43. Zoe
Zoe
I wake with a start, the pain in my abdomen so great that I have to bite my tongue to keep from crying out. I don't know what is wrong with me, but it certainly isn't a sickness.
My knees buckle as I stagger out of bed. Sweat has my pajamas stuck to my skin, and I feel like I can't breathe from the heat. I want to strip off all my clothes and curl up somewhere cozy, but I can't. I can't be alone.
I need Cliff. I need him here with me.
I have no idea how long I've been sleeping. I skipped dinner after speaking to Professor Trisha and came back here to pass out. It must be around one in the morning now, because, while things are mostly quiet, I can still hear people returning from parties.
My need for my Beta has me all but dragging myself down the hall, using the wall to keep standing. When I reach his door, I kick it with my knee, fearful that if I remove my hand from the wall, I will fall and be unable to get up.
"Cliff," I whine. "I need you."
The door opens, but it's not Cliff's broad body I'm staring at, but the slim, pale naked torso of my childhood best friend.
"Zoe? What's going on?"
Being this near to Warren makes me feel like I'm going to hurl, but I can't tell him that. All I know is that he's not supposed to be here. This is wrong, all wrong.
"Where's Cliff?"
"He's not in."
"Where is he?" I can't hide the tears in my voice. Finding out he isn't there feels like the end of the world.
Warren's face falls, and he reaches out slowly so as not to spook me and rests a hand on my shoulder. "Oh, Zoe. I hate to be the one to tell you."
A spasm of pain has me clutching my stomach. "Tell me what?"
"He's on a date."
My mind screeches to a halt, and suddenly the most painful thing isn't my fevered skin or the clenching in my abdomen.
My Beta is on a date?
He's on a date?
I cannot stop the tears from spilling over. A desperate, needy wail escapes me. "A date? Why? He's mine! Why would he do that to me? I need him."
There is no way, not after seeing my teeth shift, that he doesn't realize what is happening to me, what I am now. I reach for my neck to clutch my pendant and swear. I took it off before bed. I always do. I am probably stinking this whole hallway up with Omega pheromones.
Shit, I can't do this.
Though my heart is breaking, my body feels like it's being ripped in two, and I know that I cannot do this on my own, but I don't want Warren.
I say the first name that pops into my head.
"I need Dominic."
Warren's eyes go stormy, and his face twists with disgust. "What do you need that asshole for?"
"Please, Warren, can you find him for me?"
"No. I can help you." He ducks his head and buries his face in the crook of my neck. "You're in heat, right?" The words are the ghost of a whisper.
Heat. That has to be what this is.
I don't know why I didn't realize it before. The increasingly feverish temperature and the painful cramping over the past week should've made it obvious.
I'm in heat, and my Beta is on a date, and I am certain my heart is going to break into a thousand pieces and pour out of my eyes like tears.
"Come on, Zoe." Warren takes me by the arm and drags me across the hall to my room. I don't have the strength to fight him, even if his touch feels like a thousand needles in my skin.
"Why would he betray me?" I cry as I stumble through the door and to the bed. "He's my Beta. I bonded him. He's mine. How could he do this?"
Warren's back stiffens as he closes my door. "You bonded him?" I whimper and curl up on my side, pulling my knees to my chest. He stomps across the room to me and shakes me. "Why would you bond him and not me?"
I feel like my head is spinning. Nausea overwhelms me, and I know that if someone doesn't touch me soon, this will become an emergency situation. But the only person here is Warren, and he's the last person I want to put his hands on me.
"Why not me, Zoe? This is why you've been acting so weird, right? This is why you've changed so much. It's not you, it's the Blessing."
I want to scream at him that the Blessing is me, but the words come out as a pained moan instead.
Warren kneels beside my bed and strokes my hair off my sweaty forehead, leaving what feels like papercuts behind. "I'll take care of you, Zoe. How it was always meant to be. He doesn't care for you as I do."
"No," I moan, shrinking away from him. "No, I need Cliff. I need Dominic. I need Cameron."
"Who the fuck is Cameron?" He's on his feet, backing away from me now. "What's your type, anyone but me?"
I'm not given the chance to answer him because my door flies open, and standing there like a vengeful angel is Ray.
"Get the fuck out, Warren." The growl in Ray's voice is unmistakable, and I can feel the slickness between my thighs as it rolls over me. The Alpha looks at me, and his eyes soften. "I got you, Omega. It's okay."
"This doesn't concern you, Ray." I always thought Warren was the smarter of the two of us, but is he really going to stand between an Alpha and an Omega that is in heat right now? That feels like a sure-fire way to get yourself killed.
Ray steps into the room, and I am bowled over by his peppered scent, the spice swirling through me, leaving me with the same feeling I have around Dominic and Cameron.
"Alpha."
"I've got you. I'm here now. Let me take out the trash, and I'll be back."
"Find Cliff." I don't care if he betrayed me. I need him. We can figure the rest out after this.
Warren puts up a fight, but he's no match for Ray, who punches him in the face, taking him down with a single hit.
Guess that Alpha strength really came through for him this time.
The Alpha drags him from my room by the arm.
I bet he could lift the Beta easily, but instead is choosing to wrench his arm out of the socket and bump his head into doorframes.
It feels like ages, but it's probably only a few minutes before Ray is back, a shirtless Cliff right behind him.
"You were on a date," I whine as soon as I lay eyes on my Beta. "Why? Why would you do that to me?"
Cliff moves to the side of the bed and kneels beside me. This close, I can see that his hair is wet and there is still moisture on his chest. "I was not on a date. Did Warren tell you that? I was in the shower, Zoe. I would never, ever do that to you. You're mine, my Omega."
Ray closes the door, and I hear the lock snick closed. "And mine."
Cliff chuckles. "Of course, you're her scent match, too. What a time to find out, huh?"
The Alpha shuffles from foot to foot, staring at his shoes as his cheeks turn pink. "I've known for a bit."
The words are like a bucket of cold water. I struggle to sit up, and Cliff has to support me. "What do you mean you've known?"
"I figured it out the day I shifted for you."
Nausea unrelated to the heat overwhelms me as the realization hits. "That's when you started being nice to me."
He has the audacity to shrug. "I mean, yeah. You're my scent match. Of course, I'm going to treat you well."
"Were you ever going to tell me?"
"I wanted you to see I'm not a bad guy. It explained why I thought you were wearing an Omega perfume. I just wanted you to know the real me."
I shove to my feet, and Cliff stands behind me, the silent support I need right now. "You manipulated me. You weren't nice to me because you felt bad for how you behaved. You were nice because you wanted to get your knot squeezed. I thought you were my friend."
He looks affronted. "I am your friend! I just wanted you to get to know me and fall for me before you knew. I was worried you wouldn't give me the time of day if I didn't."
"How did you picture this going, Ray? Did you expect me to thank you for withholding this from me? You would've kept being an asshole to me if I weren't your scent match."
"But you are!"
Another sharp pain has me crying out, and he takes a step forward as if to support me. I hold my hand out to stop him. "You need to go. I can't deal with you right now."
Ray looks as if he's going to say something else, but Cliff steps in, grabbing the Alpha by the forearm and guiding him to my door. He says something in a low voice that has all the fight leaving Ray. He unlocks the door and pushes Ray into the hallway.
"I'm sorry, Zoe."
And then Cliff shuts the door in his face.