Page 78 of Claimed By My Exiled Alphas
But I couldn’t make myself move.
The heat was escalating faster than I’d expected, waves of sensation that left me gasping and disoriented. My skin ached for touch, for the specific pressure and scent and presence of alphas I’d been falling for despite every defensive wall I’d built.
Another buzz from the phone. Then another. The group chat, probably, everyone responding to something someone had said. The easy banter and coordination that had become the soundtrack of my days.
I wanted them here. Wanted Jace’s steady warmth and Hollis’s gentle understanding and Cassian’s careful competence. Wanted to stop being terrified of vulnerability and just let myself be cared for by people who’d proven over and over that they wouldn’t use my needs against me.
But wanting and trusting were different things, and the gap between them felt impossible to cross while my body was betraying every attempt at rational thought.
Time did something strange. Minutes stretched into hours or collapsed into seconds, I couldn’t tell which. The light through my window changed from afternoon bright to evening gold tothe blue-gray of approaching dusk. My phone kept buzzing, insistent little reminders of connection I couldn’t quite make myself answer.
I should eat something. Drink water. Take care of basic biological needs before the heat progressed to the point where I couldn’t think at all.
Yet I couldn’t make myself leave the nest.
My phone rang this time, not just a text but an actual call. The ringtone I’d assigned to Jace, something bright and cheerful that matched his golden retriever energy. I listened to it ring four times before going to voicemail, hating myself for the relief I felt at not having to explain.
Thirty seconds later, it rang again. Hollis this time, his tone something contemplative that I’d chosen one afternoon at the bookstore while he was helping another customer.
I let it go to voicemail too.
When Cassian’s call came through five minutes later, I knew they’d coordinated. Knew they’d figured out something was wrong and were systematically trying to reach me. The thought should have annoyed me, should have triggered all my defensive responses about controlling alphas who couldn’t respect boundaries.
Instead, it made me want to cry with the sheer relief of being cared about by people who noticed when I went quiet.
It was a clarifying reminder that these men were better than any man I’d met before.
And they were probably together. At Cassian’s house for one of their alpha bonding sessions, or maybe already at Hollis’s grandmother’s house working on the renovations we’d started planning. Coordinating their response the way they’d been practicing for weeks.
I reached for the phone with a hand that trembled, my coordination shot to hell. Answered on the last ring before it would have gone to voicemail.
“Talia.” Cassian’s voice was careful, controlled, but I could hear concern underneath. “Are you alright? You missed the contractor meeting and haven’t responded to any messages for three hours.”
Three hours? It felt like ten minutes and ten years simultaneously.
“I’m fine,” I managed, and my voice sounded wrong even to my own ears. Breathy and unsteady and absolutely nothing like fine.
Silence on the other end. Then, very quietly, “You’re not fine. What’s wrong?”
The direct question, the genuine worry, the fact that he was asking instead of assuming, it all combined to crack something in my carefully maintained control. A sob caught in my throat, ugly and desperate.
“Talia.” His voice had changed, dropped into something deeper and more commanding without being aggressive. Alpha instinct recognizing omega distress. “Where are you?”
“Home.” I curled tighter into the nest, clutching Jace’s flannel like it could anchor me. “I’m home, I’m safe, I just need to be alone.”
“What do you need?” Not accepting my assertion about being alone, but not fighting it either. Asking what I needed instead of telling me what he thought I should want.
“I don’t know.” The truth came out on another sob. “My heat started early and I don’t have suppressants and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
Another pause, longer this time. I heard muffled conversation in the background, Cassian probably conferring with the others. They were together, I realized. Probably at the house, workingon renovation plans or painting samples or making decisions about their shared future while I was falling apart alone.
“We’re coming over,” Cassian said, and before I could protest he added, “Just to make sure you have what you need. Water, food, anything that will help. You don’t have to let us stay, but we’re not leaving you alone without supplies when you’re going into heat.”
“I can handle it alone.” The old defense, automatic and increasingly hollow.
“I know you can.” His voice was gentle now, understanding rather than challenging. “You’ve probably handled a lot of heats alone over the years. But you don’t have to anymore, if you don’t want to. That’s the whole point of pack.”
Pack. The word settled into my chest like a key finding its lock.
