First Street Heat (Beastverse #1)

5. Scott

5

Scott

W e shouldn't have come into this room. I should've known as soon as I started filling it with blankets and pillows or when I was bringing all of the good snacks and drinks in. I definitely should've known when I was rubbing myself against the blankets and pillows because I wanted to see if Lilah would pick out the ones that smelled like me.

I was in the receptionist area when she came in. I scented her almost immediately. Fucking honey and vanilla that I wanted to lick and suckle on. Then, I started prepping her room because I couldn't be near her and not take her.

Fenrir and I paced outside the room, arguing with one another for an hour. An hour of me growling at myself and the rest of the staff peeking their heads around the corner every few minutes to see if I was still fighting with Fenrir. They probably wanted to know what was going on, but I wasn't letting anyone get near my sweet omega when she was in there getting it perfect for me.

That's why Fenrir finally won. He told me it would be disrespectful not to see the beautiful nest she made with all the soft things we provided her with.

I was shaking by the time I opened the door, and when I did, she perfumed like a goddess just for us. Fenrir was in control in an instant.

Our omega was in the center of her nest, presenting and spreading herself just how he liked. There was no way he was going to let me take over without a fight. We stared at her for long moments, admiring her as she spread herself for us. Her arousal was like a drug, and we were more than happy dying of an overdose of her.

Fenrir moved quickly, way too quick for me to control. He was down between her legs, teasing her, making her perfume for us and beg for our knot.

I couldn't do it. I couldn't let this be how I claimed my mate. Not when we're supposed to be keeping her safe, not taking advantage of her coming to our clinic to be aided through her heat. No, she would've agreed to be claimed by us even if she didn't want to because she was so hyped on hormones.

Fighting Fenrir was hard—harder than anything I've ever done—because we've never been so conflicted about what to do. Normally, we're one.

Sure, he's a little bit more intense in his feelings of fighting and fucking, but most of the time, we want to fight and fuck the same thing as one another.

He was ready to claim the little omega as our own, mark her, knot her, and then do it all again until her heat ended. He raged inside of me when I pulled Lilah close to my body, and I almost caved when she nuzzled against me, looking for comfort. I pressed the three buttons on her armband before I lost my nerve and let Fenrir back out.

Now, I'm sitting in the middle of the nest, rocking my unconscious omega in my arms, and I'm pretty sure I'm crying.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I whisper to her over and over. My lips press to the side of her head, begging for her to feel my good intentions in her slumber.

The door swings open, and I growl, holding my omega even closer to me. Bailey, the nurse who brought Lilah to the room, walks in with her hands in the air.

"You know I'm alerted as soon as the drugs are administered," Bailey says calmly. I pull one of the blankets free from the nest, wrap it around Lilah's body, and hold her to me again. "What happened, Scott? I thought this one was a good fit for him."

I shake my head, more tears falling down my face. "I'm so sorry."

"Hey!" Bailey snaps at me, and I snarl in return. "I'm here to make sure she is safe. I don't care about whatever pity party you're throwing for yourself."

"She's fine," I growl. Bailey better not move any closer to us because I can't be trusted not to kill anyone with how I'm feeling.

We can start by killing you.

Another growl that's meant for Fenrir, but Bailey takes it as a warning to her.

"You're acting out. I'm calling your brother." Bailey's about to slam the door shut when I register what she's just said.

"No!" I roar so loud I'm sure the rest of the staff hears it.

The rooms are soundproofed, but the door isn't closed yet. Bailey's eyes go wide, and she steps inside to close the door. She's going to try to calm me down again.

"No alphas. Not until…" I let it trail off. I don't want her to know I want to claim the little omega who came to our clinic for help. It's fucking disgusting.

Bailey narrows her eyes at me like she already knows. "She needs to be monitored while she's in the medically induced coma. That can't happen here."

"Why not?" I snap. I don't mean to be so angry at Bailey, and if I'm honest, I know I'm only mad at myself for letting things get this far in the first place. "Bring the machines in here. I can administer her drugs. You can check on her whenever you want."

"Scott," Bailey says my name so softly I know she's about to break me. "Who's more in control right now?"

"Me." I struggle to say the word. "She's special. Okay, she's really special."

Bailey's expression softens, and then she's frowning. "Okay, I'll get a machine brought down to monitor her. Who do you trust to be around her right now? I can't be here twenty-four-seven until her heat's over."

"Jane, Kelsey, and Beccs are all mated, right?" My voice is starting to sound more normal instead of broken and shattered.

"They are." Bailey makes a mental note of who I'm listing. "We also have betas who work the nights. You only listed women who work the day shift."

"As long as they're women and mated, it's fine." I stroke my omega's face as she lies limp in my arms. "I'll be here, though. I'm not leaving."

"That's okay." Bailey moves the table with food closer to the nest and then does the same with the drinks. "I should've known something was off when I brought her in, and the place looked like this."

I rub my eyes and wipe away the lingering tears. "I messed up so bad, Bailey."

"It's going to be okay," Bailey says slowly, waiting for me to accept the words before continuing. "Is Fenrir talking to you?"

Fuck no.

"Not really," I admit.

"He wanted her too?" Bailey asks as if she already knows how badly he wants her.

"I think he wanted her more than he wants air," I admit with a dry laugh.

Bailey chews on her lip like she's trying to decide if she's going to say something to me. She thinks better of it and moves back toward the door. "I'm grabbing the machine. I know you'll want her clothed, but she needs to be accessible in case anything happens."

I growl and feel my lips curl up. Bailey's right, but I'm no longer thinking rationally.

"You'll be with her always, and only mated females will see her. She's safe, Scott."

Bailey leaves me to marinate in my own territorial assholeness, and I make use of the time we have alone to get Lilah situated in the nest where she'll be the most comfortable. She spent so much time on it, making it so beautiful for us, and I completely ruined it.

I'm not about to have her stay somewhere else during her stay at the clinic. I don't care if we need to buy new machines that will work around a nest. I'll do it because this is our space now.

***

"Her fever broke last night while you were sleeping. She should be ready to wake up as soon as the drugs wear off." Bailey smiles at me even though I'm not in a smiling mood.

Five days. It's been five days of me cooped up in this room, holding my sweet little omega as she slept away her heat.

I'm on my laptop working on reports as Bailey talks to me. One arm draped over Lilah, who's nuzzled against me in her sleep. "Okay, what time did the fever break, and when did you take her off her medication?"

Bailey gives me a knowing look before answering what I really want to know. "She'll be awake in the next thirty minutes, probably earlier."

"Thank you." I rub my neck as I say it because I know it's not enough for everything she's done the last five days.

I completely lost my mind the first day. By the second day, things were calmer. Now, I can have the door open without being on constant alert for a threat coming through.

I look like shit. I haven't left the nest unless I need to use the bathroom or take the world's quickest shower. Even then, I leave the bathroom door open and stare at my omega like she might wake from her coma and sprint out before I can explain everything.

Thankfully, with my work, most of what I do is on the backend, checking charts and doing paperwork. I have two other physicians in-house who take appointments, and they've taken over the one omega I had to monitor this week, who was placed into a medically induced coma for her heat.

Bailey works on getting all the monitors off her chest, pulls the feeding tube out, and removes the I.V. needle. Lilah whines softly as the feeding tube chokes her, and I have to stop myself from snarling at Bailey.

Fenrir isn't talking to me. He hasn't spoken to me except to tell me he isn't talking to me. I can feel him just under the surface, though. He's watching our omega when I can't, and I'm sure part of the reason we're so tired is that he's keeping our body awake when I try to sleep so he can touch her.

"Do you want me to get her dressed?" Bailey shoots me a look that tells me she already knows the answer but needs to ask as part of her job.

"I got it." I rub my face to disguise the snarl I was about to shoot at her. I need this little omega to wake up and accept me as her mate so I can stop losing my mind. I won't be able to act normal around her until she does, and everyone around me will suffer for it. I can't even blame Fenrir either because it's all me. "Can you just bring the clothes over here?"

"Of course." Bailey grabs the clothes Lilah wore the day of her appointment. They were washed after I spent three days keeping them close to me like a security blanket. "If you need anything, you know how to get ahold of me." Bailey sets the clothes next to me and then leaves the room. The door clicks closed, and I release the tension in my body that I don't realize I have until I'm alone with Lilah.

I sniff the clothes and frown when they don't smell like me. I've been dousing Lilah in my pheromones the entire time she's been here. She'll smell like me, but I also need her clothes to smell like me. There needs to be no doubt that when she leaves this clinic, she's been claimed by an alpha, even if my teeth haven't marked her neck.

Just thinking about claiming her is enough to get my pheromones pouring from me. I lift my shirt and rub her clothes against my bare chest until I'm certain she'll smell like me, and then I dress her.

Bailey left a hairbrush that I've been using frequently to keep Lilah's long hair from tangling. I prop her up in my lap and brush through the strands. Her smell oozes out of her, begging me to touch her more. I don't because she's still unconscious, but if it isn't the hardest thing for me to do.

She was so willing and ready when we entered this room. She wanted us so much, and I put her to sleep like I do to omegas who think they can play with Fenrir instead of submit to him.

Lilah stirs in her sleep right as I finish brushing her hair. She's still propped up between my legs, and I honestly want to keep her there for as long as possible.

One of my arms has a tight hold on her waist. The other is playing with her hair, bringing strands up to my nose to smell when I need a potent dose of how delicious she smells. I need to know she wants Fenrir and me as badly as we need her before I do anything rash like mark her neck with my teeth.

Lilah's body tenses, and I start purring before she fully wakes. She's going to freak out, and I'm purring in an attempt to calm her down enough that she'll hear me out.

"Where?" Her head snaps to the side, and then she's thrashing in my arms. "Let go of me now!"

When my arms stay around her for a second longer, my sweet little omega perfumes for me just as intensely as she did the first time I walked in on her. I try not to be the stereotypical asshole alpha, though. So, instead of holding her to me because she's showing me signs she's into me, I let her go.

She scrambles to the other side of the nest, grabbing a large pillow and holding it close to her body as she settles. I'm still purring, though it's not doing her much good when she's a couple of feet away from me.

The only move I make is to grab her glasses from the side table and hand them to her. She needs to feel in control right now, so I'll let her feel in control.

"Why?" Her voice cracks as she asks the question, and I think she's asking why I put her to sleep. I'm just about to answer when she continues, though. "Why are we still in this room? I was put in a coma. Why am I not in a regular room?"

"You spent so much time on the nest."

I pet the side of it and smile. My answer does the opposite of comforting her like I wanted it to. I think the nest is amazing. It must show how much she cares for us, or at least that's what I'm hoping. She looks mortified and like I've just punched her in the gut.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of. You obviously cared a lot about making it look nice." And I'm apparently awful at talking to a woman I want to impress because now she's crying.

"I want to go home." She lifts her glasses and wipes her tears away with the back of her hand, trying to replace the look of sadness with anger. "Now. I want to go home now. I've already paid for my stay. I understand I owe the price of what I scheduled or whatever since you—" She frowns and waves her hand in the air in front of her.

"What?" I tilt my head to the side. "No, that's been taken care of. What happened was out of your control."

She narrows her eyes on me, lips pulling back like she's going to snarl at me and fuck it if it's not making me fill the room almost as much as she is. Her nose twitches as she bares her neck to me, wanting my bite, even if it's just instinct. A look of heartbreak crosses her face before she can cover it from me.

I want to reach out and tell her she doesn't need to worry because her mate will take care of her. She never needs to worry about anything again, but instead, I stare at her and how unbelievably beautiful she is. I need her to tell me she wants us. I need to know our influence isn't still affecting her.

"Can I go home?" She presses her lips into a thin line. More tears are being wiped away as if she's more annoyed at them showing up than anything else.

"Yeah, of course. I'll take you." I leave the nest and offer her my hand to help her.

She ignores me and hops out herself. She's still clinging to one of the pillows, bringing it up to her nose to inhale it without realizing it. I hope it smells like me. I hope that's why she likes it so much.

"You can keep that one if you want." I point to the pillow that she immediately drops like it's on fire. "Sorry, I thought—" I don't even finish what I'm saying because she obviously doesn't want me to know how much she's still responding to me.

This is why we couldn't mate her during her heat. She's not showing any signs of wanting to mate other than her body's reaction to us, and she may not even want to act on that.

"I can get myself home. I just need my phone." She doesn't look at me anymore. Instead, she's looking at the nest she made and chewing on her lip.

"It's in your pocket, but I'm taking you home," I say as I step toward her. I haven't stopped purring since she woke, but it doesn't seem to be helping her to relax or calm down. If anything, I'm distressing her more. "Lilah, I need to make sure you get home safe. Do you understand?"

Her lip twitches a little when I say her name, but then she's frowning harder. "Whatever you think you owe me for how I reacted, you don't. I'm a big girl. I can get home on my own."

"I'm sure that's true, but you requested me, and I'm making sure the omega in my care gets home safe."

She nods, but her eyes have a far-away look like she's checked out.

Everything I've said has been wrong. Now we're leaving, and I don't know how to make it right. I lead her out of the room and wait for the door to click shut before I take a deep breath. I can get her past all of these people without freaking out. I can do this. Just deep breaths, and…

I'll keep our omega safe.