CHAPTER 47: Boiling Point

CHAPTER 47: Boiling Point
ARIA 
It doesn’t get any better. No matter what I do, a cold shower or ice, nothing helps. 
The sheets are tangled around my legs as I wake the next morning. There’s sweat and frustration clear on my face. I press my head against the pillow and scream, softly, because the house it too quiet. 
Because I don’t want Ally or Henry walking in. 
My body’s on fire. 
Not the kind of fire where I’d want someone to put it out with water or something. No. It’s the type of fire that needs another type of release. A release I don’t have, or can have.
I toss and turn in my bed again, pulling the sheet over me, feeling too hot and too agitated.
My body aches in places that haven’t before. It’s a burn, an itch that’s growing, and it hurts.
I can’t eat. I can’t sleep.
My body craves.
Lucian. 
Before I can ponder on it for a moment more, a knock hits the door and then I hear Ally’s voice, one I didn’t really expect to hear any time soon. I don’t answer it and act as if I’m still asleep. I can’t see anyone right now. 
The knob turns anyway and Ally steps in like she knows.
“Still alive?” she asks, arching a brow when she sees me on the bed, on my back now, wrapped in a blanket like some half-feral creature. 
“Barely.” 
She walks over and drops something beside me. A cool bottle of water. Then, a second later, a protein bar.
“You’re torturing yourself by not giving in to your needs.” 
“Those needs are torture alone. I can’t trust myself to do what I want and not regret it.” I sit up straight and drink the water before looking at her again. “Isn’t there some kind of trick to stop this? How long will it even last?” 
It’s already been two days. 
Ally shakes her head and shrugs, “A week, maybe less or maybe more, depending on your wolf. But the longer you stay without… assistance, the more it’s going to hurt you.” 
I wipe the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand and stare at the wall like it might have answers.
“I don’t want help,” I mutter. “I want this to stop.”
Ally doesn’t sit. She leans against the edge of the desk and crosses her arms.
“Aria, it’s not something you can shut off. It’s your body telling you what it needs.”
“I know what it needs,” I snap. “I just don’t want it from—” I stop myself before I say it.
But she already knows.
Her mouth tightens. “Lucian hasn’t said anything?”
“What’s he supposed to say? It’s not his job to say anything.” I take a sip of the water and sigh, “This isn’t his problem.”
“It is if you choose to be with him.”
I don’t respond. I don’t have to.
It’s obvious I’m attracted to him. Anyone with a nose and eyes can tell, especially since the last time I was around him, and the last time I kissed him.
But I can’t go there, I don’t want to. Not like this, not without having my mind clear. 
“But if you don’t want to. Why don’t you come along with me? There’s a winter festival—”
I don’t even let her finish. “I can’t. If I go out there, it’s like going straight into hell. There’ll be other males and it’ll be too much for me to handle. I can barely contain myself when I’m alone.” 
Ally almost laughs at that, but seeing the concern on my face, she swallows it down. 
“Well, you are right. But your heat is triggered by your mate, and if your wolf mingles with other males, it’ll divert attention and you won’t be so miserable for much longer. It’s a good thing to be public for once.” 
She isn’t entirely wrong, and the last thing I want to do is make myself more vulnerable than I am already. If my wolf is in heat for her mate, then the best thing for it would be to mingle with other males who aren’t mates.
“I don’t want to—”
Before I get the words out, she understands. “I know, and I’ll be there. You’re just going there to get distracted. Not laid.” 
“Fine then.” I agree after a moment. 
Ally leaves the room after that and I push up from the bed and strip down, moving like I’m on autopilot. The shower helps, barely. Cold water for as long as I can stand it, then I wrap myself in a towel and stare at the dress Ally left on the hook. 
I put it on and feel a bit of the ache subside. The fabric against my skin is soft, almost like a caress and I shiver. 
I step out of the bedroom finally, when most of the day has passed. 
“Hey!” Henry comes out from his room. “Feeling better?” 
“Oh, yes.” I tell him, almost lying, because no I’m not feeling better, I still feel like I’m about to combust into flames and I still feel the heat. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.” I offer a weak smile, one I’m sure isn’t too convincing, and he buys it.
“Okay,” he says before heading downstairs. 
It takes me a moment before I follow him. 
“Are you heading somewhere?” he asks me when I’m finally downstairs. 
“Just to the festival. Some winter festival—”
“Right, you haven’t gone there yet, have you? You’ll enjoy it.” 
“Why don’t you come along?” I ask him. 
“I would, but I’ve a training scheduled. I can come after that, if you’re still there.” 
I nod, “Yeah. Give me a call after you’re done.” 
I give him a light pat on his back before he grabs his bag, waves at me and then leaves. My eyes wander around the house, looking for Ally, or any other sort of life. 
Ally comes running down the stairs almost five minutes after with coats in her hands. She tosses one of them at me, as if I would need it. 
“Keep it. You might just get cold.” She winks at me. 
I sigh and take it anyway before getting up from the seat and following her outside. 
“Where is Darius? I haven’t seen him much since yesterday—or at all.” 
“Oh, you probably wouldn’t see him.” 
“Why is that? Has he gone somewhere?” 
She glances over her shoulder and looks at me like she’s trying to find the words. “Well, think of it like until your heat isn’t over, you’re basically a magnet to any unmated male—”
“But Darius—”
“Is like a brother. I know that. But you’re still heat and well, the Alpha did ask of him to stay at the packhouse until your heat hasn’t finished.” 
My lips parts in surprise, “He did not.” 
“He did. But it is for the better.” Ally replies with a shrug before getting inside the car. 
Lucian. Of course, he’d have asked something like that. He’d know how vulnerable I would be. And knowing how much Darius respects and adores the alpha, there’s no way he wouldn’t comply to it.
But that doesn’t mean that I like it. Not at all.