Claws

Chapter Thirty

"Kill me." I stared into the Ailswood's living room fireplace with lifeless eyes, my ears pulled back. I was so embarrassed I couldn't even keep my ears and tail in. This rarely happened, but it was an unintentional habit of mine to display some of my wolf traits when my emotions were at point break, and right then, I felt like my brain was fried. "Please. Someone just put me out of my misery and kill me."

"Hey, don't even say that!" Linda sighed, sitting next to me and patting my back. "Look, you were in heat. It happens to the best of us, okay? Luckily, Zale was a gentleman and didn't attack you. He even bit his arm instead of your nape. Do you know how hard that is for an alpha who's right in front of a female in heat, especially with how potent your pheromones are? It's also about time for his rut, which makes it even harder for him to resist you."

"Plus, he's in the hospital right now with a ton of stitches in his arm, so at least you don't have to face him for a few days at the most," Robin shrugged, sitting on the other side of me. "You should have seen him. I'd never thought Zale could be such a gentleman towards a girl. I'm kind of proud of my big bro, and I'm never proud of him."

My cheeks grew red. "But I just don't get it. Why Zale? Why are his pheromones so compatible with mine?" I closed my eyes and buried my face in my hands. "This is humiliating. He even told me this afternoon that when I was in heat, this would happen. I thought it was another one of his narcissistic delusions, but to be proven right is just..."

"Well, that's something that I think you should talk to your parents about. They know more than we do, of course," Linda's voice sounded unstable. Translation: She definitely knew why but either didn't want to tell me or couldn't.

"I wish I didn't remember anything during my heat...It's like recalling a horror film the moment I come back to my senses. I acted like such a slut!" I shook my head, angry tears forming in my eyes. My mood had become slightly unstable ever since Zale's beta, Xander, helped him out of the house to take him to the hospital. I looked at the rug in front of me. It was soaked in his blood. "That's a lot of blood. Even though I remember most of what happened, everything is still hazy. I don't remember him bleeding this much...Is he going to be alright?"

"Yeah, but he lost a lot of blood and barely missed his ulnar artery. It was deep, and he bit his arm several times, so it turned out to be a gash instead of just a bite mark. He has inside and outside stitches, so even putting his quick healing into consideration, he's going to have to hold off on shifting for about a week until he can get his stitches out," Robin sighed, tugging on my ear. "On the bright side, your ribs have shown an insane amount of improvement by just being around Zale's pheromones tonight. They sped up your healing process tenfold. Also, the bruises on your neck have faded, and your voice isn't hoarse anymore."

"Yeah, and my head feels better, too," I agreed, gently pressing my hand against my ribs. The bones seemed to have mended, but they were still bruised. I looked up and shook my head. "I still want to die, though. That, or at least never have to face Zale again in my life. Oh, and no one can know about tonight either."

"Of course. Other than telling your parents, our lips are sealed," Linda smiled, pretending to zip her mouth shut.

"I don't even want my parents to know," I whined, laying my head on her shoulder. She patted my head.

"They'll get the gist of what went down in here, even without us saying anything. Both of your pheromones are drenching the place. In fact, if we didn't tell them anything, they would assume you did something way worse in here than just exchanging saliva," Robin scoffed. I widened my eyes, unsure of how he knew we'd kissed. "I think Zale was mumbling something about a French kiss when he was passed ou--"

"Ahhhokay! You don't need to remind me, and you should be uncomfortable with it too! Not finding it funny!" I yelled, covering Robin's mouth in horror. "You know what, I have a great idea. Why don't you guys just sit here, and I'll go see if your electric toaster is waterproof in the bathtub, okay?" When I stood up, Robin and Linda immediately grabbed my arm and sat me back down again. I groaned. "I need to get some fresh air, at least. When my mom and dad come back, just tell them I went out and will go to the house when I cool off."

"Okay, but don't go near the border without anyone with you," Linda hesitated before she agreed.

I silently nodded, then wrapped my arms around my two favorite gingers in the world. "Thank you for looking after me. I owe you guys a lot."

"You're right, you do. I wouldn't mind free drinks for life on the lodge, on you," Robin smirked. Linda smacked him on the back of the head, and he laughed. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding! None of this is your fault. You don't need to apologize."

"He's right. Your heat and emotions are beyond your control right now," Linda nodded, smiling at me as I stood up. My body really did feel a lot better.

"Thank you," I smiled back at her, giving her one last hug. "I'll see you guys later. Thanks for saving Zale and me tonight."

"What kind of omegas would we be if we couldn't handle something like that?" Robin smirked.

I rolled my eyes, said goodbye, then left the house.

When I shifted into my Claw form, I winced before beginning to run into the woods. My ribs weren't broken anymore, but even bruised, it hurt a little bit to shift. Running wasn't a problem, though. In fact, it actually felt nice to stretch my legs and get some exercise. I had to admit, it was pretty amazing what Zale's pheromones did for me.

Zale. Why did he go to such lengths to get away from me anyway? It's not like I wasn't glad, but being a gentleman wasn't Zale's forte, nor had I remembered a time when he'd actually been one. Something about it made me feel...strange. Maybe weirded out? I should have been overjoyed, too, but why did I find it sort of offensive? It wasn't like I'd rather him give into my pheromones and pounce on me, but the fact that he ended up in the hospital just because he wanted to get away from me kind of hurt my pride. I guess it was an alpha thing.

Oddly, I found myself running towards the infirmary without even thinking. What was I doing? I needed to stop. The last thing I wanted to do was see Zale's face, so why couldn't I change directions? He had to be asleep anyway, right? It wasn't like I was going to talk to him. I just felt a little guilty, that's all.

When I got up to the infirmary entrance, I bit my lip and approached the door, unsure of what I was thinking at the moment. Didn't I want to stay as far away as possible from Zale as I could? Humiliated or not, I did have some humility and felt bad. 

I'm just taking a little peek to see if he's alive. That's it.