1

The day I presented as an omega, I caught my boyfriend cheating.

Then my first heat hit early.

With no suppressants left, I had only one person to ask for help: Adrian Holt—my infuriatingly perfect alpha roommate.

“Do you have a suppressant?”

Adrian glanced at my tear-streaked face.

“Actually,” he said slowly, “I’m out.”

Desperate, I made him an offer neither of us could take back.

“Then bite me. Just a temporary mark.”

What I didn’t know was that Adrian had plenty of suppressants.

And nothing about the way he wanted me was temporary.

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I kept my head down, my ears burning.

Of all the people who could have seen me like this, it had to be Adrian Holt—my roommate, my rival, and the one man who never missed a chance to make fun of me.

Worse, I had to beg him for help.

I risked a glance up. Adrian had just come back from the gym. His charcoal compression shirt clung to his shoulders, and gray sweats sat low on his hips.

I looked away so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.

Then I swallowed.

The sound seemed deafening in our silent room.

A quiet laugh came from above me.

Adrian stepped closer and tipped my chin up with two fingers. His expression was lazy, but something tight hid beneath it.

“Don’t you have a boyfriend?” he asked. “Why are you asking me?”

His skin carried the sharp, dark scent of bitter orange.

So that was what his pheromones smelled like.

Until this morning, I had been a beta. I had lived twenty years without knowing what anyone’s scent meant. Now one breath of Adrian made heat roll through me.

I took another before I could stop myself.

That was a mistake.

An elite alpha’s pheromones were gasoline to a newly presented omega’s heat. My knees weakened. I caught Adrian’s wrist and pressed my cheek into his palm like a cat searching for warmth.

His hand went still.

“Jamie.” His voice came out rough. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

He sounded angry.

Panic cut through the haze. If he left, I would be alone in the dorm without medicine or a mark. I looked up at him and tried to smile.

“I don’t have a boyfriend anymore. I dumped that jerk.”

Adrian’s face changed.

His gaze settled on my swollen eyes, and his voice turned cold for a different reason.

“What happened?” he asked. “Did he hurt you?”