7. NASH

I'd never felt so much post-nut body bliss before.

Ara held me in a hug, his entire body leeching heat from me, but I didn't even care that it was making me a little cold. I was enjoying being held by him.

As we cuddled, I began admitting things to him.

"I've never been with any other supernatural before." I stared at the ceiling. "I've never felt like this. I feel whole." I giggle came out. "I bet you feel hole too."

"I do feel whole," he said.

I giggled harder before explaining the joke I'd made.

"You're silly," he said, holding me tighter and kissing my torso. "These should go away soon."

The sensation of his bites had vanished too. There was no residual pain left behind where there should've been after being bitten by him. "How did—I don't usually heal that fast."

"Saliva," he told me. "It has healing properties. Just need to lick your wound and it should look like I was never there, well, it'll look like new skin, so a lighter shade, but not completely noticeable." His fingers seemed to trace the markings, dotted around my chest.

The crushing thought of remembering I had to leave soon hit. "I don't wanna leave."

"You don't have to."

"I do."

"You have free will, you can do whatever you want." He turned my head to look into his eyes. "I won't tell you what you have to do, but I will encourage it, especially if it coincides with something I could benefit from as well." He leaned in and kissed me, his cold lips warmed against me.

A patter of knocks came at the bedroom door.

"Sir," a soft voice called out. "Sir. We have guests. They've requested I summon you immediately."

Ara sighed. "This is happening sooner than I thought. I have to meet the elders."

"I thought you said we have free will," I said, giggling in his face.

"No, I said you have free will." He took my hand, tucked at my side and kissed it. "I have to fulfill a line of succession type of thing."

"Can't you tell them to wait?"

"Then they'll storm my bedroom. And until I'm actually an elder on their counsel, they practically have ultimate power," he said, kissing up my arm until he came back around to my lips. "I don't want you to leave."

"But I have to."

"Promise me you'll come back."

His pupils grew wider, almost ready to open up into mouths and swallow me whole. "You don't have to make me promise that," I told him. "I'm definitely coming back. And I'm definitely going to need you to have a new bed. I don't like being this low down."

"Done and done," he said.

The knock came again as did the soft voice. "Sir. They are really impatient."

"Relax," he called out. "I'm getting dressed. I'll be there in a minute." He jumped out of bed with vampiric speed. "I'll also get you something to wear," he said to me. "I can't have you going home naked."

"It's fine," I told him. "I can portal my way into my bedroom."

There was a fine hum of magic thrumming through me. I was able to portal myself home with little effort. In fact, too little. I'd only thought of doing it and I was at home, in my bedroom, laid on my bed, completely naked.

"See you later," I whispered up to the ceiling, as if I'd fallen through it from his bed to mine. And in my chest, I felt him repeat it back. I'd never felt so much power run through me before, well, I had, actually, during times when the lunar cycle peaked at a full or new moon.

For the minute I laid in my bed, staring at the ceiling and painting pictures like a fresco of what my body looked like entwined with Ara's, I was in a state of bliss. And then a knock came at the door. The handle rattled.

"Nash," Meliza being unsubtle. "Where have you been? And you know we're not allowed to lock our doors."

"I'm getting dressed." I scrambled out of bed, looking around for clothes. I slipped on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, and then my hand went to my head. "Fuck." My hat, the one that kept my hair in place in all weathers had been left behind.

"Ok, whatever, I came by like ten minutes ago," she grumbled. "Mom had me doing something I actually enjoyed, which was organizing her jewelry box."

Meliza was sat at my bedroom door when I opened it. "You know, if you want to do anything, you've got be quiet about it," I said.

She plugged a finger to her nose. "Oh my god, Nash." She gagged. "Nobody can come near you."

"Why?" I stuck my head into my armpit. "I don't smell—well, that bad."

"You're in heat," she snapped, pushing me into the room as she stayed behind the threshold. "Where's your necklace?"

Suddenly conscious of the metal enchanted necklace that usually hung around my neck with the small opalescent gemstone in the center. "No."

"Where is it?"

"I—" Stepping backwards, I stumbled onto my bed. "Maybe at the market. When I was there with dad earlier. I fell, it must've come off then."

With her hand still covering her mouth, Melize's voice sounded distant. "They're gonna kill you when they find out you've lost it," she said. "And they're not going to let you out of their sights."

My hands wrapped around my stomach. Ara had fucked the heat right into me.

Our bodies had bonded. Our souls mated. It's why I'd felt so intensely. I just assumed it was because he was an Alpha. It went much deeper.

"Don't tell them," I said.

"Don't worry," she said, pushing up against the wall in the hallway. "I won't have to tell them. They'll be able to smell you the second they come into contact with you."

Most omega witches had pendants or enchanted tools that kept their heat cycles at bay, in order for them not to look weak, which is often what it felt like to be an omega in heat, like the world's most submissive species.

I waved a hand and closed my door in Melize's face. I needed to be alone to think. And thankfully, to use my ensuite bathroom to unload Ara's seed. I might've been in heat, but that didn't mean I was going to become a teen parent—I was in my twenties, but he was—hundreds of years old, so in the grand scheme, I would've been a teen parent.

For a moment, I'd already settled into my fate, and then I remembered it was my father who'd forced me into communing with the people in the underground market. So, he was to blame for the necklace slipping away from my neck.

After getting cleaned up, I had only one thing on my mind. Ara. He was front and center behind my eyes with every single blink. His smile, his lips coated in blood, and his teeth as they were fanged rescinded back into his gums.

A knock came at my door. I stood quickly, back straightened like I was stuck to a wooden board.Both of my parents were there, a mix of emotions plastered across both their faces.

"Your sister told us," my mom said, stomping in my room. "And now the entire compound knows. I cannot believe you've done this to us, Nash."

"Mom, calm down. Did she also tell you this is your fault?"

"She did mention something about your trip to the market," my father said, closing the door behind himself. "It's going to be impossible to find it there, and you're already in heat now. You know how risky it is to be in heat as a witch."

I sat on the bed, throwing my body and head back. "I'll just stay in my room until it's run it's course. I can't remember the last time I was in heat." I fanned my face. "Unless you have any other ideas."

"Yes," my mom said. "You can start by cleaning up this place. And then you can get some reading done."

"I don't wanna read." I groaned. There wasn't anything else going through my mind other than Ara, and I couldn't let on to either of them about him.

My father cleared his throat. "Does this have anything to do with that man?" he asked. "When you fainted, earlier. You were helped by a vampire."

Mom whacked his arm. "You should've told me. Damn it, well, that's the whole reason you shouldn't be allowed out without it on. Unbound Alphas who aren't house broken only want one thing from an omega in heat. And a witch, like they'll think they've hit the jackpot with you."

"As much as I love the ego stroking," I said, a hand over my mouth to stifle laughter. "I'm fine. I'm not going to leave. In fact, I'll lock the door."

They shared a glance.

"It's not like that's ever stopped you," my father said. "But we're not going to forbid you. We're not the most strict parents. But we have to show the other families here that we have some type of communication with you, and Melize. The other families would think that we let the two of you run wild."

"You don't?" I asked.

My mom swotted a hand at my leg. "Every since your brother left, we've felt undermined. I just wish he'd reached out."

"I'll tell him the next time I see him," I said. "And you're lucky. At least I'm not out there in the world with my back turned in all things us ."

It was unfortunate that my brother's ability was impeded, like a lot of omegas, he simply possessed very little magic. And with it, he'd done the unthinkable, spelling himself to be unable to get pregnant. There were adverse affects to that though, and my parents didn't know. They didn't know where he lived, and they couldn't reach out with magic. What Rhone lacked in ability he made up for with knowledge of trinkets and amplifiers. He knew how to not be found.

"I'll stay in my room, I'll brush up on the books, I'll think of how I can best serve the family," I said, stringing together phrases that perked my parents ears.

"Good, good," my mom said. "And clean. It stinks in here. But that could just be—" she sighed. "Do something. Open a window. But maybe not too much. Light a stick of incense or something."

My father stood, nodding. "I'm just disappointed," he said. "I should've taken your sister. She wanted to come with me."

"That's only because she didn't want to polish mom's silver," I said. "So, it's Melize's fault, if you really think about it."

Her muffled cough was heard from behind the closed door.

"I knew she was there," I said, sitting upright on the bed. "So, how long will this last?"

They both shrugged.

"It's not entirely possible to tell," mom said, looking to my father. "But if you stay in here, you'll go through it. Just make sure to clean up with whatever it is you have to do."

I never considered my mom a prude, but here she was, almost disgusted by the idea of sexual maturity. I was already sexually mature, but the necklace had our heat cycles dialed down to a never gonna happen, but that didn't mean I didn't get horny.

They quickly left after that, forcing Mel to leave the hallway with them.

Laid back in bed, I stared at the ceiling again. I couldn't believe I'd been so stupid to have lost my necklace, or even left my hat at Ara's place. It was one sure fire way of forcing me to go back there, but now, I was probably not in the best state of being. Heat had always been that one phase of being where an omega was at their most vulnerable.

Hugged a pillow tight and pulling my legs up around it, I squeezed as much energy and force from my being into it. I so desperately wanted to be weaved and wrapped around Ara's body again. His sweaty cold body with two decades worth of dormant energy awakened in him.

My cock got hard at the idea and gyrated in my sweatpants, thrusting my hips into the pillow. I screwed my eyes shut. I was desperate for him to be thrusting in me again. I needed it immediately.

And without even meaning to, I was back in his bedroom, back on his bed, the damp blood soaked into the sheets. My head across the room on the dresser. His melodic voice humming, as it got closer.

The bedroom door opened, and there he stood. Dressed smart, in a suit, holding my necklace in a hand and playing with the opalescent gem between his fingers.

"I didn't think I'd see you again so soon."

"And now I know why I'm in heat." It explained a lot actually.