Page 6 of Omega Island
“Yes, well, I’m just asking.”
He leaned forward. “Senta. What’s up? Something with you?”
Slowly, I nodded.
“All right. Start from the beginning.”
“There is no beginning.” My skin crawled as I began to sweat more. I’d already turned the air conditioning on high. “I mean, not really. It’s just that I thought I was done with my heats. You know I burned out young at thirty-five. All my tests said no more eggs. That means no more heats.”
“I do recall we put you through every procedure, yes. Some omegas start off their lives with fewer eggs than others. That’s nature.”
“I know all that. But I’m having symptoms.”
“Of heat?”
“Yes. And it’s different.”
Maxim waved his hand toward me. “Elaborate.”
“I’m having the waves of surface heat, like a fever. But it doesn’t stop there. The wave increases throughout my body, making my muscles tense up to the point of doubling me over. It passes in less than a minute and I’m left with acute arousal and discomfort.”
Immediately, Maxim went into doctor mode. “I want to run some blood tests. The pain you’re experiencing could be a number of things. Hormonal imbalances can occur in older omegas and we treat that according to each individual. This could also be your body’s last dance at grasping one more occasion to procreate. As you well know from running this place, it happens.”
“Yes. But with no eggs in my system?”
Maxim shrugged. “The body is an incredible machine and still quite a mystery. It has a fantastic capacity to heal. The brain responds to physical chemistry, which is quite a delicate recipe, and can send mixed signals causing all sorts of responses.”
“But I haven’t had a heat in two years.”
“I suggest taking the week off. Rest. Find an alpha surrogate.”
I shook my head. One of our own hands-on therapists servicing me sounded like a terrible idea to me. “I don’t want to take time off. I had my vacation last May. I’m in the middle of a lot of things and what I was really hoping for was a prescription for suppressants.”
Maxim shook his head. “I’m not trying to make you sound old, but at your age that’s not a good idea. They aren’t what we’re about here anyway.”
“I know, and I’ve always hated them, but just for this one time. My heat feels wrong. Like when it finally hits it will be stronger. And painful. I just want to forget about it. A one-time dose of suppressants won’t hurt me.”
Maxim shook his head. “You’re worrying too much. Let me get some blood and we’ll go from there. I can have the results today.” He picked up his phone and tapped. “There. I just put you in for a blood draw. You can walk into the infirmary and they’ll be waiting. Quick and efficient. And I can call you as soon as I have the results.”
“Should I be worried?”
“I don’t think so. But we need to exclude some things.”
I knew what they were. “Like tumors? Cancer?”
“Now don’t go jumping to any conclusions. Your last check-up was only four months ago and you were completely healthy. Could be you have a fated mate hanging about.”
“I highly doubt that. They’re so rare.” My mind went immediately to Raimi, the only new alpha I’d been around just today. But the timing was wrong. I’d had my symptoms the night before he arrived.
“Well, it’s a nice thought, eh?” Maxim had been single his whole life, like me. He’d had a long-term relationship years ago that hadn’t ended well and had never married.
“It’s not a thought I ever have,” I replied.
“Really? Well now, just because you don’t have heats doesn’t mean you can’t still fall in love. At any age.”
He spoke the truth. But so many people put such a heavy emphasis on heats, ruts and knotting within a relationship that it left the rest of us who might not be able or wish to participate in such things thrust aside as if we were nothing more than leftovers to be ignored. This was another reason I was so dedicated to running Omega Island and keeping it progressive and innovative. For omegas who didn’t fit in and had problems in areas of a sexual nature, our methods not only healed, but taught ways of adaptation and imagination that helped them feel whole.
I didn’t like to think about it often, but I was one of those omegas. And now I was facing that revelation more than ever with these new symptoms.
