Because I Want To - Grace R. Duncan Page 0,2

needed.

Once he got back upstairs, he set the plate and a bottle of water onto the bedside table. “I have work until nine. I’ll need to stop at my place for clothes, but I should be able to be back around nine thirty. You should be okay until then, I think, right? When can you take the pill form next?”

“About four.” Adam sat up and peered at the alarm clock next to the bed. “And yeah, the injectable should last beyond the nine or so hours you’ll be gone. You don’t mind coming back?” Adam didn’t quite look at him, and Matt buried the exasperation at Adam’s behavior and the uncertainty it showed.

Matt had never once shied away from helping Adam through his heat—regardless of the reasons—but Adam still hesitated every damned time. He could never figure out why, but his best guess had something to do with the shift in hormones during Adam’s heat. It was the only thing that made sense, since Adam didn’t seem hesitant the rest of the time.

Matt shook his head as he pulled his socks on. “Duh? Of course not. I took my Desin earlier, so I’ll be fine. Be good and get rest while you can.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “I’m not a kid.”

“Could have fooled me.” Matt dodged the pillow Adam threw, then focused on putting on his shoes.

“You are so not funny. Or cute.”

Matt grinned and picked up the pillow. “What do you mean? I’m a regular comedy genius!” His grin widened at the huff Adam gave in response. “Do you need anything else?”

Adam shook his head as he took the pillow Matt held out. “Get lost. You’ll be late.”

“Yeah, yeah. See you.” Matt waved, then closed the door behind him and let his mind wander—voluntarily this time—as he went down the stairs and out through the front door. He tried not to think about wanting to kiss Adam goodbye. Adam wouldn’t want it, not outside of his heat, because it was way too much lover and not nearly enough friend.

Sometimes Matt couldn’t let go of the annoyance at his alpha nature. His best friend was an omega, which meant taking two forms of Sepelocycline—injectable for the immediate, and pill form for longer-term management—balancing heats, and being looked down on in society. That last one wasn’t as bad where they were—some areas in the US and some other countries were horrible—but bad enough.

Matt, on the other hand, was an alpha. Still problematic to a point, but not as bad as it was for omegas. He took his own form of heat medication—the Desinocycline, also in two forms—but it wasn’t nearly as necessary as it was for Adam. He didn’t have to suppress his nature like Adam did because their society didn’t blame him if he was affected by omega pheromones.

Omegas were the ones most often held responsible if an alpha couldn’t stop themselves from attacking the omega. If the omega didn’t take their medication or stay in their homes and away from others when they were in heat, they were blamed. Matt understood to a point. If an alpha didn’t take their suppressant, it went beyond difficult to almost impossible to stay away from an omega in heat.

Matt didn’t like it, though, and never thought it was fair, especially since there was a medication for alphas to help them control their own nature. Shouldn’t alphas be responsible for their behavior? It wasn’t like the meds were expensive or hard to come by. All an alpha needed to do was provide proof of their status as an alpha—not difficult, considering it was a designation on their driver’s license or state ID—and they could get the drug from any number of places.

Shaking his head, Matt tried to push the thoughts off, but he couldn’t quite manage it. They came up every month lately. Every time he helped Adam through another heat, his mind brought up the same worries.

If Adam had an alpha bite him, the heats would no longer be an issue. Anytime during sex—not just during heat, but at any point during the month—an alpha could bite an omega on the back of the neck, binding them. The only person affected by his pheromones at that point would be the alpha that marked him. But for reasons Matt wasn’t entirely clear on, Adam refused to be bitten.

Biting did cause one problem: whoever bit Adam was the only person Adam could ever have sex with again. Even if that alpha left the omega, there