Chapter 30
Ice silently admitted to himself that Ortiz was right. Being enclosed in the same building with Hazard while he was in heat was a bad idea. If he lost control of the hold he had on his desire and went after what he wanted, a locked door would offer as much resistance as a barrier made from a sheet of paper. He needed to leave.
“I’ll go up to the hills for a couple of days,” he said. There was a campground to the east of the base with small cabins. He had one rented for his personal use.
Ortiz nodded. “Good. Take three days to be safe.”
Ice went in his room to gather up clothes and toiletries. Once he was packed, he got in his Jeep CJ-7 and drove off base to the strip mall where there was a small grocery store.
Inside, he went up and down the aisles, getting enough food to last for a week just in case. As he tossed steaks in the cart, he wondered what an omega would want to eat during their heat stay.
The thought was idle curiosity only. He wasn’t going to spend Hazard’s heat with him. That was out of the question. Not only was it against regulation for an officer to spend a heat or rut with an enlisted soldier, but he couldn’t imagine that he would let Hazard go after giving in and having sex with him. He was already struggling to keep the possessiveness he felt over the omega in check. It would be a lost cause if they spent a heat together.
Still, he was curious. He’d never helped an omega through their heat. That was the only reason he looked at the shifter aide store at the other end of the strip mall when he walked back outside with his bags. Deciding to go and check it out, he put his groceries in the back of his Jeep. Leaving the vehicle where it was parked, he walked down to the store. The sign above the building read Murphy’s in big, red letters and below that The One-Stop Shop for All Your Shifter Needs .
The clerk behind the counter greeted him with a friendly hello. Ice nodded in return before looking around. He was aware of this store but he’d never been inside. A glance up at the aisle markers told him which aisle carried heat and rut care books.
In the center of aisle three, he found the display rack of books. There were several each on alpha ruts and omega heats. Plus, books on sexual education for deltas and betas and even one thin volume for spontaneous secondary gender change. He picked up a heat book that had a small gray wolf and a glittery omega symbol on the cover. Flipping it open, he began scanning the pages.
Omegas needed to nest. He knew that. He learned that they liked to put items from their lovers or mates or even a trusted pack member in their nest. And they needed to be in familiar surroundings. That was probably why Hazard had requested to stay in his bunk instead of going to the omega building. Ordinarily that wouldn’t be allowed. But as there were only the four of them in their barracks, as opposed to the bigger ones which housed around fifty soldiers, it wouldn’t be an issue. Like Ortiz said, she and Jax wouldn’t be bothered. But in an environment filled with dozens of alphas and omegas, having one go into heat could lead to a barracks full of sex-crazed shifters.
Ice continued looking through the book. Out of nowhere, a sense of awareness tingled down his spine. He raised his head from the page he was reading. Something pulled at his chest. Still holding on to the book, he followed the pull to the end of the aisle and looked around the corner.
Hazard was there.
Ice slid back to his aisle to make sure he stayed out of sight. But he didn’t leave. Instead, he watched Hazard through the open back of the shelves. He looked annoyed, his face screwed up into a frown as he stared down at the package in his hand. Ice couldn’t see what Hazard was holding. Whatever it was, Hazard tossed the item back on the shelf with a sharp curse.
As he stood there secretly watching his squadmate, the smell of apples drifted over to him. Hazard’s scent. It was even stronger than it had been in that morning’s meeting. A wave of warmth slowly spread from Ice’s chest down to his cock. He started to harden and within seconds, his cock pressed uncomfortably behind his zipper. Not wanting to be labeled a pervert for touching himself in public, he resisted adjusting himself.
Hazard grabbed something else off the shelf, tossed it in his basket and went up to the check out.
Ice stayed in place, waiting to make sure he was gone. Then, he went over to the aisle where Hazard had been. His scent lingered in the air, faint but still detectable to him. Another slow beat of arousal pulsed in his cock as he breathed it in.
He looked down to see what Hazard had purchased. The items on the shelf were cold packs, each of them labeled with different scents. One package was carelessly tossed on the shelf, laying on its side. This must be the one Hazard had discarded. Ice picked it up and turned it over to read the label. Cedar. His chest lit up with satisfaction when he realized that Hazard had contemplated buying something that had his scent on it. He’d decided against it in the end but it had been on his mind.
Another wave of warmth chased over his skin. Hazard wanted to smell him while he was in heat. Fuck. Of course he did. He’d wanted to share his heat with him. Turning him down had been the right decision. But that wasn’t what he’d wanted to do. He’d wanted to roar out a yes, pick Hazard up, and carry him away to his den.
He would take such good care of Hazard. Put him in his bed at the cabin. Lick him all over, tasting the sweat on his skin. Give him what he needed with his body, his cock. He would fuck him and pleasure him as many times as he wanted. Sliding his cock deep inside him again and again.
He could imagine how hot and tight and slick Hazard would be on his cock. Could see his plush lips parting on a moan, his pretty green eyes hazy and heavy-lidded with lust.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realize he was squeezing the cold pack in his hand until it popped open and the smell of cedar flooded the air. “Damnit.”
Ice took the ruined package up to the counter to pay for it. He purchased the heat care book too. Just out of curiosity. To research and fill in the gaps he had in his shifter knowledge. That was all.
* * *
Following the suggestion of the medic, Hazard swung by the store to get what he would need for his heat stay. He had to go by the motor pool and borrow one of the base’s vehicles for the trip because he didn’t have a car of his own.
As he pulled into the parking lot, he grumbled with annoyance that he had to come out and shop. It’d be nice if the base had a canteen specifically for shifters’ needs so he wouldn’t have to drive away from where he felt safe to get what he needed. That was another thing the military didn’t do for shifters. They had buildings to cage them up during their heats and ruts and the clinic staff to administer their suppressants but that was it. There was a lot more they could do to help their shifter soldiers through this unavoidable biological process.
Hoping to quickly get what he needed so he could get back to base, Hazard headed inside Murphy’s. The store was neat and clean with a small mom and pop feel. It reminded him of the store his grandparents owned back home. Grabbing a hand basket from the stack near the door, he headed straight to the section for sex aides.
Hazard looked over the rows of dildos. There were multiple choices. Different colors. Sizes ranging from small to so big the package needed two hooks to hold it up. Some that vibrated. Others with a warming option. Curved ones. Straight ones.
He already had a dildo back in his bunk, but he picked out one that had an inflatable knot. On suppressants, his heats weren’t that intense, and sometimes he could make do without being knotted. However, he had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to do so this time. He was already way antsier and hornier than usual. His clothes felt abrasive against his sensitive skin and he was flushed with warmth.
His main need taken care of, he headed over to the food aisle. Getting up to go to the mess or even using the barracks kitchen to make himself a meal while he was pumping out fuck me pheromones was out of the question. Meal bars specially formulated to supply the calories his body required even when he mostly lost his appetite would keep him fed. He put two boxes of the bars in the basket, one peanut butter and one blueberry, his two favorite flavors.
Next, he made his way down the aisle where they kept the non-sexual heat aids. He wanted cold packs for the literal heat that would burn him from the inside out. They’d feel good on his skin. Plus, there were some that were formulated to release alpha and beta scents — which could help omegas going through heats solo. The choices included pine, baked bread, and petrichor. They even had some that smelled like charcoal. Hazard wrinkled his nose in mild disgust. That was not a scent he wanted to breathe in while he got himself off.
He scanned the section, looking for one that smelled like cedar. He found it on the second shelf. The package had a green label, with a picture of a pile of curly cedar shavings, held in a pair of cupped hands. He took the cold pack off the shelf, weighing it in his hand. If he used this one, he would have a scent similar to Ice’s in his nest. It wasn’t the alpha himself, or even clothes or a blanket marked with his scent but it was something.
Except, it would be beyond pathetic to use this pack so he could imagine he was spending his heat with an alpha that didn’t want him. “Fuck that,” he cursed and threw the cedar scented cold pack back on the shelf. He found one with a neutral scent, snatched up three of them, and tossed them in the basket.
After grabbing a few gallons of water from the cooler, he went up to the counter. One of the two cashiers, an omega with brown curls framing a pleasantly round face, rang him up. She put all the small items in two brown paper bags with handles and gave him a cheery smile along with his change and receipt.
His purchases made, Hazard made the drive back to base and returned the borrowed vehicle. When he walked back into the 448 barracks, there were about six hours left on the eight-hour countdown Dr. Gleeson had given him. His entrance was much calmer this time. It was quiet, the common area empty. He took his bags of heat supplies and gallons of water into his room and prepared to settle in.
His heat was approaching fast, so he didn’t waste time before getting set up. He stacked his meal bars, cold packs, and one of the gallons of water on the nightstand. Went in the bathroom and washed his new knotting dildo. Then he worked on his nest. When he’d transferred to Fort Grove, he’d brought extra blankets and small pillows specifically for nesting with him. They’d been stored in his wardrobe. Now, he took them out and piled them on his bed. He also tossed in his favorite hoodie. For a second he wished he had something of Ice’s to put in his nest.
With a curse, he ruthlessly pushed that thought aside. He didn’t need Ice or anything from him to get through this. Determined to get through his heat on his own and hopefully as fast as possible, he stripped off his clothes, and laid down on the bed. He was tired so he might as well take a nap while he could. Curling on his side, he closed his eyes and cleared his mind so he could drift off to sleep.