Page 15

Melanie

“H i everyone! Welcome back to International Fashion Weekly , your first stop for the latest styles and trends. I’m Kai Risler, three-time winner of the International Design Awards and owner of—”

His voice faded as I cried out, coming again as Kai smiled for the camera. A sleek green suit clung to his soft frame, his hair gelled to one side, round sunglasses perched on his nose as he spoke into a microphone.

He sat on a high stool with his co-host, a stunning alpha female in a deep blue dress.

I rubbed my aching clit as my gaze traced the sharp lines of his face and wished he could see me.

I whimpered as I curved my back, weakly thrusting the end of the dildo so I could at least feel something in the dark cloud of pleasure that suffocated me.

It was the same position Caspian first fucked me in; with my ass up in the air, my knees bent up to my chest, my head rubbing on the mattress. But now, my arm fed between my legs, and I pressed my breasts into a pillow for support because no one was there to hold me up as he slammed into me.

I tried to get some kind of relief, but everything hurt, everything was too raw, and the heat had ruined me.

I’d been stuck like this since I returned to my nest, and I still couldn’t get rid of my need. I didn’t have the strength to change my bedsheets, and I’d barely had enough energy to get myself fresh water and batteries. I couldn’t even walk to the kitchen for food.

I refused to open the window in case someone heard me, and the place was drenched in this new perfume—my perfume.

With my orange curtains closed, the bright sunlight could have been sunset on a gorgeous island in the Mediterranean instead of three p.m. on a sweat-drenched Saturday afternoon.

The rest of the drive back that night was hell. I’d settled when I finally flung myself inside my flat, gasping and panting. And then I knew for sure that it was my nest.

The only time I’d heard of omegas having nests so big was in those fancy interior design magazines, and everyone said those were fake, anyway. Omegas’ nests were small and cosy spaces that were filled with warmth and love and safety.

Not an entire flat drenched in the scent of brandy and slick.

I just had to hold on until the heat was over. Then I could deal with what really mattered, like how I was going to protect myself now that I wasn’t a beta.

Thank God betas couldn’t scent other designations, because there would have been complaints from my neighbours already. As soon as they found out what happened to me, I’d lose my home.

But that was the furthest thing from my mind as another wave of heat shuddered through my body and I glued my eyes to the screen.

Kai was so beautiful in front of the camera. Eyeliner, blush, and lipstick that was perfect for that sly smile of his. I desperately missed the line of his waist and the sleek shape of his chest that was exposed by the deep V of his waistcoat.

And even though they were old clips from his TV show recorded years ago, I kept looking at his left hand, like I’d see my bite mark there.

If I had alphas, they would take care of me. They would treasure me and love me and fuck me the way I needed them to.

And Kai and I could hold each other, and we could exchange bites so I could stop the mad craving that sent me to tears every time I thought of it.

I wanted him with me, I wanted all of them to show me what I was supposed to do, how I could be an omega. Reading books and imagining what it would be like was so different than being so unfulfilled and out of control. Kai could tell me how to use my aura and scent, Sin could make sure I had food and sleep, and Caspian could fuck me until I couldn’t move without him.

My body knew how wrong it was that they weren’t there with me, but I refused to give in after everything they’d said.

I thought I had cut them out. The rejection was meant to be final. That’s what it said online.

I thought I would be fine and I wouldn’t be whimpering and whining all the time. But the further into my heat I got, the more fiercely my craving for the three of them came back.

I couldn’t properly reject the bond unless I cleaved. All because of the stupid bite.

Each time I found the place in the bond where I could sever our connection, pain screamed through my body and I had to stop. Being completely separated from Kai wasn’t worth that much agony. So, instead, I just rolled around in my bed pathetically, coming every five minutes.

I’d lasted about an hour with the knotted dildo I’d hidden under my bed before I knew I needed to search for pictures of them.

After milking as much of their scents as I could from the card, my dress, and my leggings, the memories of our argument took over, and I scrunched everything up and threw it in the bin in an exhausted rage.

I was so empty. I needed a knot. I needed a hot body slamming into me so hard my pussy would go numb and I couldn’t walk.

I’d searched for Sin online first, and even though he looked mouth-watering in a pinstripe suit, I didn’t want to listen to him talk about his TV networks with omega interviewers fawning over him while I came.

Next was Caspian, and even though there were amazing shots of him in a vest and tiny shorts with other huge alphas on the website for the security company he ran, I could only scroll one-handed for so long.

So, it was Kai and his fashion show. The best parts were when he brought in his designs and modelled them himself. He was natural, and he looked at the camera with the same gleam in his eye that he had when he teased me.

I’d spun my TV so I could press my cheek into my mattress and watch various clips on Kai’s YouTube channel on auto-play.

I clenched my teeth as the next wave of heat rolled through me, but it was too much. Biting my already worn lip, I forced my weak wrist up to thrust into myself again.

My first heat, my first real heat, and I was crying, ass up in the air, twisting to push my face into the mattress to muffle my voice and soak up the tears.

Why had I wanted to be an omega? Why did I think going into heat would be amazing?

Because of all my alphaporn. I’d thought Amanda losing control was sexy, and that heats were so romantic and passionate and filled with love, whether you were alone or not. That your alphas always found you to help you and shower you with anything you needed. But it was a fantasy. None of it was real—at least not for me. The dildo just didn’t do the job. Not like the hard fire of Caspian as he thrust himself into me again and again. And that look of hate and lust in Kai’s eyes. And the way Sin’s coldness gave way to warmth…

My back arched as heat flooded through me again, and my need ignited. I couldn’t do this anymore. It was too much. How did other omegas survive a heat?

I couldn’t go to a heat clinic because I was an unregistered omega. And a private heat helper was way beyond anything I could afford.

My mobile rang, the electric vibration buzzing in time to the dildo inside me. I let it ring through. I was too stiff to stretch my slick-soaked hand to the bedside table where it sat.

The ringing ended, and I made myself move. I’d been on my front too long. I’d spent an hour on my back, and another hour in a cold bath so I could spread my legs and use the shower head.

I couldn’t understand it. In the Spa, my body was flying high, drowning in bliss as the three of them used me. I couldn’t call it making love; it had been tainted by their offer and the realisation of what they thought I was.

A blog had suggested taking painkillers to relieve the ache of being separated from your scent match, but they weren’t strong enough when every part of my body was already on fire. And it didn’t take away my empty loneliness.

My phone rang again, and I groaned. I didn’t need to look at the screen to see who it was and why they were calling. Only one person would call me nonstop.

But if I didn’t answer, my sister might storm down here to complain to me about how I wasn’t thinking about our family without a shred of self-awareness. And how would she react if she found out I was in heat?

“Seriously?” I muttered as the phone lit up for the third time.

It was probably nothing, but I was so scared something had happened to Mum since I’d missed my visit. If Mum had had another stroke and I was too busy coming nonstop to answer, I’d never forgive myself. Not that I could go out in this state, but I still needed to know she was okay.

My throat was so dry I didn’t know if I could talk. The second I pushed myself up onto all fours, my muscles screamed and I wanted to collapse.

I slapped the pause button on the TV before I reached for the phone.

I moaned as the change in position had my pussy clenching around the knot. I rocked back, stopping when my ass bumped my heels, but I couldn’t stay still.

It was like my body had been reprogrammed, and all I could do was keep moving and grinding until I came again.

I whimpered, knowing I needed something to help me.

With the phone still vibrating in one hand, I grabbed a pillow, ignoring the damp patches. The line between slick, sweat, and saliva was already so blurred it didn’t matter anymore. I opened my legs, shoving the pillow between them and lowering my ass down, groaning as my weight sagged. At least it brought me a bit of relief.

I started rocking on the pillow. It wasn’t fantastic, but it was enough to give my wrists a break.

I was so glad the knot kept the dildo inside me, because I didn’t want to have to deal with pushing it back into myself when I was on the phone.

I didn’t even look at the screen as I swiped right, pressing my phone against my ear, my head ripping back as I bounced, and the shaft hit me at the perfect angle.

“Mel! Are you okay?” the voice burst in my ear.

My eyes were still rolling in the back of my head as I jumped in surprise.

“What’s going on?” Lucielle quickly asked. “I haven’t heard from you all weekend!”

I didn’t know if it was better or worse that Lucielle. With Rosa, I’d just have to listen to her excuses about why she couldn’t visit Mum, and she would ignore that I was gasping and whining, but Lucielle actually cared about me.

“I sent a text,” I rasped, my chest heaving. “Didn’t you get it? I’m off sick.”

“Come on, Mel. You just vanished yesterday. You didn’t even check in the staff room before you went.”

I released a shuddering breath as images of them assaulted me, and the burning heat in my body instantly grew worse.

“There was a mix-up with the schedule,” I sighed, my head dropping forward as I pressed my hand between my thighs. “And then I had a family emergency.”

Lucielle knew enough about my mum that she would probably let it go.

I screwed up, and the moment I touched my clit, I groaned.

But if she heard me that time, she didn’t show it.

“Listen, babe. I don’t know how to say this, but… the Spa manager is looking for you.”

“W-What!?” I yelped, my whole body jerking as fear pounded through me.

“Yeah, I don’t know… He even came into the staff room to ask me where you were. Even the higher-ups are getting involved. What’s going on? Did you do something?”

My heart plummeted at the thought that they might have told someone at the Spa I’d fucked them. That maybe they really did try to ‘hire’ me and the managers figured out what I’d done.

“Lucielle, I—” I choked off a sob as all the emotions I’d been stuffing down since I left them reared their ugly heads again. By myself, I could hold it together, just focus on getting through the heat, but now that I actually had someone to talk to, I couldn’t hide.

“Babe, is something happening?” She sounded so worried that I had to explain. She was my best friend, and she was the first person to reach out to me after I’d been missing for more than a day. My family, my other friends, people at work—no one had found it strange that I’d suddenly cut off contact.

Even talking with her was helping clear the fog of need that took me over.

“I’m in heat,” I gasped. With my fingers hard on my clit, I kept myself as still as possible so I didn’t moan anymore.

The silence that drew out between us was so long that I was sure she must have heard the rustling of the pillow before I stopped shaking my hips.

“What?” Her voice was hushed. “Mel… I thought you said you were ill?”

“No, I’m—ah!” Another burning flare burst through my body. “I’m in heat. I don’t know what happened, but as soon as I stepped into the Blue Suite, I presented. I had to get out of there,” I said. I wasn’t about to tell her I’d fucked some guests. Even though she was my best friend, she was still my boss.

And Lucielle should have known that, too.

“Lucielle? Do you know something?” Because if she’d spoken to the security team, they would have seen me enter the room and leave it half a day later with torn up clothes. They would know that I’d escaped via the fire exit and shot off in my car before my shift ended.

“No, I didn’t know this would happen. Of course I didn’t. I wouldn’t have pushed you to come out for drinks with me if I’d known...” She trailed off as silence hung between us.

“But?”

“But…” She sighed heavily. I wanted to growl at her to hurry up. I had things I needed to do that I didn’t want my best friend to hear.

“But I was told to send you there,” she admitted.

Then it was my turn to be quiet.

It was only after I swallowed, forcing my already chaotic emotions to calm the hell down that I replied.

“What do you mean you were told to? Did you already know? Is that why they are looking for me?”

“I'm really sorry, Mel. Our boss said I had to send you there. That there had been a special request for a mid-heat clean up and you were the only one who could do it.”

“But how could they…”

“I don’t know. I haven’t got a single bloody clue what’s going on. But they told me I had to keep quiet. I wasn’t allowed to interrupt. I had to wait until you left the room.”

My thoughts went back to all the strange things Caspian said between kisses and thrusts. When I was fighting him, before he rubbed his cock on me and my world exploded. They kept saying I’d gone there deliberately, that I’d targeted them, that I’d planned it all…

And it had made absolutely zero sense. Until now.

“Lucielle, do you think someone paid to send me there? A guest or someone outside of the Spa?”

“No.” I could even hear her shaking her head. “Absolutely not. Why would someone do that? The Spa—hell, the Knottinghill Group prides itself on its integrity. Everyone who works for us is treated with the utmost respect.”

“You sound like one of those training videos,” I chuckled.

“Well, I did star in them!”

Her laugh was the briefest relief from the weight settling between us. Her voice died away and we descended into another heavy silence.

“Mel…” Lucielle said quietly. “You know what this means, right? Work-wise?”

My breath caught in the back of my throat and my eyes closed as I guessed what was coming. In the space between leaving the heat suite and reaching my bed, my mind had been spinning like crazy, and rattling around in there was: how was I going to keep my job? Whether it was sleeping with guests or being an omega, both were good causes for firing me, and even suing me for a breach of contract.

“I can get scent blockers, heat blockers,” I said, the pitch of my voice rising with each word until the panic set in. “I can use all those sprays and gels and whatever else to hide it. I just need your help to do it.”

“Mel, I can’t—”

“Lucielle, please . I’m asking you as a friend. I need this job.” But it sounded like they already knew what I'd done and they were going to fire me anyway.

“I know,” she whispered. “Come on, I know how much you need it. But I can’t let you put yourself in danger.”

“I’ll be okay! You can put me down in the laundry rooms or I can work out on the edge of the estate. Or put me in an office somewhere filing papers. Just, anything. Lucielle, please, just anything.”

A tear slipped free as I bent forward, pressing my hand flat against the mattress to control the ache in my core.

“Mel…”

I was trembling, even more tears spilling over. Was I ever going to stop crying? I’d read that heats made omegas more emotional, but I didn’t think it would be this bad.

“Babe, what if you get cornered by an alpha and there’s no one to protect you? Or if you accidentally perfume in front of the senior managers and they have you arrested? There’s nothing I can do. I’m not just talking as your manager, I’m saying this as your friend. There’s a rule about omegas working as staff for a reason.”

I shouldn’t have told her. I should have just kept quiet, even though I was so desperate to find someone to connect to.

“Can you give me another week?” I croaked, embarrassing myself as I faked a cough. “I’ve got my sick leave and my paid holiday. Just put me down for those until I can figure out what I’m going to do.”

“Yeah, I can do that. That’s fine. But I’m not going to lie to you. I can maybe see if I can make you redundant, get you some kind of payout so you can keep going for a bit so you can look after your mum and not hate me for the rest of your life.”

I knew she was just making a joke, but there wasn’t a chance of it landing.

“I’m technically still ill,” I said hurriedly, as another wave of heat wracked my body. “My heat isn’t over yet. That counts as sick leave.”

“I said yes, Mel. Please, don’t push me.”

There was another heavy sigh at the end of the line. Lucielle was one of the people in my life I shared everything with. We knew so much—too much—about each other, yet the way I’d left Sin and Kai hurt even more than my best friend telling me she was firing me because of something I couldn’t control.

“I think it's best that you just stay away. If you've really presented, then I don't know what they might do to you.”

My sadness welled up in a ball at the back of my throat. I'd worked there for so long, did whatever I could to make sure I was a good and reliable employee, and something like this had ruined everything.

“I need to go,” I said softly. More pain spiralled through me, growing fiercer by the minute, and I needed to at least do something to help myself. And I didn’t want this conversation to become any more awkward.

“Sure. But I’m here, Mel. You know that, right? Just let me know if you need anything. Food, clothes, whatever. Nothing’s off limits. Just call me again, okay?”

“I will. I promise,” I said. Which was a total lie.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I fell onto my side on the bed, my hands pressed between my thighs already. I’d been creeping closer to my pussy throughout the conversation, even though I had to focus. But I couldn’t do it. I needed to come too badly.

I just wanted someone to tell me it was okay, to show me what I needed to do, to teach me without any strings attached.

I’d gone twenty-five years without knowing how to be an omega—how was I supposed to start now?

My eyes flicked to the screen, to Kai’s frozen smile, and a pang rang through my heart.

“I have to go,” I rasped.

“Wait, Mel. Have you got anyone with you? I can come over and cook you something or—”

“Goodbye Lucielle,” I croaked,

The moment I ended the call, a force of heat hit me, and my back arched. I ground my hips again, throwing the phone aside. There was no time to think about the conversation as my fingers furiously rubbed my clit, and I cried out for the millionth time that day.