift and crawlinto bed with my omega roommate. Besides, I barely knew the guy.

After a long week of being haunted by a hospital, classes, and working in the lab I settled into my bed with no intention of going to sleep. I had a love/hate relationship with the romping app Pheromone Swap. It served its purpose, but whenever I opened it, I felt sorta sleazy and not always in a good way. Still, romping the weekend away at someone else’s house sounded like a welcome escape.

“You have too good of an understanding of the mechanics of heat,”my wolf chimed into my thoughts as I logged into the app.“How random it can be. These guys would probably never look at the app or half the Alphas on here if not for heat.”

Yep. He made me feel even sleazier. Still, it was time to scroll. I scrolled almost every Friday night. I logged in and waited for messages. More often than not, I got them. Usually, not from someone in heat, but someone who liked my photos or saw me walking across campus in a heated debate about my own genetics with Doctor Lee Knight-Hemlock. My work in the lab was supposed to further his project, but the professor had me picking apart my own genetic code, instead.

Sometimes I hooked up, but not most of the time. If someone seemed to know too much about me, I blocked them on the app and moved on. Anyone who took the time to find out more about me before we spoke was a stalker, looking for an academic leg up, or something more serious than I was willing to give.

By midnight I gave up and logged out of the app. After so many near-hits, I wasn’t even in the mood to jack off.

“Romping is just romping,”my wolf said.“It’s supposed to be fun. You overthink it.”

“Will you shut up if I jack off?”I asked him.

“Probably. It’s not normal to go this long without romping. Genetically and evolutionarily speaking we have perfect DNA to pass on. We want to romp, but you overthink it.”

“When you talk like that – passing on our DNA- that’s the exact reason I don’t go out more. You’d have me trying to knock up every omega on the app.”

“It’s not my fault. Evolution makes me believe it’s the only way to survive,”my wolf said very matter-of-factly.

He was being a smart ass. He loved quoting such nonsense from the textbooks we read back at me. Still, I was the human, and he was the inner beast. He could whine all he wanted, but that was one part of his nature I had no intention of giving into any time soon.

“Well, if that’s the only way you can survive what would you like for your last meal? Since you’re going to die from evolution soon.”

A sob shook the wall above my head. I slid a hand between the mattress and headboard and pressed it against the green paint. Del was just on the other side.

“Del?” I whispered.

In the past, I’d gone to knock on my roommate’s door when their crying got too much for me to handle but wasn’t sure that was the right thing to do in the current situation. It wasn’t like omegas were an alien species, but I didn’t want him to think I was trying to hook up with him while he was vulnerable and crying. We shared a home and that meant I needed to do everything in my power to make sure he felt safe. Everyone deserved to know they were safe tucked into their own bed at night.

“Rex?” A choked whisper bounced back at me.

“It’s me,” I said, nodding even though he couldn’t see me.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you up,” he said, not even trying to cover up his sobs the way some of my previous roommates had.

---