Page 11 of Fierce Claim

Mathew turns to him, glaring, his face a mask of pain. “I might not have strong pheromones, but I know what going into heat feels like. I’m going into heat right now.” His voice is harsh, angry, upset.

“Yes. I do believe you’re going into heat.” Caleb stands up, joining us at the windows, surrounding us with his soothing pheromones. “But I don’t believe that means you’re not pregnant. I think you’re going through a secondary heat.”

“A what?” I eye him, not sure if he’s trying to make us feel better or if this is a real thing.

“A secondary heat.” He wraps an arm around Mathew, pulling him closer.

Mathew looks up at him, disbelieving. “And I’ve never heard of this, why?”

“Because it’s not something that happens very often. A secondary heat can happen when a pregnant Omega meets a new scent match in the first couple of weeks of their pregnancy. So that the new Alpha’s pheromones can support them though the pregnancy, which is only possible with bonded Alphas and Omegas. It’s unusual, but happens.”

Mathew doesn’t seem very reassured as he still frowns deeply. “Why do you think it’s that, something rare and unusual, and not just… And not the most logical and common conclusion?”

Caleb’s eyes soften as he tightens his arm around Mathew, sending out more comforting pheromones. “Because you had no signs of going into heat yesterday morning. For how close to it you are now, you should have had symptoms for at least a couple of days. Also, this is too early for a ‘normal’ heat cycle, it takes longer than two weeks between cycles.”

That makes sense, both of those arguments make sense. It is too soon and it’s also coming on too quickly. But also, the answer is too convenient. It’s a convenient answer to keep us calm and not make us worry.

“Are you sure?” I entwine my fingers with Mathew’s, needing to touch him, needing to feel him.

“Pretty sure. I looked into what would happen if a pregnant Omega meets a new scent match and this was one of the top results. If it happens early on in the pregnancy, the Omega will go through a secondary heat so that the Alpha can claim them and support them through it.”

Right. Because that’s what Caleb does, he looks into things, he tries to stay ahead of any potential issues. He looks after us, protects us, makes sure we’re safe at all times.

It could easily feel like he’s controlling or that he does it because he doesn’t think we’re smart enough to do it ourselves. But with him, it feels like he does it because this is what he’s good at and lets us focus on things that we’re better at.

Mathew’s wisteria scent intensifies and I lean closer to him. His heat has started and I want to get as close to him as possible. It feels different from last time, more intense…

“Is it safe?” An important question. I don’t want to accidentally risk anything bad happening just because Mathew went into heat.

“It should be perfectly safe. The doctor didn’t tell us that we couldn’t have sex, so I don’t see how this would be any different.” Caleb laughs softly. “I’m pretty sure that sex is one of the safer things we’ve gotten up to lately.”

Yeah, I guess he’s right about that.

Mathew takes a deep breath, meeting my gaze as he relaxes more. “I guess I’ve been worrying too much. It’s just…”

“We all worry.” I give him a soft kiss. “This is our first pregnancy and our pack is very new. I think it’s normal to worry in situations like this.” Then I pointedly look at Caleb. “He’s been such a mother hen ever since you two went into heat. I’m pretty sure he’s seen plenty of pregnant Omegas, and he still worries like this.”

Caleb laughs as he gives me a mock-glare. “None of those were the pregnancies of my Omegas. It’s very different when it’s your own mates.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I smile.

Mathew slides from between us, more at ease, no longer so stressed. “I guess I should finish my breakfast, or Vera will start to worry again.” He sits back down behind his desk and looks at his plate.

What was originally scrambled eggs on toast with grilled tomatoes and mushrooms is now an undefinable mess. He’d been picking at it and cutting it and moving it around, but didn’t eat any and now it looks a lot less appealing.

“Do you want me to ask Eli to make you a new plate?” I reach out, almost grabbing it, but Mathew pulls it closer to him, out of my reach.

“No, it’s fine. It won’t taste any worse, it just stopped looking nice.” He jabs his spoon into the mess and shoves it into his mouth, chewing slowly. “See? Still tastes fine.” He grins.

“Good.” I lean to him, drawn in by his scent. “I think I know what I’ll have for a morning snack once you’re done with all of that.”

He laughs, making my heart flutter and making me want to reach out and kiss him silly. His smile turns warm as he glances at the door. “You might want to check on the other two first. If I’m going into heat again, Vera probably is too, and you know what she’s like once the heat hits. She’s going to need to eat something before it happens.”

Oh, right. Vera must be hungry after everything that happened last night and she didn’t eat that much at dinner to begin with.

I look at Caleb, who has returned to his own breakfast. “Should I check on them?”

He lets out a low and mellow laugh. “I don’t know why you’re asking me. They’re as much your mates as mine.”

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