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As if I could control when my heat came.
“Yes, Brother.”
I climbed into my nest, careful not to disturb the pillows I’d taken so long to place. Reaching over the side, I collected the pillow I’d thrown in my fit of temper. As adept as I’d grown at burying emotions, the more hormones flooded my system, the harder it became.
Lying down, I fidgeted with the pillow until it no longer caused a crawling sensation down my spine. I’d never get to sleep otherwise, and with instinct already making me prickly, lack of sleep would lead to a fight I had no chance of winning.
As much as I missed my alpha, I couldn’t take the constant needling from my brother’s mate, but I didn’t wish to cause him more trouble. He’d come to find me when word of Nearden’s death reached him, then nursed me back to health instead of letting me slip away with my alpha.
At the time, I’d hated him for it, but I’d become grateful. The years I’d had with Nearden weren’t enough, and I had no wish to die yet.
Nor did I wish to take another mate, but I wasn’t given a choice. My only hope was to bond with another, and perhaps find fulfillment again.
*
“I don’t like leaving you on your own.”
“I’m not a child, Brother.”
His mate chimed in, “I’m sure she’d enjoy some time to herself.”
I couldn’t think of any other time she had bothered to stand up for me. She was clearly happy with my decision to stay at the cabin instead of following them to the village.
“If anything happens, if you see anything strange, you are to bar yourself in the cellar.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He was only a couple years older, but he’d taken on the position of protector from the day of my birth.
“Yes, Father.”
I couldn’t help the jab. It wasn’t the first time we got into an argument because he thought he could order me around like I was his child and not his sister. A sister who’d already mated and lived in her own house for more years than him.
He frowned down at me, heavy brows drawn together over dark eyes.
“Perhaps we should bring you with us after all. The forest isn’t safe.”
My response was immediate, “No.”
A more emphatic, “No,” echoed me.
His mate and I both contradicted him, and his brows lowered further as his posture tensed.
“I still need time to prepare my things before Edar comes. If I lose a whole day going into the village, I won’t be ready.”
It was a lie. Besides bedding and my clothing, I had little left. My brother sold everything from Nearden and my home.
My brother’s mate curled into his side, pouting up at him. “You promised we would take this trip ourselves. She’ll be fine for a few hours. You keep the area safe.”
I wanted to gag at her whining, but reminded myself she was coaxing him toward what I wanted.
“I have to launder my things and prepare them to be taken to Edar’s home. I also need to make adjustments to my mating gown.”
It was ridiculous to go through a mating ceremony as if I was some young, untried omega, but my brother insisted. I still had my mating gown from the ceremony with Nearden, but I wasn’t as slim as I’d been then, and needed to let out the seams. With the signs of my heat growing by the day, I couldn’t put it off any longer.
My brother still looked on the verge of ordering me to follow. He enjoyed his peace, and had built his cabin a half day from the village to maintain it. He only went into the village once a moon, and he hadn’t left us behind the entire time I’d been in his home. Usually I looked forward to any chance to escape the pair. It was a joy to wander while they ran errands in the village, but with my heat already making me uncomfortable, I didn’t want to make the long trip and be under the scrutiny of other alphas.
“Edar may be upset if I went into the village now, with my cycle so close.”
My brother growled low under his breath before cutting it off with a sigh. He knew I didn’t want to take another mate, but it was unheard of for an omega to be on their own, and he didn’t have the room or resources to continue to provide for me.
