34. Gray
Gray
The wind is a brutal force that shoves me sideways as I try to make my way up the embankment.
Snow is no longer falling in pretty, picturesque flakes; it's coming down horizontally, a blinding, stinging curtain of white that erases the world beyond a few feet.
The air is so cold it feels sharp in my lungs, and every breath is an effort.
I'm paired with Jasper Reed, an Alpha I met about ten minutes ago.
He's a mountain of a man, tall and broad with buzzed light-brown hair and eyes the color of a winter sky.
He's dressed like he was born for this weather—thick Carhartt jacket, heavy-duty boots, a grim set to his jaw that says he's seen worse and isn't impressed.
We're part of a search party, a ragtag group of local volunteers led by Wyatt Callahan, the head of search and rescue.
A couple took a wrong turn last night and got their car stuck in a drift about five miles out of town.
They were lucky enough to have a working phone and a full tank of gas, but they've been holed up in their vehicle for over twelve hours, and the temperature is dropping.
"See anything?" Jasper calls out, his voice carrying over the howl of the wind. He's a few feet ahead of me, his powerful legs churning through the snow with an ease I can only envy.
"Nothing," I shout back, my voice snatched away by the gale. "Just more snow."
We're walking along what used to be a road but is now just a vague depression between two towering walls of white. Wyatt is ahead of us, a determined figure on a snowmobile, cutting a path for the rest of us to follow.
"You don't look like you're from around here," Jasper says, his voice a low rumble as we pause to catch our breath.
"I'm not," I admit, wiping a layer of ice from my eyebrows. "My packmate's parents own the lodge. I'm just visiting."
He nods, a small, understanding gesture. "The Hartwells. Good people. Henry helped build my deck last summer. Solid work. Man knows his way around a circular saw."
"That sounds like him," I say, a small flicker of pride warming me despite the cold. "He's a builder."
"Figured," Jasper says. "I heard you're a doctor, or was that a lie?"
I can't help but chuckle. "You're not wrong."
"I don't know how your lot do it. I can never be around blood or hospitals, you know," he says with a shrug.
"I get it. Does this happen a lot? Searches, I mean?"
"Tourists get themselves into trouble, we pull them out. It's the circle of life in a mountain town. Keeps us from getting bored during the off-season."
We continue in a companionable silence, the only sounds the wind, the crunch of our boots, and the distant, puttering engine of Wyatt's snowmobile.
There's a competence to Jasper that I appreciate.
He's not chatty, but he's not unfriendly.
He's just a man doing a job, doing it well, and expecting the same from others.
He's the kind of guy you want on your side in a crisis.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, a faint, insistent vibration against my thigh. I fumble with my gloves, pulling it out. I can just make out the name: Daniel. My stomach tightens. I step away from Jasper, trying to find a small pocket of relative calm in the lee of a massive pine tree.
"Daniel? What's up?" I have to shout to be heard.
The line is terrible, a crackling mess of static. "—ar… hear me?" Daniel's voice is a frantic, distorted sound.
"Barely, the connection is awful. What's wrong?"
"It's Mara," he says, and the two words cut through the static like a knife, sharp and terrifying. "Her pre-heat… it's back. Or maybe it's her heat. She's with Leo, and he's kind of panicking."
My blood runs cold. "What do you mean, it's back? Is she okay? Where are they?"
"I didn't get the full story. All I know is that they are on their way back from the Springs. Our Omega needs us, Gray."
Our Omega.
The words echo in my head, a dizzying, terrifying, and exhilarating claim. We're not bonded. But in his mind, in this moment, she is ours. The responsibility, the danger—it all belongs to us. And she's hurting.
"Where are you now?" I ask, my voice sharp, all my medical training kicking in, my mind racing through a list of potential complications. Hormonal cascade? Autonomic nervous system dysregulation? A febrile response to the hormonal surge?
"They just left Glenwood Springs. Best case, they're three hours out, and that's if the wind stays down."
"Shit." Three hours. Three hours of her being in this state, of her suffering, while I'm out here looking for people who are probably safe and warm in their car.
"Leo's with her," Daniel adds, as if reading my mind. "He's bringing her to the café."
"I'm on my way back," I say, my decision made in a split second. There's no question. "I'm leaving now."
"Hurry," is all he says, before the line dies, swallowed by a final, angry burst of static.
I turn around, my mind already calculating the fastest route back to the main road where we left the vehicles. I'm so preoccupied, so focused on Mara, that I almost run right into Jasper.
He puts a hand on my arm, his grip firm but not painful. "Whoa there, doc. Where's the fire?"
"Pack emergency," I say, the words clipped and tight. "My Omega needs help. I have to get back to town."
He doesn't ask for details. He just nods, a look of grim understanding on his face. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a set of keys, a heavy, sturdy-looking keychain with a miniature Ford logo.
"Take my truck," he says, pressing them into my hand. "It's got four-wheel drive, a winch, and a full tank of gas. It'll handle this shit better than anything else parked out there. I'll get a ride back with Wyatt when we're done here."
I stare at the keys, then at him. I don't even know this man, but he's offering me his vehicle, his only way home, without a second thought. "I can't ask you to do that."
"You're not asking," he says, a small, wry smile touching his lips. "I'm telling you. Go. Take care of your Omega. That's more important than a couple of tourists who are probably playing cards and eating granola bars right now."
"Thank you," I say, the words feeling inadequate. "I owe you one."
"Just drive safe," he says, clapping me on the shoulder before turning and heading back toward the search party.
I don't waste another second. I sprint through the deep snow, my lungs burning, the keys clutched tightly in my hand. All I can think about is Mara. Her pain. Her scent. The drive back is going to be a race against the clock, and I don't intend to lose.
The tires of Jasper's heavy-duty truck groan as I pull into the makeshift parking area in front of the café, the deep treads finding purchase in the thick snow.
Just as I kill the engine, the rented SUV noses in beside me.
Daniel bursts out of the café as Leo climbs out of the driver's side door before the engine has even fully quit.
"Where is she?" I ask.
The car smells like her. Even from here, I can smell it. It's not just the sweet honeysuckle and rain of her pre-heat anymore. It's thicker, richer, laced with the sharp, salty tang of sex and the musky, undeniable scent of come.
My stomach clenches. Leo.
He yanks open the door. "She's in here."
I'm already moving, my long legs eating up the distance in the deep snow. I peer inside. Mara is slumped against the passenger seat, her head lolling to the side, her face pale and glistening with a fine sheen of sweat. Her eyes are closed, her lips parted. She looks completely wrecked.
"You're late," Daniel shouts, his voice cracking with an Alpha's fury that is barely restrained. He's not angry at us. He's angry at the situation, at the world, at his own inability to fix this instantly.
I ignore him, leaning into the car. I press the back of my hand against her forehead. She's burning up. A fever. "Mara? Can you hear me?"
Her eyes flutter open, hazy and unfocused. They land on me, and a small, dreamy smile touches her lips. "Gray," she whispers, her voice a husky, breathy sound.
"Yeah, she's definitely in heat."
"I had to stop," Leo says, his voice tight with a mix of guilt and defensiveness. "She was in pain. She was begging me."
"You did well," Daniel says. "Let's bring her in."
"I'll carry her," Leo says, not waiting for an answer. He gently maneuvers her out of the car, lifting her into his arms as if she weighs nothing. She curls into his chest, her face buried in his neck, a small, contented sigh escaping her lips.
I scratch the back of my neck, a nervous habit I can't seem to shake. This is a lot worse than I expected. The fever, the pain, the intensity of her scent.
There's no way we can stop this. I had hopes that maybe they miscalculated and she was still in pre-heat.
They didn't. She's in full-blown heat.
We head inside, the warmth of the café a welcome shock after the biting cold.
We follow Leo up the stairs. In the room, he lays her down on the bed Daniel prepared, the mattress hauled back upstairs, thick and soft, piled high with extra blankets and pillows.
It's cold up here, but with the fever she's running, that's the least of our problems.
Leo immediately takes her hand, his thumb stroking her knuckles. Daniel crouches beside the bed. "What's the plan here, guys?"
"The easiest thing to do is help her through it," I say, my voice taking on the calm, clinical tone I use with patients. "Her body is demanding a release. The safest, most effective way to manage this is to give it what it wants."
Mara's eyes open again, amusement in their hazy depths. She smiles. "I don't like when you talk about me like I'm not here," she says, her voice a little stronger now.
Daniel's gaze softens. He reaches out and brushes a stray strand of hair from her cheek. "Do you know what's going on, Mara? Do you understand what's happening to your body?"
"I'm in heat," she says simply. There's no shame, no fear in her voice. Just a statement of fact.
He nods, his throat working as he swallows. "Yeah. You are."
She sits up, a sudden, fluid motion, and cups Leo's cheek, turning his face toward her. She leans in and kisses him, a deep, possessive kiss that has Leo groaning low in his throat. When she pulls back, his eyes are glazed over with lust.
Daniel stands up, his expression hardening as he turns to me. "Explain it to her. The medical part. The risks. Everything."
I sit on the edge of the bed, facing her. "Sweetheart," I begin, and her eyes light up at the term.
"I really like it when you call me that."
"I know," I say, a small smile touching my lips. I reach out and gently wipe a bead of sweat from her temple with my thumb. "Your body temperature is pretty high. The electricity is still out, so cooling pads are out. We can try wet towels, but they'll only provide temporary relief."
She giggles, a light, airy sound that seems out of place given the situation. "I know something else that's wet," she says, her eyes dancing with mischief.
"Goddammit, Mara," Daniel says, his control finally snapping. He cups her head in his hands, his fingers tangling in her hair, and kisses her.
It's not a gentle kiss. It's a punishing, claiming kiss, a raw display of dominance that makes my own cock twitch in response. He pulls back, both of them breathing heavily.
"You need to listen to me," he says, his voice a low growl. "You need to listen to Gray. He knows what he's talking about."
"Okay," she says, her eyes almost completely glazed over with lust. She looks like she'd agree to anything at this point as long as one of us keeps touching her.
Daniel straightens up, taking a deep breath to regain his composure. "I called Chris. He and a couple of the guys are coming down to help Mrs. Lacey with the lodge. The café will remain closed for now. It's just us."
"Good," Leo says.
"There are several ways we can help you through this," I continue, my voice calm and even. "Coming often is great. It releases endorphins, which can help with the pain. Leo already gave you an orgasm in the car, right?"
She nods happily, a blissful smile on her face. Then she's tugging at Leo's shirt, pulling him closer for another kiss.
"Baby," he says, pulling back, his voice gentle but firm. "Listen to Gray now, please."
She pouts, her lower lip jutting out in a way that is both adorable and incredibly sexy. "What do you need from me?"
"Consent," Daniel says, his voice sharp and clear. "And guidelines. We need to know what you want, what you're comfortable with. What you don't want."
"Take the lead," Leo says, his eyes dark with desire. "We'll follow."
"What's on the table?" she asks, a bold, challenging smirk playing on her lips. She runs her tongue across her teeth. "What are you offering?"
I take her hand, bring it to my lips and kiss her palm. She hisses, a sharp intake of breath. "I can use the cold compresses on your wrists, your neck. Your forehead. To try to bring the fever down."
"What else?" she asks, her voice a husky whisper.
Leo laughs. "Well, I for one can eat you out for as long as you need. I'm not seeing a downside to that plan for any of us."
"I like that more." She smiles, and then she looks directly at Daniel, her eyes locking with his. She winks. "What about you, Mr. Lawyer? What do you have to offer?"
I see Daniel shift, his body tensing. Her scent is having an effect on all of us, a potent, heady drug that clouds judgment and inflames desire. He leans in, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous purr that vibrates through the room.
"If it were up to me," he says, his eyes burning into hers, "I would undress you, piece by piece.
I would lick you from head to toe, memorizing every inch of your skin.
I would tie you to this bed with silk scarves and spread your legs wide.
And I would make you take my knot, over and over again, until you were so full of me you couldn't remember your own name. "
Her eyes go wide, her mouth falling open slightly. For a second, I think he's gone too far.
"Too much?" he smirks, a cruel, confident twist of his lips.
"No," she says, shaking her head, tongue darting out to wet her lips. "No."
"Good," he says, his voice softening slightly. "Now tell us what you need. Tell us everything."
She looks from Leo to Daniel, her gaze finally landing on me. A slow, beautiful smile spreads across her face.
"Someone kiss me."