Page 49 of Want It All

‘Hurts,’ he grated out when he saw me. There was no embarrassment that I’d caught him like this; I wasn’t sure that Sebastian was acquainted with the feeling at the best of times, and we’d fucked too often over the last few weeks for him to feel shy.

I knew what made his cock twitch, what made him moan, what made him shake.

‘I know,’ I answered, and knelt beside the bath to stroke his wet hair back from his face. ‘How are the cramps?’

‘Getting worse.’ He leaned into my touch. ‘Do we have any paracetamol?’

Tristan kept a small pharmacy over the fridge, but I knew it wouldn’t have an effect, unless it was placebo. ‘I’ll get you some.’

He caught my hand when I tried to leave. ‘Where’s Tris?’

I bit my lip. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘But I’m sure he’s on his way back.’

It was a white lie – if Tristan had seen my texts, then he was definitely on his way here – but it was a lie, nonetheless. I hated it. Worse, I knew that Sebastian would need his alpha soon, and if he didn’t have Tristan, he might go looking for someone else with a knot or a latch.

Thunder crashed with an echoing boom, startling us both.

‘I’ll get you some paracetamol, then I’ll go and find him,’ I decided.

It was possible, I supposed, that Tristan’s phone could have run out of battery, or he could be in one of Banksia’s odd dead spots, where Wi-Fi dared not tread.

I had a feeling Tristan would rather die than miss a moment of his omega’s heat, so really, I’d be doing him a favour, too.

Sebastian was still decidedly in the pre-heat phase, so if I had to leave him, now was the time.

‘Will you be okay without me for a bit?’

Sebastian nodded. I didn’t think he wanted me to go, but he wanted Tristan just as much.

I found him some painkillers and took them and an energy drink to the bathroom.

I could tell from Sebastian’s temperature that the now-lukewarm bath was what he needed, so I didn’t offer to change the water.

He pulled me down for a kiss, his hand still wrapped around his cock, and shuddered through a release that I knew would feel like pins and needles.

I held him as close as I dared as tears slipped down his face.

‘It won’t be like this for long,’ I promised him.

It would soon be worse, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

I changed my clothes – including my underwear – then sprayed myself with scent canceller. I turned up the air purifier before I left the apartment, locking the door behind me.

I called Tristan again, but I might as well have left my phone behind. ‘What’s the best way to do this?’ I muttered to myself as I ended the call. I made my way to the central staircase and paused there, thinking.

Class had ended twenty minutes ago. Banksia manor was huge, but Tristan was more likely to be in the First Year Library, a study room, or the dining hall than the laundry, the rec room, or the pool.

He’d usually be on his afternoon walk, but it was dark as night and the sky was flashing with sheet lightning, so I doubted he was outside, especially as I could hear heavy rain pelting Banksia House’s watchful windows.

I decided to start at the top and work my way down.

He wasn’t in any of the third-floor study rooms, and nor was he in the First Year Library or the common room. I even checked the PhD common, and got a bunch of dirty looks in return.

I made my way down to the second floor and ducked behind some bookshelves when a third-year alpha gave me a lingering stare. Tristan wasn’t in that library, either, and nor was he in any of the study rooms, or the media rooms.

I checked the first floor, then headed to the ground level, checking the dining hall, the pool, and the gym. I even ducked my head into the kitchen, though I backed out again swiftly when one of the chefs eyed me dubiously.

I didn’t find Tristan anywhere, but I did find Pravin and Chul in the public common room.

‘He went outside,’ Chul said.

I glanced at the windows. Water streamed down them, so much of it that I couldn’t see the driveway beyond. ‘Outside?’

Chul shrugged. ‘He said he was getting some lemon myrtle for Sebastian.’

‘He’d be back inside by now,’ Pravin said reassuringly, when he saw my expression.

I made a non-committal sound, because I’d just searched Banksia House from its literal top to bottom.

Tristan could have been in one of the areas off-limits to students – the clocktower, which was under repair; the staff wing, which we were banned from entering; or the chemicals rooms, which held the nastier cleaning products and the chlorine mix for the pool – but I doubted it.

He had no reason to be in any of those places.

I considered my choices. I either risked expulsion by going into the off-limit areas to look for him, or I got a little wet.

It wasn’t as if I could tell anyone I was looking for him urgently so he could help his unregistered male omega through a heat that was explicitly against university rules.

Wet it was .

‘Rose –’ Pravin started, but I just smiled at him and walked away.

The storm wasn’t easing; if anything, it was getting worse. Through the rain-slick windows, I could just make out the shadows of trees, thrashing in the gale. It was black but for the ghostly bones of eucalypt trunks; when lightning flashed, the garden lit up in shades of white and silver.

‘Fuck this,’ I muttered to myself, but I went outside anyway.

It wasn’t easy. The wind caught the door and I barely stopped it from slamming against the wall.

I had to wrestle it closed behind me, using my full body weight.

The gale whipped at my clothes and hair; I wasn’t dressed for a storm and I started to shiver.

Rain drove sideways, dripping down my back and into my eyes, stinging my skin.

‘Tristan!’ I shouted, though I suspected it was useless; my voice would be stolen by the storm. ‘Tristan!’

Chul must have been wrong . I wiped the rain from my eyes, briefly lamenting what it would do to my mascara. There was no way Tristan would be outside in this.

I shouted for him one more time, because I was already dripping wet and thought I might as well. The sky thundered and I cowered in the doorway, my arms instinctively folding over my head.

I looked towards the maze. Even through the rain and the metallic scent of lightning, I could smell the lemon myrtle. When the sky lit again, I saw it – a shadow moving near the maze entrance.

‘Alpha!’ I shouted, desperate. I didn’t want to leave the relative shelter of the doorway, but I knew whoever it was couldn’t hear me.

I took a deep breath and strode out into the storm.

The rain hit me hard enough to bruise. The gale made me stagger to the side; I pushed against it, determined. I fought every step towards the maze, my clothes sticking to my skin.

‘Tristan!’ I screamed. ‘Tristan, please!’

Lightning lit the sky, and I realised the person near the maze was wearing a cloak, their face obscured by its hood.

What the f –

I tripped, fighting to steady myself.

A shadow loomed suddenly beside me, over me. I shrieked in surprise, losing my footing on the sodden ground.

A hand reached out to catch me, but it was too late; I was already falling.