Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Saylor
I haven’t been this sick in too many years to remember.
I got norovirus in high school, and I honestly thought I would die before anyone noticed. The next morning when Leo and Shaw found me, I was in pretty bad shape. At one point, I considered calling them. They lived on-site at the time, but I really didn’t want them to see me like that.
I didn’t even bother calling my dad. Mostly because I knew he wouldn’t come home to take care of me, and if I didn’t call, I could pretend that he wasn’t there because he didn’t know.
It was a scary level of being sick, and this actually manages to top that.
I have another round of vomiting as Omen holds my hair away from my face and soothingly pats my back. After that’s through, we repeat the cleanup process. Only, this time, he helps me brush my teeth.
I’ve never had someone physically care for me when I was unwell, at least not since I was little and my mom was alive.
It’s strange.
I’ll be self-conscious about this later, but for the moment, it’s reassuring to have someone looking after me.
A shiver runs down my spine, and my skin aches as I tremble. I was freezing when I first lay down to go to sleep, but I’m sweating so badly, I bet my shirt has sweat rings.
“We need to take your temperature, and it wouldn’t hurt to get you out of that shirt,” Omen says, guiding me back into the room. Everything is hazy, and I wobble, leaning into his chest for support. “Hang here for a moment, but don’t topple over.” He props me up against the ladder to Valor’s bed and ducks under the loft.
The room spins, so I close my eyes and hold on to the ladder for dear life.
What is wrong with me?
Last time I went into heat, I have vague memories of being hot and miserable, but it was more of an achy, needy feeling.
This is like having the flu, complete with body aches and nausea. It has to be a reaction to stopping the suppressants so suddenly. Nothing else makes sense.
I’d rather feel the heat symptoms than this. Being trapped in my room at home would be awful, but being here in this place is a different kind of hell. Even if something is really wrong with me, I doubt they’ll allow me to see a doctor. Then again, they did leave that button-alarm thingy to put on the door if my fever gets high enough.
Omen’s scent hits my nose, and my eyes pop open. His face is hazy, but the concern marring his sharp features is easy to see. “Okay, pretty girl, arms up.”
“What’s your real name?”
There’s no way his mother named him that…
He chuckles. “I was born weighing 6 pounds, 6 ounces at 6:06 a.m. on June 6th, 1996. My mother viewed it as an omen.” He shrugs. “Combine all that with the fully white hair I had as a baby…” He pulls me close to his chest and tugs the shirt up and off me. “She was essentially convinced she birthed the Antichrist. I can only imagine how horrified she would have been if I was born ten years later. By the way, you have fantastic tits.”
My skin burns with the weight of his gaze, which would distract me if what he said wasn’t so upsetting. “You were just a baby.”
“Indeed.” He runs his hands down my sides. “God, woman, you’re scalding my skin. Would you like to lose the joggers or keep them? I picked them when I thought you would be cold.”
It takes several seconds for my brain to catch up. We speak the same language but clearly have different words for certain items.
“Off.” I nod. “Definitely off. I feel like my brain is frying inside my skull.”
He curses under his breath, shoves the sweats down my hips, and follows them down until he’s squatting by my feet.
My forearm braces against the bar of the loft for support as my head spins.
His skin feels cool against mine as he plants a hand on my hip and pats my other ankle. “You’ll have to lift up a little if I’m to get these off of you.”
“Sorry,” I whisper and comply. “This all feels a little like a fever dream.”
Omen grunts and repeats the process on the other side before standing. “I’m torn between taking your temperature and getting you into the shower. The water is always cold, which could help lower your body temp, but that could prove to be painful…” He sighs. “I barely know how to look after myself. How am I supposed to take care of someone else? I know virtually nothing about omegas.”
“Take her damn temperature and go from there,” Valor growls from inside Omen’s loft.
“Yes, Daddy.” Omen huffs. “Well, you’re nude, and if those fuckers next door realize, they will take a peek. How about you lift your arms for me, pet?”
I gasp.
He’s right.
I forgot that I’m not in underclothes. Not that standing in front of him in my bra and panties would be much more appropriate, considering we barely know each other.
Omen helps me into another large shirt that smells like Valor.
I pull the material to my nose, huffing hits of it. My system is all out of whack, but I’m not embarrassed, even if I look ridiculous. It’s helping settle my stomach, and that’s all I care about.
It takes me way too long to realize that I’m basically perving on Omen’s alpha’s scent.
“Sorry,” I whisper, letting the shirt fall. It lands a few inches above my knee, which is crazy. “I respect your bond with Valor. My senses are frazzled without the suppressants.”
“It’s good to know you won’t ask him to kill me just to be rid of me…” Omen wraps his arm around my lower back, leading me to the table. “But for the record, Valor and I don’t fuck. We’re life partners—the bond assures that—but we don’t have a romantic relationship. So, if fucking his brains out will help you feel better, rest assured, you have my permission. Not that you needed it, but I do recommend getting his before?—”
“Wait…” My hand digs into his hip as I lean against his chest. “The two of you aren’t a couple?”
“We are not.” He helps me into the chair Valor and I sat in earlier before moving to grab one of the omega first aid kits. Popping it open, he pulls the card from the lid. He tosses it onto the table and digs for the thermometer. Once he has it, he slips a cover on and offers it to me. “Tongue up.”
My mouth opens, and I barely lift my tongue before he shoves the device in.
The beta squats in front of my chair, running his hands up my bare thighs. “Valor and I are a team. We bonded to give ourselves a permanent line of communication. It’s how he knew where to find us when Sergei and Vlad were causing issues.” He soothes higher up my skin, and his thumbs brush my hips. “See, I’ll fuck anyone I’m attracted to, while my old friend prefers…” He chuckles. “No one, apparently, since I’ve never actually seen him with anyone of any gender.” He quirks an eyebrow. “Now, back to me. Have I mentioned I find you quite delectable?”
My chest rises and falls rapidly as I hold the thermometer under my tongue.
It beeps, and Omen stands.
“It’s unfortunate that I’ll never be able to meet your needs.” He pulls the thermometer from my mouth while keeping eye contact. “We’d both enjoy ourselves as I gave it my best go at corrupting you.” His forehead wrinkles, and he pulls off the cover, moving to drop it in the trash.
“W-What was it?” My mouth is suddenly bone dry.
“107.” He shrugs. “Not great. If I had that kind of fever, I’d be dead.” He makes his way back to the table. “Are you feeling as though you might be sick again?”
I shake my head.
“Then tell me what you’d like to do. Do you want to shower off the sweat or lie back down?”
My teeth dig into my lower lip as I think through the options. A shower would be miserable with no warm water, but going to bed alone sounds equally awful. “Will you lie down with me?”
A devastatingly handsome smirk breaks out on Omen’s face. “I will.”
* * *
I gasp as my eyes pop open, but, based on the stinging, I almost wish I had kept them closed.
“Shh, you’re okay, I’ve got you,” Omen says in a soothing tone. My thigh rests over his pelvis, and my face rolls around his bare chest. He had a shirt on when we lay down, so I have no idea where that disappeared to, but his skin almost feels like an ice pack compared to mine. “You’ve spent the last hour grinding your pussy all over me, but I don’t think it’s giving you any relief. I believe your body is asking for what it needs.”
I bury my face deeper into his skin, and my leg drags over his very hard shaft.
A gasp slips out as he palms my ass.
This is so bad… It’s much closer to what I remember feeling when I was about to go into heat for the first and last time.
It won’t be the last time for long , my brain deliriously reminds me.
“Everything hurts, even my skin, but especially my stomach.” I groan, rolling over to face the wall. “You should go. I’m going to embarrass myself. It’ll be like high school all over again.”
I still don’t know what happened that night. I’m guessing I threw myself at Leo and Shaw, and they fired me as their client because of it. It’s one of the things I beat myself up about most often. For them to quit with no contact… It must have been really bad.
Everything is hazy, and I pull my knees up to my chest as my core throbs. It’s not even an aroused ache. Misery might be an accurate descriptor. My lower stomach spasms with cramps so powerful that my entire body jolts.
“You didn’t escape. In fact, you didn’t do much besides roll to give me your luscious arse,” Omen says, flipping onto his side to spoon me. He tugs his arm from under my head, and I realize I moved from lying on his chest to resting on his bicep. “Tell me what you need.” He pulls my hair back from my neck and speaks close to my ear. “If you want me to go, I will, but everything in me says that’s not what will help you feel better.”
“I don’t know,” I whisper, clenching my eyes shut. “I’ve never had a real heat.”
But you do know , a smart-ass piece of my mind whispers.
At least theoretically speaking, coming a bunch of times should help. It would be even better if I could be locked on a knot, but any semen might help.
My face burns, and I bite my cheek to keep from begging.
Omen is ridiculously hot, like the better-judgment-destroying kind of gorgeous that models and rock stars can get away with. The rest of us don’t get to have tattoos that spill onto our faces or cover our necks and hands… Not if we want to be accepted into polite society.
Then again, fuck polite society.
What has fitting in ever done for me?
“I’ve never had a heat, either, so I suppose we’re even there,” he murmurs, nipping at my ear. His warm breath fans over my neck as he licks and kisses his way down. “What I have had is a considerable number of mind-blowing orgasms.” His fingers dance up my thigh and under the hem of Valor’s shirt. “And I know I can give you that…no knot needed.” His hand flattens on my stomach, and I find myself wiggling my hips back against his cock. “But I’m torn here, pet.” His tongue hits my neck, and he drags it up toward my ear. “You had to know it was a possibility you’d experience a heat spike being in such close proximity to Valor. To any alpha, really, but you willingly locked yourself in with us .” He hums, scraping his teeth over my skin as he moves back down my throat. “And at the same time, I’m not taking that as consent.”
My entire body pulses with heat, and my pheromones flood the air as I whine.
The agony from only moments ago turns into a deep interest that makes my nipples throb while slick leaks from my core.
My head is so hazy, it’s difficult to form words, but I do want him. “You! I need you,” I finally manage to force out.
“You need something, but I can’t help but believe you’d rather have my alpha,” Omen taunts, teasing his fingers higher. “He’s who you were after from the minute they released you onto the block.”
I groan and gyrate my hips back, desperately searching for his dick.
“Both! I want you both,” I admit, my face only burning hotter. “But right now I need you, Omen.”
His long fingers dance around the curve of my right breast, and he grinds his shaft against my ass. “Mmm, I do love hearing you beg for me, but I think you’ll have to come to me if you want me.” He rolls onto his back and moves around while my jaw hangs open.
Way to be the world’s biggest tease.