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I didn't wake up whenever Scott finally left the couch, and it was late morning by the time I woke up on my own.

At first, I thought the pain was just from sleeping somewhere other than a bed, but when I shifted to sit up, it intensified tenfold.

..and it wasn't in my back. It was low in my belly, buried deep and burning.

With shaking hands, I slowly laid my palms on my stomach, praying that somehow what I was experiencing was just a cramp, but it wasn't. A different kind of pain hit me then, a deep ache between my thighs, and I knew that I was screwed.

This was going to be the worst heat of my life.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think clearly through the pain.

My last heat had been bearable because I'd been able to ride it out all alone, but this one already felt different.

Beneath the ache was something hot and primal, beating in me like a warm drum.

There was a dark, driving edge to it that made me want to give up all my inhibitions.

I'd been terrified of this. Heat as an unbonded Omega was one thing, but heat around a bonded mate was something else entirely.

My bond with Scott might be wrong and different, but I had a feeling that wasn't going to matter.

Being around him was going to make me lose what little bit of dignity I had left; I just knew it.

And I had to go to work. Dammit.

All I could do was avoid Scott as much as possible, which was hard considering I had to touch him every few hours to not be in pain from the spell bond alongside my heat.

I doused myself in perfumes, hoping he wouldn't smell the heat on me, and touched him quickly in passing when the need became too much.

Two days passed like this, and I started to believe that I might actually make it.

The nights were miserable as I tossed and turned, desperate to run down the hallway and into his bedroom.

I wanted to beg him to fuck me, to drive away the ache, and I spent all of my energy resisting.

I was exhausted and near tears every waking hour of the day, but he hadn't figured out my secret yet.

Scott was noticing that I avoided him like the plague, though. When he was working in the cafe with me, I made nonsense excuses to work on the other side of the store, rearranging the same shelf over and over again just so there was some space between us.

Everything intensified when he came near. My skin burned, my thoughts swam, and every time I let my guard down, his face swam into my mind. I imagined the ways he would take me, dozens of positions. I imagined how he'd sound when he came.

I hated how much I wanted it, wanted him.

Even worse, I knew that I was hurting him unintentionally. We'd had a genuine connection the night I fucked up the spell for the second time, and he'd been so caring and warm that my heart had softened to the idea of getting closer to Scott, at least a little.

But this heat made it impossible for me to think clearly.

He would never take advantage of me, but I couldn't trust myself to keep my hands off of him.

The third night of my heat was the worst yet.

The ache between my thighs was constant, and it grew as the minutes ticked by.

I felt feverish as I lay in bed, too hot and too cold all at the same time.

Thankfully, he didn't work with me the following day, and I was left to close the cafe alone.

We closed around 7pm, and I locked the door, taking my time to clean up.

I was in so much pain by that point that I moved in slow motion, hunched over the broom as I pushed it across the floor.

The hours blurred together as I wiped down counters and reorganized tables, anything to keep busy and not return home where I knew Scott was waiting.

It was terrible, but also peaceful in a way. Until the pain hit.

It came over me in a flash, my muscles cramping up, quick and brutal. I doubled over, my stomach twisting with an intensity that was impossible to ignore. I could barely catch my breath as my heat spiraled out of control, twisting like a coil in my chest and spreading through my arms and legs.

Then, like a terrifying flower blooming, that edge of darkness came to life alongside the pain. It drove me to new heights of agony, curling around my spine and making it hard to think. Was this what heat was like when bonded? I didn't feel right.

I gripped the edge of the counter and tried to ride it out. Breathe , I told myself, don't let it consume you. It's just a heat, it will pass. But the pain only intensified, and it became harder to tell myself that everything would be okay.

And then, the door rattled as someone knocked on it. "Nayeli? Are you in there?"

My head snapped up, heart racing. I didn't even have to check...of course it was him. Scott. The last person I wanted to see.

The universe was conspiring against me.