Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
NOAH
I hesitate outside the door to the heat suite, my hand hovering over the knob. The scent of omega in heat seeps through the cracks, calling to something primal in me I’ve spent years learning to control.
Get it together, Klinkhart. She’s just another patient who needs you to act like a fucking professional.
That’s what I need to focus on—the medical reality.
Holly Chang is experiencing her first natural heat cycle after years of suppression.
Her body is going through a hormonal cascade that’s throwing her system into chaos.
As a doctor, it’s my responsibility to monitor her condition and ensure her safety.
That’s it. Nothing more than that.
I take a deep breath, steeling myself before knocking firmly on the door.
“Holly? It’s Dr. Klinkhart. May I come in to check your vitals?”
The formal title feels ridiculous given the circumstances, but I need the distance it creates. My professional boundaries are the only thing keeping this situation from spiraling completely out of control.
“Um…okay,” she whispers, her voice barely audible when muffled through the door.
I turn the knob and step inside, immediately irritated to discover she hasn’t locked it like I instructed. I specifically told her to keep it locked for her own protection. Three alphas under one roof with an omega in heat is a powder keg waiting for a spark—as Grayson has already demonstrated.
Then a realization hits me: she trusts us. Trusts me. The thought lands uncomfortably in my chest. Trust isn’t something I’ve earned from her, not after how I’ve treated her since she arrived in Heat Mountain.
The door clicks shut behind me, and Holly’s scent hits me full force—fresh laundry hanging in the breeze, jasmine tea with lemon, intensified tenfold by her heat.
My alpha instincts roar to life, demanding I claim, protect, possess.
I force them down with practiced discipline, focusing instead on the clinical symptoms I can observe.
Holly is practically buried under a pile of blankets, only her face visible as I approach, flushed cheeks and sweat beading on her forehead. She watches me warily with dilated eyes that seem to have difficulty focusing on any one thing for more than a few seconds.
“I need to check your vitals,” I say, approaching the bed with my medical bag. My voice sounds strained even to my own ears. “No need to get up.”
Without a word, she sticks an arm out of the mounded bedding and I don’t miss the slight tremor in her hand as she tries to hold it steady.
Holly doesn’t move to make room for me as I sit gingerly not the edge of the bed, close enough that I can feel her body heat through the blanket, hot enough that she might as well be a furnace.
She lets her arm drop with an exhausted sigh after I finish taking her blood pressure. I warm my stethoscope with a long exhale, before maneuvering my hand under the blanket to place the diaphragm against her bare chest.
And I do my very best not to notice that she is naked underneath all this bedding.
I have an omega, naked in her nest and only a foot away.
“Deep breath,” I instruct, willing myself to focus.
She complies, and I listen to her lungs, trying to pay attention to the sound rather than the way her chest rises and falls beneath my hand. Her respiratory rate is slightly elevated, but lung sounds are clear. No signs of respiratory distress.
Next, I check her pulse, wrapping my fingers around her wrist. Her skin is hot to the touch, and I feel her pulse jump at the contact. A small gasp escapes her lips.
“How are you feeling?” I ask, counting the beats while staring fixedly at my watch.
“Mostly in need of a hard fuck,” she replies matter-of-factly.
My head snaps up, and I stare at her, momentarily speechless. Holly meets my gaze, then bursts into laughter at whatever expression is on my face.
“Sorry,” she says, not sounding sorry at all. “But you asked.”
The blunt response is so unlike the reserved woman I’ve come to know that I have to take a moment to recalibrate. This is the heat talking—lowering inhibitions, increasing sexual drive. It’s a normal physiological response, nothing to be shocked about.
“Your temp is still high,” I say, ignoring her comment and placing a thermometer against her forehead. This is a clinical assessment, nothing more. I need to remember that. “102.1. Higher than I’d like, but still within expected parameters for an omega in heat.
I realize I’m still holding her wrist, my thumb unconsciously stroking over her pulse point. Holly seems to notice at the same time, but doesn’t pull her arm away.
“How’s my heart rate?” she asks, her voice softer now.
“A little faster than normal, but not by as much as I’d expect given the circumstances,” I answer, finally releasing her wrist and belatedly realizing that I hadn’t actually remembered to count the beats.
Before I can pull away completely, Holly catches my hand and presses her fingers to my wrist, mimicking my earlier action.
“I can’t say the same for you,” she says after a moment, looking up at me through her lashes. “Your pulse is racing.”
I move to pull away, but she tightens her grip, surprisingly strong for someone her size.
“I know you won’t give me a knot,” she says, her voice low and intimate. “But I looked up some research on my phone. Turns out alphas don’t have to knot if they’re in control enough, not even when they have an omega partner in heat. You’re always in control of yourself, right Dr. Klinkhart?”
This fucking girl.
The clinical way she phrases it, like she’s presenting a case study, almost makes me smile despite the tension coiling through my body.
“Or can I call you Noah now?” she asks, voice teasing. “Seeing as we’ve become so well-acquainted. Here, I’ll try it. Noah, will you please fuck me because I think I might actually die without a dick?”
“That’s the heat talking, baby.”
She shivers at the pet name, pulling harder on my wrist as her other hand moves beneath the blanket in a way that is impossible to mistake for anything but her fingering herself. “Pretty sure that’s my pussy talking. Can’t your hear it?”
I have to close my eyes to fight off the image of what is happening under that bedding.
“You don’t know what you’re asking for,” I tell her, my voice rougher than I intend.
“Don’t I?” Holly challenges. “You promised to take care of me. Soothing my heat will keep it from lasting any longer than it has to.” Her expression softens slightly. “You can go back to hating me when this is all over. Pretend like nothing happened.”
“I don’t hate you,” I say too quickly, surprising myself with how adamant I sound.
Holly raises an eyebrow. “Then stop acting like it,” she says. “And do what I need you to do.”
For the first time in my life, I feel my impressive self-control wavering.
I’ve always prided myself on my discipline, on being the alpha who thinks with his brain instead of his knot.
But sitting here, with Holly’s scent filling my lungs and her warm skin against mine, that control feels increasingly fragile.
Holly seems to sense my internal struggle.
Without breaking eye contact, she pulls back the sheet, revealing that she is completely naked underneath.
Her body is flushed with heat, a light sheen of sweat making her skin glow in the dim light.
The fingers of one hand are buried between thighs gleaming with slick.
I should leave. I should walk out that door and send Kai or Grayson to help her through this. But the thought of either of them touching her when I can’t makes something dark and possessive rise in my chest.
We’re already so far past the bounds of propriety. What’s one more step?
Especially when I’ve wanted to fuck her pretty much from the moment we met. And maybe if I do, there is some chance that I’ll stop spending nearly every minute wondering how it will feel to finally sink inside of her.
I push away from her and stalk to the door, hearing her sound of protest behind me. But instead of opening it, I turn the lock with a decisive click.
When I return to the bed, I loom over her, my decision made but my terms clear.
“No knots,” I say firmly.
Holly wraps her arms around my neck, dreamily repeating, “No knots,” in a voice that doesn’t sound particularly convincing. But I remind myself that I’m in control of my own body. I’ve spent years mastering my alpha instincts. I can give her what she needs without losing myself.
I lower my mouth to hers, and the moment our lips touch, a jolt of electricity runs through me. Holly moans, her body arching up to meet mine. The kiss deepens, and I’m lost in the taste of her—fresh and sweet, with an underlying sharpness of sweat and need that makes my head spin.
“I can almost taste your scent. It’s like a mouth full of mountain air and tree resin,” she whispers against my lips, sounding awed. “Is that normal?”
“Yes,” I lie. It’s not normal at all. It’s a sign of exceptional compatibility, the kind that leads to bonding if we’re not careful. But I don’t want to frighten her with that information, not when she’s already vulnerable.
Her hands tug at my shirt, and I help her remove it, then my pants, until there’s nothing between us but skin. The feeling of her body against mine is intoxicating, better than anything I’ve experienced before. I run my hands down her sides, marveling at how perfectly she fits against me.
“Please,” Holly whispers, her hips moving restlessly against mine. “I need you.”
I position myself between her thighs, still fighting for control. It’s been too long since I’ve been with an omega, especially one in heat. The scent of her arousal is overwhelming, clouding my judgment and awakening instincts I’ve long suppressed.
When I finally push inside her, the sensation is almost too much. Holly cries out, her nails digging into my shoulders as her body welcomes me. I have to pause, gritting my teeth against the urge to claim her completely.
“Please, keep moving,” she murmurs urgently, her voice breaking as her thighs lock around my hips, her ankles hooking at the small of my back to draw me closer.
The shift in position makes me groan as it brings us impossibly deeper together, her heat searing and perfect against me.
Her nails skate down my spine, leaving trails of fire in their wake, and I can feel her trembling with need beneath me.
“Don’t stop,” she whispers, her breath hot against my neck, and the desperation in her voice breaks what little control I have left.
The air between us crackles with electricity as I find our rhythm, each movement drawing desperate sounds from Holly’s lips. Her body arches to meet mine, hips lifting off the bed with every thrust, her responsiveness making my control fray at the edges.
My knot swells dangerously, the biological imperative to lock us together becoming harder to resist with each passing second.
No knots, I repeat like a mantra, you promised her control.
The reminder helps me focus, though my body rebels against the restriction.
Holly’s inner muscles flutter around me, her breath coming in sharp, needy gasps as she climbs toward her peak.
I adjust my angle, finding that perfect spot that makes her cry out, and drive us both relentlessly toward the edge we’re both chasing.
“Noah,” she gasps, and hearing my name on her lips pushes me dangerously close to the edge.
I love the way my name sounds when she says it in that breathy way, like she needs each letter on her tongue to get enough oxygen.
My teeth ache with the urge to bite her, to mark her as mine.
I turn my head away, burying my face in the pillow beside her to resist the temptation.
Holly’s body convulses around me as she comes, triggering my own release.
Pride surges through me as I maintain control, keeping my knot from locking us together despite the overwhelming pleasure.
Then I feel a sharp pain that somehow heightens the sensation rather than diminishing it. I look down to see Holly with her teeth buried in the muscle of my upper chest, just above my heart.
The unexpected sight of it sends another wave of pleasure crashing through me, more intense than the first. A bond bite. She’s given me a bond bite.
Well, shit.