@acotar-omegaverse-week Day 1: Nesting
Read on Ao3 // BitS Masterlist // Fic Masterlist
Summary: After having just moved into the Forest House weeks before the wedding, Feyre finds herself in a strange predicament.
OR;
Burning in the Starlight, but make it omegaverse.
AN: Reading what I've posted of Burning in the Starlight is not required, but it will give you background info I haven't repeated in this fic and overall improve your enjoyment of this read. Your choice. The link to the rest of the AU is under the moodboard
This chapter is SFW, but it will probably be the only one.
Chapter I: Little Wolf
Feyre
Feyre was on the brink of insanity. The most frustrating part was she couldn’t even figure out why. All she knew was that in a matter of days since moving into the Forest House she had become extremely tactile. Worse than that, something bordering on a recluse. She knew she couldn’t get away with hiding in her room much longer. Eris had attempted to summon her for dinner two nights in a row and considering how quickly faeries recovered from illness and injury, she wouldn’t be able to maintain her fabricated ailment much longer.
Scowling, Feyre reached to fluff the mountain of pillows behind her. The headboard was the source of her discomfort, it seemed. An obnoxious barrier in completing her… whatever she was building. A fort, after all, required some form of canopy. Before she could reassess the mess of sheets and pillows a sharp knock fell on her door. She gave a growl of frustration. “Tell the High Lord I will not be in attendance this evening.”
“The High Lord is done humoring your obstinate behavior.” Eris’ cold chuckle drifted through the door when she remained silent. “Unless you are truly bedridden and need a doctor, you will dress and join me, Feyre.”
“I don’t know what I need!” she snapped without thinking. But for Cauldron’s sake, having only said a couple dozen words, the male was already driving her crazy. Her business was none of his. It wasn’t as if they were married yet. “Go eat by yourself, Eris. We can swap barbs another night.”
There was a long pause, but no sign of receding footsteps. And for whatever reason she found herself approaching the door, turning the knob. “Just because you made me move into the Forest House doesn’t mean you can…” The door had barely opened to reveal her fiance when it hit her, the scent. Warm and spiced.
And something in her went quiet for a moment. The agitation of the past few mornings retracted so smoothly she found herself shifting forward, eager to catch the heady scent again. Eris' nostrils flared before a slow smirk pulled across his lips. “Well, well. Look at you. How did you hide it from her? How did you hide it for so long, little wolf?”
“Hide what?” she asked, forcing herself to take a large step back into the door so as to not make a fool of herself. Cauldron, that scent.
“You don’t know, do you? This is your first heat.” That was the next marker. A crawling fire under skin, more foreign than the writhing of her new magic had been before Rhys helped her master her gifts. Eris took a few steps into the room. “Poor little omega.” One finger stroked down the side of her flushed cheek, the skating contact only rattling her further. He was cornering her. Why the hell was she letting him? “Locking yourself away, too proud to seek an alpha’s help.”
“Eris…”
“Feyre.”
She let her eyes dart back to her mess of a bed, picturing what he must think of the heap of blankets and pillows she’d collected. “I can put them back. I was just—”
“What else do you need for your nest, little one?”
“My nest?”
Apparently satisfied with where the conversation was turning, Eris backed off, sinking into the oversized chair in the corner opposite her bed. “Did none of the ladies in Winter discuss heat cycles with you?”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re an omega, Feyre, and you’re hours from succumbing to a full heat. Considering it’s your first, it would be particularly brutal without the assistance of an alpha.” She was quiet for a moment, having a better image now of where he imagined this night going. “It’s strange you took so long to present, though better for you. Omegas were no better than entertainment when Amarantha could get her claws in one and drag them down there. If you came into the throne room with that scent on you…”
Feyre shuddered, not wanting to do anymore to imagine what that entertainment may have entailed. Turning back to the bed, she tried to ignore the feeling of his eyes on her, tracking every shuffle of the pillows she’d been hoarding the past few days. A few more meticulous adjustments had everything shifted towards the foot of the massive bed, so the headboard was no longer a nuisance. Now it was just the scent that bothered her.
Or lack thereof. She eyed the jacket Eris had so casually draped over the arm of the chair he occupied. She was going to have to swallow her pride here. Though his focus seemed to have shifted to a letter he was writing at the moment, the small smile on his lips told her that he was well aware of her attention.
“Go ahead, little one.”
Approaching the chair, she gathered the jacket, peering over his shoulder. “Why are you writing to Rhys?”
He sighed, signing off on the letter before it vanished, presumably to find a home on Rhys’ desk. “You’ll need his help when the heat takes you. People make many assumptions about me and I allow it, but even I am not so cruel as to withhold what you need during your heat cycle.”
She took a moment to assess him. Even if she could think up a response to that, she didn’t have the time to say it. It was a mere whisper in the air before she felt the warmth of a familiar body at her back, sea salt and citrus flooding her senses. “Hello, Feyre darling. Don't worry, I won’t count this as your week with me.”
~~~~~
Taglist: @highladysith // @lulling-night-sky // @edgyellie // @stars-and-scripts // @shallyne // @the-lonelybarricade // @darling-archeron // @goddess-aelin // @the-lost-changeling // @faeriequeensuriel // @pandavelaris // @s-uppertime // @elentiya-whitethorn // @acotar-fanns // @jealousveronya // @acourtofwips // @reverie-tales // @gwynkyrie // @corcracrow // @thelovelymadone // @mybestfriendmademe // @lilah-asteria