Page 11 of Empty

The warm cloth was dragged along my sticky thighs as Eli denied me. “I want to,” he stressed, gently wiping me clean.

Feeling utterly relaxed and experiencing a high like I’d never known, I was easily scooped into Eli's arms and placed onto his sofa before being covered with a blanket. I watched as he changed the sheets, coming back to my senses little by little. When he was finished, I was wrapped up in strong arms again and held snuggly as we settled under fresh sheets. It was nice and domestic and… reminded me of everything I couldn’t have. Everything I didn’t deserve. I didn’t want to draw attention to my emotional distress, so I asked the question that had been on my mind for the past half hour. “Why didn’t you knot me?” I tilted my head back to look up at him.

His gaze slid away from mine. “Is that what you wanted?”

“Not necessarily,” I admitted. “I just thought every alpha—”

Eli cut me off, “I’m not like every alpha.”

“You say that with some disdain.”

He kissed my forehead. “It’s late. Let’s get some rest.” He pulled me on top of his warm body, running his hands along my back, the soothing touch putting me to sleep.

“I definitely know that look!” Tristin exclaimed, his tan skin reddening from his excitement. “You had soul snatching sex.” He squinted as he stared at me, his eyes widening. He gasped, “For the first time?! But… what’s wrong?”

I tapped my pen against the papers on my desk, absently chewing on my bottom lip. Nervous energy cycled throughout my body, my foot kicking out repetitively in an attempt to expel it. “He didn’t knot me,” I finally answered.

Tristin reached out and placed his hand on top of mine, stilling my incessant tapping. “Uh, why are you negatively reading into him not wanting to increase his chances of fatherhood by forty-five percent?”

“Because,” I snapped, “it wasn’t like he pulled out either.”

“Sooo,” Tristin drawled, leaning back in his chair. “He doesn’t want to knock you up.” I grimaced, inhaling sharply as the words landed. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to recover in time, and Tristin didn’t miss my reaction. He pointed at my face, finger circling as he questioned, “What was that about?”

“None of your business,” I mumbled.

“You’re failing greatly at your best friend duties,” he huffed, pouting and crossing his arms in a petulant manner.

I’d barely processed the news of my infertility myself, so talking about it with someone else was out of the question. However, Tristin and I had been friends since we were seventeen—nineteen long and interesting years—and there was no way I could keep up the lie. I compromised, “I’m not ready to talk about it, but when I am, when I can, you’ll be the first one to know. Okay?”

“I better be,” Tristin grumbled, annoyed. But his countenance improved drastically at the promise of me sharing closely held information and he happily shared some of his own. “I took your advice.”

“Finally.”

“The clubs love the collars and leashes. So much so that I was able to unload the entire shipment and have pre-orders for more.”

“Thank god,” I exhaled, running a hand over my ponytail, pulling it back over my shoulder. “I was going to have to drop you soon if you refused to listen to me.”

Tristin sneered. “Rude. So, tell me about Mr. No Knot,” he quipped.

I scowled at him before I began to share about Eli. When I finished, Tristin lingered on the one detail I knew he would.

“The sex was that good?”

“Indescribable,” I happily hummed. A quick rush of heat coursed through my veins, causing my stomach to involuntarily tighten as I reminisced. “But he’s… different,” I worried aloud. “He masks his scent, he’s not super aggressive like most alphas, and he didn’t knot me.”

Tristin replied, seemingly without thinking, “Maybe he already has an omega.” Feeling as if the rug had been pulled out from underneath me, I stared, jaw slack and eyes widening. “You did ask him that, right?” He pushed. “Right?”

I slowly shook my head.

“Jesus Christ, Dee! You’re probably one mistress in a harem of mistresses.”

The thought never crossed my mind. I was so swept up in, well, everything, that I never stopped to ask. “What if he has an omega?”

“The only way to find out is to talk to him.” Tristin glanced at his watch and leaned back in his seat, craning his neck to glance out of my office door. “Uh, it’s almost two. So, I gotta go.”

I snapped out of blossoming panic, thankful for the opportunity to be nosey. “Where are you going?”

“A certain adorable alpha takes lunch at two. I’ll see you later.” He hopped up from his chair and exited the office, calling out, “Jonah! Fancy running into you here.”