Page 7 of His Best Friend’s Heat

I nod, not trusting my voice. He retrieves the tray and sets it carefully in my lap. The soup is simple chicken noodle from a can, but the fact that he thought to make it, that he's taking care of me like this, makes fresh tears threaten.

"Small sips," he instructs, and I comply, forcing myself to take a few spoonfuls despite my lack of appetite. The warm broth soothes my throat, and I realize I'm thirstier than I thought.

Nick watches me eat. He's still fully dressed, sitting on the edge of the nest but not quite in it, maintaining a careful distance that I both appreciate and resent.

"Better?" he asks when I've managed about half the bowl.

"A little," I admit. "Thank you."

He takes the tray and sets it aside, then hesitates, clearly unsure what to do next. I can see the question in his eyes. How far is this going to go? What does he do when simply feeding me isn't enough anymore?

Another cramp answers that question for us both. This one is different, less pain, more...emptiness. A hollow ache deep inside me that I know Nick recognizes. I curl in on myself with a whimper that sounds embarrassingly close to a moan.

"Micah?" Nick's voice is rough now, his alpha instincts clearly responding to the shift in my scent. "The first stage is ending, isn't it?"

I nod, not trusting my voice. He can smell the change. Every alpha would know what it means.

"Soup and cloths aren't going to help anymore," I say, each word an effort. "You know what comes next."

Nick moves closer, his hand finding mine where it's clutching the edge of the nest. "Tell me what you need."

I close my eyes, unable to look at him as I voice what we both already know.

"I need you to help me through my heat," I say, forcing myself to be specific. "I need you inside me, Nick. I need an alpha to knot me and make this ache stop." I swallow hard, gathering courage. "I need you to claim me like I'm yours, because that's how my body feels. Like I belong to you."

Nick's hand tightens around mine.

"I'm asking you to be my alpha for this heat.

To take control and give me what my body needs.

To fuck me and knot me until this desperation stops.

" I can't stop talking. "I need you to be rough with me if that's what feels right, because my omega instincts are screaming for an alpha who will claim me completely. "

"I understand if you don't want to. I know this isn't what you signed up for when you offered to help. And I know you're not...that you don't usually..."

Nick's thumb traces circles on the back of my hand. "I told you before, I want to help you. In whatever way you need."

"You say that, but you don't know what it means for me specifically. This isn't like helping a female omega through heat. And it's not a normal heat—it's breakthrough. Everything will be more intense."

"I know you're not like the omegas I've been with before." His eyes search mine. "The question is, what do you want from me? Not what your heat demands, but what you want."

What do I want? Beyond the heat-driven needs, what do I, Micah Bennett, want from Nick Keller?

"I want whatever you're comfortable giving," I say. "I don't expect anything beyond helping me through this."

It's not a direct answer, and Nick knows it. His eyes narrow slightly. "That's not what I asked."

Another wave rolls through me, stronger than before, making me gasp. Nick's scent intensifies in response, his alpha instincts clearly reacting to my distress.

"Hey," he says, his voice gentle but insistent. "Tell me. Not what you think I want to hear. What you want."

The combination of pain, fever, and Nick's steady presence breaks down my last defenses. The truth spills out before I can stop it.

"I want you," I admit, my voice cracking.

"Not just because of the heat. Not just because my body thinks we're compatible.

Because you're you, and I've wanted this for longer than I should admit.

" I force myself to meet his eyes. "I want you to make me feel like I'm yours, even if it's only for this heat. Even if it's only temporary."

It's out there now, impossible to take back. Nick's expression shifts.

"How long?"

I close my eyes, unable to bear his gaze as I admit the final, damning truth. "Since we were seventeen. Since the day you defended me from those alphas in the locker room and then acted like it was no big deal."

Nick's sharp intake of breath is the only sound in the room.

"Look at me."

I force my eyes open, bracing for pity or rejection. Instead, I find Nick looking at me with an expression I've never seen before—intense, focused, almost predatory in its intent.

"I'm going to help you through this," he says, his voice deeper than usual, resonating with alpha authority that makes my omega instincts sit up and take notice. "Not out of obligation or friendship. Because something about this feels right, even if I don't understand it yet."

Another wave overwhelms me, more intense than any before, making me arch and gasp. Nick's pupils dilate further, his nostrils flaring as he catches the scent of fresh slick.

"Nick," I whimper, beyond shame now, beyond anything but raw need.

"I've got you," he says, and the simple promise means everything.

"Touch me," I whisper, the request both terrifying and exhilarating. "Please. I need you to touch me."

Nick's eyes darken, his scent spiking with intensity that makes my omega instincts purr in satisfaction. As he moves fully into the nest I've built for us, I know we're crossing a line we can never uncross.

And for the first time since this whole ordeal began, I'm not afraid.