The Bully Alpha's Fake Alpha Mate (BL)-Chapter 50: DESPERATE CALL

ASHER

I barely made it back to my dorm, my legs were shaking so badly I had to lean against the wall in the hallway. My vision kept blurring at the edges and the heat coursing through my body was so intense I thought I might combust right there in the corridor.

The worst part was that Reed’s words kept playing on repeat in my head.

I’m going to find you, I’m going to pin you down, and I’m going to fuck you until my body is satisfied.

Run.

I fumbled with my key card. It slipped from my sweaty fingers once, twice, before I managed to get the door open.

The second I was inside, I collapsed against the closed door and slid down to the floor.

My whole body was burning, sweat soaked through my clothes and there was a pain starting deep in my abdomen. Dull and manageable for now but growing stronger by the hour.

The heat was coming faster than it should.

I pulled out my phone with trembling hands and scrolled through my contacts.

Mom.

I stared at her name for a long moment.

I hadn’t called her in weeks. I had avoided it and had told myself she had enough to worry about without adding my failures to the list but I was out of options and without her right now, I am not sure I would survive it so I hit the call, and it rang three times before she answered.

"Asher?" Her voice was warm, concerned, laced in them. "Sweetheart, is everything okay?"

The sound of her voice broke something in me.

"Mom." My voice came out choked and broken. "Mom, I need help."

"What’s wrong, baby? What happened?" She asked, worrying evident in her voice.

"The pills." I was struggling to breathe properly. Each word felt like it was being dragged from my chest. "The pills Ms. Chen gave me, they’re all gone and the heat is coming. Tomorrow night is the full moon, and I am going into heat, mim."

There was a harsh intake of breath on the other end. "Oh god. Asher, no."

"I need more suppressants. Please, can you send me more? Overnight them? Anything?"

"Asher..." My mom’s voice fractured. "Sweetheart, even if I could get them today, even if I sent them right now, they wouldn’t arrive in time. Tomorrow is less than twenty-four hours away."

"There has to be something." Tears were burning in my eyes, and spilling over. "Please, Mom, there has to be something you can do. I know I am risking a lot by telling you this, but mum please you have to do something for me."

"I can’t, baby." She was crying now too. I could hear it in her voice. The way it shook. The way she tried to swallow the sob. "Baby, I can’t get them to you in time. Even if I drove through the night, even if I left right now, I wouldn’t make it before the full moon rises."

The words hit me like a physical blow. I was out of time, and now I was done for. I should have known this day would come that everything, all cells and organs in my body would give up on me. I should have prepared for this but right now, I had nothing, and I didn’t know what to do.

"Then what do I do?" I whispered. "Mom, what do I do?"

"You run." Her voice was firm despite the tears. "When the heat hits, when the Alphas start to smell it, you run. You keep running. You find somewhere to hide until it passes."

"I-I can’t."

"Yes, you can—" 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"No, Mom, I can’t." My voice rose. Panic was clawing at my throat, making it hard to speak, and hard to think. "My body is already failing. I can barely walk. The heat is burning me from the inside out, and there’s pain starting. Right here." I pressed my hand to my abdomen. "It’s getting worse every hour and tomorrow, when the full moon rises, when the heat peaks..."

I stopped, swallowed hard against the bile rising in my throat.

"The pain is going to get worse," I continued quietly. "So much worse. Ms. Chen told me. She said peak heat would be agony especially since I have been suppressing my heat right from time with those suppressants. The heat is finally coming without suppressants holding it tight, it’s coming in full force mum, Mom and I won’t be able to run. I’ll be too weak, too hot, and in too much pain."

"Asher—"

"And there’s an Alpha." The words tumbled out before I could stop them. "There’s an Alpha who’s going into rut tomorrow night at the same time as my heat because my heat is triggering his rut and he’s... Mom, he’s fixated on me. His body has decided I’m his to claim and he told me he’s going to hunt me down."

Tears were pouring out of my eyes now, nonstop and my mom was silent for a long moment.

"An Alpha in rut," she said quietly. Each word is careful and measured like she was trying to stay calm. "During your first heat. Asher, that’s—"

"Deadly. I know." I wiped at my eyes with the back of my hand. The tears kept coming anyway. "If he catches me, if he claims me while I’m in heat and he’s in rut, I could die. The bonding could kill me or he could hurt me or—"

I couldn’t finish the sentence.

"I’m so sorry," I said. My voice broke completely. Shattered into pieces. "I’m so sorry, Mom. I tried... I really tried so hard to make this work, to hide what I am, to survive here but I failed. I failed you."

"No, baby." My mom’s voice was fierce. "No, Asher, you didn’t fail me. You haven’t failed anyone."

"I did. You worked so hard to get me those suppressants. You spent so much money. You risked so much and I wasted it all. I should have been more careful. I should have—"

"Stop." The command in her voice made me go quiet. "Stop blaming yourself for this. You did everything right. You were careful. You took every precaution. This isn’t your fault."

"But—"

"This is my fault." Her voice broke completely. I could hear her crying now. "I’m your mother, I’m supposed to protect you. I’m supposed to take care of you and instead, I sent you into danger. I let you go to that Academy full of Alphas. I put my baby in harm’s way because I thought... I thought if you could just hide long enough, if you could just survive..."

She was sobbing now, the sound tore through me worse than any physical pain could.

"I should be the one taking care of you," she continued through the tears. "Not the other way around. Not making you risk your life. Not endangering you like this. I’m the failure here, Asher, not you. It was never you."

"Mom, don’t—"

"I love you so much." Her voice was raw, broken, and destroyed. "You’re my baby, my only child and I’m supposed to protect you but I can’t. I can’t get to you in time. I can’t save you from what’s coming, and I..." She stopped, took a shuddering breath that I could hear crackling through the phone.

"Promise me something," she said.

"Anything."

"Promise me you’ll fight. When the heat hits. When that Alpha comes for you. Promise me you’ll do everything you can to survive."

"Mom—"

"Promise me, Asher."

Tears were streaming down my face. Soaking my shirt. "I promise."

"And if you can’t run, if you can’t fight, if there’s no other choice..." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Find somewhere safe. Lock yourself in, and ride it out. The heat will pass eventually. It has to."

"What if it doesn’t? What if I can’t survive it alone?"

"You will." But she sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as me. "You’re strong. You’re so strong, baby. Stronger than I ever was. You’ll survive this. You have to."

We were both crying now. The phone line filled with the sound of our broken breathing. Our sobs, and our fear.

"I should go," I said finally. "I need to... I need to figure out what to do and where to go."

"Okay." My mom’s voice was thick. Heavy. Drowning in tears. "Okay, sweetheart but Asher?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you so much more than anything in this world and no matter what happens tomorrow, no matter what... you’re my son, and I’m so proud of you."

The words destroyed me.

"I love you too, Mom," I whispered. "I’m sorry for everything."

"Don’t be sorry, just survive. Please, baby. Just survive."

"I’ll try."

"That’s all I can ask."

We stayed on the line for another moment. Neither of us wanting to hang up. Neither of us ready to say goodbye because it felt like goodbye amd it felt final.

"Farewell," I said finally, the word caught in my throat. "I’ll... I’ll call you after when it’s over."

"You better." She tried to laugh but it came out broken and mangled. "You better call me, Asher Graham or I’ll drive up there and drag you home myself."

"I will, I promise."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

I ended the call then I sat there on the floor of my dorm, my phone still clutched in my hand, and sobbed.

My mom couldn’t save me. The suppressants wouldn’t arrive in time and tomorrow night, when the full moon rose and my heat peaked, I was going to be alone. Alone and in agony with an Alpha in rut hunting me down. I was so fucked.

The pain in my abdomen pulsed again, stronger this time, a warning of what was coming.

Tomorrow night, the pain would be unbearable. The heat would consume me and I would be too weak to run, too desperate to fight and Reed Jackson would find me, he would pin me down and then he would claim me whether I survived it or not.

I pulled my knees to my chest and rocked back and forth, trying to breathe through the panic, through the pain and through the fear that was threatening to swallow me whole.

One more day before everything ended. One more day before I found out if I was strong enough to survive this, or if the heat would kill me before Reed even got the chance.