But Anthony’s scent seemed to destroy what little composure he had left. Liam tried not to breathe it in, but it didn’t work: he found himself taking deep lungfuls of it. Alpha, his instincts said. Alpha, his body said, growing hot and eager. It didn’t matter what his rational side said—that it was his brother—his instincts didn’t give a damn anymore. They didn’t see this man as his brother. All they saw was an alpha. An alpha who had been inside his body. Who had fucked him so good Liam could still feel it faintly, the phantom stretch making his hole ache and twitch around nothing, hungry for more. It was fucking unbearable.
It was lucky that the smell of the food largely masked other scents, or Jules would have undoubtedly smelled his arousal. Eric might be innocent and oblivious, but Jules wasn’t.
Avoiding meeting everyone’s eyes, Liam stabbed a sausage with his fork and brought it to his mouth. He bit on the tip carefully.
Anthony made a small noise. When Liam glanced at him, Anthony wasn’t looking at him, boring a hole in his food with his eyes. Bringing his drink to his lips, the alpha downed it in a few long gulps, his tanned throat working.
Liam wrenched his eyes away and dug his fingernails into his thighs. The pain was welcome, clearing the fog in his head. For a while.
Breakfast seemed to last forever.
By the time it was over, Liam had managed to finish his sausage, but he still felt ravenous. Only it was a different kind of hunger. A hunger he had no business feeling. He practically ran out of the room, unable to meet his brothers’ eyes. He could feel Jules’s gaze on him, but Liam didn’t even want to think about whether Jules had sensed his arousal. It was bad enough that Jules knew about his sickening attraction to Anthony; if Jules could actually smell it, it was… fuck, it was beyond mortifying.
“Li!” Jules’s voice behind him nearly made Liam groan. He didn’t want to talk about it. He was in no state to talk about it. All he wanted was to get into his room and stuff his fingers inside himself, his shame and guilt be damned.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Liam said, walking faster.
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, silly,” Jules said, grabbing his arm. “You’re in heat, it happens.”
Liam came to a halt, blinking in confusion. It took him a moment to remember that it really was a Vos full moon tonight. His heats were normally so mild that Liam didn’t even keep track of his moon’s cycle. Vos omegas’ heats were not as overwhelming as Dainiri omegas’ heats: they were simply periods of very heightened arousal every two weeks on the full moon. Liam’s previous heats had been weak even by Vos omega standards—they were little more than minor spikes of libido. They’d never made him aroused enough to actually be an inconvenience.
Until now.
It was a relief to know that he could blame last evening’s… lapse of judgment on his approaching heat, even if it was very uncharacteristic for him.
“Right,” Liam said and resumed walking.
“Though I gotta admit it was weird as heck watching you get all flustered every time you looked at Anthony. Gross.”
“Shut up,” Liam said, unable to look at him.
Jules chuckled, wrapping an arm around him. “Sorry,” he said, pecking Liam on his cheek. “I know it’s not funny for you. But you should be less obvious about it. I’m pretty sure Anthony noticed.”
Liam almost snorted. Oh, he had noticed all right.
“Thanks for the heads-up,” Liam said, walking away from Jules. He tried not to imagine Jules’s disgusted face if Liam told him about what had happened yesterday.
Returning to his bedroom, he flopped down onto his bed.
He would wait out his heat in his room. Hopefully once it passed, he would stop thinking with his cock and start thinking with his brain.
That was his only hope at this point.
Chapter 10
It was the worst heat of Liam’s life.
He remembered feeling a little superior and glad that he wasn’t a Dainiri omega when he’d seen what a wreck Jules became during his heats, but now “superior” wasn’t the adjective he would have picked to describe himself. He was miserable. Unsatisfied. Hungry for something that wasn’t there.
He didn’t know why it was so much worse this time around.
No matter how many fingers he stuffed into himself, it wasn’t enough. He wanted a cock. He wanted a real cock inside him, he wanted a heavy alpha grunting on top of him, taking him, knotting him and filling him up with his seed.
He wanted Anthony.
Liam moaned, shoving a fourth finger into his hole and trying to banish the thought.
It didn’t work.
It was Anthony’s unreadable blue eyes that he saw in his mind as he screwed himself on his fingers. It was Anthony’s broad shoulders he imagined gripping as Anthony fucked him hard and fast.