AUGUST

When Merrik left, he struggled to stay standing. A hand lifted and he covered his mouth at the nauseating smell of Infected permeated his very being. Whoever that had been at the door had held an even stronger scent than even Malakai Charlemagne. The intensity of it, he was realizing, had him wanting to sink to his knees. His head pounded and he groaned from where he leaned against the wall with a single palm. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and he had to take several deep breaths to keep himself from throwing up. 

When he was sure the sensation had passed, he pulled away from the wall and began his exploration. He had heard Merrik lock him in and he didn’t know much of anything yet to attempt escape. So he decided to get to know his surroundings as he went along. 

Merrik’s bedroom was opulent, like the rest of the house but there were obvious signs of being lived in. He moved from the main entrance of the bedroom through the archway that would lead into the master bedroom. The bed was made but the one corner was pulled back slightly and the wrinkles on the bed showed it had been a hasty job. There was a whole wall where an artificial fish tank was being projected. It cast the room in a gentle, rippling blue light. Above the bed, another screen reflected the night sky to a point where he could have sworn there wasn’t a ceiling above his head. And the most obvious of the room was the smell of the Omega. It clung to everything and it had his pulse racing. He eyed the bed but decided to avoid it for now. There was a door on the far wall that he moved towards and when opened, he found himself in a walk-in closet that was further attached to the bathroom. 

He moved towards one of the jackets hanging up and buried his nose into the sleeve before he realized what he was doing. But he also didn’t stop himself. He moved from the jacket and further down the line of clothes, a hand running along the fabric of each one to release more of the stuck on pheromones that might have been there. He could feel them; like electrons against his skin. His belly throbbed. That Omega they had used to trick him and capture him had been his first encounter with one his whole life. To say he would have zero control when it came to Merrik was an understatement. Maybe it was a good thing that they were staying separated for now. At least Merrik’s scent was working to erase the smell of the other from the door. 

He moved into the bathroom, not at all surprised by the opulence here as well. A massive shower that was only a glass divider, a drain on the floor and a rainfall shower head set in the center. There was a gentle gray light to the room from small rectangle windows set high on one wall. The sinks and a mirror were the first things he came to pass in the bathroom and he paused as he saw his reflection. It wasn’t that he had never seen his face before, it was just that he had never cared to. He had been shown what his hair looked like when he got it dyed but he had been looking at his hair, not his face. 

He looked a little pale making the bright colors of his hair stand out. His pink eyes didn’t seem as bright and his hair was a limp mess. He ran a hand through it but it just fell around his head like before. He frowned. He wondered if he could convince the Omega for some hair products. He jerked, as if someone had hit him. What was he thinking? He didn’t plan on staying here.

He tore himself away from the mirror and just as he was about to return to the closet, a voice spoke behind him. 

He whirled around with a yell, stumbling backwards until he tripped over the ottoman and collapsed down onto it. In the mirror, a face he’d never seen before looked down at him with amusement. “Forgive me, August. I didn’t mean to scare you.”