4. Hazel
Chapter 4
Hazel
M y throat burned from the alcohol as I followed them into the living space. The redhead, Cormac, sank down on the couch, leaning forward so his elbows rested on his knees.
I sat on the couch opposite, blushing when I realized I wasn’t wearing any underwear. My slick was probably overwhelming.
Roman sank down next to me, tugging me into his lap. I opened my mouth to protest, but he shushed me. “You need contact or your heat symptoms are going to get worse,” he reasoned.
“I’m going to get you messy,” I whispered, very aware of the various fluids I was leaking.
He laughed softly. “I made the mess, so I’ll survive getting some of it on me.” I buried my face in his chest, wiggling on his lap to get comfortable. Why did he keep talking like that?
The redhead cleared his throat. “Already introduced myself. My name is Cormac. You said your name is Hazel? Are you a student?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m in my third year of my English degree. What about you guys?”
The topic of conversation felt oddly mundane, given the situation, but I welcomed the distraction from my impending heat and the panic it instilled in me.
Cormac beamed at me. “That’s awesome. I’m studying environmental sciences myself. Roman is all about the political sciences, and Phillip switched majors last year from business to early childhood education.” He pointed to each of his pack mates as he mentioned their studies.
“Do you all live here?” I asked, before shaking my head. “I’m sorry, of course you all live here. Why else would you be here at this time of night?”
“It’s a fair question,” Phillip assured me.
“We’ve been a pack since we were sixteen. The moment we could legally form a pack, we did—we grew up together.” Roman smiled easily at his pack mates. “Then we decided to come to Avalon together.”
Avalon University.
That university was only a twenty-minute drive away from Hawking. Despite being in the same city, our universities were sports rivals—not that I cared about any of that.
“I’m studying at Hawking.”
“Good university,” Roman said, kissing the top of my head. “Damn hard to get into. You must be really smart.”
My entire body tingled, and I squeezed my legs together to try and avoid them noticing the increase in slick between my thighs. I was a sucker for praise, especially when it came from a man who looked like that.
“Thank you,” I mumbled, heat rising in my face. “Uh… can I have my phone? I need to text a few friends if I’m not going to be getting home tonight.”
Phillip nodded, gracefully extracting himself from the couch and getting my phone from my handbag in the kitchen. “Here,” he said, handing it to me.
“Thanks,” I said, quickly tapping a message to Seb.
Hazel:
Actually, I’m feeling real crappy. I know you won’t see this until morning, but I’m going to go stay with my folks for a few days. Mainly so I can see our doctor. We both know there’s no point trying to spend time with my parents, LOL.
“So, forgive me for getting right into it, but there are a few things we need to cover before we get to know each other—just in case your pheromones take over,” Cormac said gently.
“What do you need to know?” I asked, putting my phone down.
“Limits.”
My eyes widened, and I spluttered. “W-what do you mean?”
Phillip leaned forward. “What things do you like or dislike, anything that’s a hard no, birth control and such.” As he spoke, Roman rubbed circles on my bare thigh in a move that both soothed and riled me up.
“Shit, I didn’t even think to ask about birth control.” Roman grinned sheepishly. “My hindbrain was sort of taking over there.”
“I’m on birth control.” I nodded in confirmation. I hadn’t minded what Roman had done to me, not one single bit. My legs were still jelly after the orgasms he had given me. My back burned slightly from where I had rubbed up against the door.
Again, no regrets.
A few bumps and bruises in return for amazing sex? Seemed like an easy trade to me.
“You also said you hadn’t taken a knot before tonight?” Phillip asked gently.
My face must have been tomato red. That wasn’t really the topic of conversation I wanted to discuss, but I had been the one to blurt it out mid panic.
“Why didn’t you tell me that, Duchess?” Roman turned me to face him, holding my hands in his. “I could have done without, or at least been a fuck of a lot gentler.”
“No! It was great. I wanted it,” I rushed to say. “I just hadn’t had a chance to do it before tonight. I had been so busy with school and everything that it just never happened—I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Plus, it felt good. Really good,” I admitted, my face hot.
Roman couldn’t keep the self-satisfied look off his face at my words. “I’m glad I pleased you.”
“But if you’re in heat, do you want us to avoid that? You must be sore,” Phillip said, breaking the moment between Roman and me.
I shook my head. “I’m not… uh, sore.” I fumbled over the words. “If I’m in heat, is there any way to really stop us from doing that? ”
“From knotting you constantly while we fuck you like feral beasts?” Phillip supplied. I nodded, biting my lip. When he said it like that, images filled my mind of being knotted and filled repeatedly by each one of these alphas.
My perfume exploded in the room, so thick I could almost taste it. It was suffocating, like someone had shoved my face into cotton candy.
Cormac beamed at me, his jeans visibly tightening at the scent.
“We can restrain ourselves, if need be,” Cormac assured me.
“Have you ever been with more than one alpha?” Phillip asked.
I shook my head. “Roman was actually the first alpha I’ve ever been with,” I admitted.
They all seemed so calm and experienced. What the hell had I gotten myself into? Next to them, I was practically a child who knew nothing.
Roman leaned forward, softly capturing my lips in his. “I’m honored to be your first.” He grinned.
Why did that sound so sexy coming from his mouth?
“We need to be cautious. If you’ve only been with Roman and never shared a heat before, you could get overwhelmed easily. We don’t even have your nest here, so you’re going to feel displaced.”
“I haven’t only been with Roman,” I mumbled.
“Betas don’t count.” Cormac smirked.
I opened my mouth to deny it, but there was no way I could compare what I had experienced before to what I had done with Roman.
I wanted to do it again.
And again.
“Drink this,” Phillip instructed softly, handing me the bottle of water in his hands. He hadn’t grabbed a glass of alcohol like the others. Roman stayed crouched in front of me, his hand rubbing soothing circles on my thighs.
“I-I’m not thirsty,” I stuttered.
“You need to drink. Omegas can get dehydrated stupidly easily while going through a heat. It’s better if you hydrate now to save us some pain later on.”
I took the bottle. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to be a pain. I can leave,” I insisted.
Phillip’s eyes widened as both Roman and Cormac made sounds of displeasure. “No! I don’t mean it like that—you’re not going anywhere.”
“But I’m inconveniencing you!” I said, tears leaking from the corners of my eyes.
“Listen to me, omega.” Phillip’s voice was firm and held that alpha command that had my spine straightening to pay attention to whatever it was he had to say. “You are not an inconvenience. We’re going to make sure you get through this healthy and well, and to do that, you need to drink now because, in a day or two, you’ll be so busy begging for us to knot you for the twentieth time that you won’t be able to even think about drinking.”
I bit my lip, then took the bottle. He really needed to stop talking—every time he did, I somehow got even more turned on, thanks to the mental images his words kept giving me.
Twisting the cap off the bottle, I took a deep sip, relishing in the satisfied looks all the alphas gave me.
I wanted to please them.