Alpha King's Mate

9. Heat

"Alright, looks like it was just dehydration. Make sure to drink a lot of water for the next few days." Angela advises.

    I smile gratefully as I walk her over to the door. "Thank you so much A-"

     I cut myself off. I cannot move, speak or think. I am frozen.

     "Olivia?" Angela asks worriedly, her facial expression becoming concerned. "Olivia, are you alright?"

     She slowly steps toward me and looks into my eyes. What is happening? She holds her hands up as if to keep me calm and know that her intentions are good. My heart begins to slow to an impossible pace as she inches toward me.

     "Zac?" Angela calls out, worriedly. 

     "Yeah?" He responds with laughter laced in his voice, finding the fact that he was caught standing outside of the door funny. I probably would chuckle with him if this weren't happening.

     His voice makes my body start to feel cold. What is this feeling? 

     "I think you should-" her hands fall on my skin and I cut her off with a scream. I collapse to the floor in pure agony.

     Zac bursts through the door and is by my side in the blink of an eye. His eyes are wide and his face is pale, he looks as if he has just seen a ghost. 

     "Angela, what's happening to her?" Zac asks frantically.

     He reaches down and drags me into his arms. I groan in pain everywhere else, but where he touches me, my body feels comfortable. I force myself to get up on my knees and I throw myself into Zac's body. I wrap my arms around him and press the side of my face into his chest, the rest of my body touches the ground and remains painful. I squeeze my eyes shut tightly in pain.

     "Angela?" Zac exclaims once again, concerned and confused.

     She kneels beside us and I open my eyes only to a squint. "Olivia, you need to tell me what you are feeling. Are you in pain? Where are you in pain? What are you thinking? How long have you been feeling pain?"

     I open my mouth to speak but all I can think about is the torturous agony coursing through my body. 

     "Liv, please." Zac begs, I look up to him. His eyes are so beautiful, such beautiful eyes should never show any emotion other than happiness. 

     I open my mouth again to speak, now determined to explain my symptoms to Angela. By now, I am certain of what I am experiencing. My mother told me about it, she said that it was the second worst pain she had ever felt. Now that I am experiencing it, I can't help but think that she was lying, I cannot imagine any pain worse than this.

     "I-I'm in he-heat." I choke out through my scorchingly dry throat.

     "I have drugs for that!" Angela announces and rushes to her feet. 

     She jogs over to her brown medicine bag and opens it quickly, a minute later she returns to her kneeling position beside us as she pours a few pills into her hand and places them into my mouth.  I force myself to swallow and suddenly the horrible torture that I was experiencing a minute ago, fades into merely moderate discomfort. I groan and squeeze my body tighter to Zac's.

     "That does not feel good." I whine, sweat dripping from my body.

     "Are you alright, baby?" I can't help but smile at Zac's use of the word 'baby'. He looks down at me and I look up at him tiredly. 

     "I think I'll live." I sigh with a slight smile, looking into his glowing eyes. 

     He pushes the hair out of my face gently and slowly, his fingers grazing my cheek softly. I hum at the cool feeling of his skin touching mine. 

     Thank god that is over, but I know that it will happen again and I won't always have whatever those pills were to help me through it.

***

     "So, it turns out that your dehydration yesterday was caused by your abnormally high body temperature." Angela begins, taking a seat in an armchair beside the bed I am being forced to stay in. Apparently by body temperature is also burning all of my energy at different rates, so I could pass out at any moment from exhaustion. "Your periods of heat will grow. Today was the marker day, a warning that hell is going to be beginning for you. And I know you won't believe it, but trust me when I tell you that it gets so much worse."

     Zac squeezes my hand in the chair on the other side of the bed, closer to me. 

     "Your next heating period will last three days, after that: a week, a month, a year, etcetera.  It will gradually worsen. It will feel like you are being lit on fire every time you take a breath. It is not my place as your doctor, but as your friend and someone who cares about your pain, I urge you both to complete the mating process soon. I can't tell you when the next time this will happen will be, but it's gonna be soon." She finishes.

     Oh great.