Page 46 of Follow Your Instincts (Fairview City Omegaverse)

Maggie

A fter a brief respite of two days that didn’t involve screaming or drama beyond the reality shows Lachlan and I both liked, my luck ran out.

I woke up feeling a lot like I had the morning I’d presented.

Soren’s alarm hadn’t gone off, and I could tell by the light coming in through the window that it was late morning. I had a splitting headache.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Ben said as I stirred. He was perched on the edge of the bed.

“What time is it?” I stretched, groaning at the dull aches in my joints.

“10:30,” he said. “I wanted to wake you up, but Lachlan said we should let you get some rest.”

I tried to sit up, but the reality of Omega biology slammed into me.

“Ow,” I said softly, doubling over at the sudden wave of cramping heat that hit me low in the stomach. I whimpered and curled back up on my side.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” Ben asked.

I nodded, gritting my teeth against another wave of pain. “Fine,” I said. “Just hurts. Really bad.”

“Oh shit,” Ben said softly. “Like, crampy?”

“Yes,” I groaned. It was like the worst period cramps imaginable. And unlike the earlier heat spikes, none of the horniness.

“Shit,” Ben said again with a mischievous half grin.

“What?” I said.

“I think this means your heat is finally coming.”

Ben used the group text to assemble the guys again. Luckily, it was a Saturday, so only Ben had to worry about taking off work.

“You don’t need to stay home,” I said from Soren’s lap on the couch. Lachlan had bullied me into a set of my new comfy pajamas, and Lucas had made me herbal tea that was supposedly good for pre-heat cramping. It didn’t help at all and tasted awful, but I didn’t have the heart to tell him.

“I am not going to miss a second of your heat,” he said, shaking his head.

“How long until it gets here?” I asked. I had refused to do any Googling since I was already hanging onto my sanity by a thread.

“Either tonight or tomorrow,” Lachlan answered. “It just depends on your body.”

The guys alternated comforting me. Ben discovered that if he purred with his hand over my lower stomach, it helped to ease the worst of the pain. Lucas made me eat even though I had no appetite, adamant that I would need my strength.

I was scared shitless. Not that they would hurt me, but of losing control of myself.

I already had too many strong feelings about this pack.

Being with Lachlan and Ben together had eased my fears about the awkwardness of everyone being involved, but I was still anxious.

Especially about Lucas and how he would react to the situation.

The last thing I wanted to do was upset any of them.

While they made arrangements for grocery deliveries, I dozed on and off throughout the day. Apparently, this was normal, too. Something about my body needing to rest before my heat. I felt like a hibernating bear .

After dinner, I was leaning against Lucas’s chest, his spicy molasses scent curling around me like a blanket. Soren had claimed my other side, and he kept running his hand up and down my thigh, like he was trying to make sure I was still there.

“So we need to have a conversation,” Lachlan said from Lucas’s other side.

“Why do you always make it sound like you’re about to give us a lecture?” Ben grumbled from his spot in front of me, his hand wrapped around my calf.

Lachlan glared at him. “It’s not a lecture. It’s… we need to talk about Maggie’s boundaries.”

My stomach leapt. “Boundaries for what?”

“For your heat,” he said, more gently now. “What you like and don’t like.”

“Oh, I… hadn’t thought about that.”

“Is there anything that’s off the table?” Lachlan asked.

“I really don’t know,” I said after a long silence. “I’m, uh, not very experienced. I’ve only ever had like, just the normal kind of sex?”

I wanted to sink into the earth out of embarrassment.

“No judgments here, sugar,” Lucas said, nuzzling my hair.

There was a quiet moment.

“What about domination?” Soren asked, his voice a dark rasp. “Do you like to be told what to do, little Omega? Held down? Punished when you’re a naughty girl?”

Lust shot through me. I’d never played a submissive role, but the thought of Soren in charge was intriguing. “Uhhh… yes?”

“What about double penetration?” Ben said, turning to look at me with too-innocent eyes. “Would you want to get fucked by two of your Alphas at once?”

I could tell my scent was thickening as I blushed bright red. “I’ve never even done… anal, so while that sounds very exciting I’m not sure I’m ready for it.”

‘Exciting’ was the understatement of the year. My mind immediately conjured an image of Lachlan below me and Ben taking me from behind. Even if I had never done it before, the thought was like a lit grenade.

“You’d be surprised what your body is ready for during a heat,” Lachlan said, lust banked in his intense gaze. “Which brings me to the real point of this conversation. We’ll all be keeping our teeth to ourselves.” He glared at Ben in particular.

Ah, right. The bond bites. For some reason, the thought that Lachlan didn’t want to bond with me, even though it logically made sense, made my lust retreat for a wave of tears.

Great, more Omega mood swings. I turned further into Lucas’s chest and choked back a sob. He shushed me and stroked my back.

“What the fuck, Lach?” Soren said. I felt movement behind me. Lachlan peeled me away from my hiding spot.

“Look at me, love,” Lachlan said, gently turning my face to his. “One day, I am going to bite you and claim you as mine. But I don’t want that to be during your first heat, when you’re still getting to know us. I want you to make sure we’re what you want.”

“And to be sure that I’m what you want,” I said miserably.

Lachlan cursed softly and dug his fingers into my hair, cradling my skull.

I felt entirely at his mercy. “Maggie, I have no doubts that you are the right Omega for this pack. If I could bite you right now without feeling like an absolute bastard, I would. And I think I speak for the whole pack when I say that.”

“Damn right,” Ben said.

“Absolutely,” Lucas agreed.

Soren was nodding, too.

“So no, we don’t have a single doubt about you. But we want to give you a choice. Do you understand?” he said, brushing a thumb across my cheekbone. I could see his sincerity in his intense gaze. I nodded.

“Good,” he said, then crushed his mouth to mine. I gasped and opened my lips for him to sweep his tongue in to claim me. After a moment, we broke apart. “And if you have any more doubts about how I feel, I fully intend to get rid of them during your heat.”

“Okay,” I squeaked, then groaned as another cramp hit.

We all settled back into the couch, and I lay my head in Lucas’s lap and my feet in Soren’s, who’d reclaimed his spot. Ben rested his head back on the couch, and I started to play with the silky strands of his hair until he started purring again.

“Like a kitten,” I teased.

“There’s a joke here somewhere about licking up all your cream, but I’m too comfortable to strain myself finding it,” he retorted.

I looked up at Lucas. He smiled down at me, the lamplight throwing his cheekbones into sharp relief. He was so beautiful. I didn’t know how to ask if he’d be okay with my heat, how he would feel, without revealing too much without his permission.

As if he could read my mind, Lucas cleared his throat. “I should probably get this out in the open,” he said, more awkward than usual.

“Oh god, do you have an even weirder fetish than Soren?” Ben joked.

Lucas gave a strangled chuckle. “Um, well, I have the opposite of a fetish? I guess?” He took a breath. “I’m ace.”

No one said anything for a moment. “What the hell are you talking about?” Ben asked.

“Asexual,” I said softly and squeezed Lucas’s hand.

“Oh,” Ben said softly. “Well, that explains why you never really date.”

Lucas nodded. “Sorry I didn’t say anything before.”

“There’s no need to apologize,” Lachlan said. “It seems like you and Maggie are already on the same page.”

“Yeah, we talked about it. But I’m going to be feeling things out during the heat. Whatever Maggie needs, I’m here for it. That’s my main focus, always,” he said, and his voice was back to its normal quiet confidence. Tears burned in my eyes again at the look he gave me. It was like devotion .

“Can everyone please stop making Maggie cry?” Ben asked in mock outrage.

It was getting late and my cramps hadn’t subsided.

I was exhausted and wrung out from the pain.

Ben put on a movie, and I started to drift off, surrounded by Lucas’s soothing purr and the intermingled scent of my pack.

I could hear them talking quietly as I fell asleep, but somehow a bit of my terror had worn off.

My heat had seemed like the obstacle standing in the way of the rest of my life, but I trusted them to get me safely to the other side.