Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Eric’s stomach somersaulted. “Dr. Randall is here already?”
“He’s with another patient, but we’re supposed to inform him when your readings change. He will come here as soon as he can.”
Eric nodded, fixing his eyes on his tablet. He didn’t lift them until the nurse was gone, wondering if she knew what kind of treatment Eric had been getting.
Time seemed to crawl. Eric kept himself busy, texting his brothers and the Cleghorns, making up a great social life for the benefit of his family and assuring the Cleghorns that he was fine. Haydn and Lucien had offered to come with him to his appointment, to monitor what was happening, but Eric had refused, the mere idea making him cringe. It was bad enough that his doctor had seen him like that—he didn’t want other people watching him, as if he were some freak show.
At long last, the door opened again, and Hugh walked in. The alpha looked as impeccable as ever, his handsome face a mask of professionalism.
“Good morning, Eric,” he said, picking up the chart the nurse had left for him and studying it. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“A little restless again.”
Hugh frowned, and Eric’s gaze was helplessly drawn to his strong jaw and full, firm lips, before traveling to the man’s stubbled throat above his white collar.
Ugh. Scratch restless. He was horny again.
Eric squirmed and crossed his legs, covering his erection with his slightly raised knee.
“Your readings are a little better than they were yesterday prior to the experiment,” the doctor said, his eyes still on the patient chart. “They were within the normal range for fourteen hours before spiking again. That’s not as good as I hoped, but it’s better than I expected. Your xortenesol levels are lower, which indicates that your body was really tricked into believing that you had sexual intercourse with an alpha.”
“That’s good, right?” Eric said, folding his hands in his lap.
Hugh looked up at him. His eyes seemed green today. “It is,” he said. “But as I already told you, this is a stopgap measure. Only a compatible alpha—or tricking your body into thinking that you have a mating bond to an alpha—will stabilize your hormones long-term.”
Eric winced. “Yeah, I got it. We should hurry up, then. Royce wants me to attend social gatherings to meet eligible young alphas.” He laughed a little. “It’s going to be a disaster. So I hope this treatment works.”
The doctor was looking at him with a wrinkle between his eyebrows. “We’ll see about it, but I can’t guarantee anything,” he said. “I’m reasonably confident it will work, but I don’t want to get your hopes up.”
Eric nodded distractedly, wondering if it would be too weird to ask Hugh to scent-mark him. His skin was crawling with a mix of agitation and arousal again, and he had a feeling that being scent-marked would settle him a little.
“Are we going to do the same thing again today?” Eric said, clearing his throat a little. He hoped he didn’t sound too eager. Which he wasn’t. It was just a medical treatment, nothing more.
“Yes,” Hugh said. “With one key difference. In order not to contaminate the test results, Linette will be the one to administer alpha pheromones, not me.”
Eric’s stomach dropped. He looked at his fingers. “Oh. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with her watching me…”
“She’s an omega too. She will understand what you’re going through better than me. You have nothing to be embarrassed about.”
Eric shrugged, not looking at the doctor. Rationally, he knew Hugh was correct. Having an omega monitor him while he dealt with his needs would be far less embarrassing. But. He kind of… He wanted Hugh there.
Shaking the weird thought off, Eric mumbled, “Okay.”
Silence reigned.
“Look at me, Eric.”
He lifted his gaze to the alpha. Hugh was frowning, his eyes narrowed as he studied Eric. “I’m not abandoning you,” he said. “I don’t want you to think that I’m foisting you off on someone else. But what happened yesterday isn’t exactly the outcome I hoped for. I’m trying to prove that bottled alpha pheromones are enough to satisfy an omega’s biological needs. Taking those pheromones from the source largely defeats the purpose. I need to make sure that the pheromones of our alpha donors are as effective as mine were.”
“I understand,” Eric said. “Will you still be in the room?”
Hugh nodded after a moment. “I’ll be right there,” he said, gesturing toward the desk at the far corner of the room.
As if on cue, Linette entered the room, all smiles and cheerfulness. “Are you ready for this, Eric?”
Eric took a deep breath and told himself he could do it.
An hour later, he no longer thought that.
“It’s not working,” he muttered, red in the face, panting hard. He felt beyond frustrated, beyond turned on, and very, very hot. The blanket he had over his lap didn’t help, either. The dildo inside him was moving fast and hard, and Linette was all but shoving the vials with different pheromones against his nose, but Eric was still unable to come, his arousal having plateaued at a frustratingly high level. “I need—I need—” He looked at Hugh pleadingly, breathing hard as he gyrated his hips under the blanket.