The Heat

9

I had dug through the wardrobe in the room, deciding on just wearing a simple white tee shirt and high-waisted boyfriend jeans.

There was a knock at the door yet again just as I was buttoning up the top button of the jeans.

"Sofia?" I recognised that voice. She had been the lady who'd helped me during my heat after Damian had brought me back here.  Things were pretty blurry from then, but I did remember her voice.

I opened the door and was met with a gentle and kind smile.

"Hey, are you feeling better?" She asked, fiddling with her fingers as if nervous of making the wrong move. I bet it was because of the fear she had for Alpha Damian.

"Yeah, I am... thank you," I returned her smile, hoping I could find a friend in her for the time I had to be here.

"Are you... how are you feeling, though? To be here?" She asked, still standing in the doorway of the bedroom.

"I'm sorry, what was your name again?" A small laugh slipped my lips and her smiled widened at the small icebreaker.

"I'm Linda. I'm a Delta, and one badass huntress, if I do say so myself," she shrugged, and I laughed again. I was already liking her energy.

"Are you ready to get down to breakfast, Alpha Damian's expecting you," Linda's smile then turned tightlipped, "he's not as bad as people think he is, you know? You should... give him a chance?"

"I'm starving, let's go". I decided not to reply to her latter question.

Now that I was taking in their pack house, I had time to realise the full size of it as well as the amount of people here. It seemed like everybody was staring at me whilst Linda tried to occupy my thoughts with smalltalk when leading me downstairs.

We entered the kitchen, me being too busy taking in this wonderful house to even notice Damian speaking lowly to some other man.

"Time's running out..." the man shook his head, Damian visibly tensing with his back turned to us.

"I'm working on it. I'll have it done by tomorrow, just don't stick your nose into our business," Damian replied, his voice frighteningly low, yet not threatening or angry, just dominating.

I had no idea what it was, but that voice had my core clenching impossibly. I was staring at his back, the muscles flexing once or twice while talking to the other man.

Linda cleared her throat, and both men turned to look over at us.

"We'll leave you two to it," the other man cleared his throat, giving Damian a friendly nudge before walking past him and towards us.

"Pleasure to meet you, Sofia," he stopped right in front of me, a smirk coating his lips, "I'm Jason, beta of this pack".

I wasn't very interested, to be honest, until he reached for my hand and placed a gentle kiss onto my knuckles. My brows raised at the action, definitely confused as to why the Beta of this pack was doing this to the Alpha's mate.

"Fuck off, Jason," Damian growled, his tone now very unamused and threatening.

With a small wink, Jason walked past Linda and I, leaving nothing between Damian's dark gaze and me.

"Leave us," he directed a small look over at Linda, who was gone before I had even a chance to glance back at her.

Without another word, he motioned for me to have a seat at the large table with a nod, one end set for two.

"Did you, uhm, set this up yourself?" I wondered awkwardly, taking a seat on a chair he'd pulled out for me. I watched as he then took a few steps to sit at the end of the table, facing my side.

I felt like drooling at the delicious breakfast foods on display in front of us.

"No," he replied simply, not continuing the subject.

We began eating, packing our plates with different kinds of foods, mine mostly fruits and berries as well as a bit of yoghurt.

"Can we still go running after this?" I asked, hesitantly with a hint of hope. His eyes found mine, slowly eating.

"Yes, of course," he gave me a nod, then looking away again.

How had this gone so fast from him trying to kiss me to now him being so distant? And why did I even care?

Breakfast passed by in silence. It seemed like everyone else in this house was leaving us alone, by Damian's orders was my guess.

I ate a lot. Having to go through heat wasn't easy, and was incredibly tiring and hungering. I was glad that I had got to sleep so long and was now able to have whatever I could possible dream of having - it seemed - for breakfast.

"Are you able to run anymore, Sofia?" Damian asked, an extremely attractive grin tugging at his lips while I leaned back in my seat with my hands on my stomach, feeling so full.

"I'll manage," I managed out a small smile, eyes wavering down to my lap.

Half an hour later, I was being led outside into the backyard which was connected to the large forest all around us.

My brows furrowed at the sight of people watching us through the large windows from inside.

Before I could even bring it up to Damian, his hand met my lower back and I was directed to walk further towards the edge of the forest.

"Try not to run away this time, okay?" He half-joked.