No, no, no. Alpha.
He didn’t look like a student, but he did look like he was in pain. “Omega,” he hissed again. “You need to leave.Now.”
“Mr. Watkins, is everything okay?” the examiner down the front called, and the Alpha gritted his teeth into something that looked like a smile. I realized everyone had turned to look at me.
“Yes, sir. Seems like this student is ill. I’ll escort her to the nurse’s office.” As he turned back to me, he bent down closer, and his scent was like an aphrodisiac. It was only sheer willpower that stopped me from wrapping my arms around him and clawing him for relief. “You're in heat,” he whispered so softly, it was almost hard to hear over the buzz in my head. “You need to stand up and walk out of here like you have food poisoning, okay? Hold it together.”
I nodded, gritting my teeth so hard I could hear them grind. I stood and struggled down the aisles between the desks, pointedly avoiding the curious eyes of other students. When the cool air hit my face and the door slammed behind me, I curled over again.
“Fuck, Omega. What were you thinking?” the guy—I assumed he was a TA—growled, and it made me whimper. “Oh, no, shit… Don’t cry, Omega. I’m sorry. What… Do you have an Alpha? Do you need…” He trailed off, looking incredibly uncomfortable. He was offering to ease me through the heat. It sat between us like a lead weight. I knew Alphas felt compelled to help during the heat, like a biological imperative. My Omega climbed on board the more the merrier train, but the human me balked at the idea of having sex with a stranger. It was kind of sweet how embarrassed a man who was twice my height, and built like a linebacker, could actually be.
“Alpha in the…” Another wave of pain. Jesus, it was like period pain but with a cattle prod. “Parking lot.”
He let out a whooshed breath, and it was hard to tell if it was disappointment or relief. He held me up and walked me toward the parking lot, and even just his hands on my body gave me some relief from the pain.
“Thank you.”
The Alpha growled. “Don’t thank me. What the fuck were you thinking? If it hadn’t been me—if it had been a younger fucking Alpha…” He swallowed down another growl. “Fuck. And you were sitting for law subjects? Are you insane?” I bared my teeth at him. I would have told him to fuck off if I didn’t think I’d start to cry.
Finally, Xander’s truck came into view, and he was out of his seat and in front of me between one breath and the next. He ripped me out of the unknown Alpha’s arms. “Get your fucking hands off her,” he yelled, the timbre different than normal. More Alpha than man.
The other Alpha shushed him. “Your Omega is in heat. What the hell were you thinking? You need to get her out of here right now, before someone calls the Department of Designation Associations. I can tell she’s unmated, and if there was a single other Alpha in there, or even anyone knowledgeable in designations, they’ll be on the phone to DoDA.”
I remembered we were on US soil. The Department of Designation Associations were the ones who oversaw the Omega Lottery. They were the ones who took away Omegas’ rights and made them little more than broodmares. Panic rode side by side with the pain now.
“She only just revealed. I thought she had years before her first heat.”
The unknown Alpha—Watkins, I guess—shook his head. “The stress of the exams probably brought it on early. Rotten fucking luck, Omega.”
Xander gathered me close. “You won’t call?” It was a challenge; I could see it in Xander’s posture, the way he held himself coiled tightly.
Watkins stared at us both, before grunting, “No. There's no love lost between me and DoDA. Now go.” He looked down at me where I was plastered against Xander, just breathing him in. His eyes flicked to Xander’s Canadian plates. “Omega, don’t come back. Run as far as you can, or mate your Alpha here. Otherwise, they’ll throw you into the Allotment and all your choices will disappear. Don’t come back to the US. No degree is worth it.” With that, he turned and rushed away.
I whined low, trying to swallow it down, and Xander’s eyes snapped back to me. He picked me up and ran to the truck, juggling me into one arm as he pulled open the door and threw me in. Leaning over, he buckled me into the center seat, and I licked a long stripe up his neck, moaning. God, he tasted like heaven.
He groaned low in his throat. “You can’t do that,” he murmured, and damn if he didn’t sound like he was whining too. He pulled back and slammed the door closed, before climbing in behind the wheel and peeling out of the parking lot.
He was breathing through his mouth, his pupils blown wide. I pulled my legs up, tucking my knees under my chin, trying to ease the pain as best I could.
“Fuckkkkk,” Xander breathed. “Zaley, are you still with me in there? Best friend Zaley, not Omega Zaley?”
I blinked up at him, my eyelashes clumped with tears. “Xander,” I sobbed. “It hurts.”
“I know, baby, I do. Before things get too insane, I need to know what you want to do. We can get you painkillers, make you a nest and leave. Let you ride this shit out. Or we can help. We can… do what you need.”
Spend a week in agony or have sex with the Alphas who’d possessed my heart since I was eight? Yeah, hard choice. “I need you, Xander. I need all of you.”
Air exploded from Xander like he’d been punched. “I know, baby. I need you to be logical for just a second more. Going through this, it's going to mean something. We… I mean, I…” He slammed his hand on the steering wheel. “We should have talked about this sooner. Jesus. I’m not going to be able to give you up, Zaley. I’m going to keep you forever if we do this. You’ll be mine—ours. You’ll belong to Pack Yale. I might even give you the mating bite, because you are honestly irresistible smelling like that, making those noises. It’s already unbearable, and I’m not even inside you yet. We’re going to try, though—you deserve to make that decision and bond with a clear head.” I wasn’t sure if that last part was for me or for himself.
I understood what he was saying. At least, I did in the back of my foggy brain. Just like taking my virginity, being part of my first heat was going to mean something. Part of me was still scared they would leave, but that part was pushed back by another wave of pain.
I had to take a leap. Trust in fate. Trust that the guys wouldn’t break my heart again.
“I want you. You, Will and Victor.”
The smile Xander gave me was so radiant, I wanted to cry again. He reached over and grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers together. “We won’t let you down again, baby. Never again.”
CHAPTERNINE