Three days, a large box of condoms, and countless knottings. I left before Reid had a chance to wake up and we could discuss the events. I had missed a day of work while tending to his rut cycle. Calling in sick, though, that would crumble the minute Doctor Connell and my coworkers caught the scent oozing from my skin. His pheromone marking. 

I got back to my apartment around three a.m and slept for a few hours before showering and trying to scrub the scent off the best I could. Sitting in the parking lot, I was enjoying my last few moments before heading inside. This morning I answered endless texts from my parents and siblings. I meant to call and fill someone in, but Reid and his unmedicated rut made that impossible. The man fucked me on every surface of his home when we were not eating and sleeping. 

Taking a deep breath and sucking it up. I went inside. Doctor Connell was at the front desk speaking with a nurse. “Did you go into a rut? You never take—-” he took a deep breath “You smell like—-”

“Don’t even say it.” I muttered. My scrubs did little to hide the bites and hickies on my neck. He followed me into my office, the smile on his face aggravating me. 

“So, how did it happen?”

“Doctor Connell—-”

“He really did a good job scent marking you. What did he do? Lick you from head to toe?”

“Close the door, then I’ll tell you.” 

“Good, you should. I had to work overtime and with another doctor from another department. Because you were having the time of your life with that massive Alpha,” he complained, getting up and closing the door. 

“His brother, Oak, called me while I was with my parents at their place for dinner. He was alarmed and concerned about Reid. He said he hadn’t seen him or heard from him and that he figured it was a rut problem, so he sent me the address. I went to check it out, but he and his parents handed me to a dominant Alpha with excessive pheromone disorder. The smell coming off my skin is not because he licked me from head to toe, it’s because he knotted in me several times.”

“You didn’t use condoms?” Doctor Connell asked. 

“He broke through pretty much every single one!” I yelled, my feelings of annoyance and frustration bursting out. 

“Did you spend your entire weekend and yesterday with him?”

“Yes,” I muttered, pulling my doctor’s coat on, and hearing Doctor Connell gasp. “He left a lot of marks,” I sighed. 

“He left many visible bites on you, Sam,” Doctor Connell said, his eyes showing concern. “Did you clean the bites that broke your skin?”

“He licked them and—-”

“Ah, he really scent marked you, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Did he say anything when you left?” he asked. 

“No. He didn’t get the opportunity. I left while he was sleeping early this morning, like three a.m.”

“Sam! You left? Are you nuts? Did his pheromones rot your damned brain?”

“I didn’t have much of a choice,” I hissed. 

“That man is going to hunt you down like a fucked up game of tag. You ran away from a dominant Alpha. If he liked anything about this weekend, you’re screwed.”

I didn’t need to be told this. It was dominant Alpha behaviour. I knew this. If they weren’t the ones to end something, then it was hardly over.

“Why did I agree?” I hissed. 

“Oh well. It happened. Hopefully, it was a decent experience for you,” he said, standing up and heading to the door, pausing. “Hey, I don’t know the last time you yourself had a rut, but don’t be all that surprised when yours hits you in the next little while.”

“It’s been a while. But yes, I know. His rut could stimulate my rut cycle.” I hummed and watched Doctor Connell leave my office. 

Pondering my choices, I did my usual tasks of looking through patient case files, appointments, and lunch. 

I smelled Reid a while sooner than I saw him. Rounding the corner, he was speaking with Doctor Connell. It was far too late to turn around too. 

“Doctor Woods can help you with your problem. He has some free time right now,” Doctor Connell said, looking at me. 

“Right, I have some free—-”

“It’s alright. I can wait. I’ll be here all day,” he said, before turning and leaving. Something about the action made my damn skin crawl. 

“You fucked up big time,” Doctor Connell said. 

“Yeah. I got that.” I muttered. 

On my last break, the phone on my desk rang. I picked it up. 

“Hello, Doctor Woods speaking?”

“Doctor Woods, please find your way to my office. I would like to speak with you,” Reid said, his voice icy. 

“Right now?” I asked stupidly. 

“Yes. Right now.”

“Alright,” I sighed. 

He dial toned me, and I frowned as I set the phone back down. What a jerk move. I was positive he was going to fire me now. Stepping out of my office, I went to the front desk. 

“I have to head over to see Mr Clarke. Please inform Doctor Connell that I stepped away for a moment. Page me if it’s important, hell page me if it’s not.” I groaned. 

“Will do, Doctor Woods.”

I headed across the hospital to the office that Mr Clarke was using. The same one his father used to have. Gritting my teeth. If he fired me, I wasn’t sure where to go from there. His office door was shut, and I could hear him speaking to someone. I was anxious about what he wanted to see me about. 

I wanted to run away. 

Biting back that feeling, I knocked on the door and waited. 

“Come in.”

I opened the door and walked inside.

“Close the door, Samuel.” he said, and the tone of his voice wasn’t pleasant. Closing the door lightly, his office was enormous, and the lights were dimmed. I couldn’t remember how it looked when his dad was the CEO, but I could smell the fresh paint. 

“Come sit down,” he said, gesturing to a chair. 

“Do I have to?”

“If you know what’s good for you, you will.”

That was good enough for me. Dragging my feet, I got to the chair and sat down. I didn’t even want to look at him. 

“What time did you run from my house this morning?” 

“Early.” I mumbled. 

“How early, what time exactly?” he asked. 

“Three a.m.” I said, quietly. 

“Hm.”

“I thought it would be better if—---”

“Doctor Woods, it would be better if you closed your mouth.”

I was shocked for a moment, before his words really sank in. I clenched my teeth and decided not to argue with him. He stood up and chuckled. “I’m surprised, Samuel. You’re doing such a good job, not telling me off. Even though you hate my kind, right?”

He walked around the side of the desk and reached out, his fingers brushing my cheek. “Did you sleep well after you ran away?”

“No.” I answered honestly. 

“Shame.”

“That’s a word for it.” I muttered. 

He moved the side of jacket out of the way and hummed looking at the bite. “You pissed me off this morning, Samuel.”

“Sorry?”

“Did you regret helping me this weekend in my rut?”

“Why are you making this complicated?” I snapped, and my pheromones flooded the air. He wrapped his hand around my throat and used his thumb to tilt my head to the side. He knelt down and his nose brushed my skin as he took in my pheromone again. 

“I would like you to let go of me, Mr Clarke.”

“I wasn’t Mr Clarke when I was driving my cock into you and made you whine for more.”

I crossed my arms, pissed off again. 

“That’s it, Samuel. Get mad at me. It makes your pheromones so dark and rich. Gives the coffee scent such depth.”

He moved behind me and tipped my head back. Our eyes met and if I thought he looked at me with hunger while he was rutting, this was worse. 

“Reid. This is inappropriate.”

“And? You’re wearing my scent like cologne. Everyone is already aware of the things we’ve done.”

“I don’t sleep with coworkers, or my boss.”

“That’s a lie now,” Reid said, using the thumb on his free hand to brush my bottom lip.

“I have no interest in this happening again.” I lied through my teeth. 

“Why must you lie to me, Samuel?” 

“Do you have any idea what workplace harassment is?” I hissed. 

That got his attention, and his pheromones wrapped around me. He was pissed, but he let go of my throat and dropped his voice to a growl. “I’ll see you when your done working, at four, and we can have a conversation over dinner.”

He moved away from me and sat behind his desk again, looking at me. I stood up, and he called my name. “One last thing. We dominant Alphas are stubborn when we want something, Samuel.” 

Leaving his office, Doctor Connell’s husband was leaving his office too, paperwork in his hands, and paused. He sniffed the air and frowned. 

“Doctor Woods?” 

“Yes?”

“Reid is in his office?”

“Yes.” I hissed, my voice full of attitude, and Mr Connell’s pheromones spiked. He was another damned dominant Alpha. “Have a good day.” I muttered before leaving. I chewed on the tip of my thumb the entire time I walked back to my department. 

“Take your thumb out of your mouth,” Doctor Connell scolded me, and I shot him my middle finger. 

“Quick fuck wasn’t good enough to get rid of your poor attitude?”

“I’m going to give you attitude, like I did to your husband.” 

“Sam! Why must you always pick on my poor husband?” Doctor Connell whined. 

“Pick on him? I don’t. He was bothering me. He clearly picked up on Reid’s scent on my body and asked me about him. I’m too pissed right now to speak about the massive, dominant jerk.” I groaned. 

“You should be glad he likes you,” he chuckled. 

“Reid or your husband?”

“Haha, probably both.”

“Reid said we can talk about everything that happened over dinner. I’m not going. I don’t have the patience to behave wisely.”

“Why do you want to learn the hard way?” Doctor Connell sighed. 

“If he just listened, then I wouldn’t have to learn, anyway. If he would understand that, only this once meant a single time.”

“I told you. Dominant Alpha’s only end things on their terms. They are a stubborn lot.”

I sighed, leaving Doctor Connell at the front desk. I had actual work to do still.