Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Kayla
Istood under the warm spray of the shower, finally able to enjoy getting clean without the water moving over my sensitive skin making me horny.
Just as I had expected after the first full day of my heat, things had gotten worse, but with four alphas to satisfy me, it hadn’t been bad at all.
Had they not come back when they did, I would have been in even more pain as the peak of my heat hit.
There was always the possibility this was just a lull and soon I’d be craving knots all over again. For now, I was enjoying not feeling like a sex-crazed lunatic. I was sure the guys were too.
Turning off the shower, I grabbed a clean towel and dried off. My body ached from all the different positions it had been in, and after I ate dinner, I was hoping to sleep through the night. Beck and Rylan were supposed to be grabbing pizzas on their way back from the pharmacy.
Braving clothes, I pulled on a clean pair of panties and a soft, sleeveless nightgown that fell to my mid-thigh. There was no point bothering with anything constricting. The best part of it was that it had pockets.
I quickly brushed my hair out and threw it up in a bun, not caring that it was still dripping a little.
“Kayla, the guys are back!” Kane yelled from the other side of the bathroom door. “You good?”
I grabbed my phone and turned off N’Pact’s last album, putting my phone in one of my pockets. It made the nightie a little heavy, but I was waiting for Kara to text me back.
“I’m great.” I opened the bathroom door and grinned as his eyes traveled down my body. “Should I put on real clothes?”
“Not at all. Just surprised to see you in a dress is all.” He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer. “I like.”
“It’s a nightgown, not a dress.” I shoved at his chest. “Don’t start. I finally feel somewhat normal again. Probably just a lull, but I’m going to enjoy it.”
“Party pooper.” He kissed my cheek and backed up. “Want to eat in your nest or the kitchen?”
I scrunched my nose because the room smelled like sex and was a bit stuffy. “I think we need to air this room out a little. That might help me not be a nympho. The smell does something to me. So do all the naked chests.”
He walked out of the bathroom and grabbed a stray shirt from the floor. I immediately snatched it from him and threw it across the room. He laughed and took my hand, leading me to the kitchen where the aroma of pizza made my mouth water and my stomach flip with hunger.
“You guys better have gotten a whole pizza just for me.” My feet came to a screeching halt when Rio, Rylan, and Beck all turned to look at me.
I don’t know how I knew, but something was wrong. They weren’t smiling, and they all had this glint in their eyes like they were about to murder someone.
Grabbing the hem of my nightie, I resisted the urge to hide behind Kane. It was so fucking embarrassing that my immediate reaction to them looking pissed was to cower.
“We got you what you asked for.” Beck grabbed a paper plate and opened several of the boxes. “Let’s eat.”
“What’s wrong?” I wasn’t moving until I figured out what had crawled up their asses and died. “Did something happen?”
Rio held out a plate to me. “Come get your food, sweetheart. We’ll talk after we eat.”
Kane put his arm around my waist and led me to the island. He was as tense as I was, and I didn’t think he had any idea what was going on either.
We took our plates out to the patio, the sun only a line on the horizon. I couldn’t enjoy the view, though, when I was trying to think back to all the things I had said and done during my heat spike. Could they be having regrets about me now?
I thought things were final between us, but maybe the pegging had taken it too far. It was a pretty domineering position to put an alpha in, even if he had agreed. Was I not omega enough for them?
My phone rang just as I was about to sit down, and it startled me so much I nearly dropped my plate. Rio grabbed it from me and set it on the table while I fished my phone out of my pocket.
“Oh, it’s my doctor already.” I accepted the call and lifted it to my ear, walking out into the small yard next to the pool. “Hello?”
“Hi, Kayla. This is Dr. Wilkins. Do you have a minute to talk?” I heard some screaming children in the background and wondered if she was calling me from home. It was past the time she was normally at the academy’s health clinic.
“Yes. Did you already find out if something was wrong with the pills?” I headed toward the railing that was on the edge of the cliff. It had scared me a bit at first, but unless there was a massive earthquake and I just stood there, I wasn’t going anywhere.
“Did your mates not talk to you yet?” A door shut and the screaming children were muffled. “Are you with them?”
“Yeah. They’re eating. Why?” I looked back over my shoulder, and they were discussing something. Probably me.
“That’s interesting.” She sighed. “The pharmacist is sending your tablets to be tested but called me right away to tell me he thinks they were swapped out with placebos… sugar pills.”
My heart nearly stopped beating, and I backed away from the railing a step so, if I dropped my phone, it wouldn’t be lost forever. “What?”
“Have you been checking your pills every day before you take them?”
Crap. “It was a new bottle I just opened the night before I left. They had the symbols. I always check.”
Tears welled in my eyes. I was a sporadic checker when it came to the pills, and I couldn’t recall checking the entire time I’d been here.
“But you didn’t do a daily check? Kayla, you know how important that is.” She let out a frustrated sigh, and I sniffled back the tears. “It’s okay, mistakes happen. I was concerned that the whole lot of those blockers were incorrect, but if you’re sure they had the symbol…”
“Someone switched them,” I whispered, looking over my shoulder to find four sets of eyes on me before hastily turning my eyes back toward the darkening skyline. “What do I do?”
Tampering with an omega’s pills was a serious crime, and if one of the guys had swapped them out… My stomach cramped, but not from my heat.
Why would they do it? Why make me go through a heat when we were just getting to know one another?
“They got your new pills. If the seal is broken, don’t take them and call me back. I want you to take three with a meal tonight, tomorrow morning, and tomorrow evening to stop your heat. Then go back to your normal schedule of taking them.”
I whimpered and heard the chairs scoot out from the patio table. “They’re coming.”
“Don’t confront them. Until we get this sorted out, we don’t know what they’re capable of.
I’ll call you tomorrow with a plan after I speak to Omega Protective Services.
With the pack being so high profile, I’m not sure how they’re going to want to proceed to get you somewhere safe so the proper investigation can be done. ”
“But if I just ask them, then-”
“Kayla, I know you want to trust them after going through your heat with them, but I’d rather act with an abundance of precaution and make sure you’re safe. Your safety is priority number one. When and if they do share what the pharmacist said, you can be upset, but don’t point fingers.”
Arms wrapped around me, and the scent of cinnamon and cloves washed over me. Only now, instead of enjoying the scent, it made me want to gag.
A memory hit me like a tidal wave and my knees felt like they were going to buckle, so I pulled away from Beck and grabbed onto the railing with my free hand.
The meet and greet conversation. Beck and Brian were talking about what would happen if an omega went into heat during her pack’s season. The pack would be more aggressive, which would be a good thing for them.
“Kayla? Do you understand?” Dr. Wilkins snapped me back to the present, although it felt like I was floating above, looking down at myself.
“Yes. I understand. Thank you for checking in on me.” I hung up and stood there for a moment, collecting my thoughts.
“Kayla, is everything okay? What did your doctor say?” Rylan stepped up to the railing beside me, leaning on it with one arm.
“She was just checking in and wanted to make sure I got my new pills and dropped the old ones off.” I plastered on a fake smile and turned to mimic his stance. “Did you get my new ones?”
“Yes.” He put his hand on my forearm. “We wanted to wait until after we ate to talk to you about what the pharmacist said.”
Beck growled, and I looked over at him standing a few feet away, his fists clenched at his sides. “Might as well tell her now.”
I didn’t take my eyes off Beck as Rylan started to talk. “Well, he said your suppressants are possibly sugar pills and he’s going to send them to be tested.”
My head snapped toward Rylan, part of my act that I didn’t know that already. “What?”
“They weren’t real. That’s why you got your heat. Someone fucked with your pills.” Beck was closer now, and my skin prickled with uncertainty. “How did you not realize-”
“Beck,” Rylan warned. “Who would have fucked with your pills though?”
You. Beck. I don’t know.
I bit my lip and tears sprang to my eyes, but not for the reason they were thinking. “This is all my fault for not checking them every day.”
Rio, who had been standing by the edge of the pool watching, walked over to join us. “You shouldn’t have to check them. No one has been in the house since you’ve been here. Could someone at the academy have swapped them?”
“Possibly.” I looked back out at the city in the distance. When the sky was clear, the Hollywood Hills really did have a million-dollar view.
“The cleaners haven’t come, have they?” Rylan asked.
“No. I told them not to. We were going to have them over to meet Kayla, but with everything going on and her heat starting, that hasn’t happened yet.” Rio put his hand on the small of my back and I resisted the urge to stiffen.
I just wanted to go lock myself somewhere and think about everything. The only plausible explanation at the moment was that one of them had done it to give them an edge. My hormones were a natural performance-enhancing drug to them.
“The pizza is getting cold. Let’s eat.” Kane was still at the patio table. It was weird that he hadn’t come to see what the problem was.
The fact was, I didn’t really know any of them. There I was, just thrown into their lives when they hadn’t wanted an omega in the first place. I should have dug my feet in more about coming here.
And to think I’d almost bonded with them.
It was killing me not talking to the pack about the pills, but even I knew how serious of a situation this was. Either someone at the academy pharmacy had seriously fucked up, or I was being used.
But the question was, why?
Why had I matched with them instead of no one at all? Was someone in the Omega Match offices working with the pack to manipulate the system? Had everything they told me been a lie?
I should have called Omega Protective Services right away when I’d matched after opting out. No one wanted to get them involved, but maybe they could have put pressure on the Omega Match administration to take another look at what had happened.
Or they were in on it too.
As an omega, I knew quite well how delicate my designation was. There were only so many of us, and the impact we had on the most powerful people made us both highly regarded and vulnerable.
If there weren’t strict protections and protocols for us in place, I was sure we’d be sold, passed around, and treated like nothing more than breeders. Despite all the safeguards in place, I was starting to realize that maybe I didn’t pay enough attention to what went on with other omegas.
The nest door unlocked, and I stiffened. After eating, I’d told the guys I wanted to be alone and locked myself in the room. I’d had a little more heat pain, but after popping the three suppressants, it seemed to evaporate into thin air.
I pretended to be asleep as Beck came into the room. If I hadn’t been awake, I wouldn’t have heard him, but I was on edge and could hear the smallest of noises.
The mattress dipped, and he lowered onto it behind me and wrapped an arm around my waist, trapping me against him. “I know you’re awake.”
Despite my mind screaming at me to run, my body melted against him like we were two spoons nestled next to each other. “That’s not creepy at all.”
He chuckled, his nose running along my neck to a spot I had noticed he licked and sucked the most. “This is where I’m going to bite you.” He kissed the spot and my nipples hardened against my will.
“Beck… I’m tired.” My traitor of a pussy clenched as he kissed the spot. “Don’t you need to sleep? Aren’t you guys going to have any practices before your championship game in a few days?”
“No, we don’t really need to practice anymore. We’re confident we’ll win now that we know the other three teams in the championship. Our biggest threat is the Raging Skeletons, and we’ve never lost against them.”
“You’ll be riding on the hormones still in your system from my heat too.” I bit my lip; saying that was a risky move.
“We will.” He nuzzled my neck and sighed. “Don’t think I didn’t notice how weird you got after your doctor called.”
“I got weird after you guys told me my heat suppressants were tampered with. Who would do that to an omega unless they wanted to take advantage of them?” I couldn’t stop myself.
I knew the doctor had told me to keep my mouth shut, but I just couldn’t.
Not when he was cuddling up to me and pretending everything was fine.
He stiffened, and I thought he was moving off the mattress, but instead only moved so he could roll me on my back to see my face. I looked away and he grabbed my chin, making me look at him.
“You think we messed with your pills?” The hurt in his voice was thick, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t an act.
“What other explanation is there? You benefit from the heat.” I cringed as his jaw ticked in anger. “Put yourself in my shoes. What would you think?”
“That you wanted your heat so we’d grow attached and would bond with you.” He lacked any power behind his words, but they still stung.
“That’s not fair. I never asked for this, but I gave it a chance because I felt an inkling of something in my gut telling me to. Maybe it was just gas.”
He let my chin go and put his forehead against my shoulder. “Just… trust us, okay? We want you and wouldn’t do something to jeopardize that.”
All I could really trust was myself, but every fiber of my being was telling me to trust them too.