Maddox shrugged. “Nothing. You three just seem a little subdued.”
“Well, we’re not. In fact, we have some chores to do, right Colt?”
“Right,” he said, following me to get our coats.
It was dark outside by the time we all settled in the living room after another delicious meal cooked by David, with Ben’s help this time. Something about him cooking for me turned me on, and I sat trying to deal with the hard-on that gave me while I ate pot roast and listened to Maddox talk about the calves we sold at auction last fall.
After the meal, Maddox and David excused themselves to take the baby on a walk in his stroller, and Colt, Ben, Laura, and I gathered in the living room.
“Okay, Ben, let’s talk about you.” Laura said, sitting down on the couch beside him.
“Yes, ma’am,” Ben said. Gods, he was damned cute. Maybe Colt and I should’ve excused ourselves to let him talk to her alone, but I wanted to be there to make sure he was healthy, and I was sure Colt did, too. We were already beginning to think of him as ours.
“Tell me how you’ve been. Do you feel any different since you ran out of the heat-suppressants I gave you?”
“Um, not really. They did give me a kind of medicated feeling for a couple of hours after taking them. I feel pretty good these days.”
“Not at all like you might be about to go into heat?” Laura prompted.
Ben shook his head.
“Do you get aroused at all?”
Ben blushed.
“I’m sorry, Ben. I’m just trying to make an evaluation,” Laura said. “It’s odd that you haven’t started your heats again. Something must be preventing it, and I have an idea what. But I want to rule out that the suppressants altered you in some way.”
As much as I wanted to stay, I didn’t want to make Ben uncomfortable. “Maybe Colt and I should—”
“Don’t go. Either of you. Stay with me. Please?” Ben asked.
I could tell Colt was as surprised as I was at the entreaty.
“Of course, if that’s what you want,” he said, and we both settled back in our chairs.
“I…do get aroused,” Ben quietly told Laura.
“How often?” Laura asked.
“It depends.”
“On what?” Laura asked.
Ben bit his bottom lip. “On Angus and Colt. If they…say certain things, or act a certain way, it…” He looked down at his lap.
“It causes a physical reaction?” Laura finished for him, and he nodded. “What sort of things do they do or say that make you feel that way?”
“When they use their alpha voices,” Ben said quietly.
Speaking of physical reactions.I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
“Is that bad?” Ben asked. “Did I do something that caused my heats not to come back?”
“No, not at all,” Laura said. “Everything that’s happening to you is quite natural.” She looked at me, and I could read her like a book. I gave her a small nod.
“Ben. I believe you have bonded with Angus, and because you live with him, he’s somehow keeping your heats at bay, although I’m not sure why he’s not having the opposite reaction and throwing you into one. I’m also not sure why he hasn’t gone into rut, since he obviously bonded with you months ago, at least partially.” She took a deep breath and continued, “At the risk of sounding like a broken record because I feel like I am always saying this—very little is known about alpha/omega relationships. This is all new territory. According to what we do know, Ben is definitely showing the normal signs of an omega who’s bonded with his alpha. It’s like he just skipped the heat part.”
Ben looked upset, and I couldn’t stand that.