Page 43 of Omega Scorned

"She has a fever. Oren thinks she might be going into heat."

"Oh, shit."

"My reaction, too." I sighed and laid a hand on her damp forehead. "She's really hot, Santi."

"Okay, see if she wakes up."

I gently shook her. "Emilia? Hey, wake up."

"Whyyyy?" she whined, pushing weakly at my hands. "It hurts."

"Are you going into heat?"

Her eyes flew open. "No, I'm on… oh no."

"What?"

"I was taking suppressants, but when Candace went into heat, they locked me in the room for a week. They forgot to feed me, let alone give me suppressants. That might have been enough to cause a breakthrough heat."

Santi turned on the light and Grayson sat up, peering around in confusion. We quickly clued him in on what might be happening, just in time for Oren to come back with the ibuprofen.

Emilia dutifully took the meds, then settled back against the pillows. "I can't do this right now."

"Heats don't wait for us to be ready," Oren said ruefully. "How do you want to handle it?"

"I don't!" she wailed.

Oren took both Emilia's hands in his, crouching in front of her. "Em, I know this sucks and you don't want to do it, but the heat is coming anyway. You can choose. Do you want us to take you to the hospital and put you under for it? Do you want one of us to help you through it? Or do you want to try and do it alone?"

Emilia was sobbing now and it made my chest hurt to see. I crawled across the bed and pulled her into my arms. "Don't cry. It makes me uncomfortable."

"Well, I'm uncomfortable with having a heat right now!"

Oren bit his lip. "You tell him, Em. So, how are we doing this? You need to decide before you are too far gone so we can do what you want."

"I want you to help me," she decided tearfully.

"Me or all of us or any of us?"

"All." She groaned, writhing against me. "Cramping."

"Definitely heat." Oren sighed. "Okay. Are you on birth control, baby?"

"Yes."

"Good, we don't want this to turn into something entirely different," he said. "So, we're going to help you through your heat. You're going to be alright, Emilia. And any time you want us to stop, you say it."

She nodded weakly and tilted her head back to look me in the eyes. "You, too, Jude."

"Me, too what?"

"Help me with my heat."

"Of course. I'm not going anywhere," I promised. "Unless you want me to."

She shook her head violently.

"I'm going to make a supply run before this gets going," Grayson said, hopping out of bed and leaving the room.