The Artist

Chapter 3

My body shook violently, scaring me with its force. I shivered as I watched the blacked-out Audi pull away from the curb. Panting and stumbling as I hurried to get out of the studio.

“Kita, get me home.” I was feeling the ominous signs of my estrous. I’d be in bad shape within hours. One look at my deteriorating state and Kita was worried. He raced me home as the wave of instinct started to lap up against my core. My body temperature was already rising, flushing my skin with excessive heat.

“Hang in there, Henley we are almost home.” Kita sounded nervous. I never understood that. He wasn’t the one that would be morphing into Mr. Hyde. Kita scooped me up and ran into the house. Heading straight for the little room in the basement, we called the cell. He laid me on the cot and prepared the room. I groaned as my estrous blindsided me. A violent eruption of slick left my sex. Soaking my clothing as it saturated the air. “Henley, what the hell?” Kita froze. There was a pattern to estrous, steps that preceded the full assault. Lasting hours before the peak of estrous fully claimed the body. My body was not following protocol. It was heading straight into the eye of the storm. The slick ran hot and wet as the wave of need scented the small room. It overwhelmed the air, chemically revealing my need for an Alpha. Kita’s eyes locked onto mine, blowing his pupils instantly.

“Fuck!” I moaned, wanting to crawl to him and beg him to end my suffering. Only the tiniest bit of sanity stopped me. “Kita, please go.” I groaned in agony, turning my body away from him before I ruined our symbiotic friendship. The sound of the door slamming shut, and locks clicking securely into place was bittersweet. I writhed and contracted in dismay for hours. Tortured by phantom feelings of my highly volatile kiss with that sadist Alpha clenched me harder than ever before. The feel of his aggression. His dominance, his posturing over me. I wanted that right now. I wanted him to take my misery away and make me feel complete. Dark images of him claiming me roughly and repeatedly filled my mind. Reminding my body, I was in this room alone. Desire mixed with frustration pulled painfully at my core, I suffered. It took three days for my cycle to break. Three days of my body being in consuming misery. Leaving me feeling sore, incomplete, and exhausted. The afternoon of day four, Kita finally opened the door.

“Henley?” He smoothed matted hair away from my face.

“Thank you, Kita.” I smiled, weakly at my safe harbor.

“Let’s get you out of here.” I groaned when he lifted me off the bed; I had ridden out my misery in. He took me into my master bathroom. Setting my naked body into the tub with hot water. “Do you need me to stay?” He asked. I knew he didn’t want to. And for once, I didn’t want him to either.

“No, I’ll call if I need you,” I said, closing my eyes and relaxing into the hot water. The bathroom door clicked shut. Grateful to be out of the manic state of my heat, I exhaled. When I fully recovered, I would have to thank Kita properly. Kita was my first love. I’d fallen for him years ago; from the moment we’d met. Foster families were hard to find. Safe foster families were almost as rare as Omegas. He’d taken a liking to me, caring and protecting me like a brother I never had. I’d hoped that in time he’d see me as a woman, and not a sister. He loved me, just not the way I loved him. I’d never caught his attention. Not even when my estrous peaked and tempted the nearest Alpha. Kita never made a move to rut me. He didn’t know that I would spend those agonizing days thinking about him. But not this time, Kita was not the Alpha that moved my hands to touch myself. The green-eyed Alpha I knew nothing about was. The first man to kiss me with a hungry passion that excited and scared me with this intensity showing me a carnal need I had never known existed. Alexander Castillio was a dangerous Alpha.

When I finally made my way into the kitchen, Kita was waiting for me — clearly worried that I was not out of the woods. I raided the fridge, pulling out some leftovers. Kita watched me for a minute before pushing me towards a seat at the table.

“Thanks, Kita,” I said. I did feel better but weak. I defiantly needed some calories.

“Momo called several times. It seems you missed an appointment with Mr. Castillo.” Kita said, offering me a plate of food.

“Fucking delusional,” I grumbled, shaking my head in disbelief. I was surprised that I even remember what he had said, especially after he’d kissed me. “He informed me we had a video meeting on Friday morning. I didn’t ask for one.” I nibbled on my food. “He thinks I’m going to work for him.”

“You’re not?” Kita asked, surprised.

“Hell no, but he’s never heard the word, and doesn’t understand its meaning.”

“He’s a powerful man Henny, and ruthless. It may be safer to take the job and be done with it.” Kita suggested. The underlying tone I heard was apprehension.

“Are you seriously telling me to cave in and take his shit?” I demanded. Kita didn’t respond. He just sat there, looking at me with a mixture of confusion and frustration — odd emotions for him to be wearing.

“What happened when I left the studio?” He wasn’t asking, he was demanding. I almost choked on my tea, instantly embarrassed and nervous. Knowing dark brown eyes watched me intensely from across the table.

“What do you mean?” I stuttered and squirmed under his accusing inspection even as the heated blush erupted across my cheeks.

“Cut the shit Henley, what happened?” Kita never raised his voice to me. The fact he was doing it now was unnerving and hurtful. I could have lied, but the quilt would have ended me. Kita had always been my safe harbor. How could I repay him with dishonesty? It shouldn’t be this hard to tell him, but it felt like I was confessing to adultery. I hesitated,

stalling for a second, noting Kita’s impatience with me.

“He kissed me.” I meant to look away, but I didn’t.

“He kissed you?” Kita repeated my words. My confession visibly shook him. Brown eyes were looking at me with nameless emotions. I felt like an adulteress, ashamed that I had kissed Alexander back with a ton of enthusiasm. But I was leaving that part out. “Must’ve been a hell of a kiss to send you straight into estrous.” I blushed, embarrassed, and confused by his implication. The fork slipped from my hand.

“What are you saying?” I asked, horrified by his assumption. Even more so of the way, it made me feel.

“You’re an Omega Henley, pure and true. You need an Alpha to claim you. How long do you think you can deny the instinct to mate?” Kita asked. My face grew redder at his question.

“To keep my life and my body free? Forever Kita.” Kita cursed at me, upset by my stubbornness.

“I love you, Henley, you know I do. But he changed you. With one fucking kiss, he changed you.” He yelled at me. Kita never yelled at me. His unusual behavior wounded.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I yelled back.

“Your scent, the scent you tortured me with for fucking days. It’s different this time, potent and dangerous. I came so close to unlocking that door and taking you.” Kita’s explosive confession rocked me, trembling my sore body.

“Kita?” I was speechless, utterly lost for words. I couldn’t understand his meaning any more than he could understand the change in my scent. I stared at him, visibly lost to what was happening. Kita bolted up out of the chair, leaving me sitting here, silent and overcome. I watched him storm out of the house.

Kita had left me. He needed to clear his head. Now that my estrous had passed, and I was safe to be alone, he needed a break. Tired, weak, and beyond confused, I settled down on the couch with my tablet. I needed a distraction to keep me from getting hopeful.

“Hi, Momo.” I smiled at her, happy to see her face on my screen.

“Henley, are you, all right?” The concerned voice of my dear friend tightened my already aching heart.

“I am, damn flu just hit me. I must have caught the bug from someone at the gallery.” I lied, something I was good at.

“You got it pretty bad.” She said, taking in my less than flattering post “flu” appearance.

“I did, it kicked my butt. How’s it going?”

“Umm,” She hesitated, I worried when she did that. “Well, the portrait for the new addition arrived yesterday. Your prints came in, and Mr. Castillo has called every hour since you missed the video conference on Friday.”

“Fucking stalker,” I complained.

“He said if you did not call him by 2 o’clock today, he would be here by 4:00.” Mo’s words chilled me. Danger and panic filled me instantly. I was only a few hours post estrous. He would smell it on me. Alexander barging into my home the way he did in my studio was not going to happen.

“Fine, send me his link, I will deal with him.” I saw Mo’s fingers click away on the keyboard a second before the information pinged on my tablet. “Thanks, Mo. I will be back in the studio on Wednesday for sure.” I ended our session as I got ready to deal with an Alpha that truly worried me. The link was activated, my screen lit up.

“Mr. Castillo, why are you threatening and harassing my staff?” I demanded, not even greeting the bully on the other end of the link.

“Henley, what the hell happened, are youill?” The Alpha demanded, looking at my haggard appearance with worry.

“Yes,” I told him sharply.

“Have you reported to the doctor?”

“No, I have the flu. Why do you continue to harass me?”

“We had a meeting scheduled.” He tried to say it a little more gently as if he would forgive my lack of attendance.

“No, you had a meeting.” I snapped at him. “I didn’t ask for one, and I didn’t intend to keep it,” I told the clueless Alpha.

“I understand the flu, Henley. All you had to do was call and reschedule.” He said. I lost the little control I had left, letting my temper free.

“What the fuck don’t you get? " I asked, “I don’t want to have a meeting with you,” I told him slowly and firmly. “We have nothing to discuss because I am refusing to work for you.” I was to pissed off to care about his dangerous brooding.

“You haven’t even heard my proposal.” His voice was low with an audible warning.

“I don’t need to, because the answer is still no.” The aggressive Alpha hummed with silent rage. It felt like he was in the room next to me. Not hundreds of miles away.

“Disobedience and disrespect are two emotions I simply will not tolerate, Henley. There are severe repercussions for such behavior.” Alexander Castillo threatened.

“Listen to me, Alpha. I’m not yours to order, threatened or discipline. I belong to no one. So, if you need a Beta to abuse, call an escort service. There are plenty of women out there who will gladly bow to take your bullshit. But I’m not one of them. Do not contact me again.” I all but threw my tablet across the room. How one man could piss me off this badly was beyond me. His narrow mindedness and bullshit had me livid, not to mention the fact that he kissed me. Along with Kita’s confession, my exhausted estrous, and this bullish Alpha, I was fried. My mind and body were pulling me apart with feelings I did not understand.