First Street Heat (Beastverse #1)

4. Lilah

4

Lilah

I wish I could say I had the most amazing night of sleep and dreamed all the good, sweet dreams my heart wanted. Instead, I woke up every hour to soaked towels because of sweat and slick.

By the time six a.m. rolls around, I'm already out of bed and in my nicest heat clothes—sweats and a clean oversized shirt. I thought about dressing nice for the alpha. Then I remember the note at the bottom of my appointment confirmation that tells me I'm to be naked for him, which means I don't need to look cute when I get there.

I call a ride-share service and request a beta uninterested in females who doesn't mind an omega perfuming up their car. My appointment check-in is at seven, and I assume I'll be getting physically assisted shortly after that.

I just need to make it into my designated heat room, and everything will be fine. I can let the heat decide everything for me. Fenrir even said he's in charge, so I won't need to think about anything other than doing what I'm told. It's the ideal situation for how mushy my brain is right now.

The beta arrives to pick me up right as a fresh cramp hits me. Thankfully, she already has the clinic's address pulled up, which means she understands that I'm not trying to be a hassle. My biology is just being awful right now.

"You want to chat?" she asks cheerfully as she rolls down the windows.

"Sure," I groan. "Don't know how much fun I'll be, but I could use a distraction."

She chuckles and gives me a sympathetic look in the rearview mirror. "My cousin's an omega. I take her to this place for her heats, too."

"Oh yeah?" I'm surprised the beta is willing to offer me such intimate details of her cousin's heat and that she's just okay with talking to me about it. Most betas are a little prudish when it comes to omega and alpha overt sexual tendencies. Not that I can say much, considering I'm pretty prudish for an omega. "Hopefully, that means they're good."

"I would imagine. She's been going for three years now."

"Good." I smooth out my sweats like they're dress pants I don't want to get wrinkled.

I don't know what else to say to the beta because I'm not about to tell her I'm going to get railed by an alpha in hopefully thirty minutes. She seems to be on the same page because the conversation dies as another cramp coils in my stomach. I'm just about through another hot flash when she pulls up to the clinic and puts the car in park.

"Do you need any help getting inside?" she asks as she marks the ride as complete on her app. "I can wait a second if you need it."

"Yeah, just one second." My knuckles are white on my knees as the latest wave finally finishes its climax and starts to dwindle. They're coming faster and faster, which means I really need to get inside now before I'm just made of goo.

"Okay, thank you." I hand her some cash because I'm awful about remembering to tip on the app, and then I stumble out and walk inside the clinic.

From the outside, it looks like a standard doctor's office, and if anyone was oblivious to what a heat was, they might think it's normal. Once inside, the reception area is small, with a cut-out in the wall where the receptionist sits and a few plastic chairs next to a side table with some magazines.

The smell of pine needles and marshmallows being roasted over a fire catches my attention, and I'm sniffing the air like a crazed woman.

Mate.

The word crashes into me like a ton of bricks, and I'm left speechless and awestruck at the realization that I might be scent matching with an alpha right now. I don't see any, but I can smell him so close and so delicious. I need to be near him to see if he reacts the same way I do.

Scent matching is usually a sure sign of a match, but sometimes they're one-sided. It would be my luck that I'm stuck in a one-sided scent match.

"Good morning. Do you have an appointment?" the receptionist asks with a smile.

I look behind her, trying to see if there's a male back there that's putting off a scent, but there's no one except for her.

She sees me looking and turns around. "Do you need Dr. Car—" She presses her lips together when she doesn't see anyone behind her. "He has an appointment soon, so if you are looking for him, you'll need to come back later."

"Uh, no, sorry." I close my eyes and try to focus.

If I were scent matching with someone who also wants me, they wouldn't be hiding. They'd be trying to get to me. Liam jumped over our table when Maggy came into the restaurant because he wanted her so badly when they matched.

"I have an appointment." I take another deep inhale, the smell still lingering in the air. My heart swells as the air lingers in my lungs. Yeah, I've scent matched, but apparently, the alpha the scent belongs to did not. "Do you smell that?"

The receptionist gives me a small smile. "We have neutralizers that work very, very well. There are only faint smells that anyone here can smell off you, don't worry."

"Oh, no." I blush because, yeah, I'm sure I smell a lot, but I can smell someone so clearly it's making me release more slickness without another cramp taking over. "Sorry. No. I smell an alpha, but I must be mistaken."

"I'm a beta," she offers. "I don't really know how that stuff works."

I laugh softly because there's not much else for me to do. I'm not about to tell this woman that I just had my heart filled and shattered all in the span of five seconds because my stupid omega brain likes the smell of an alpha a lot.

"No, seriously, I'm sorry. I'm just too lost in the heat, I think. My name is Lilah Kinsley. I have an appointment at seven."

"Oh, yep!" she says, pressing a smaller button that unlocks the door to my left. "Step through, and our nurse will get you all set up."

An omega nurse in all white opens the door a bit more, and I'm stepping into another room where she tells me to sit. "Alright, we just have a few customary questions, and then we need to get you set up with the armband."

"Armband?" I ask, confused.

"It's required if you've chosen Fenrir as your alpha," the nurse says, giving me a pointed look like she's really asking, ' Are you sure you want him?'

"Oh, yes, I remember that from the video now," I say and nod at her like I know what I'm doing. I may have been unknowingly rejected already, but that's not going to stop me from having the beast I was dying to meet last night.

"How far along are you in your heat?" the nurse asks.

I chew on my lip for a moment and then fiddle with my fingers. "Probably pretty far along. I ignored the symptoms for a few days while finishing clinicals."

"It's not a problem," she says with a smile and marks something on her tablet. "Will you require anything during your heat that is considered unconventional?"

My confused look must answer her question because she's marking something on her tablet. "We have food, drinks, lots of soft things you can build a nest out of if you choose to do so. Some omegas require other things."

I want to ask what other things she could possibly mean, but a roll of heat licks at my nerves, and my core clenches around nothing as cramps settle low in my belly.

My face must pale because the nurse is moving around faster, attaching an armband to my bicep and explaining how there are three buttons that need to be pressed at the same time to release the sedative. She reminds me it's only used if the alpha thinks his beast will hurt me or I'm not taking being with the beast seriously enough.

"If you made it through the video and are still excited about this, you'll be fine." The nurse gives me a wary smile like she's not too sure about her words.

"Fuck," I say through gritted teeth as she helps me to my feet. When we step out into a hallway, I sniff the air again, my body tensing and responding to the same smell of pine needles and sugar I smelled earlier. I try to ignore it. "Hopefully, the room isn't far."

The nurse only chuckles as she helps me out of the room and down a long corridor. The doors to some of the rooms are open, and I can see they're perfectly bare except for large beds in the middle.

We pass five rooms before we make a turn and go down another hall that is a solid wall except for the very end. I keep sniffing the air. Not even being inconspicuous as I do it. I'm too lost in the smell and my heat to care if I look a bit deranged.

"Are you okay?" the nurse asks me as we walk down the longest hallway to the lone room at the end.

"I'm scenting an alpha." I don't even look at her when I say it because I don't want to see the pity on her face when she looks at me. "Smells like camping and roasting marshmallows over a fire. I'll be fine. Just adjusting. I've never scented one like this before."

I dare to slide my eyes over to her, and she's looking at me with furrowed brows and a slight frown. I don't want to know what she's thinking about. I can see her mating mark peeking out from underneath her scrubs. She either scent matched her alpha, or she mated him without it. Either way, an omega saying she's scenting an alpha is a sad sight if that alpha isn't doing everything he can to get to her.

I can't take her looks or the silence anymore. "Dang, this is like the farthest room."

"It's for the safety of our other alphas," the nurse says, snapping back into her professional demeanor. "Fenrir is territorial when he's in control. He doesn't like other alphas near him at all."

"Makes sense," I mumble.

I'm still upset it's so far away when my uterus is trying to see if it can squeeze itself to death. She opens the door and clicks the light on. A small gasp leaves her mouth as she looks around. Piles and piles of blankets and pillows are stacked in one corner. A platter of snacks sits on one of the tables near the door, and a bucket of ice and drinks is on the floor next to it. Even the smell of the alpha I'm scenting is heavy in the air.

"I didn't know you guys set everything up for me." I smile. "This is nice."

The nurse still looks surprised as she takes in the room, but she nods to what I'm saying. "Of course. I'll leave you to it then."

The door clicks shut, and I'm moving toward the soft things without a second thought. They smell the most like the alpha I've been scenting.

I've never made a nest before. I don't even know if I know how. I'm digging through the pile of blankets, finding the best ones and the ones that smell the most like the alpha. I'm laying them on the bed just right. My body flashes with heat, but it's on the back burner as I adjust the blankets and grab pillows. I throw almost all of them onto the bed until it's more of a giant pillow cloud than a bed. More blankets.

It's perfect.

I sigh when I look at the completed nest. I don't know how long it's taken, but the alpha still hasn't shown up, and the burning under my skin is unbearable. I open one of the water bottles on the floor and chug it down before I start stripping.

The alpha will be here soon. I strip out of my clothes and crawl into the middle of the nest. I look over my shoulder, make sure I'm visible from the door when the alpha shows up, and then press my face against the soft nest I made.

I move my legs, spreading them far apart, and then arch my back as dramatically as I can. Slick is running down my thighs, but I'm not ashamed of it. No, I need the alpha to see just how needy I am for him, just how willing I am to take his knot. A fresh cramp in my abdomen, and then the lust takes over. My skin is too sensitive, my clit is begging to be touched, I need to be filled.

The door clicks open, and I perfume so strongly I think I probably just killed all the neutralizers in the building. I strain my eyes to the side, begging for a glimpse of the alpha.

I can smell him. I know it was him earlier. Pine needles and wood burning and burnt sugar. He smells so good. I inhale deeply and moan as his pheromones coat my lungs. I whimper so loud there's no mistaking that I'm begging him to knot me right here, right now.

" Such a pretty cunt. " Fenrir's deep, distorted voice startles me at first because he speaks so close to me.

He must be right at the edge of the bed, staring at me. I didn't piece together that the only alpha allowed here would be the one I chose, and I didn't think it was Fenrir and his alpha that I was scent matching to.

" Did you make this nest for me? "

"Yes," I whimper.

I didn't know it at the time, but now that he's asking, I realize I want him to like the nest I've made for us to share. The nest I made for my mate and me to share because I was thinking of the alpha that belonged to the smell the entire time I was making it.

"Please, are you—" I cut myself off, not wanting to finish asking if he's scent matching me. I can't handle the rejection when I'm this vulnerable.

" Sweet omega. " Fenrir's hand wraps around my ankle, causing me to moan at the contact. " I'm going to treat you right, but you're going to do everything I say. You're going to be a good little omega so you can get your alpha's cock. "

"Please." I tense my hands, pulling myself open more for him. "I need your knot."

" Perfume for me again, little omega. " He leans in close to my exposed pussy and inhales deeply as my body responds to him. There's no way he's responding to me like I am to him. He'd be in a frenzy right now if what I think of scent matching is true. He wouldn't be a breath away from my weeping body and not touching me in any meaningful way. " Good girl. "

I whimper as fresh slick slides down my legs. Why isn't he getting in the nest with me? He doesn't know that I've scent matched him, right? He should be jumping my bones with or without the scent matching since I've been flooding the room with pheromones.

I'm starting to shake with need, and I'm scared I won't be able to hold the position much longer. He pulls his hand away from my ankle, and I feel him kneel behind me on the bed before stiffening.

" Don't, " Fenrir snarls, and I tense, not knowing what he's talking about. I haven't moved, so I don't know what he'd be asking me not to do.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." That's not Fenrir's voice, and it has me dropping my position and whipping around to see what's going on. "I'm so sorry." Scott wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me to him. I nuzzle close to him, thinking he wants to hold me.

I'm only embarrassing myself, though, because he presses the three buttons on my armband, and the drugs start to flow through me.

He found out. He must notice I'm responding to him stronger than a normal omega. So, I get put into a coma because I'm the little omega who dared to scent match the doctor meant to help her through her heat. Of course, he's going to put me in a coma as soon as he finds out because what he doesn't need is me thinking that whatever happens during my heat is more than it actually is.

The drowsiness lasts only a minute before I fall into a deep, dark slumber. A sleep that can at least protect me from the embarrassment and shame I'm feeling right before I nod off.