“Fucking dominant Alpha’s I tell you.” I groaned, heading into the living room. 

“What about us?” My middle brother Alec said, looking away from where my mother, my father, his bonded mate, and Bay’s bonded mate were playing board games. 

“You all are a bag of dicks.” I hissed. Before flopping down on the couch. My father looked at me and gave me a look. “Bad day son?” He asked.

“A dominant Alpha gave me a pheromone dump, then a patient blasted me. Then the same dominant Alpha and his out-of-control pheromones pushed me over the edge into pheromone sickness.” 

“What need did he have to pheromone dump you?” My father said, an edge to his voice, and a cinnamon scent filling the room. My mother reached over and rubbed his arm, the cinnamon scent fading out a bit. 

“Is because he’s a dominant Alpha jerk acceptable?” I muttered. 

“Sam, not all of us are jerks.” Alec hissed. The scent of chocolate slamming into the room. 

“Tone down the pheromones, jerk.” I hissed. Tapping him on the back with my foot. 

“Says the one who is—-”

“Enough you two.” My mother said, cutting Alec off, crossing her arms. Showing her dislike for the behaviours we both were showing. 

“He started it.” Alec said. “If he was such a baby, he wouldn’t—----”

“Mother said enough. That means you too, Alec. Tuck your damaged Alpha ego away and behave.” Bay said, coming to the room with a towel in his hands. “Sit up. Let me dry your damn hair before you get sick.”

Sitting up, Bay dropped the towel on my head. He dried my hair with the towel. “You really need to look after yourself better, Samuel. How are you supposed to get a partner like this?”

“You assume I want one.” I hummed. 

“Surely you don’t want to spend every single one of your ruts alone.” Bay said, and his eyes were scolding me. 

“I don’t have a problem being alone.” I muttered. 

Bay’s bonded mate Damien gave me a soft frown from the floor where he was sitting. Bay and he both tried to introduce me to their friends, but I wasn’t interested in that. Damien stood up and came over, touching my hair, and taking the towel from Bay and really roughing me up with the towel. Bay took his spot at the game. 

“I think it’s dry.” I said.

“Probably not.” He said, roughing me up again. Damien was not like Alec’s partner. Damien was a recessive Omega and way more aggressive than Alec’s wife Jasmine, a dominant Omega. Both of their bonded partners treated me like a child. 

“Bay, restrain your lover he’s going to—---” Damien put me in a headlock. And bitched me out. “When will you properly look after yourself? You can’t be alone forever, Sam. Damn it, just let us find someone for you. Even a friend.”

He let me go, and Jasmine gave me a soft smile, rubbing her tiny baby bump. I was excited for them to be parents finally. 

“Sam, come help me with dinner.” Mom said, and Damien took her spot. I followed her to the kitchen. She started taking plates down. “Set the table, please.”

“Ok.” I took the plates and set the table, grabbing cutlery and setting it down too. Cups, napkins and drink pitchers were next. Last was the food. Mom called everyone to the table, and dad dished out the food. Salad and chicken. 

Small conversation carried on while we ate dinner. After dinner, mom fed us all dessert and made us all watch movies. At one, I headed to my room. Bumping into Alec on the way to bed. “Hey, be careful brat.”

“Yeah. Sorry. I’m exhausted.”

“I don’t know who he is, Sam, but his scent is invasive.”

“Huh?”

“Your coat. I went to the car to grab something, and I picked up on an odd pheromone. Coconut and lime. That’s from the Alpha that dumped his pheromones on you, isn’t it?”

“Don’t be noisy.” I groaned. 

“I’m not. I’m being protective of my little—--”

“Can it, Alec! He’s my damn boss’s boss. There is nothing more to it than that.” I said, heading to my childhood room. 

“I’m serious Samuel. His scent is heavy and I don’t like it.”

“Of course you don’t. You’re another dominant Alpha. His scent is offensive to you.”

“Sam. Not offensive. Dangerous.” Alec hissed. 

“Only thing I get from his scent is that he smells like the tropics and when he’s angry, the lime is spicy.” I hummed, walking into my room and closing the door in Alec’s face. “Good night Alec.”

“Goodnight Sam.”

Setting my phone on the nightstand, I was glad that even after the remodel of my childhood room, mom left the nightlight. Or I might have walked into the end of the bed. Yanking back the covers, I peeled the sweater off and tossed it onto the chair. Climbing to the bed, I relaxed and pulled the blankets back up and over me. Closing my eyes, I listened to the sounds of the house before I passed out. 

My phone blared out a horrid ringing. I reached for it on the nightstand, knocking it on the floor, and had to move to get it. I reached down and grabbed it. Answering it. 

“Hello?”

“Doctor Woods?”

“Yes.” I muttered. 

“It’s Oak Clarke. My brother Reid might be in medical trouble.”

“Huh?”

“He was supposed to pick me up when they discharged me this morning at eight. That was two hours ago. He sent a driver to pick me up and wasn’t answering his phone. He isn’t like that. He’s going to kill me for this, but he has some issues with his rut cycle—--”

“Hold on. Let me get up.”

“Did I wake you?” 

“Yes, but it’s fine. I’m going to set you down for a moment. In that time, send me the address.” I set the phone down and pulled my sweater back on. Bringing the phone back to my ear, it vibrated with a text. “I got your message. Tell me about his rut cycle issues.”

“Reid has really rough rut cycles. He refuses to see a doctor about them, and chews back suppressants like candy. Our parents are deeply worried about him, and now this.”

“Is there a possibility he is just busy?” I asked, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling a hand through my hair. 

“No. He would have sent me a message or something, not just send a driver. I’m telling you, something is wrong.”

“Call the medical—-”

“He might hurt someone. Doctor Woods, I called you because I am positive this is related to his rut cycle.”

“Alright. Give me a bit to wake up, and I’ll come see if he’s alright.”

“Thank you!” Oak said, hanging up the phone, and I dropped it on the bed before laying back and groaning loudly. I didn’t want to deal with that Alpha. Let alone that Alpha in a rut. Tucking my stuff back into my pockets, I sluggishly made my way to the kitchen.

 “Work stuff?” Bay asked, holding out a cup of coffee. 

“Huh?” I muttered, taking the cup and taking a drink. “Maybe. The patient I was dealing with yesterday, he said there is something up with his brother, and—--”

“Is that the one whose scent is all over your coat?” Alec said, frowning. 

“The brother, yes. He is also my boss’s boss, the CEO of my hospital.” I groaned. 

“What will you do?” Bay asked. 

“I’m going to make sure that his brother is fine, then I’m heading back here or home to go back to sleep.”

“I don’t like this, Samuel.” Alec said. Crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes on me. 

“Yeah. That’s nice. I’m going to make sure he’s fine. That’s it.”

Slamming back the coffee, I dropped the cup in the sink, and Bay gave me an apple. 

“Apple a day keeps the doctor away.” He hummed. And I took the apple from him.

“Hilarious.” I said, grabbing my coat and putting my shoes on. “I’ll be back in a bit, or I’ll call and update you.”

Dad was outside on the front porch. “Duty call?”

“Something like that. I’ll be back shortly.” I said, pulling out my keys and unlocking my car. I set the apple and coat on my seat and checked the address. I hooked my phone to the car and punched in the address because I had no clue where the hell it was. But that was to be expected. The entire Clarke family was far richer than me. 

Backing out of the driveway, the normal sized houses and multifamily houses turned into mega houses the closer I got. Pulling into the driveway, it was long, and split off into a few different houses. Oak came running from a charcoal grey house, and there were few other people there too, but they stayed by the front door. I rolled down the window. 

“Hi! Thank you. You can just park your car right here. The driveway is wide enough that anyone will be able to get by,” He said. 

I shut my car off and rolled up the window before getting out, and grabbing my phone, slipping it into my pocket. “Still no word from your brother?”

“No. Not a single one.”

“Alright. Sorry about coming dressed like this, I was—--”

“Please, you’re fine. You’re doing us a great favour.” Oak said, leading me back to the house. His father, and someone else, who I assumed was his mother, was standing there. 

“Doctor Woods, thank you for coming on such short notice.” The former CEO said, the worry clear on his aging face. 

“No worries. I don’t mind helping. Want to give me some more information about what I’m walking into?” I asked. 

“Reid said he was feeling unwell last night, and we haven’t heard from him at all this morning. His ruts are aggressive. He chews back regular pills like candy, and they don’t completely suppress the rut symptoms.” His mother said. 

She unlocked the door with the spare key. “We would check on him, but he gets terribly aggressive, even with us. It’s part of the reason he won’t get a bonded partner.” She said, opening the door. 

“So, is he going to attack me?” I asked. 

“We hope not. But we can’t promise he won’t. But that’s why I called you. You’re trained in this,” Oak said, giving me a thumbs up. 

“Alright. I’ll see what I can do. I can’t promise anything.” I said, heading inside the house, and pulling out my phone to use the flashlight to see in the dark. Of course, not one of them followed me inside. Reid was definitely in a rut. His scent was intoxicatingly strong, the closer I seemed to get to him. I could taste it in the air, heavily. 

This was so out of my damn pay grade.