Chapter 4 #2
He gasped in a breath, struggling to get the blankets off of him.
His skin was too hot, suffocated by the sweaters encasing him.
Ren threw it off over his head and kicked the blankets away from him.
He felt bumps form on his skin as the chilly air hit him, but he couldn’t feel the temperature even as it touched him—all he felt was the heat in his veins.
“Ren?” Falk’s voice sounded far away, calling to Ren, whose head felt like it was being shoved under water.
Ren ignored the sound of Falk standing up and shouting Ren’s name over and over, asking if he was okay. Blood was roaring too loudly in his ears as he worked on getting every piece of fabric off and away from his body.
His hands shook when he finally pulled his undershorts off his ankles, throwing them away from him as though they offended him. He laid back on the mattress with a gasp, entirely bare. He lifted his trembling hands in front of his face and saw the tips of his fingers already turning blue.
“Ren, what are you doing? You’re going to freeze!”
Ren would have stripped the skin from his bones if it meant cooling down his body, but his fingernails didn’t do much to help him there. He turned over and over, back and forth on his mattress, groans falling from his lips. He kicked his feet at the uncomfortable feeling tingling through his limbs.
“Are you going into heat? Do I need to get a doctor?”
Ren considered Falk’s words for barely a moment before letting them leave his thoughts. He couldn’t focus on the words the Alpha was saying—they were meaningless anyways.
“Ren.”
Ren moaned as his insides started cramping. He curled onto himself, wrapping his arms around his stomach, holding himself so tightly, he could feel himself trembling from the effort of trying to keep himself together.
It was strange when Falk stopped shouting for him.
Too many thoughts were running through his head, too loud in his ears, he shouldn’t have been able to notice immediately when Falk stiffened where he was outside of the cell.
Falk’s hands were wrapped around the bars as he stared at Ren and the angry, panicked words on his lips had stilled so suddenly, it looked like he had frozen in place.
Ren whimpered as another wave of pain crashed through him, making his entire body tense up. He curled himself tighter into a ball, the noise sounded too loud without Falk’s yelling to drown them out.
Ren whined loudly, forcing his eyes to raise when he heard the sound of keys jingling. The door to his cell creaked open. Falk stood in the doorway, looking shocked that he had actually opened it, but when Ren didn’t—or, couldn’t—make any move to run, he rushed over to his side.
“Hey, you’re okay, you?—”
“Get away from me,” Ren hissed at him. “If you thought I was going into heat then why are you in here?”
“Ren I’m trying to help you?—”
“I don’t need your help!” Ren yelled at him. He shoved himself backwards until his back pressed up against the cool stones of the wall that were somehow warm against him.
The movement made him notice the wetness on the back of his thighs. He whimpered loudly again, shaking his head; he couldn’t be going into heat, that couldn’t be happening—he knew deep down that it couldn’t, so why?—
“Ren, I need to bring you to the doctor?—”
Ren swung a fist out at the first brush of Falk’s hand touching him. He very narrowly missed punching him directly in the jaw. Instead, Ren’s fist knocked into his shoulder. It didn’t phase Falk at all. “Get away from me!”
“Ren, something is obviously wrong, you’re?—”
“Don’t touch me!” Ren screeched, shoving at Falk’s hands as they tried to hold him again—they wanted to grab him or comfort him or hurt him or break him all over again like?—
“Ren, you’re bleeding.”
Falk’s words were so loud and sharp, they actually made Ren pause. The only sound for a few heartbeats was his ragged breathing.
He forced his gaze to move downwards to where he felt a sticky wet substance covering his thigh and the mattress.
It was so red, sinking into the mattress, and staining his skin which had gone pale from never seeing the sun. So bright there against the dirty fabric, already discolored from the people before him and his own time down here. Would whoever came after him wonder where the mark had come from?
“No, I’m not,” Ren whispered, shaking his head as he stared back at Falk. He felt how wide his eyes were, so round they might pop right out of his head. “I’m in heat—it’s slick, I’m fine, I just?—”
“I’m bringing you to the doctor,” Falk whispered to him, his voice far sweeter than it had been only moments before. Ren heard a tremble in his words, as though he was trying his best to stay calm, but the panic wanted to be heard—wanted to betray him. “I’m going to put your sweater back on.”
“Please. No. I’m so hot, Falk,” Ren groaned, head thrashing back and forth.
“I need to put it back on you. You’re freezing, Ren. Your toes are almost black,” Falk said, the tinge of sharpness back in his words. “I’m going to dress you then I’ll carry you upstairs?—”
“I can’t. I can’t. What if the Alphas smell me?” Ren whispered. “Please, don’t let other Alphas near me.”
“Our doctor is an Alpha; I can’t not bring you to him?—”
“Falk, no,” Ren pleaded.
“You’re bleeding a lot, Ren. I have to?—”