Chapter 3
Sidney led me to the next floor of the building and into an exam room where the doctor was already waiting.
“Hi, Allison. I’m Dr. James.” The physician was a middle-aged woman with brown hair and a warm smile. “Cutting it a bit close, I see?”
“If I could have avoided it forever, I would have,” I snapped.
Dr. James exchanged a look with Sidney. “You’re not being coerced into coming here, are you?”
“Not technically, but what else am I supposed to do?”
“If you’re that uncomfortable with having a heat partner, we could always take you to the hospital and sedate you for the duration of your heat. It’s not ideal, but we could manage the symptoms for you well enough.”
“Because that’s so much better.” I shoved my hands into my hair, where they tangled in the dark curls. “I want to be a different dynamic. Why hasn’t science figured that out yet?”
Dr. James pursed her lips. “Sidney, could you please excuse us for a moment?”
“Of course.” He stepped outside and shut the door behind him.
“Talk to me, Allison. How can we help you through this?”
“I don’t know.” The tears snuck up on me and I wiped them away. I’d pushed down some of the panic, but now that I was hitting the point of no return, it was like a tsunami overwhelming me. “I’m so scared.”
“Of what, in particular?”
“I’ve never even been kissed and now I’m supposed to think about getting naked with a stranger for days, letting them...”
“Ah. Yes, I can see how that would be daunting.” Dr. James flipped through my documents. “Well, you’re nineteen, so you can make whatever choice you think is best for you. Presentation heats don’t agree well with long-term suppression or we could have delayed for you, but that’s something we can look into afterward. What do you think about the hospital option?”
“That’s equally terrifying.”
Dr. James nodded. “I’m sorry there aren’t better alternatives.”
“I don’t want to sleep with a stranger.” I wrapped my arms around myself, though the self-hug did little in the way of soothing.
“Do you think it would help if you spent some time with him first? All the alphas who work here will do their very best to make your heat comfortable however they can. If you want to talk until the wee hours of the morning or go out for dinner with them, that’s perfectly allowable.”
“Really? It’s not a wham, bam, thank you ma’am and everyone is on their way?”
Dr. James snickered. “Only if that’s the preference of the client. Typically with presentation clients, the omega will be in the home of the alpha they choose, or the alpha will come to them if the omega lives alone. It allows time to get comfortable, lets the omega engage in nesting behaviors and move gradually into the heat, as opposed to someone being contacted to come to them when the heat begins.”
“That sounds okay, I guess.”
“There’s also the option to request the alpha use only toys if that makes you more comfortable. It takes a while longer for the heat haze to lift with that method, but it can be managed.”
That particular mental image, of Sidney wielding some wild sex toy with that smirk of his, bringing me to climax without our bodies even touching, sent a ripple of need over my skin. I smothered down the whine that crawled up my throat. “I guess that would be okay.”
Dr. James’s smile brightened. “Perfect. Let me do a quick exam, and then we can talk about your alpha choices.”
I sat patiently while my vitals were checked. My blood pressure was elevated, but that was no surprise to anyone since I’d been freaking out well before I got here and hadn’t stopped.
“Now, how many alphas are you going to be meeting with today?”
“One.”
“You only liked one from the whole batch?” Dr. James seemed surprised and paused her ministrations.
“I stopped when I found one I liked.”
“Why?” Dr. James quirked her head.
“Because it’s embarrassing!”
Rein it in, Allie.
“Sorry.” My cheeks flared with heat. “I’m having some…emotional difficulties with everything. I was really hoping I’d be beta so I could continue on like normal.” Sure, periods sucked, but they were probably less of a hassle than a heat.
“Sometimes normal can be overrated. There’s plenty of things about being an omega that betas will never get to enjoy. I know you’re uncomfortable, but there’s no shame at all around any of this. We’re all here to help.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to do stuff. I just don’t want to, you know?”
“You’ll have to clarify for me.”
Maybe it only made sense in my head…
“It’s like, I know what my body wants, but my brain is taking longer to catch up.”
The dissonance between them was wild as fuck. I knew it was the hormones that were revving my engine and preparing me to become a full omega, but I wished they came with a calming-down feature instead of just horniness. Didn’t they know I was a basket case? Why hadn’t omega biology accounted for this? Surely we should’ve evolved something to chill out the anxiety that came with this by now. But no. It was no fun being horny and panicky at the same time.
“Completely fair.” Dr. James gave me a sympathetic smile. “Would you be interested in someone like Sidney if you weren’t in heat?”
“Well, I mean, yeah. He looks like a model. But I was hoping for more than that for my first time.”
“One moment.” Dr. James rolled over to her computer and tapped away on the keys. She snatched a page off the printer and handed it to me. “Here’s his full profile.”
I scanned over it. Middle child. Twenty-four years old. Sagittarius...
“He rescues puppies! Are you kidding me right now? There’s no way that’s real.”
“Quite real. Sometimes he’ll bring fosters into the office.” Dr. James smiled over her laced fingers. “We’re very selective about who can be a heat helper. They have to demonstrate compassion, in addition to being knowledgeable about omega care and being physically fit enough to handle the demands of the job.”
My resolve wavered.
Stupid sexy puppy-saving alpha.
“Okay, so, say I agreed to have him as my heat partner. Then what?”
“Your form says you live with your mother, so in this case, you’d pack yourself whatever supplies you need, and Sidney would take you to his home. All the alpha homes are professionally cleaned after every heat, so you don’t have to worry about a thing. Once your heat is over, you’ll have up to three days of recovery time with him, though you’re free to leave before that. You can either come here or go to your regular doctor for a post-heat checkup and that’s it. You’re free as a bird until your next heat.”
I groaned and dropped my face in my hands. Logically I knew it was the best choice. I just had to convince my brain that it was fine.
“Can I hang out with him before I decide?”
“Of course. Why don’t you head back to the meeting room? I’ll be here to sign off on the contract if you need me.”
I was taut as a bowstring when Sidney rejoined me and we went back downstairs.
I plopped down on the couch and he diverted to the mini-fridge, glancing over to me. “Juice?”
“Uh, sure.”
He tossed me a fruit punch juice box and sat down on the leather couch.
I needed to chill out a bit and could only remember one thing about him that might help with that. “So...puppies?”
Sidney’s face lit up and he pulled out his phone. “Yes! This was one of my last fosters.”
He turned the screen, revealing a blue-eyed puffball that made my heart explode.
“His name is Brutus. He was part of the Roman senator litter of Australian shepherd mixes.”
Sweet merciful god. I am so doomed.
“Senators?” I squeaked out.
He grinned and flipped to another photo of five equally precious pups. “Brutus on the left, then Cicero, Tiberius, Augustus, and Julia.”
I let out a whine. “How many of them live with you?”
“None now. Brutus was the last to get adopted, and he went home three days ago.”
“Unfair. I’d have gone home with you just to pet them.”
Sidney laughed. “I’ll take in another litter when I can but certainly not immediately if I’m taking care of you for the next while.”
“How many puppies have you fostered?”
“Seventy-six.”
“Holy shit.” I imagined his beautiful face, laughing, the rest of him covered in puppies that yipped happily. It was too bad he didn’t still have a house full of floofs so I could de-stress myself being buried by them.
“I’ve been doing it for a while now, plus a few came in big litters.”
I latched on to another thing I was curious about, morbidly so. “How many heats have you shared?”
“Seventeen.”
I swallowed hard. There was no way I could compete with anyone else. I had no idea what the fuck I was doing. I had at least seventeen people to compete against in my brain now. Who knew how many there had been outside of his work? He probably had people lined up down the street for a piece of him. This was probably my only chance to be with someone this pretty.
“What’s it like?”
He was contemplative for a moment before propping his elbow on the couch, letting his temple rest against his hand. “Exquisite. Omegas in heat are perfect in a way I can’t quite describe.”
I nodded breathlessly, squirming. “Do you actually want to share my heat? Like, is the idea of it palatable besides the fact that you’re getting paid?”
I held my breath as he looked me up and down with a focus that made me tingle.
“Of course. You’re a gorgeous woman. If you’d approached me outside of all this, I probably wouldn’t say no, though I might take more than a couple of hours to get to know you before taking you home.”
Focus.
Deep breaths.
The very hot man said he’d have been open to sleeping with you outside of this situation. What do I do with this information?
“Have you slept with anyone outside of a heat?” Sidney asked.
My cheeks erupted in heat and I shook my head. “I’ve never...I mean…I don’t think anyone even wanted to.”
Sidney snorted. “I find that incredibly hard to believe.”
“Well, if they did, they certainly never made me aware of that desire.” I squeezed my hands together. People in high school had been a bit obnoxious about sex, and they hadn’t seemed to improve in university except that they were more open about everything. It never sat right with me so I’d avoided the conversation any time it had been brought up. “Not that I would’ve paid much attention if they had.”
“Oh?”
“I took a lot of advanced classes in high school, and I may have overscheduled myself with university. There hasn’t exactly been a ton of time to dedicate to dating. Plus, I still live with my mom, and that would put a damper on bringing anyone home.”
“Fair enough. I’ve had a few university students before. Are you having to push any exams?”
“Nope. I wrote them early to get them out of the way.”
His eyebrow quirked. “Impressive. I graduated two years ago, but I took everything online and spread out classes so it freed up a bit of time without the commute and I could do things as quickly as I wanted.”
“I like the classroom experience. I love studying, but I also really like the guidance.”
Something in his eyes flashed and it sent a bolt of lust swirling in my gut.