Page 40 of Ruined Omega

“Hines,” Tal breathes. “I’m sorry. I lost control…”

He notices my hand reaching out to the floor of the now ravaged shelter.

“Please,” I rasp. “My pills…I need my pills…”

Tal turns around, eyes searching, and plucks a blue pill from the floor. He offers it to me. The look on his face is contrite, as if he is truly embarrassed for his bestial behavior.

“Wait,” Baen says, catching Tal’s wrist. “What are you doing?”

Even though he is challenging Tal’s action, the fire has gone out of his voice.

“I’m giving Hines what she needs,” Tal answers.

Baen shakes his head and furrows his brow.

“She doesn’t need that. It’s Outsider poison.”

Tal jerks his wrist out of Baen’s grasp.

“It’s not for you too decide,” Tal snaps. “She says she needs it, so I’m going to give it to her.”

Baen is clearly not happy about the decision, but he relents, sitting back on the floor with a grumble and propping his arms on his knees.

Tal cradles my head and places the pill into my mouth. My mouth and throat are parched, and I struggle to swallow. He finds a jug of water in the mess behind him, opens it, and gingerly pours the fluid between my lips.

I swallow the pill, praying that it’s not already too late.

At first nothing happens, and panic clutches my throat like an invisible hand.

But then, by slow degrees, the throbbing need in my center dissipates outward. My clenching muscles relax, and the heat leaches out of my half naked body.

I think it’s working.

Baen sniffs the air like a dog, and the look of displeasure on his face confirms it. My estrus is fading. I’m not turning into an omega. Not today at least.

But the term “heat” is more than just a metaphor. Though I did not realize it before, the estrus really was raising my body temperature, along with the other effects, and now, half-naked and still pretty damp, a shiver writhes through my chilly muscles.

“Hines, you’re cold,” Tal says. “I will warm you.”

He strips off what remains of his tattered shirt and tosses it away, then he climbs into the nest with me. Even though his skin is damp, his body heat is so intense that it starts to warm me instantly, evaporating the moisture on my skin.

Baen, still naked and once again growing aroused, starts to climb into the nest on the other side. Tal snarls jealously at him.

“Easy, big guy,” Baen says. “You said it yourself. Hines is cold. I’m just helping warm her up.”

Tal’s snarl transitions into a low growl. He’s unconvinced.

“Look,” Baen goes on. “We’re both sworn to protect the omega.” He notices me wince at that term, corrects himself. “The Outsider, I mean. And if she’s cold, well, we both have a responsibility to warm her, correct?”

After a beat, Tal gives in with a gravelly exhale.

“Very well. But no funny business. She needs to rest.”

Tal picks me up and turns me so that I’m facing him. If this annoys Baen, he doesn’t say so, and the younger Alpha seems perfectly content to press his rigid arousal against the cleft of my backside.

One thing is for sure: these two Alphas are doing a good job of raising my body temperature.

I feel like I should object to this situation, but the surge of weariness that comes over me silences my complaint before it has a chance to leave my throat. And so, sandwiched between two warm, hard-bodied Alphas, I drift off to sleep.