We could’ve had a leg up on the Richards’. It stung but he let it wash over him. Nothing he didn’t already know himself. He found himself thinking of ... Theo. Even with the perfume, he still smelled like the alpha. That unique smell that clung to him. Strong. He thought of the way he kissed him.

Theo’s fingers and how they curled around his wrists. How it felt to be simply touched. It was the light at the end of the dark tunnel of the day. It didn’t only surprise him when Tim had started to mouth off about Theo and there was a sudden burst of anger from the omega. His fist had already connected to Tim’s jaw before both had realized what had happened. Only blessing had been they weren’t in the diner when it happened. Only in the parking lot. 

It was a drag out fight. Tim beat the shit out of him because he had thrown the first punch and Leland ... Leland was beating the shit out of Tim for what? Bad mouthing the rival wollf pack’s leader? No, it had to be something else that made him want to beat the every-loving-fuck out of Tim. Something he said. It took his own brother and two others to pull them apart. Tim’s nose was broken and he was spitting blood. 

Leland’s lip was bloody and he’d have a nice shiner in the morning. Walk it the fuck off, they had said. Fine, he’d walk it off. Fuck Tim and fuck Nicole. He walked it off. Just his feet had carried him back to Theo’s where he knocked on the door and waited. His hands slipped in his jeans. 

He had no fucking clue why he had decided to come back to the other alpha. A strange pull brought him. A connection. It had to be the after effects of the heat. Spending an entire week naked in bed, only leaving to get showers and eat, did that. Hell, it had been the first time Leland had ever done that. 

And it wasn’t like he could fucking talk to Ace about this. He waited a second longer and then sighed heavily. He was being stupid. Theo wasn’t even at home. 

His tongue clicked against his cheek and he breathed a soft laugh. This was stupid. He turned to turn around and walk away. Theo wasnt going to be home and why would the alpha even open the door to him? A Mitchell’s omega who he got what he wanted out of over the course of a week.

It abandoned him to the familiar ache that came to him once a week, every month, since he was thirteen. It made him shudder and it made his head roar. Almost brought him to tears. A hormonal mess that turned the well-known and laid back Leland Bradbury into something close to a psychopath. Luckily, he had taken the week off. But, that only had meant the diner would be spared his wrath. No one else would who crossed his path.

Cramps had been the most horrible of all the feelings combined. It started in his lower back and radiated outward. A slow spiral that felt more like someone had dug a corkscrew into his kidneys and never stopped twisting the fucking thing. Red Lake offered some relief. 

The cool waters contrasted to the humid air. It had soothed the annoyance. For now. The cramps still didn’t go away as he laid out on the towel on his front. Pressure against his stomach relieved the pain. Even if it had been a brief time. 

He had stared at his phone for an hour and weighed the issues with what he had thought about would bring. Fuck. He winced and bit his lip. Fuck it. He reached out and pulled the phone close to him. Leland scrolled through his contacts until he found the name he had been looking for in the long list:

LIL’ LANE [ 6:48 PM ]: Red Lake. Care package would be nice about now. Extra strength.

Nicole would be dealing with her own heat. Patrick would be to. In the state he was in, Leland thought it was pretty fucked up that all three of them basically had their heats on the same week. Mother nature could go choke on something. He cringed at the message; hitting send before he chickened out. Oh, it hurt to move as he forced himself to stand up. Leland moved into the water, went under to feel the weightlessness over take him completely.