“That duke!” My aunt spat. “I knew it was a mistake to let you spend so much time around that alpha. I warned your uncle. But no. Alphas must always be correct. He said you seemed to handle it just fine. Fool.”
I found a distressed laugh bubble to the surface.
“I suppose your uncle will need to approach him…”
“No! Please. We do not know if it is a false heat. Perhaps it was just... it is my first not at home. It was an unfamiliar nest. No. I cannot... He hates me!”
“Hush, child,” Mrs Markham purred. “Sleep.”
* * *
My days were a strange blur of sleeping, fucking myself to unsatisfying climaxes with a rotation of dildos. When I was lucid, there were snatches of conversation that I tried to pay attention to.
“If you do not come to terms with the duke—“ my aunt looked grim.
“How... how can I...” my voice so quiet it was a marvel she heard me.
“If you cannot come to terms with him, we must find you an alpha, a mate. As quickly as possible, otherwise your heat could be set off...”
“I am sure it is not so urgent,” Mrs Markham tried to soothe my aunt’s agitation.
“I do not want her... to be compromised as she might be... for we do not know who might have seen her... Best to find her a safe haven quick. The doctor is worried.”
“My dear...”
“We will have her take a strong dose of suppressants so that she doesn’t start a riot. Viscountess Gale has an alpha son. It would be a good marriage and mating for her. He is interested in politics, well-travelled.”
“And the duke?” Mrs Markham asked.
“He hasn’t returned…”
I muffled my tears in the shirts that no longer carried his scent.
At last, I felt like myself again. Inside my head was a jumble of thoughts. Still, I forced myself from my nest to the small desk. Someone had tidied it, but I easily found paper and pen and ink. My letter to him was incoherent, but I did my best to explain the whole story. From the moment I had arrived in London last August all the way through my false heat. I addressed it to him, hoping that when it arrived in Ayleigh he would read it and perhaps understand.