Omega's Forbidden Heat Read online

  Finn nods, taking a seat and Jack bounds out and up the stairs, holding his breath as the Omega’s scent intensifies. As soon as he reaches his room, he makes a grab for his packet of suppressants and swallows two tablets down dry, letting the chemicals do their magic and calm the raging lust thundering through his body.

  As he tugs on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, he dissects Finn’s words. It is unusual for an Omega girl to be born to two Betas, usually they run in the family, and besides that they are not as common these days. He’s not surprised it’s caused problems in Finn’s family, and for Amy.

  And then he mulls over Finn’s warning to leave Amy alone. He knew what the hidden intention was behind those words. It’s not only that she’s his sister’s — out of bounds and off-limits — it’s the fact that Finn knows in great detail what goes down between an Alpha and Omega. They’d spent their teenage nights pouring over it, Jack recounting his growing number of encounters with Omegas. It had always fascinated the other boys. He’d been a legend to them. A fierce sexual pioneer doing things to women they could only dream of. But now those women include his sister, it seems Finn is not so keen on the idea.

  Jack can’t decide if he feels outraged and disappointed by it, or oddly understanding.

  But he forgets about it as he and Finn set to work in the living room, their usual banter quickly returning. He’s collected several boxes over the last week and they fill them with his mum’s ornaments and her books from the cabinet. Finn tries to persuade him that he should sell them on eBay. Jack doubts they are worth anything but he could be wrong, his mum had an eye for a bargain. But it doesn’t matter. He wants it all out of the house. Out of his sight. It reminds him of too much. So he’ll take them to the charity shop in Chichester — at least then it will be going to a good cause.

  At midday, Finn starts to moan about being hungry so Jack goes to the kitchen to fetch some packets of crisps. At the door, he halts. Amy is there, with her back to him, balancing on her tiptoes, rifling through a cupboard.

  For a moment he allows himself the indulgence of running his gaze all over her, eating up the curves of her flesh, unable to help but admire the outline of her and wallow in her scent. She must sense he’s there because her arse wiggles seductively and he’s sure she’s probably not even aware. An open invitation, a signal telling him exactly what she wants. Despite the suppressants, his dick twitches alert in his pants. He shoves his hands deep inside his pockets and stalks inside, coming right up behind her, observing with satisfaction as she senses his displeasure and freezes.

  “What are you doing here, Omega?” he growls right into her ear, his voice deeper and more guttural than usual. “Don’t you know, an Omega shouldn’t just turn up at an Alpha’s house unannounced? It’s asking for trouble.” He licks his lips and bends in closer, his breath ruffling the fine hairs on the nape of her neck. “Don’t you know I’m trouble.”

  She turns, her body brushing against his in a way he’d find flirtatious if he wasn’t so pissed off.

  She peers up at him frowning, her brow pulled taut over her eyes and stares at him through her long eyelashes. “Why are you being such a dickhead, Jack?” she whispers, her tone almost hurt.

  “Because an Omega should know better.” He leans into her more, his face mere millimetres from hers, his own forehead creased in disapproval. “You shouldn’t turn up at an Alpha’s house, unannounced and unblockered. It’s dangerous. Just like working in a pub is dangerous. Your scent could have any Alpha in a 10 mile radius seeking you out.” He shakes his head at her. The thought occurring to him as he says the words that perhaps that is exactly why she’s not on blockers, exactly what she wants, his best friend’s little sister. The idea disgusts him. “What are you doing, Omega?”

  “I am not doing anything. Apart from helping you out.” She tilts forward, showing him she is not intimidated. “God! I forgot how much of an arsehole you are.”

  His nostrils flare at the insult. An Omega shouldn’t be calling an Alpha names. Especially not in his home.

  Her eyes dance over his face as if she is trying to read his thoughts. “You are not the only Alpha in the village anymore, Jack. Just because everyone worshipped you at school, doesn’t mean we still do.” Her eyes flash with anger. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

  “I am only giving you a bit of friendly advice, Omega,” he snarls, taking a step away, trying not to stare down at the outline of her tits rising and falling with her angry breaths, visible just on the peripheral of his vision. “It seems you understand nothing.”

  “About what?” she snaps in clear disgust.

  “Alphas — you seem to know nothing about them otherwise you wouldn’t be here, you wouldn’t be walking around without blockers, and you wouldn’t be working in a pub.”

  She snorts. “That’s rich coming from you. You could try taking some blockers yourself.” She flings back her head, tossing her hair from her face. “Don’t worry, Jack. I know all there is to know about Alphas.” And she marches out of the kitchen not meeting his eye as she does.

  He watches her go, smelling the anger and revulsion in her scent, hoping that means she’ll stay the hell away from him.

  He grabs the packets of crisps and heads back to Finn.

  Ten minutes later, he hears footsteps on the stairs and the front door slams, followed soon after by his aunt who comes to stand in the doorway with her hands on her hips.

  “Jack,” she says sternly. “What did you do?”

  He looks up at her, ignoring the side-eye from Finn. “What do you mean?” he says.

  “Did you scare Amy off?” His aunt peers at him through her glasses.

  His mum could always tell if he was lying, he’s not sure his aunt can — not that he cares.

  “Nothing to do with me,” he says.

  “She was doing me a favour. She was doing you a favour,” his aunt says, not seeming to want to let it go.

  He scrubs his hand over his forehead, rubbing his temples. His headache is returning. “And how do you even know her?” he asks.

  “She was friends with your mum. She was here a lot in the last few…”

  He feels a lump rise in his throat involuntarily and he winces. His aunt sees it and he recognises the pain reflected in her own face. Her gaze glazes over and he can tell she’s lost momentarily in her thoughts, her memories.

  Amy friends with his mum? She never mentioned her. He can’t believe it’s true. He can’t see how they would know each other.

  “I…” his aunt mumbles. “I’ll make us some lunch. Have you got anything to eat in the house, Jack?”

  “Yeah, stuff to make sandwiches.”

  She wanders out of the room, but he still feels Finn’s hot critique on his face. He turns to him “What?” he asks him.

  “Nothing.” Finn says with raised eyebrows.

  “I am just doing what you told me to do,” Jack tells him.

  “Good.” Finn holds his gaze before turning his back to continue wrapping an ornament in newspaper.

  Jack closes his eyes. This really is the last thing he needs, more complications on top of complications.

  Chapter Four

  He feels like he’s running a fever. Like he is somehow sick. Because there is something wrong with him, very wrong. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t get the Omega out of his head. He tries to distract himself with sorting out bits and pieces in the house, with making his way through his mum’s paperwork, with running across the countryside until his muscles burn, with putting his body through a workout of burpees and pushups and sit-ups in the back garden. He fills the next fourteen days as best he can, but it is hopeless, futile.

  There are hints of her peachy scent lingering in the house no matter how hard he scrubs and cleans, and notes of it in the air whenever he ventures outside. He stays away from her, avoiding any situation that might throw her in his path, avoiding the pub, and the village shop and making excuses every time Finn invites him around. But he’s beginning to think it’s a waste of time because the Omega won’t get the fuck out of his head.

  He tells himself it’s just because he hasn’t had an Omega in so long, and now the temptation of one so close by is unbearable. He tells himself it will wear off. He watches porn, messages girls on the internet — tries to replace the girl in his head with another. But it’s still a waste of time. Every naked girl has him wandering about her, picturing what she’d look like beneath those clothes. Every flirtatious text has him imagining she’s whispering those words in his ear.

  It’s new. Every girl he’s wanted in the past, he’s had. And the forbidden nature of this one, so especially sweet, so especially delicious, feels intentionally cruel.

  Finn has noticed his coldness, although Jack thinks he has no clue to its cause. The texts become more frequent until he stops round the house after work on Friday afternoon and they crack open cans of lager.

  “What are you doing tonight, Jack?” Finn asks him, running his thumb over the top of his lager can, swiping away the fine layer of condensation.

  Taking a swig of his beer, he shrugs his shoulders. “Same thing I do every night,” he says, “nothing.”

  “How about watching a movie? I’ve got to work tomorrow — got an early start — so I’m not up for doing anything radical but we haven’t watched Top Gun in ages. Remember, we were obsessed with that movie and we’d watch it every weekend.” He chuckles.

  Jack grins. “It is a good movie,” he says, “I could do with getting out of this house, though.”

  “Come to mine,” Finn says, then adds hurriedly, “Amy won’t be there. She’s working tonight and then she’ll probably head into Guildford to meet her uni friends.”

  “Uni friends?” he asks, trying his best to sound no
nchalant and not a bit interested when he’s more curious than he’d care to admit.

  “Yeah, she’s studying social care there.”

  “Why is she still in Losworth, then?”

  “Money,” Finn says. He takes a long drink and Jack suspects it’s to change the subject. “How about it then? Top Gun viewing?”

  It would be good to have some company. It’s been lonely hanging out in this house. He rolls his neck, hearing the vertebrae crack one by one, releasing the tension in his shoulders. It probably isn’t a good idea to go to the Omega’s house. She won’t be there though, so what’s the harm.

  The wind frisks his hair and skates across his skin, as he lowers his head and hurries down the lane. Something inside him sloshes in the pit of his stomach and has him lowering his head, as if he doesn’t want people in the village to know where he’s going or what he’s doing.

  There’s nothing wrong with it. Nothing wrong with spending the evening at his best friend’s house. Yet, something stings in his stomach. Guilt. His intentions are innocent, aren’t they?

  The hedges that circle the yard to the old farmhouse are taller than they once were, towering above his head, hiding the glow of the house until he rounds the bend and his feet crunch against the tightly packed stones of the gravel. The great wooden beams that sweep across the frame of the house sag more than they used to, but the old place always had a worn-out look about it, one that gave it character.

  He remembers Finn’s dad once told them that, when they ripped out the ancient kitchen and installed the new one, they found love letters hidden behind loose bricks. He hadn’t been surprised. The house seems like one that has a past, that has secrets.

  Finn must hear his footsteps on the drive because he opens the door before Jack arrives at the doorstep and beckons him inside and through to the huge cavernous space of the lounge with its low hanging beams that Jack ducks beneath. Finn strolls to the open fireplace and pokes at the fire he’s lit, smoke spiralling into the air and sparks spitting upwards, briefly illuminating the blackened brickwork. The chimney needs to be swept, the smoke filling the room, but Jack likes the smell, it is earthy and blocks out the Omega’s scent.

  There are three large sofas that the family seems to have owned for as long as Jack’s known them. The cushions have lost their plumpness and the springs died years ago, so that when he lies on the sofa, like they both do now, one on each, he falls deep into its belly. It is all so familiar. He could almost believe it hasn’t been five years since he last sunk into this sofa, the cushions seeming to mould around his body as if they remember him.

  They start on Top Gun. They are about a third of the way through the movie when Finn’s phone beeps with a string of messages. He reaches for it, eyes still locked on the TV and glances down at the screen. His vision flickers left and right and he sits up straighter, leaning against the cushions and typing out a response. Jack watches him from the corner of his eye. Beep, type type, beep, type type. His friend is obviously engaged in a conversation. After several minutes of this, Finn huffs, and chucks the mobile back on the coffee table.

  “Who was that?” Jack asks.

  Finn burrows back into the sofa, his arms crossed across his chest. “No one.”

  “No one?” Jack chuckles, raising his eyebrows.

  “This girl I’ve been seeing.”

  They’ve never been big talkers, him and Finn. Finn came to visit him inside and once or twice up in London, but they’re not the type to talk on the phone or send each other messages - as much as he’d have liked that sometimes. And since he’s moved back to the village, their conversations have revolved around his mum and the practicalities of what comes next. Still, he feels a stab of disappointment that Finn hasn’t mentioned this girl before.

  “Who is she?”

  “She’s called Rebecca. It’s not serious. I’m what you would call a friend with benefits.”

  “Shit,” Jack smirks. “Was that a bootie call, man? I mean, go if you want. I don’t want to be responsible for cock-blocking you.”

  Finn glares at the television and says nothing and Jack understands whatever it was, it’s pissed Finn off.

  He changes the subject.

  “Where are your parents?” he asks, plumping up a cushion behind his head.

  “On some four month-long cruise. I think they’re somewhere in the Pacific at the moment.”

  Jack lifts his head to look at his friend with a smile on his lips. “A cruise? I would not take your parents for the cruising type. Especially your dad.”

  Finn seems less amused, his expression darkening. “Yeah, well, my mum inherited some money from my great uncle and said she was going. My dad had little choice in the matter.”

  “You mean your mum dragged him? I guess they haven’t been on a holiday for years.”

  Finn shakes his head, still staring straight ahead at the screen. “No, it wasn’t that. It’s sort of a last ditch attempt.”

  “Attempt at what?”

  “Attempt to save their marriage.”

  Jack chokes on his beer, coughing twice and swiping his hand across his mouth. “What the fuck?”

  Finn swings his gaze to him. “Like I told you, the Amy Omega thing has caused big problems.”

  Jack rubs his temple, not following his reasoning. “To their marriage…”

  “Yeah, Amy is the only Omega in our family. My dad started questioning things he shouldn’t have.” Finn’s jaw tenses and Jack can see he’s angry.

  “Ahh…” Jack takes a slow drink, and watches as fighter jets shoot across the screen. “Your dad did always have the inability to keep his mouth shut. No filter that man, always says what’s on his mind.”

  “You can guess that even entertaining that thought did not go down well with my mum.”

  “Shit, man. I am sorry.”

  Finn nods, continuing to stare at the screen. It certainly explains stuff. “It messed with Amy’s head too, you know. She started questioning things herself, wanting to understand why she’s the only Omega in the family. She started doing research into the family, trying to track back our roots — see if there were any Omegas or Alphas in our ancestry.”

  “Were there?”

  “No. But in the end she found some research that showed sometimes these things just happen. Like a genetic mutation. Sometimes it can happen in the sperm or egg even before fertilisation, sometimes the mutation happens much later, in response they think to something in the environment. But what that is, they have no idea. And why it happened to Amy…”

  Jack scratches his thumbnail along the stiff material of his jeans. “That must have sorted everything out then. I mean, between your mum and dad.”

  “The damage was done, though, wasn’t it? Amy was mad with my parents, my mum is mad at Amy and my dad, and my dad knows he is in the doghouse. Not that that’s made him any less liberal when it comes to Amy.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Finn’s eyes remain locked on this screen. He wets his lips with his tongue and his tone is tighter when he answers, “He hasn’t exactly been supportive about the heat thing. He was never one to let Amy have boys round to stay and he’s made it very clear she couldn’t have an Alpha in his house to help with a heat.” Finn shifts on the sofa as he says the last few words, as if these thoughts make him physically uncomfortable.

  Jack scoots forward and takes a handful of tortilla chips, then lies back and crunches his way through them. Not being able to bring an Alpha home to her nest for a heat would be agony for an Omega. It’s where they feel most secure and safe during their most vulnerable time. She’s probably had to go elsewhere. That strange mixture in his stomach burns at his insides. Anger that her family could be this careless with her welfare. Jealousy at the idea of some other Alpha…

  He forces his attention back to the screen. Focuses all his energy on the movie, not allowing any other thoughts to creep into his mind.

  Towards the end of the movie, Finn falls asleep. Jack can hear his soft snores in the darkness. He should wake him and send him to bed. Then he should go home himself. There’s no reason to stay. Instead, he watches all the movie credits, until the screen goes blank and only then scrabbles up to find the remote control, flicking through the channels until he finds a football show and settles back in the cushions, glancing at his watch every so often, super alert for the sound of a car or footsteps in the driveway.