Page 21 of Daisy (Omega Chosen #3)

Daisy

I can't sleep.

I'm lying here staring at the ceiling, my mind drifting back to the van ride.

How we played cards together, how Hawk made me laugh when he called me a natural card shark, how even Dante smiled when I figured out his tells.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged somewhere. Like I was just Daisy.

After all of that, I should be exhausted. Should be grateful for this real bed, safety, the soft blanket August must have tucked around me after Hawk carried me inside and I fell back to sleep feeling so safe.

And I am grateful. But something about tonight feels different.

But my body feels restless, like there's electricity humming under my skin.

The grey sweater and jeans I'm still wearing from today feel too warm suddenly, clinging to my skin in a way that makes me want to squirm.

My pulse seems to flutter faster than normal, and even my scent feels different somehow.

Richer. Like something inside me is awakening after years of being locked away.

I need to cool down. A shower. That would help wash away this strange, restless energy and maybe help me find some peace.

I slip out of bed quietly, my bare feet silent on the carpet as I pad toward the small bathroom that connects to our room.

The moment I step inside and close the door, the world shifts.

His scent surrounds me like a warm embrace I never knew I needed. Sandalwood and wild fig, but underneath it something deeper. Something that makes my chest flutter and my knees forget how to be steady.

Hawk was here. Recently.

Understanding crashes over me. He didn't just shower in this space. He touched himself here. The knowledge should embarrass me, should send me running back to bed.

Instead, it does something else entirely.

Warmth pools low in my belly, spreading outward like honey through my veins.

My breathing turns shallow, each inhale bringing more of him into my lungs.

The scent of his need mixed with his strength fills every corner of this small space, and something inside me responds in a way that's completely foreign.

Something that whispers want in a way I've never felt before.

My underwear grows damp. Not just damp… wet in a way that's never happened before. Slick, my mind supplies from those clinical lessons about omega biology. This is what slick feels like.

I've never slicked before. Ever. The medications kept my body locked down, prevented from responding the way it's meant to. But now, surrounded by his essence, my body is awakening to something I don't understand.

I need to cool down. Get control of myself. A shower will help wash away this strange feeling and clear my head.

I strip quickly, my hands trembling as I turn on the water. The cool spray hits my overheated skin, and for a moment, I think it might work. That I can wash away whatever this is and go back to being normal.

But his scent is everywhere. In the air, clinging to the walls, mixing with the steam now rising around me. And instead of helping, the water sliding over my skin only makes everything more intense.

Twenty minutes later, I give up and turn off the water. My body is humming with need I can't ignore anymore.

I wrap myself in a towel, but it doesn't help. Nothing helps.

This feels different. Stronger . Like my body knows something I don't.

The slick between my thighs pulses with every heartbeat. I shift my legs and gasp at the sensation. I know what Hawk did in here. I can smell it, understand it. But I never knew... no one ever said omegas could do that too. Could touch themselves and find relief.

My hand hovers near the wetness, trembling. I think about the crude things I overheard at Uncle's events. The way those men talked about what they did when they needed relief. Disgusting, predatory alphas who made my skin crawl. But this is different. This is me, and this is Hawk.

When my fingers brush against myself, my knees buckle. I have to grab the wall to stay upright.

Oh. Oh.

I slide down the wall until I'm sitting on the cold tile, my towel falling away. My legs shake as I spread them wider. If alphas can do this, if Hawk did this right here... maybe I can too?

My fingers find the slick again, and this time I'm ready for the bolt of sensation. Not ready for how good it feels. How my whole body seems to light up from that one touch.

Is this what Hawk felt? This desperate need for more?

My fingers move without me telling them to, exploring. Finding spots that make me gasp and arch against the wall. There's something swollen and sensitive that makes me cry out when I touch it.

I bite my lip to stay quiet, but little sounds escape anyway. My breathing gets faster. My heart pounds so hard I can hear it.

I think about Hawk. About his scent surrounding me. The way he called me princess like it meant something. He touched himself here, thinking about... about relief, about need... can I think about him while I do the same?

I don't know what I'm building toward, but my body does. It knows exactly what it wants, even if my mind doesn't understand. The sensation builds and builds until I can't think about anything else.

When it happens, when my body suddenly arches and shudders and everything explodes into white hot pleasure, I quickly cover my mouth to stop myself from crying out.

After, I sit there shaking, trying to understand what just happened to me. My scent is everywhere, rich and warm and satisfied in a way I've never experienced.

I had no idea I could feel like this.

Is this what I've been missing? What the suppressants kept away from me all these years?

A few days ago, I was the perfect omega who never questioned anything, never wanted anything beyond what I was told to want.

And now... now I'm standing in a bathroom, having just discovered pleasure for the first time in my life, and I'm thinking about an alpha who makes me feel safe and scared and confused all at once.

I clean myself up with shaking hands, trying to process what just happened. My body feels different. Lighter somehow, but also more aware. Like something that was sleeping has finally woken up.

Is this what I've been missing? Is this what they kept from me with all those pills and injections and careful monitoring?

The thought makes something twist in my chest. All those years of feeling nothing, wanting nothing. And my body was capable of this the entire time.

But I don't understand it.

I splash cool water on my face, trying to calm the flush in my cheeks. In the mirror, I look different. My eyes are brighter, my lips slightly swollen from biting them. There's a glow to my skin that wasn't there before.

I look like a woman who's just discovered what pleasure means.

When I finally work up the courage to leave the bathroom, I expect to find the room exactly as I left it. August sleeping peacefully, everything quiet and still.

Instead, something feels different.

Through the connecting door between our rooms, I can hear movement.

Shuffling. The low murmur of voices that sound.

.. strange somehow. And their scents are so much stronger now than before, drifting through the open doorway.

Sharp and intense in a way that makes me feel unsettled in a way I can't name.

August is awake, sitting on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. When I emerge from the bathroom, he looks up, and there's something in his expression that makes me want to hide.

"You okay?" he asks softly, but his voice sounds strained. Raw.

"I... yes?" I'm not sure it's true, but I don't know how to explain what just happened. How do I tell him I just discovered my body can feel things I never knew existed?

He nods, but he won't quite look at me. Like he's afraid of what he might see. "Good. That's... that's good."

Something about the way he says it makes my stomach clench with worry. Through the connecting door, I hear someone curse under their breath. Low and desperate. The creak of bedsprings.

My face burns. Something's wrong with them, and I think... I think it might be because of me.

"Are they okay?" I whisper, moving closer to August. His scent wraps around me, warm cedar but it's different now. Sharper. Affected.

"They're fine," he says, his voice tight.

But something in his tone tells me there's more. Like they're fighting something. Like I'm the thing they're fighting.

"August?" I sit on my bed, facing him. "What's wrong?"

He's quiet for a long moment, his hands clasped between his knees. When he finally looks at me, I can see he's trying to decide what to say.

"Nothing's wrong," he says finally. "We're just... adjusting. To everything."

"I'm sorry," I whisper. "If I'm causing problems..."

"Hey, no." August's voice turns fierce, and he reaches across the space between our beds to cup my face briefly. The touch is gentle but his eyes burn with certainty. "You're not causing problems. You're exactly where you belong. Where you've always belonged."

The certainty in his voice makes something warm bloom in my chest. But the confusion is still there, mixed with this new awareness of my own body that I don't know what to do with.

"The suppressants," I say quietly. "Not having them... I can feel everything now."

August's expression softens. "Your body's waking up."

"Is that why they're struggling?" I ask quietly, finally putting the pieces together. "Because they can smell me?"

He nods. "Your scent affects all of us."

Heat floods my face, spreads down my neck. "Oh. I'm sorry. I don't know how to... I can't control it..."

"Don't." August's voice is firm. "Don't apologize for being yourself."

We sit in silence that feels less comfortable now, weighted with things neither of us is saying. Through the connecting door, I catch the sound of someone's sharp intake of breath. A whispered curse that sounds like it's been torn from someone's throat as they close the door to their bathroom.