Page 17 of Bubblegum Pop
“It does not work like that,” he said, his finger tapping the desk twice, as if the great Michael Farringdon was actually annoyed. “We have a procedure here, and that procedure must be followed to the letter.”
He paused, giving me space to reply, but I wanted to know what he meant. If there was a way to manipulate the procedure, then I needed all the details. I looked at him expectedly, and he nodded again, pulling back his aura completely.
“As I was saying. Geno will assign an older omega to teach you heat etiquette. He’ll do a blood test every two days so we can determine when to send you on to Knottinghill Spa. The guests will purchase you from Monday to Friday, though the winners will be aware that your heat could begin at any time. Most don’t work on the weekends, so we leave those free for them to arrive as they wish. First heats are always the hardest, so we will give you a softer room; a larger bed, more space for a temporary nest, padded floors and walls, and closer to the kitchens for supplies. We’ll also have betas stationed within the room for your comfort and protection. They will take care of you in your lulls, your down periods where you require more attention, though that also depends on how attentive the pack who buys you is. And the Deus pack, along with other security guards from the Club Heat team, will be outside the room should anything… hmm… extreme happen.”
“What? Why can’t someone else do it?” I didn’t want them listening to me fucking for longer than necessary. They’d already had to put up with three weeks of it. It was bad enough having them stand outside my boudoir every night for hours while I serviced guests in the private room assigned to me. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for days, for them or me.
“Because I know they will be extra attentive, won’t they?” Michael said, glancing over my shoulder.
I twisted in my seat to look at them, their bodies tense. Tight lips, scowls, standing tall, even though I was sure their hearts were hurting like mine. Because a slimy feeling was sinking into me as I realised this was really happening, growing like thick, black tar in my stomach.
“Yes, sir.” Apollo nodded with a firm look in his eye.
“Very good,” Michael said as I turned back to him. “Once your heat has passed, you’ll be offered post-heat treatment. Depending on the pack that buys you, you may need extra care once they leave. We will bring in a starter pack, who can assist with physical and emotional aftercare. The starter packs are best for handling more sensitive situations, especially first heats, so it will give you the opportunity to adjust as you transition from your heat.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask why my alphas couldn’t be the ones to help me through it, but I was sure they would hate it even more than guarding me. Even so, I still wanted to fight it. Maybe I’d signed a contract, and maybe I’d have to fuck paying alphas every night, but we could find a way to be together. I was sure of it. It could be outside my working hours, where I didn’t have to be Candy of Knottinghill. I could be myself with them, with nothing else to stand in our way.
“Unless the betas call for help, no one else is allowed inside the room,” Michael continued. “Bite play is absolutely forbidden during a heat. It’s our responsibility to keep you safe, so if there is even a hint they may bite you, we will take action. Any biting outside of a heat will result in severe consequences. I will not go into details, but you may ask Geno or any other hosts for more information.”
I’d already heard the stories from the older omegas, though I couldn’t tell if they were true. Even though some of the hosts and guards Michael picked up were dangerous enough to be in prison, there was no way he would do anything to hurt us. We were his precious hosts, after all.
“With that in mind, please spend some time thinking about your nest requirements so the warehouse staff can begin organising. Though, obviously your nest is your own, I do advise you take the guests’ tastes into consideration. You’ll be provided with information on the guest pack before your heat begins.”
He paused, watching me, as if he was waiting for me to say it.
I took in a quick breath, the effect of his aura still rattling through me. “I just don’t understand why they can’t buy me for the heat.”
Michael’s shoulders stiffened, his mouth a thin line of displeasure. Though he didn’t use his aura, my back went up all the same.
“Because there is not a chance the Deus pack will be able to afford you.”
On the one hand, I was proud that Michael thought I could earn so much money from my heat. I always thought Stevie was going to make five hundred quid, and I'd get a twenty tip. If someone like Michael thought I could earn a lot, then it must be tens of thousands.
On the other hand, I was sure we could work out some kind of loan or payment plan. I held back my laugh, realising how ridiculous I sounded, trying to find out if there was a payment plan for my pussy. I wondered how many people had those kinds of thoughts.
“I’m a busy man, Candy; I don’t have time for any more questions. I merely brought you here to confirm what I was already quite sure of. So, thank you.” He pushed his chair back from his desk. “Please take some time to review the information sheet and see Geno for any of your more practical questions.”
I looked down at the bullet-pointed list again before I rose, turning to meet my scent matches. All three of them had different levels of despair, and it beat in me, too. Apollo’s apologetic face, Odin’s hard glare, his scarred eye making his anger appear even more violent, and Zeus, who looked close to exploding at Michael.
There had to be a way out of this. We just needed to think. We had to talk, agree that we wanted this, and then promise to try whatever we could to be together.
Apollo
“Seriously though, did you see the way she squirted when you shoved her face on your cock? Fucking omegas, man.”
The young alphas’ laughs were sharp in the wide corridor, the plush carpet hiding their steps as three of them shoved each other out of the door of Candy’s heat suite. They were too fucked up on booze, drugs, and slick to be able to sense the pure storm beating from me and Odin.
Their suits fell off their shoulders, and they stumbled everywhere, their faces glazed with bliss—these were the young bastards who had bought Candy for her first heat.
“Just keep it together,” Bones said under his breath. He was another alpha guarding Candy’s room for her heat. The three of us stood against the wall to their right as the young alphas passed.
Four days of listening to them. Four days of non-stop sex as Zeus, Odin, and I grew more exhausted, constantly fighting the urge to burst in there and tear them apart. Though the walls were sound-proofed, it didn’t stop their voices from travelling through the thick door my pack guarded religiously.
It was hell.
Two weeks after her meeting with Michael, her blood work showed she was close, and so we drove over three hours out of London into the countryside where Knottinghill Spa lay nestled in the hills. Though Odin and I were silent for the journey, Zeus and Candy chatted away like she wasn’t about to be trapped in a room with four alphas for four days with no real breaks.
The Spa was a luxury resort filled with everything packs could need, especially heat suites, which were huge apartments designed specifically for omegas to go through heat and to accommodate the alphas who bought them.