Page 135 of The Heart of Winter

Perhaps a couple of hours later, I woke up again. Another wave of contractions painfully coursed through my body, and this time, I felt silly waking him up in the middle of the night when he wasn’t in a rut and didn’t have the advantage of the powerful energy it gave alphas.

But to my astonishment, when I moved and twisted in a spasm, moaning his name and reaching out into the darkness, he immediately responded! He turned me onto my side without a word of complaint. I was amazed that he was already hard. Either he naturally had a very high libido, or some strange phenomenon was happening.

He sank into me again, and the ritual of rocking, sighs, squelches, and moans began anew. After we both came—me multiple times—he wiped my stomach again, perhaps with the other sock, or maybe the same one. I didn’t care either way, and I fell back asleep.

When I woke next, the gray light was already filtering into the cave. I turned and looked at Winter's face, snoring softly in his sleep, his cheek pressed against my arm, his hand resting on my waist.

I was surprised at how nice it felt to have him so close. His scent was warm, lavender-like, enveloping, and it was interesting that I could smell him, even though the suppressants should have completely blocked it out. And he didn’t use shower gel!

It was also wonderful that he was there for me, that he wasn’t refusing me, that he was taking care of me when I needed him.

I felt silly waking him up again, but the heat didn’t seem to be ending.

"Winter, sorry, I need you again," I whispered, and he opened his bleary eyes and smiled.

"Sariel, don’t apologize. Everything is okay, baby."

It was a bit surprising that he called me that, but he was half-asleep and groggy, probably not controlling every word.

This time, I also turned away from him, letting him take me from behind. We lay on our sides, and I felt his cock sinking between my buttocks and sliding into my passage, waiting and wet, shamelessly ready to be fucked. And he did just that for the next half hour, plunging so deep inside me, thrusting passionately, with an intense pace. I even stopped asking myself how it was possible for him to do this—just flowed with it. Maybe he just had a higher libido than the average beta?

When I opened my eyes again, even more sunlight was filtering into the cave. I sat up on the mattress, wincing from the pain, but it wasn’t as overwhelming as before. I examined my leg. The swelling seemed to have somewhat gone down, or was I just imagining it? It shouldn’t have happened so quickly, should it?

Winter wasn’t next to me, and the two blankets were gone. He must have gone to wash them again. I was starting to suspect that Winter had a bit of an OCD thing when it came to cleanliness. I also liked to be clean, especially considering we were having sex, but he probably had me beat on this. My eyes landed on a can of peanuts; the next one was almost halfway eaten, and my hunger today felt even more intense.

Unable to resist, I poured myself a handful of pretzels, added some peanuts, and shoved them into my mouth, struggling to hold back from grabbing more.

It was our second day living off snacks. It wasn’t fun at all. Normally, you don’t think about how much variety in food matters until you’re in a situation like this. I told myself that if I ever got out of this alive, I’d never touch peanuts again, because they’d forever remind me of this unpleasant, empty feeling in my stomach.

I knew that during a heat, hunger tended to fade into the background, but it still drained the body’s energy. And once it passed, the hunger usually came back stronger than ever, the body desperate to recover. What about Winter? His situation was different. How hungry could he be?

I swallowed the last bite, but my eyes lingered on the can.

Maybe just a little more?

A few more peanuts? I reached out and grabbed a couple, then put them back, feeling guilty. That should’ve been his portion. Damn it. I washed it down with some mineral water, but then I noticed we were running low on that too. Not good.

Since I felt sticky from dried semen all over my thighs and stomach, apparently wiping it off with a sock hadn’t been entirely effective, I slid down into the stream, sitting on the flat rock. The water was really hot, and it revived me quickly. I wondered what time it was, but the phones were off, so we had no way to check. I could only guess it was around 10 am.

As I moved around the streambed to find a more comfortable position, I bumped my leg against a rock. I hissed in pain, but what surprised me was that the soreness in my ankle wasn’t nearly as sharp as I expected! It felt slightly more dull. A subtle difference and yet… I was a bit taken aback, remembering how, when I twisted my ankle as a kid, the pain had been unbearable for days. But I didn’t think too much about it. My eyes turned longingly to the cave entrance.

The sun was shining, and it tempted me to get dressed and step outside, but I knew that wasn’t a good idea. So I spent the next forty minutes soaking in the water, thoroughly cleaning my intimate areas.

As I sat there aimlessly, my eyes drifted back to the cans of peanuts.

There were only three left, three we’d gone through in one day! What would we do when they were gone for good? I asked myself this question way too often, probably obsessively. Finally, I snapped out of the mental loop when I heard footsteps approaching.

Winter’s muscular figure appeared in the cave’s light.

When he saw me sitting in the water, he came closer and placed two blankets and some of our clothes on the mattress. I noticed he’d even dried my shirt, which was a nice gesture on his part.

"How do you feel?" he asked me.

"Horny," I muttered, because that was obvious. Sitting in the hot water might’ve helped a little, but it wasn’t enough.

Winter nodded and said, "I’ll wash up, and then we can take care of things." He smiled slightly, a touch of irony in his voice.

I felt a bit stupid, but I realized this was my first heat spent with another person. I had no idea what it was like normally. Did someone in heat always feel awkward asking the other for help? Then I remembered that this wasn’t the same as a normal situation. Omegas went into heat, but alphas went into rut as a response, so both needed each other, there was no ‘asking’ for help.

---