Page 58 of The Omega's Fake Mate

“Can't find the words? You're usually so eloquent.”

He shot me a look and cleared his throat. “You said you'd never experienced a heat before.”

“Yeah, that's true.” I smiled at Zander. Did he not want to talk about heats? “I guess last night was the first time. It's weird, isn't it? For an adult to go into heat like that.” When I passed my teens without going into heat, I kind of figured it was never going to happen to me.

“I suppose it's a bit weird, but it's not unheard of. At least not entirely. I've read about it. Usually it happens to virgins, though, and you're not...” Zander's eyes snapped to me. “Are you? I mean, were you?”

The shocked expression on his face made me laugh. “No, I'm not and I wasn't. Don't worry about that. Sorry to say you were not the one to pop my cherry.”

“Fine by me,” Zander claimed, but I swore I could detect just a tiny hint of regret in his tone. Or maybe I just wanted it to be there. “But if you were not a virgin...” Zander shook his head. “I wonder what triggered it?”

“I don't know. I guess it's because things are different with you.” And again, I said something without really thinking it through. How was Zander supposed to take that? “I just mean, I'm not usually interested in sex. Like, at all. I told you I was different from other omegas that way. I can't say why, but with you, I wasn't just going through the motions. I wanted it.”Wanted you.

“That's... good to know.” Zander gave me a small smile before focusing his eyes back on the road. “Last night was definitely intense.”

“Oh, yeah, definitely.” I rubbed my face with the heel of my hand. Finally, I could understand what other omegas were talking about when they mentioned their teenage heats. “I wouldn't mind doing that again some time,” I dropped an off-hand comment just to see how he would react. He'd basically told me that he loved me, so surely he couldn't be opposed?

I watched his fingers tighten around the steering wheel. I liked his fingers. They felt good on me. “Whenever you're in town again,” he said eventually. Something about his smile looked forced.

“You don't want me to leave,” I concluded.

“No,” he admitted. “But I'm not selfish enough to ask you to stay, either.”

“I see.” I fiddled with my phone again, not really sure what to say. I didn't want to leave either. But wasn't that madness? I had a life in LA. Well, nojob, right now, but I had friends there. A place to live. Freedom. On the other hand, no one would try to order me around in Oceanport either, and I had friends and family there too. And snow. And Zander.

But we had only spent one night together, even if that was the most amazing night ever. This feeling was so new to me, who could guarantee that it was going to last?

* * *

By the timewe made it back to Oceanport, I was about ready to fall into bed, but there was one more thing I needed to do before I could find any sleep.

“Could we talk?” I asked Kade almost as soon as I was through the door to his house.

Surprise flitted over his features, but he nodded. “Sure,” he said, eyes darting to the window that overlooked the road where Zander had just disappeared. He was probably wondering what happened while we were gone. “Would you like to go up to your room?” he asked. “We'll have to be quick, though. If Mary sees you she'll want to have tea with you again. She's been telling me all day about how the queen might be coming over when you're back tonight.”

I had to smile at that. Mary had a wonderful imagination, even if I wasn't in the right mood for tea. “Maybe later. Let's hide away in my room first.”

“All right. I want to know everything.”

“I expected no less.”

Kade went up the stairs and I followed. When we got to my room, we closed the door behind us and sat on the bed together. “I don't know what to do,” I confessed as soon as my butt hit the mattress.

“Why? What happened?”

“I um...” I drew my bottom lip between my teeth. “We kind of got to talking and...” Sheesh, I couldn't even really recall how one thing had led to another anymore. “He told me that he still cared about me, so I kissed him and then we... Well...” I made a motion with my hand. “You can guess what we did.”

“I have a hunch,” my friend said, resting his chin on his hands.

“I think I went into heat,” I added.

Kade's eyebrows went up. “But you're not a teen! Or are you?” He leaned forward to study me more closely. “Have you been lying to me all this time? It would explain a lot! Like remember that time you got fired from Alphamart because you stole an item from a customer?”

“I didn't steal anything. I refused to sell it to them because it was reserved.”

“For you. By you.”

“It was a squirrel piggy bank! I've never found another after that.”