Page 24 of Heat Clickbait
"She's right, you know," Milo said, offering me a cinnamon roll that was perfectly warm and gooey. "You do forget to eat when stressed."
"I've been eating constantly for three days."
"That doesn't count. That was heat eating. This is real eating."
I took a bite just to appease him, but the familiar comfort of cinnamon and sugar, combined with knowing Zia was out there ready to fight anyone who hurt me, made something loosen in my chest.
I had pack. I had my best friend. I had my manager fighting the internet on my behalf.
Maybe, just maybe, I could have it all without losing myself in the process.
CHAPTER TEN
Callie
The wave hit harder this time, rolling through my body like liquid fire that started in my chest and pooled between my thighs with an intensity that made my vision blur at the edges. My fingers dug into Nova's shirt, nails catching on the expensive fabric as another surge of need crashed over me, stronger than anything I'd experienced in the past three days. The suppressants were completely out of my system now, and my omega was making up for lost time with a vengeance that left me gasping.
"Nova," I gasped, my voice raw from sounds I didn't remember making. The taste of copper lingered on my tongue where I'd bitten it during the last wave. "Please, I need?—"
His hands tightened on my waist, holding me steady as my body trembled against his like a leaf in a hurricane. The whiskey-and-leather scent of him flooded my senses, making my thoughts scatter like smoke in a windstorm. Behind us, I heard Crash's sharp intake of breath, felt Ghost shift closer with that silent intensity that made my skin prickle with anticipation. The air in the nest was thick with the mingled scents of five Alphasand one desperate Omega, creating a cocktail that made my head spin.
"What do you need, love?" Nova's cultured voice had dropped into that commanding register that hooked directly into my hindbrain and pulled. His pupils were blown wide, dark iris nearly swallowed by black, and I could see the muscle in his jaw jumping as he fought for control.
The words tumbled out before I could stop them, bypassing every filter I'd ever built, every wall I'd constructed around my omega instincts. "Bite me."
The room went completely still. Even the sophisticated environmental systems seemed to pause, the gentle hum of air circulation cutting out like the nest itself held its breath at my desperate plea. I could hear my own heartbeat thundering in my ears, could smell the spike of arousal from all five Alphas despite their rigid self-control.
"Callie—" Milo started, his warm honey voice threaded with concern and something deeper, hungrier.
"I need it," I interrupted, pressing closer to Nova until there was no space between us, until I could feel his heartbeat hammering against mine in a rhythm that matched my own desperation. The heat of his body through his shirt made me whimper. "Need you to mark me, claim me, make me yours. All of you. Please, Nova, please?—"
My words broke on a sob as another wave crashed through me, this one so intense it would have made my knees buckle if we weren't already laying down. Nova squeezed me and I could feel the tremor in his hands, the physical effort it took him not to give me what I begged for.
His jaw clenched so hard I heard his teeth click together, the sound sharp in the suddenly silent room. Those dark eyes searched mine with an intensity that felt like being flayed open, and I saw the war raging behind them, Alpha instinct screamingto give me what I begged for, to sink his teeth into my neck and make me his forever, while human decency demanded he protect me from myself, from choices made in biological chaos.
"No." The word came out rough, like he'd dragged it over broken glass, and I felt it hit my chest like he was trying to rip my heart out.
The rejection hit like ice water, shocking enough to cut through the heat haze for a single, crystalline moment of hurt that must have shown on my face because all five Alphas moved at once. The air shimmered with the sudden movement, with the barely leashed power of five massive men trying to comfort without overwhelming.
"No, love, listen—" Nova's hands came up to frame my face, his touch gentle despite the visible tension in every line of his body, despite the way his fingers trembled against my skin. "Not like this. Not when you're?—"
"When I'm what?" The hurt transformed into something sharper, meaner, fed by the biological chaos raging through my system and years of Omega conditioning that said rejection meant abandonment. "When I'm in heat? When I actually want it? When I'm finally asking for what every Omega supposedly needs?"
I tried to pull away, but my traitorous body wouldn't cooperate, still magnetized to his presence even as rejection burned through my chest like acid. The omega in me keened at the perceived abandonment, a sound that escaped my throat before I could swallow it, high and broken and utterly pathetic.
"You're not thinking clearly," Nova said, still holding my face with those careful hands, though they were trembling even more now, and I could see the sweat beading at his temples. "A bonding bite is permanent, Callie. Forever. You can't consent to forever when you're?—"
"Get away from me." The words ripped out with more venom than I'd ever directed at him, at any of them. My omega had taken complete control now, and she was furious, wounded by the rejection of what she saw as our most basic need. "Don't want... if don't want, then?—"
"We want you," Blitz said urgently, moving into my line of sight. His golden skin glistened with sweat, muscles coiled with the effort of restraint, and his hands shook at his sides. "God, Callie, we want you so much it's killing us. Look at us. We're barely holding on!"
"Liar." The word came out slurred, my tongue too heavy, thoughts fracturing under another wave of heat that made me whimper and arch against Nova involuntarily. "If you wanted... you'd bite. Mark. Claim. What Alphas do. What?—"
"That's what Alphas who take advantage do," Ghost said quietly, and hearing actual words from him was shocking enough to make me focus for a moment. His dark eyes held mine steadily, and I could see the pain there, the visible effort it cost him to speak when he was this wound up. "We're not those Alphas."
A sob tore from my throat, ugly and desperate, the sound of something breaking inside me. My skin felt too tight, too hot, like I might split apart at the seams if I didn't get relief soon. The need for a bonding bite, for that permanent connection, consumed every rational thought until nothing existed except the ache.
It was beyond sexual, beyond physical. It was existential. I needed to belong to them, needed them to belong to me, needed it more than air or water or food.
