Chapter 52: Out of Time

ASHER

I was dying, that’s what it felt like at least. That’s what I noticed the first thing when I woke up was that I was literally dying.

The pain in my abdomen was constant now. It was pulsing, and intensifying. Every hour it got worse, and the heat? God, the heat was unbearable.

I couldn’t think straight, I couldn’t focus and I could barely walk from class to class without stopping to catch my breath.

This was it, because it seems the entire Academy was beginning to sense something was wrong with me. All eyes turned to me, the moment I walked in. They could all smell the differences in my pheromones and soon I will become their prey to hunt.

Tonight, the full moon will rise, my heat will peak and I will either survive or I won’t because even if I survive Reed, how about the rest of the Alphas that want to take their turns on me. Even my close friends Scott and Julian would want to because they won’t be in their right state of mind, they wouldn’t care if I was close to them or not. They would be so fixated on an Omega going into heat and they would want a taste of me.

I needed to say goodbye to everyone, the thought hit me during lunch while Julian was talking about some party next weekend that I wouldn’t be alive to attend. I needed to say goodbye without them knowing that’s what I was doing.

“Julian,” I interrupted.

He stopped mid-sentence. “Yeah?”

“Thanks for being my friend and for standing by me even when Reed declared war.” I told him with a smile plastered on my face.

Julian’s brow furrowed. “Asher, what—”

“And Scott.” I turned to him. “Thanks for trying to help me. Even when I pushed you away. You’re a good person.”

Scott was staring at me with concern. “Asher, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just… I wanted you to know that I appreciate you, both of you.”

“You’re scaring me,” Julian said quietly. “What’s going on? That came out of the blue totally different from what we were talking about.”

“Nothing.” I forced a smile. “Just feeling sentimental I guess.”

But Julian’s eyes were narrowed. He knew something was wrong.

I stood up before he could ask more questions. “I need to go. I’ll see you guys tonight in the woods.”

“Asher—” Scott called out but I was already walking away. I didn’t want to stay and allow their words to make me cry or end up telling them everything about me even if I knew they were beginning to notice the change of my pheromones and they were giving me time for me to come clean to them but I couldn’t. I couldn’t trust them enough to tell them that I was a bloody Omega pretending to be an Alpha to protect my mother and myself.

Heck, I couldn’t, it was best they find out tonight and hate me. That way I would die knowing they never gave me that pity look

I spent the afternoon in my dorm writing a letter, my hands were shaking so badly I could barely hold the pen. The pain was getting worse and the heat was making it hard to think but I needed to do this.

I needed to leave something behind in case I didn’t survive tonight. I needed to let my Mom know that I tried and I broke my promise again.

Mom,

If you’re reading this, it means I didn’t make it. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for everything.

I tried to be strong. I tried to survive but the heat was too much, and the Alpha who was hunting me… his rut was too strong.

I don’t blame him. This isn’t his fault. My body called to his and he responded the way nature intended.

I love you. Thank you for everything you did to protect me. Thank you for the suppressants, for the sacrifices and for believing I could do this.

I hope you can forgive me for failing, and no matter what happened to me, keep hiding and don’t ever go back to them. Don’t let them ever get a hold of you because then everything and my death would be in vain. Keep fighting and keep hiding Mom.

Your son,

Asher

I folded the letter and tucked it under my pillow where someone would find it.

Then I lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling.

The sun was starting to set. Orange light streamed through my window.

Soon it would be dark, soon the full moon would rise. Soon my heat would peak and Reed’s rut would hit full force and then it would be over one way or another.

The pain pulsed again, stronger this time ad I curled onto my side and bit back a moan.

This was going to be worse than I thought.

My body had been suppressing the heat for so long. Blocking the natural cycle with chemicals, pills and injections and now it was all coming out at once.

The heat was more intense than it should be. The pain was sharper and my body was reacting in ways that terrified me.

What if I couldn’t handle it? What if my system shut down under the strain? What if Reed caught me and his rut was too strong? What if the claiming killed me?

I’d taken too many suppressants, changed formulas, switched from injections to pills, damaged my body in ways Ms. Chen had warned me about it and now I was going to pay for it.

The sun dipped lower.

The orange light turned red.

Then purple.

Then dark.

I watched through my window as the last rays of sunlight disappeared below the horizon.

The transformation was beginning.

My body felt it immediately. The heat spiked. The pain intensified and something deep in my core started to pulse and ache in ways that made me want to scream.

The full moon was rising and I was out of time.

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