Page 36 of Broken Rejected Mate

He lets out a sharp breath, his shoulders rounding. Then he nods, raising his eyes to mine. “Okay.”

His voice is choked, and I can see what he’s thinking. Maybe I was wrong about being pregnant back then. Or maybe, knowing I’d have no support, I made the only decision I could.

I can see that he wants to know, but desperately doesn’t want to ask.

The rising tide of emotions inside me finally crests at the thought of losing Sarina back then, and I feel something I haven’t felt in a long, long time.

A sudden, intense infusion of heat, and a thick wetness between my legs.

“Oh no,” I mutter, gasping and sliding back from him, the sudden onslaught of the condition foreign and intimate at the same time.

“What?” Emin asks, raising his hands up like he’s afraid he might have hurt me. “What’s—”

But he doesn’t finish the question. Instead, his eyes go wide, and I catch him swaying forward slightly, breathing in deeply, clearly getting the scent of what’s happening in my body.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I anchor my hands in my stomach, cast at the organs inside. Skimming my hands over my arms and legs, I try to cool the blood, gather up the hormones, stop it from happening.

It’s been years since I’ve gone into heat. Usually, between the herbal supplements from Willow and my own consistent casting, I’m able to keep it at bay. Track it, manage it, keep it bottled up.

“It’s okay, Veva—”

“Sarina has never been around me in heat,” I say, eyes snapping up to Emin. “I don’t want her to see me like this, I can’t—”

A wave of lust so powerful it nearly knocks me off my feet rolls through me, and Emin steps forward like he might catch me. I put my hand out, knowing what’s going to happen if he touches me.

“Please,” I gasp. “If you want to help me, call Kira. Ask her to…ask her to take Sarina.”

I can’t believe I’m saying it, even as the words come out of my lips. For ten years, I’ve never been apart from Sarina for more than an hour at a time. Now, here I am, asking her to go to a near stranger.

But I can’t let her see me like this.

From the time Sarina was born, I worked hard to keep my heat at bay. And I’d planned to teach her how to do that for herself, too.

“Okay,” Emin says, nodding and backing up, his hands still held up in front of him like he’s being apprehended by the police. “Okay, Veva, don’t worry—I’ll help you through this. It’s okay.”

When he goes up the stairs, I slide to the floor, hands shaking as I run them through my hair. Still, I’m casting, trying to slow this, to stop it.

But it’s too late.

I’m about to have my heat here in Emin Argent’s house, with the knowledge that he’s not nearly as bad as I thought.

Groaning under my breath, I let my head fall into my hands.

“Fuck.”

Chapter 20 - Emin

“Can’t I just see her?” Sarina asks, wringing her blanket between her palms, her head tipped up to look at me.

“I’m so sorry.” I shake my head, crouching down so I’m on my heels, eye level with her. “You can’t. She’s not feeling very well, and she doesn’t want to get you sick, too.”

It’s not quite the truth, but Veva made it clear she didn’t want Sarina to see her like this. Didn’t want to freak her out about getting her own heat before being able to explain it to her.

“Okay,” Sarina says, but her voice is small. She turns, the blanket now bundled up against her chest as she stares out at the road. “Okay.”

We stand together on the porch, the cool night breeze rolling through, waiting. Eventually, two yellow headlights appear in the distance, and we watch as Kira and Dorian come rolling down the road, turning into the driveway.

“Hey, Sarina,” Kira says, voice calm and maternal. I blink at her—of course, Kira has had twin boys. She’s married now, with a partner, a family children of her own. But this is the first time that Ireallysee her for the woman she is, and not the little girl from when we were kids.

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