I nodded. “She’s in the bath now. That might help with the heat. In the morning, we can go over to the lab and match her with a pack.”
The words were bitter on my tongue, but what else was I supposed to do? I couldn’t keep her. She was young and full of life, and most importantly, she wasn’t mine to keep.
“That will take weeks,” Sven said.
“Weeks?” I croaked out.
He nodded. “Between taking her blood and the travel to the international system, it could take weeks to match with a pack.”
I cursed, and my eyes followed the path of the stairs where I knew there was a hungry omega taking a bath. The image of her rubbing her legs was forever imprinted in my lids.
“We have to give her to someone,” Anders said at last.
“She’s not a lost puppy.” I turned to him angrily.
He was the one who brought her here from fucking Brazil! And now he wanted to just send her away?
“She’s on her heat!” he hissed back at me. “The perfume on her? Do I need to spell it out?”
No, no one needed to spell it out. She was going to be the end of us all.
“Taking her where?” Sven asked firmly. “Her grandparents? It’s not right to burden families with the heat.”
“And she doesn’t know them,” I added.
“She doesn’t know us either.” Sven sighed.
“But Anders brought her here,” I said, my eyes on Sven rather than Anders. “And as his packmates, his mistakes are ours.”
Anders scoffed but said nothing, choosing to move to the couch, leaning his elbows over his knees as he stared down at the rug.
“So she stays,” Sven summarized.
“She stays.” I accepted reality.
We waited in silence until we heard her moving upstairs. I hoped the bath had worked, and she was back somewhat to herself. It wouldn’t hold it for much longer, but I prayed that at least she would be okay for the night. In the light of day, maybe things were better. Maybe my cock decided to behave.
She never came back. Eventually, I let out a breath and realized that Isadora was sleeping and so should we. It was late, and there was too much to think about. Without saying anything, I marched to my bedroom, locking my door too as if I could trick myself to stay in.
It didn’t work.
I woke up with a start when I heard her whining in the middle of the night. It was low and needy and traveled even with the door securely locked.
“Fuck,” I said to myself before tossing the covers away and swinging my legs down and taking my glasses from the bedside table.
It felt wrong to twist the key of my own bedroom, to test it out if I was really just a prisoner of my own making. I wished someone had locked me in, but the door opened easily, and I stepped outside.
I wasn’t the only one.
The three of us met in the hall, eyes on her door where the whining came from. Sven wore no shirt and boxers, and Anders at least had pajama bottoms, while I was the only one fully dressed with pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt.
“I thought she was going to be okay for the night,” Anders whispered.
I didn’t. It was a bath, not a miracle by any means, but I sure hoped that everything was going to be okay until the light of the day arrived with our senses.
Isadora moaned sinfully. It felt like a hand gripping my cock, and the three of us almost stumbled from the power of her hoarse voice. I couldn’t hold myself back. I didn’t even know what I was thinking. Maybe I wasn’t thinking at all.
I tiptoed to her door, opening it just a little until the light from the hall bathed her, and I saw her in her bed, tossing and turning. Her moans and whimpers were empty, alone, like the saddest song ever sung. My heart pushed against my rib cage in a desperate rhythm as I took her in and sampled her perfume.
