“Good morning,” I said quietly when Payton forced an eye open and peered up at me.

“Morning…” he mumbled. “Did you sleep at all?”

“I did, actually. Pretty well too,” I told him, and smiled a little. “How did you sleep?”

“Better than in ages…” he mumbled and stretched his body. “I haven’t slept in a real bed in a while…”

“I could get used to this,” I muttered, and sighed. “Are you feeling better now?”

He shrugged and sighed. “I don’t know… At least I don’t feel like crying anymore.”

“Same. My eyes hurt.”

“My head hurts,” he said. “I hope Derek will be all right.”

“Same,” I murmured. “Kent is probably really mad at him…”

“He had to be pissed. Derek hit him right in the face.”

“Like he deserved,” I muttered with a snort. “At least we don’t have to see his face again.”

“Yeah… But what are we going to do now? We only have two more nights in this room,” he asked.

“Well, first we need a good breakfast, but then we should go talk to the homeless society,” I said.

“If they’ll talk to us…” he mumbled.

“Yeah…”

He nodded a few times, then snuggled closer to me. “Five more minutes, though…”

I laughed lightly and hugged him. “Sure…”

We had a lazy morning. We stayed in bed for a while, just snoozing away and enjoying the soft bed and the warm covers. After we finally got too hungry to stay in bed for longer, we realized we had an actual shower at our disposal. We both spent almost thirty minutes just enjoying the refreshing water, but then we were ready to go find something to eat. We still had almost fifty bucks left, so we decided to go buy the biggest sub sandwiches we could find. And sodas. They were so large we couldn’t eat even half of them, so we put them in our mini fridge to save them for later.

Then we headed to the closest homeless society facility we knew of.

I was nervous when we approached a small building at the edge of the old part of the city. It was one of the meeting places where the government workers visited people in need almost daily. They’d bring food and clothes and other items people had donated, and if someone was sick or injured, they’d ask a doctor to drop by as well. I’d also heard they sometimes had cheap little apartments to offer, but those usually went to elderly people who couldn’t live on the streets anymore.

But we weren’t really counting on the government workers. We were here to see if we could talk to the lead figures in the homeless community itself, because they could help us way better than the government.

There were a lot of people hanging out around the building. Many of them gave us curious glances, but some seemed to recognize us and gave us the all-too-famous stink eye. I tried to ignore them and focused on searching for anyone I recognized. I didn’t really have much luck, so we entered the building.

The place was pretty much just one big hall with tables, chairs and even couches here and there, but there were also a dozen or more small offices at the back.

There were quite a lot of people present, and I quickly spotted the reason for it: the government workers were there, and they had brought food. There was a huge line of people with their small bags ready to get their share. Everyone waited for their turn in excitement. One of the workers was chatting with a group of people by the offices, listening carefully and writing down notes on his small notepad, and another one was helping an older woman to fill up some kind of a form.

I could almost feel the hope in the air. Like this place was made of dreams that could very well come true. The atmosphere was so different from what I was used to in our clan. These people were excitedly waiting to get their lives back in order.

Maybe… if I’d never met Kent, I would’ve had a much happier, easier life in this society instead. It was the sad kind of funny, really… I’d never regretted joining Kent’s clan instead of staying with the homeless…

Not until now.

“This way,” I told Payton when I finally spotted an older man I recognized.

He was talking to another two men further away from the largest crowd. Benjamin was his name. I didn’t know him personally, but he was such a large figure in the homeless society that everyone knew him.

The men spotted us when we approached them. Benjamin turned to say a few words to the others, who nodded and entered one of the offices. Benjamin himself turned back to us and pursed his lips together into a stern line.

“I’m afraid we can’t allow you two into our facilities at the moment,” he told us before we even reached him.

There was no point in lying to this man.

“No, please, we’re no longer in the clan. We didn’t want to have anything to do with the raid,” I begged.

“Rules are rules,” he said almost apologetically. “And you are Kent’s mate.”

“I’m not! I don’t want to have anything to do with that bastard,” I spoke angrily, but tried to keep my voice down. I knew I was getting looks already.

Benjamin raised his hands in a calming manner. “It doesn’t matter. Rules are rules.”

“Please,” Payton spoke up, stepping between us. “We don’t have anywhere else to go. We are staying in a hotel, but we can only afford two more nights. Then we’re on our own.”

“Look,” Benjamin said and sighed. “I hate to have to turn you away. Believe me. But rules,” he said to Payton, then turned to me, “are rules.”

This time, both Payton and I both stayed silent. I could hardly breathe. We had nowhere to go…

“You know how this works,” he continued quietly. “Your clan broke the rules, and now you must suffer the consequences. All of you. And those are very hard consequences. No one in this city will help you. All clans are now on their blacklist, and you are well known around here. If I now help you, all of us will end up on that list, too.”

“We didn’t want to have anything to do with that raid,” I whispered.

“Yet, the rules apply to you, too,” he said gently. “I’m sorry, but maybe you two should leave their territory. Out there, someone else will help you, but here…” he trailed off, shaking his head.

“It’s even worse for our kind out there,” I said.

He spread his hands. “I’m sorry. Unless you can get your names cleared, there’s nothing I can do.”

Atticus…

“Well maybe we’ll do just that,” I said.

“Then you’d be welcomed into our areas again,” he said.

I nodded. “Thanks…”

“Be careful,” he told us when I grabbed Payton’s hand and started leading him to the door.

“They’re really just not going to help…?” Payton whispered once we were outside and heading back to the hotel.

“It’s not really a surprise…” I mumbled. “If you piss off the mafia, the consequences are harsh. But we have to try to clear our names. Maybe Atticus would be willing to help.”

Payton suddenly stopped, so I turned around. He looked scared again.

“You’re not making me… sleep with him?” he asked timidly.

“What? Of course not! Why would you think that?” I asked in shock.

“I… I don’t know… I don’t know what to think or what to believe right now…” he mumbled, looking like he was about to cry again.

“Hey…” I breathed out and put my hands on his shoulders. “You can trust me. I will make sure we’ll be fine, okay? We’ll just go talk to Atticus and… I don’t know… I don’t think they would do anything to us…”

“But you heard that man… Rules are rules,” Payton said. “When the mafia sets their rules, they won’t change them for anyone.”

“We can still try to talk to them, yeah?” I said softly. “Also, can we keep going… My heat is getting so much worse…”

The cramps were already starting… I could feel them burning in my stomach.

“Yes, sorry, of course,” he said, and we continued walking.

“Thanks… But Atticus knew we were looters, and he still was friendly to us. I think we can talk to him. See what he has to say, yeah?”

“Yeah…” he said quietly. “I hope it’ll be fine…”

But he clearly didn’t believe things would be fine.

“We will be all right,” I told him. “I promise. Once my heat is over, we go find Atticus. He seems like a kind man. I’m sure he’ll help us.”

“Sure…”

I stopped trying to convince him. He was scared, so I understood him. I was scared, too, but at that very moment, I was getting more and more distracted by my heat. I was getting really uncomfortable now… My temperature was rising, and the cramps were making me a little sick already.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped to buy painkillers from a drugstore. I hated to waste our money on them, but the cramps would get so intense I’d pass out without them.

I knew… I knew something was wrong with me. This intense pain wasn’t normal, nor was the fact that I couldn’t get pregnant. But I didn’t want to think about it. What could I even do about it? Nothing. I couldn’t afford any treatments. I was lucky to afford the painkillers this time. Besides, it had been like this ever since my first heat three years ago. I was just… I just had to deal with it.

It was only two days, anyway…

By the time we got back to our hotel, I was feeling weaker and sicker. Payton told me to go lie down while he went to get me a glass of water so I could take my painkillers. After he got me my water, I took two pills and washed them down. The cold water made me feel a little better for a short moment, but then the nauseated feeling ruined it.

“You just rest now, okay?” he told me soothingly. “I’ll go open the window and bring you something cold.”

“Thanks,” I murmured, trying to make myself comfortable.

At least we had a proper bed this time… That cheered me up a little. The cool air from outside and a water bottle Payton brought me helped a little as well. My temperature was still on the rise, so I kept rolling the bottle against my warming body. My muscles were starting to ache, and the areas where my pheromone glands located – shoulders, wrists, and my private area – were getting painfully swollen.

And my omega was restless. It was still able to stay calm, but I knew it would annoy the crap out of me later. But at least it wasn’t calling to Kent this time… I was actually really happy about that, because honestly, I was more willing to go find that guy who vomited all over my shoes and let him fuck me before I let Kent even touch me.

“Ugh…”

I wished I had a guy to sleep with… Heats were so much more bearable with an alpha taking care of me and my omega… Sex eased the cramps better than any painkillers did as well. Maybe one day I’d find my true mate… My true alpha… Maybe these heats would be much, much better with my true mate… I really hoped so… They were so painful…

But now I just had to endure it.