Chapter 104: ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR

NICHOLAS’S POV

Fuck.

I couldn’t sleep.

I’d been lying in bed for what felt like hours, turning from one side to the other and pulling the blanket over myself before throwing it off again.

My body felt strangely restless, and the heat that had been building throughout the evening had become impossible to ignore. I was sweating despite the room being cool, my skin felt too warm, and every few minutes I had to sit up because lying still somehow made everything worse. Even sitting up for a long time only reminded me of the desire rolling through my body.

This wasn’t like my normal heat cycles. And also maybe this was worse especially because I didn’t have any suppressants left.

If anything, I hadn’t expected my cycle to start so abruptly. There had been no warning. Nothing before it suddenly slammed into me like a freight train. This was odd. But even more damning, it was very much uncomfortable.

I checked the time on my phone and sighed when I saw how late it was. The others had gone to their rooms hours ago, and I didn’t want to wake anyone. They had already spent the entire day dealing with enough problems.

Adrian had barely rested since discovering that our father had been following him, and the others were constantly worrying about me. The last thing I wanted was to become another reason for them to stay awake.

For a second, I thought about damning it all and going to their room to tell them what was happening to me.

But after a long, agonising minute of thinking, I decided it wasn’t worth it. I could handle this. I had handled all my heat cycles before this, why would I need to run to them for this one?

This was perfectly in my control.

So I stayed in my room and tried to manage it myself but nothing worked.

Eventually, I got out of bed and went into the bathroom. I turned the shower on and adjusted the temperature until the water was cool enough to make me shiver. Then I stepped underneath it and stood there, letting the water run over me while I tried to calm myself down.

It took a whole damn hour. But I didn’t move from where I stood, trying to distract myself.

The water became the only thing keeping me grounded. Whenever I started feeling too hot or restless, I simply stood there and waited for it to settle. I knew I couldn’t stay under the shower forever, but every time I thought about getting out, I felt worse again.

At some point, my legs began to feel weak and I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes.

I was exhausted. My eyelids felt heavy, and I wanted nothing more than to fall asleep, but I knew sleeping while standing under running water wasn’t safe. Still, I couldn’t seem to make myself move.

It was sometime around midnight when the bathroom door suddenly opened. "Nicholas?"

My eyes opened immediately.

Cassian stood in the doorway, and the expression on his face changed the moment he saw me. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked, crossing the bathroom quickly. "You’ve been in here this whole time?"

I tried to straighten myself. "I’m fine."

"You don’t look fine." Cassian reached for a towel and quickly helped me out of the shower before wrapping it around my shoulders. I was shivering badly by then, and my legs felt unsteady beneath me.

"Come on," he said, supporting me as we walked back toward my bedroom. "You’re going to get sick if you stay in there any longer."

"I didn’t want to wake anyone." I whispered.

Cassian looked at me like he’d just heard the most ridiculous thing imaginable. "You were willing to stand under a shower until midnight because you didn’t want to wake us?"

I didn’t answer as he helped me sit on the edge of my bed and pulled another blanket around me. "What happened?"

"It’s the heat," I admitted quietly. "It’s worse tonight."

Cassian’s expression softened immediately, but before he could say anything else, the bedroom door opened again.

Adrian walked in first, followed by Roman and Elijah. "We heard the shower running," Elijah said, looking between Cassian and me. "It’s been running for hours."

His eyes landed on me, and his expression changed. "Wait. You’ve been in there that entire time?"

"I couldn’t settle down," I admitted.

Elijah immediately looked frustrated with himself. "I knew it, we shouldn’t have left you alone."

"I’m not a child," I said, though my voice came out weaker than I’d intended. "It was just the heat troubling me."

Adrian crossed the room and crouched in front of me, studying my face. "How long have you been feeling like this?"

"Since dinner."

He frowned. "And you didn’t tell anyone?"

I shook my head.

Roman sighed and dragged a hand down his face. "Nicholas, why the hell would you do that?"

"I didn’t want everyone staying awake because of me."

"We’re already awake," Elijah pointed out.

Cassian adjusted the blanket around my shoulders. "And judging by the state you were in when I found you, you needed somebody."

I looked down.

Roman walked toward the controls for the room and adjusted the temperature, making it cooler without turning it into an icebox. Adrian opened the curtains slightly to let some of the night air in, while Elijah brought me another bottle of water.

"Drink," Adrian said, handing it to me.

I took it and drank slowly.

The cool air helped almost immediately. I still felt uncomfortable, but the intensity of desire rolled through me harder.

Oh fuck.

I still couldn’t settle down.

Adrian watched me closely, his expression thoughtful. "How are you feeling now?"

For a second, I really wanted to lie to him and tell him I was fine.

But instead, I found myself saying the truth. "It’s getting worse."

My dick was rock hard in my pants and I could feel the blinding urge to be marked and taken rolling through me.

Adrian’s voice broke through my thoughts. "Fine. Strip."