The Seasons

Chapter 9

The alpha was on him, trying to peel his collar off. Winter felt the fingers scratching around the skin as the man’s weight held him down. “I’ve been waiting for this for so long, Winter. Do you know how pretty you would look tied up,” he said, his spit hitting Winter on the face. “I’ve been watching you.”

It clicked. Those notes, they had been from this man. He had never even seen this man in the bar before. So where did he know him from? “I know your heat is today. I know you lied to Neo.”

Winter was panicking. One wrong move, and he would have a mate. He had lost his soulmate, but his body could still have one. This man would bite him on the neck, forcing him to become his mate. Pure terror seeped through Winter as the hands around his neck tightened. He smacked his hands around on the stands beside the bed, his body beginning to burn up. When he felt something, he grabbed it and smashed it on Jeremy’s head, who collapsed on top of him. He looked at the shattered lamp but said nothing.

It took Winter a minute to push the man off of him and a couple more to get redressed, and by the time he had, he knew he was in his heat. He had to get home. He needed to be alone and ride it out as he did with his previous ones. But he was too far from home.

It would be a fifteen to twenty-minute walk, and he could easily bump into any alpha, but Jasper only lived two minutes away from here, he or his lovers weren’t home, and he knew where they kept the spare key. With a destination set, Winter began trudging through the streets, using the walls as his support.

He struggled through the lobby, trying to keep his breathing under control as he hit the elevator button. He was sweating, and everything hurt, and he just wanted to curl up in a bed, cry and get off.

When the elevator button dinged, he clambered inside and prayed to the Moon Goddess that no one else got in. Being trapped in a small space with him in his heat would be a recipe for disaster; it was the last thing he needed right now.

He managed to get to the 9th floor and struggled to Jasper’s apartment. He found the key on the top of the door frame, he had to jump a few times before he reached it, but he managed. He unlocked the door and practically crashed to the ground in the dark, letting out a wince.

He was tired. Oh, he was so tired, and everything hurt, and he wanted to cry because he was f*****g 30, and he had no one, and he was so alone, and he knew he had to get used to this, but how could he?

“Winter?! Oh, my god?!”

Winter looked up through hazy eyes. He recognised that ridiculously soft voice anywhere, and what the f**k was he doing here? This place was meant to be empty.

“f**k off,” he hissed. He tried to, but it came out more as a groan and whine than a noise of annoyance.

He could hear Aether’s bare feet hit the ground and then a slight thud, and he craned his neck to see him on the ground beside him. “Come on, you’re okay. You’re okay. Let's move you from the door, hm?”

Winter didn’t know what was happening, one minute he was on the cold hard ground, and then he was in Aether’s arms, and he was warm, and the touch helped, but everything still hurt, and he was so horny, and he needed to cry, but he had so much to do.

He was on the couch and could feel Aether’s cold hands on him, helping him take his coat off and his shoes. “You’re okay. You’re okay.” He could feel Aether behind him now; he was holding him close. The mer-prince’s dark hair brushed his face as he rocked them gently. “You’re okay,” he whispered. Winter realised he had been repeating that since they came into this position.

He had even heard a couple of ‘I’m sorry’s’’ and he couldn’t reply to him, but he needed to calm down, and it all f*****g hurt. What the f**k was he meant to do.

The door slammed open, and the light was put on. “We have it!” Jasper yelled. Winter was sure it was Jasper, but he wasn’t 100% sure.

The rest was a blur. He heard yelling. Jasper was yelling, and Aether would say something else; he knew it was Aether. He could feel him talking. Then he heard Kevin’s stupidly deep voice. There was more arguing, or maybe they were just talking.

Winter whined slightly when he felt Aether’s grip on him tighten.

He knew he needed to apologise to Aether. His second gender had caused the mer-man more problems, but he was comfortable, something smelled nice, and he wasn’t in as much pain as he was in the beginning, which was okay. It was okay.

“I just need to stab him with this,” Atticus said. Winter’s eyes snapped open, and Atticus was standing a couple of feet away from them with an injection in his hand.

Aether growled. Winter was sure he growled.

“Sorry, sorry. I mean, inject. Okay? That’s all. He will be fine afterwards.”

“Come on, Aether, you’ve seen the wolves go into heat so many times. This isn’t anything new,” Jasper snapped.

He heard Kevin’s deep voice. He didn’t know what he had said.

“It’s okay. I won’t hurt him. This will make him feel better, okay?”

Winter whined when he felt something sharp in his thigh, and his body relaxed a little as he lost consciousness.

~*~