Teaching Their Omega novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Patsy

We were out of the tub in a minute and into our clothes in two.

"Where is she?" I asked, shoving my arms into a sweater.

Rhett read the screen.

"The Grange. She was studying in the loft. She says she can't breathe."

"Get the truck."

Declan was already at the door with the keys.

The Grange was lit up when we pulled in.

Patsy Dowd was sitting on the bottom step of the loft ladder with her red hat in her fists.

Her face was flushed dark red.

Two of the other students stood over her.

They had come when she texted the group chat, and they were whispering fast and scared.

I went down on my knees in front of her.

"Hey," I said. "It's me."

"Lowen." Her voice was thin. "It hurts. It's like I'm full of hot water. I can't stop shaking."

"That's your heat. It's started."

"It's too early. The calendar says Friday."

"Bodies don't read calendars. You're fine. You're doing exactly what you should be."

She laughed, a ragged laugh that turned into a gasp.

"I thought I'd be more cool about it," she said.

"Nobody is."

I stood up and put my hands on my hips.

"Right. Everybody listen. We're doing it the way we taught it."

"Declan, Rhett, the blankets from the supply closet and every pillow in the building."

"Girls, cold water, a basin, and clean towels."

"Yes, ma'am," one of the girls whispered.

"Patsy, I need you to tell me one thing. Do you want anybody in the room with you?"

She looked up.

Her freckles stood out.

"Just you," she said.

"Just me."

"And not the Alphas."

"Not the Alphas."

"Okay," she said, and began to cry with relief.

We built her a nest in the corner of the classroom by the radiator.

I knelt beside it and pressed a cold cloth to the back of her neck.

I told her what would happen, in plain words, step by step.

The ache would come in waves.

She would want to touch herself and she could, and that was nothing to be ashamed of.

She would be thirsty, and then ravenous, and then sleepy.

It would end in three days.

"Is that all?" she said, with her cheek on the pillow.

"That's all. I'll be right here."

Outside the door, the brothers stood guard.

Their scent had come into the hall, cedar and smoke and a hint of something sweeter.

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