Heat for sale

But no matter how he argued with himself, his mind wandered until he finally abandoned his desk and left his work behind in order to return to the comparative nest of his room.

“How’s it going?” Lance asked, falling into stride beside him on the sidewalk outside the art building.

“All right,” Adrien muttered. He wanted to get back to his room and curl up in his bed. He missed the stew Heath had fed him, though he couldn’t say why. When he’d first finished the heat, he’d thought he’d never want to taste it again. Now it seemed like the only thing that would satisfy him.

Lance clucked his tongue. “I don’t buy that, friend. In fact, I’d say you’ve seemed sort of down since you got back.”

“Is that unusual?” Adrien asked, stopping in his tracks. He didn’t know

how he was supposed to feel or behave after having turned himself over to someone like Heath, but he felt disoriented and lost. And a little ashamed.

Not of what he’d done, or what they’d shared, but that he couldn’t seem to get his act together now that he was back at school. Heath had bid on him because he was ambitious. Where was his ambition now? Fucked away in a week?

He took hold of Lance’s arm and said, “Is there something wrong with me?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” He gri

“Hmm.” Adrien released Lance’s arm, pushed his glasses up his nose, and shrugged. “I guess.”

Lance’s eyebrows nearly hit his hairline, but all he said was, “Want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know how,” Adrien said. “It was the most important thing that ever happened to me, and I shared it with a guy I barely know. It feels like it was all a dream.”

But that wasn’t accurate at all. It felt like his life now was the dream. The heat cabin and all the scents, sensations, and pleasures of it seemed the only real thing in the world. Lance even struck him as strangely false. All he really wanted to think about now was Heath. Where was he? What was he doing and who was he with? Did Heath think of him at all? Did he miss him? Or had Heath simply moved on with his life as though the heat cabin had never happened, only caring whether the breeding had taken?

They started walking again toward the dorm, and Adrien was glad to be moving. It helped him focus to know that he would be back in his bed soon, where he could sleep and dream of the heat cabin.

“Have you talked to the guy who won your heat? You know, since you got back?” Lance asked. “Sometimes that helps, you know. With the post-heat separation, that is.”

“Post-heat separation?”

“You went through an intense bonding experience. Literally, if you’re pregnant. Like, the two of you are bonded together into another life. In fact, I’d say your state of mind right now leads me to think you are pregnant, and

that it did take.”

Adrien palmed his flat stomach. He didn’t feel any different, aside from this morose disinterest in his former life and a deep yearning for Heath. “It’s too soon to know.”

“Maybe, but I’ve seen it before. I’m the oldest of six, remember? I’ve seen how both my step-omegas acted after they got knocked up during heats.

If it didn’t take, they shook off the post-heat melancholy easily. If they were growing a new life inside, they turned inward and got really dependent on my father. The worst was the time they were both pregnant simultaneously. I thought my father would lose his mind. But that’s another story.”

Adrien didn’t want to be dependent on anyone. And yet he couldn’t help but recall how nice it had felt to be hand-fed by Heath, cared for, and bathed.

He could put up with some more of that quite happily.

Lance gri

“I suppose we will.”

“And what happens if you are pregnant?” Lance asked as they approached the dormitory. “What did you agree on?”

“I go to live with him until the baby is born and then, assuming I’m happy there, I’m to remain for one year of chestfeeding.”

Lance nodded. “I’m go

Adrien touched his stomach again. “You’re that certain, huh?”

“I’m pretty damn sure. You’ve got the ‘growing baby’ blues.” He took Adrien’s arm and led him toward the elevators in the lobby. As they rode up to Lance’s floor, he said, “Don’t worry. It passes into ‘hormonally hellish’

horniness before too long.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, give it a few weeks. You’ll see. And then you’ll understand why my dad nearly died when dealing with two at the same time.” Lance waggled his eyebrows and broke away as the elevator dinged. “See you later, Mr.

Preggo.”

Adrien flipped him the bird.

Chapter Nine

A WEEK LATER, Adrien was packing his bags, jittery with anticipation and worry. Ron Finch and two other employees from the university matcher service were in his dorm room helping him box up his things, explaining what to expect, and what the university promised him in terms of his future return to the school after the baby was born and the chestfeeding completed.

“Your position here is guaranteed. That’s part of the charm of using the university matcher service. So, once the baby is weaned from chestfeeding, you can return to school and pick up right where you left off!”

Adrien didn’t bother to point out the inaccuracy of that. Some of his work was time sensitive and would be passed on to others to finish. But he’d known that when he’d agreed to do the auction and offered up the breeding as an extra. He’d have to find a new topic of research when he came back. A prick of disappointment momentarily soured his relief that he’d see Heath again soon, but that was soon washed away in a flood of wild anticipation.

A dark-haired older man whose name Adrien didn’t recall motioned toward the last box and said, “These will be delivered to your alpha’s address within the next forty-eight hours. So be sure to pack anything you definitely need in the meantime in your suitcase.”

Adrien nodded. He wasn’t an idiot. He’d already thought of that. Besides, he just wanted to get on the road. The anticipation and apprehension was overwhelming. He knew the drive was about four hours, and he was already aching from head-to-toe to see Heath again. But what about Heath? Would he be happy to see Adrien, too? What would it be like between them without the heat drawing them together? What would a year in a stranger’s house really mean? There were too many questions he didn’t know the answer to. The whole world felt like it was on the verge of being reborn, and he didn’t have any idea what form it would take.

Besides, he wanted to see Heath’s face, to judge his reaction to the news of a baby for himself.

Adrien hadn’t been the one to inform Heath of the pregnancy,

unfortunately. Ron Finch had taken that job as his own, claiming it was the way it was always done. He said it marked the official conclusion of the auction since at that time he’d taken the payment in full on Adrien’s behalf—

including the pregnancy bonus. Adrien had to take Ron’s word when he said that Heath was pleased.

But Adrien told himself Heath must be happy about the baby. After all, Heath had paid a great deal of money for the option of breeding him, and he’d seemed determined to ensure he would get pregnant by keeping him plugged for the duration of the heat. Still, there was something inside him insisting that he had to see Heath’s face and hear him say he was happy for himself. And the sooner the better.

He only had to stop twice to vomit during the drive, and he supposed that was a success given that he’d been puking a lot more often than he’d like over the last few days. He hoped this stage would pass quickly, because he was pretty sure that Heath wouldn’t find vomit very appealing in an omega.

As he came over the mountain ridge on the main road, he saw the glitter of the city spreading out before him. Wellport, resting by the sea and serving as the seat of government for the nation, fairly screamed wealth. High-rises reached for the sky, as their residents reached for the upper echelons of power. The best neighborhoods in the city were old money, and some of the finest homes were built alongside the large parks intended for the enjoyment of the original founding families back in the ‘days of yore.’ And a few of the nicest homes were built within the parks themselves.

That’s where Heath’s home resided, inside one such park, called Clearwood. And, according to the directions provided by the university, the house was referred to as Clearwood Castle. Adrien wasn’t certain what to make of that. The Heath he’d been impregnated by had seemed content in a tiny cabin in the woods. This Heath of Wellport and Clearwood Castle seemed like a dark mystery.

Dear God, did he even know the man’s last name? He didn’t think he did.

He’d never asked.

Locating Clearwood Park was easy enough. The winding, meandering roads through the grounds showed off flowering greenways, spacious lawns, and lushly wooded parkland. As he drove through, Adrien’s anxiety began to ease. Yes, this seemed to be the kind of place that the Heath he’d met, the man he’d gone through his heat with, would choose to live. Close to nature,

away from the chaos of the big city, but somehow close enough that he could still get to work—whatever that might entail, Adrien was still unsure—in under an hour.

The gate marking the driveway from the park was thick and made of iron.

As Adrien pulled up in front of it, peering into the wooded distance, he could just make out the top of what looked like a rather astonishingly large stone house. He was just wondering how he was going to get inside when the gate swung slowly open on its own. He shoved away the resurgence of nerves as he drove slowly through.

When the house came into view, Adrien gulped down the shock of saliva in his mouth, and stared, gobsmacked, at the castle-like structure looming in front of him. The front of the building showed off turrets and rooflines that took his breath away, and the stone itself was laid in a pattern that left Adrien feeling as though he’d walked into a fairytale book. Or driven, rather. Since he still hadn’t left his car.