Page 65 of Gold Sector

“What?”

“Those are the toys I mentioned that some Omegas use to help them through their heats. I can show you?—”

“No,” I interject, perhaps a little too emphatically. But no. Nope. Not interested. “I…” I shake my head again. “Sorry. It’s just, no. I’m not ready for, um,that.”

Doctor Taylor stares at me for a moment. “Okay, but your heat?—”

“Is imminent,” I finish for her on a grumble. “Yeah, I know. I… I’ll let you know soon.”

She doesn’t say anything at first but eventually nods. “All right. I can escort you back to Oros’s suite. But please consider talking to him. If you go into heat tonight, he’ll need to know your preferences. Otherwise, he won’t touch you.”

I nearly stumble, her final words having reached me just as I slid off the table. “He won’t?”

“He won’t,” she echoes. “Alphas in Gold Sector value consent. And you can’t give consent when you’re in thethroes of an estrus.” There’s a sternness to her tone that has me looking at her.

“Have I upset you?” I wonder out loud, confused by her obvious frustration.

“Oh, darling, no,” she says with a sigh. “It’s just… I’m concerned.”

“About my heat?”

She nods. “I know Oros. Unless you explicitly offer permission, he won’t see you through your heat. And I’m worried about what it’ll do to you… and to him.”

I blink. I understand what she means about how it’ll impact me. Well, at least, in theory, I do. I’ve seen other Omegas go into heat. Have witnessed what happens if they don’t have an Alpha to see them through it.

Putting an overwhelmed Omega on display behind a cage was one of Basalt’s favorite public punishments. Not just for the Omega undergoing estrus, but for the Alphas, too. It caused mass rutting riots?—

I shake my head, not wanting to think about what happened on those infamous nights.

My father hid me from most of it, but not all of it.

However, recalling the incidents has me asking, “Will Oros go into a rut?”

Because I… I don’t want that for him. At least not in the way I’ve witnessed before with other Alphas.

“Yes,” she says. “But he’ll be able to control it. I’m more concerned about how it’ll make him feel to watch you suffer, because he’ll feel strongly about guarding you through it. However, he won’t be able to touch you or help you, and that’ll hurt more than any rutting urges.”

I frown. “He can control his rut?”

She looks at me. “He’s one of the strongest Drakonians I’ve ever met. If anyone can control his need to rut, it’s Oros.”

I swallow. I believe her. But part of me doesn’t want him to have to control anything. “Do you think… he would knot me if I asked?”

Her eyebrows rise. “Do I think…?” She trails off and clears her throat. “I think you should tell him how you feel, Taliana.”

But what if he says no?I want to ask, but don’t. It’s an insecure question driven by two decades of feeling unworthy.

However, Oros has more than proved this week that my being a wolf doesn’t matter to the dragons here. And he wouldn’t be courting me if he didn’t like me, right?

So why am I nervous?I wonder.Why can’t I just… ask for his knot?

That Omega from the other day did. She was bold and fearless when requesting his help for her heat.

He turned her down.

Because he has no interest in courting more than one Omega.

He says he wants me. He’s spent all this time getting to know me. Maybe because he’s my guardian. Maybe because he wants to make me feel comfortable and accepted here.