The rest of that day was just as unbearable as I thought it would be. I stayed most of the time in bed, trying to relax, while Payton did his best to help me get through it. He didn’t say it even once, but I could tell he was concerned. We both knew heats weren’t supposed to get so bad I could barely even walk. His heats barely affected him, after all. Maybe I should’ve gone to see a doctor, but I didn’t want to waste the little money we had. Tomorrow I would feel a little better already. I just had to get through this night.

Late that evening, my cramps reached their full potential. I lied still under the covers, shivering hard like I had a high fever. Payton was right next to me, carefully curled against me. His hand moved slowly on my lower stomach, and that little touch seemed to ease my pain a little. I was also really cold, so his warmth gave me comfort.

It felt like someone was holding my insides, slowly crushing them. I was so nauseated that if I moved just a little, I almost threw up. I felt so incredibly weak… I wanted to cry out my pain, but moving wasn’t an option. I just had to keep breathing and try to focus on Payton’s gentle presence. His omega was awake as well. I knew that because every once in a while, he let out a tiny little whimper. They both were in distress because of me and my omega. My omega appreciated their closeness and stayed surprisingly calm. The faint but soothing scent of their pheromones helped as well.

And I was so goddamn grateful for this room. The shower and toilet and the fridge and food and fresh water to drink… So… Even though my heat was just as horrible as ever, I wasn’t that miserable. I did get some sleep too, and that was mostly thanks to Payton’s pheromones that drugged me just enough that I was able to relax.

In the morning, I felt like shit, but the cramps seemed to have calmed down a little. At least enough that I was able to use the toilet, take a shower, and have a small breakfast. After that, I retreated back under my covers and made myself comfortable.

We spent most of the day watching TV now that we had an opportunity for it. I couldn’t even remember the last time I watched TV… I had no idea what was going on in the shows, but it was entertaining, nonetheless. And later that day, when I finally stopped feeling so nauseated, Payton was brave enough to get us some snacks and sodas from the nearby store all by himself. He was so brave… He was scared to go out alone because it seemed like we had now more enemies than ever, and I could tell he was worried about our future, but he chose to focus on helping me feel better. I loved him for that.

But I also knew I couldn’t just stay in bed the entire day. His worries were my worries, and we only had this room for one more night. The homeless society wasn’t going to help us unless we managed to clear our names with the mafia, so we had to go find someone who could help us.

So… When the sun started to set, I took a few painkillers, showered the day’s worth of sweat off my skin, combed my hair, and put on my best outfit. I also spend a long moment trying to hide my scent so I wouldn’t draw too much attention. I put a few layers of skin tape over my pheromone glands, then rubbed a little bit of deodorant on those tapes. A little uncomfortable, especially in my crotch area, but it was a simple and cheap trick to hide the fact that I was in heat.

Payton wasn’t a big fan of me leaving the bed so soon, but he also understood we didn’t have much time in our hands, so he mostly tried not to hover over me like a concerned mother hen.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I told Payton when we walked down the street to the mafia’s bar. “I’m much better now. The painkillers are finally working.”

Well, they were working a little, so technically, it wasn’t a lie. And truthfully, compared to the horrid cramps last night, I was feeling much better.

He gave me a suspicious glance. “We shouldn’t be going out at all while you’re in heat. You’re drawing a lot of attention from alphas.”

“It’ll be fine. They basically have to press their nose against my glands to smell my pheromones under all the tape I used,” I said reassuringly. “Trust me, this trick has never failed me.”

“You should never say such things so confidently,” he told me in a scolding manner.

I waved my hand dismissively. “It’ll be fine. Look, we’re almost there.”

Payton turned his attention to the large building up ahead, and for some reason, he turned pale. I frowned at his fearful look and stopped him.

“Hey…?”

He glanced at me. “I’m… I’m fine… It’s just that… Do we have to ask for Atticus specifically?”

His voice was quite high pitched…

“Of course not, if you don’t want to,” I said, stepping in front of him. “You’re still afraid of him?”

He shifted his weight from leg to leg, and he didn’t really want to look at me. Finally, he let out a breath and shook his head. “Not him, I guess… I just can’t forget what Kent… What he said still makes me so uncomfortable… And that Atticus… I know that’s exactly what he wants from me, too…”

“I promise you, you don’t have to sleep with him. You don’t even have to talk to him. And if it makes you feel better, we don’t have to ask him. I’m sure there’s plenty of people who can help us,” I told him reassuringly.

“If you don’t mind…? I’d rather not… I don’t know if I want to talk to him… He was so… intense…” he mumbled.

“Then we’ll ask for someone else,” I promised. “We just have to clear our name and we can go back to the homeless society. We don’t have to deal with mafiosos at all after this.”

That seemed to cheer him up a little, and he gave me a smile, but it vanished as soon as we turned to face the bar again.

“I guess it’ll be fine…” Payton muttered.

“We don’t really have many options… Unless we leave this city,” I said quietly.

“It’s way worse out there. We can’t even leave the state,” Payton said. “Terrorists are too afraid of the army and the mafia to really come here…”

“Yeah…” I said with a slow nod. “So…?”

He let out a deeper breath and straightened his posture. “Let’s go. I’ll try to be brave.”

I smiled at him. “That’s the spirit. Besides, mafiosos are fine. You saw them last time. When that dude vomited on my shoes, they made sure we’re all right.”

He nodded and relaxed a bit. “True… And Atticus wanted to pay to have your shoes cleaned.”

“Exactly,” I told him, smiling wider. “We’ll be fine.”

“Yeah…” he murmured.

“Come. I could really sit down for a moment,” I told him.

“Sure,” he said.

A moment later, we reached the bar, and the bouncers at the door spent a moment measuring us from head to toe, but let us enter the bar. I wondered if they could really remember us, but then I realized they probably knew me. Because of Kent. Because apparently everyone in this city knew me as his mate, which I was not. We never made such a commitment. We were just dating.

Or he was just having his fun with me because he knew I couldn’t get pregnant…

I tossed that thought out of my head when we made our way deeper into the bar. Payton walked so close to me I had to be careful not to knock him over with my big bones. We got many glances, and it was hard to tell if those looks were friendly or not. At least no one came to throw us out.

But there weren’t that many mafiosos present. If there were, they weren’t dressed in their fancy suits and expensive jewelry. I did spot a few older men at the back, deep in their conversation, and I sure didn’t have enough courage to go bother them.

I turned to Payton. He, too, had spotted the same small group, and he gave me a timid glance.

“Maybe we should get something to drink and wait until they’re finished?” I asked him.

“Y-yeah,” he said.

“Sodas, right? It’s cheap,” I asked.

“Yeah.”

The bartender lady gave us the same up and down look when we approached her, but she chose to serve us, even if she recognized us.

“What can I get you?” she asked with a friendly smile.

“Just cokes, please,” I said.

“Sure thing,” she said, and grabbed a few glasses. “That’ll be six dollars.”

“Let me pay for that,” someone said behind us, and both Payton and I turned around to see a young alpha standing there with a few of his friends.

“Oh, uh… Thanks,” I said, and smiled politely, but the guy had already turned to Payton.

“So, enjoying your night out?” he asked.

“Y-yeah,” Payton said timidly. “Though we just got here, so…”

“Right, right… We just got here as well,” the guy said. “I’m Dennis. These are my friends, Nick and Mark.”

“Payton, and this is Joni.”

“Here’s your sodas,” the bartender said, and Dennis paid for them.

“So? Would you like some company?” he asked us once we had our drinks.

“Uh…” Payton turned to me, and I nodded, so he turned back to Dennis. “Sure.”

I mean, might as well try to make some friends, right? We really needed friends… And these three seemed all right – for now. I just didn’t really like the way they all kept peering at Payton. They all had set their eyes on him, which was probably going to become a problem. And Payton didn’t like the attention.

“So, you boys having fun?” I asked once we sat down at one of the tables by the window. I tried to keep a smile on my face at all times and act like I was interested in hopes of pulling some of the pressure off Payton.

“Yeah, we were watching the game and since our team sucked, we came here to drown our sorrows instead,” said Nick, the tallest of them.

“Oh? Which game?” I asked.

That kept them talking for a good while, and since all the attention wasn’t on Payton anymore, he was able to relax a little. I watched these guys closely, and even though they had the looks, and my omega wasn’t scared of them, I wasn’t really interested in any of them. And I was in heat. Or maybe I wasn’t interested because I was still in pain and feeling sick. Or maybe because it was clear none of them really cared about my existence.

But I still tried to give the impression I was interested. I hated it, but… We needed a place to stay, and I much rather accepted any decent alpha as my mate instead of living on the streets with no one to turn to. So, I flirted a little, asked questions, and listened carefully when they spoke. Every now and then, I glanced around the bar, searching for the mafia men, but if someone stepped in, they quickly disappeared somewhere in the upper floors or to the backrooms.