For a full work week, Reid and I didn’t bump into each other. Not that I had time. I was booked solid with appointments and surgeries. Now was not the time for my rut to decide to rear its head, but here I was. Medicated, mad, and at work. Grabbing my complete case files, I brought them to the front desk and set them down. 

Doctor Connell snagged me by the arm and took me to the exam room. 

“Sit.”

“I don’t have time.” I snapped, drugging my hand through my hair. 

“Samuel, sit. Let me just make sure the suppressant is working for you.”

Annoyed, I sat on the table, and Doctor Connell took my temperature and huffed. 

“Your temperature has gone up again. Any higher and I’ll have to send you home,” he said, setting the thermometer down, and checking my glands. He pressed on my throat, and I hated it. I clenched my teeth, and his hands moved to my shoulders and he checked those glands too, avoiding the still healing bite marks. 

“I told you his rut would stimulate yours. I’m going to get you an ice pack, take your break now, go lay down in the overnight room. Then, after the meeting with Reid this afternoon, I’m sending you home.” 

“I’m fine. I just need to distract myself with work.”

 “I swear you are—-I have to take this, go lay down for a bit.” 

I waited until Doctor Connell was gone before I left the room, yanking on my scrub top. I was overheating. I dropped my coat in my office while doing patient rounds. The nurse working the front desk stopped me and passed me a cup. 

“Doctor Connell said to bring you a cup of ice chips to chew on, so you stay hydrated and bring down your temperature.”

I took the cup back with me to my office and chewed on the ice while doing paperwork. I could hear the office printer being used, and it was driving me nuts. The sound was getting on my nerves. Getting up, I walked to the front desk and yanked the plug out of the wall. 

“Doctor Woods, how are we supposed to get our paperwork?” A nurse said. The annoyance on her face clearly. 

“Use the printer in Doctor Connell’s office. That bloody fucking sound is getting on every single—--”

“Samuel. I told you to go lay down, not bother the front desk about the printer.” Doctor Connell said, as he entered the department again. “Let’s go, grab your department binder. We have a meeting with the CEO.” 

Grabbing my binder from my office, I followed behind Doctor Connell to the meeting room. Reid joined us a few minutes later. He frowned when he looked at me. 

“Good afternoon, Doctor Connell, Doctor Woods,” he said, his eyes scanning me. “Doctor Woods, if you’re unwell, you should have called in sick.”

“Thank you, but I’m fine.”

“Today, we will touch base on the department funds and the things you need from me. I sent a memo to the department printer. You have it, yes?”

“No, we do not. Doctor Woods yanked the printer cord out of the wall.” Doctor Connell said. 

“The sound was getting on my freaking nerves. I unplugged it, that’s it.” I snapped, grabbing the collar of my scrubs, pulling it away from my skin and shaking it. Trying to get some cold air down there. 

“Doctor Woods, are you alright?” Reid asked. 

“Fine.” I hissed. 

“Doctor Woods is going through a rut cycle.” 

“I see. That is likely my fault. Doctor Woods, please see yourself home.”

“I have work to do.” I bitched. 

“You are unwell. Work can wait.” Reid said. 

“Like hell it can. I will be up to my eyebrows when I return. I’m just fine.” 

By the end of the meeting, I was really overheating. “Get up and go home, Samuel. You’re clearly still climbing in temperature and need to rest,” Doctor Connell said, and crossed his arms. 

“I said I was fine.” 

“Fine, my ass. I can see the sweat shine on your skin from here, and you’re twitchy. You need to go home and rest. Mr Clarke, I have to return to patient rounds for Samuel and I both. But please see he gets home, or out to his car at the least.”

Doctor Connell left the room, and Reid crossed his arms, looking at me. “You should have stayed home, Samuel.”

“There is no need for that.”

“Come here.”

“No, I have work to do.”

Reid got up and came to me, his hand sliding down the collar of my scrubs. He clicked his tongue and yanked me to my feet. “Get your things. I’m taking you home. You’re in no condition to work like this.”

“I’d rather have something to distract me from this,” I hissed, and moved Reid’s free hand to between my legs. I was hard, and his scent really wasn’t helping that. 

“Samuel,” he hissed, and yanked his hand away. “I’m taking you home. We just have to stop by my office first. Go grab your things.”

Leaving the meeting room, I went and grabbed my coat and bag. Doctor Connell was watching me with wonder. “Are you going home?” 

“Yes.” 

“Good. Go rest.”

Following Reid to his office, this rut annoyed me, even more so because it was causing me to leave work when I was busy. I sat on the couch in Reid’s office, in the far corner, while he got his things together. While I waited for him, I stretched out on that couch, setting my things on the floor. 

“I have to take care of a few things before I can leave. Stay here.” Reid said, before leaving his office. 

The leather was cool on my skin, but the big difference was the room temperature was way colder. I stretched my arms above my head and tried to get the most couch coverage I could. The door opened, and I didn’t look up, but it wasn’t Reid. The pheromones were different. Yet, familiar.

“Doctor Woods?” Lifting my head, Oak Clarke was coming in. He sniffed the air and paused. “Do you know where Reid is?”

“No.” I huffed, not moving anymore.

“Right. He brushed off our lunch plans, and I wanted to know why, but I see now why,” Oak hummed. “Are you alright?”

“I’m alright—”

“Oak, get out of my fucking office.” Reid snapped, as came back in. He looked at me, and then at Oak. 

“I came to see why you brushed off our lunch plans.” Oak said, crossing his arms. 

“Get out of my office, Oak, now.” 

Reid’s pheromones were filling the room, and it was hard to breathe. His pheromones were making my body respond.

“Ugh! Stop.” I grunted. My body temperature rose again. I felt it. Standing up and leaving the couch, I grabbed my things, and Oak grabbed my arm.

“Doctor Woods, you’re not well. You shouldn’t—-”

Reid rudely yanked me away from Oak. 

“Reid, you’re such a jackass. Don’t yank him like that. I’m not even interested in what your idiot brain is thinking. We are of the same rank. Recessive Alphas. And for fuck’s sake, your scent is enough of a warning!” Oak yelled, clearly not happy with Reid.

“Take me home,” I grunted. Reid was pissed. His pheromone was smothering me. I tucked my face into his throat and breathed in deeply. That coconut scent was fading quickly after being overtaken by coffee, and that was pissing me off. I pressed my nose against his skin, and he quickly moved me. 

“I have to take him to my condo,” Reid said before he looked at me. “I’m taking you to my condo. You can rest there.” 

He left Oak in his office as he grabbed me and my stuff. He yanked me behind him the whole time, and he was freely letting his pheromones go. 

“Stop that. You will make people uncomfortable.” I grunted. 

“It’s better than the scent of your unmedicated rut, Samuel. You’ve burned through the suppressant you were using. I should have taken to my condo first.”

“Home.” I hissed. 

“I can’t. Forgive me Samuel, but I can’t sit with you that long in my car. I want to devour you,” he said, as he stuck me in his car and buckled me in. He didn’t even put his seatbelt on. He turned the car on and pulled out of the space he was parked in, and drove down the road. 

“Waste of gas.” I bitched as he pulled into the parking lot.

“Someone will take advantage of you in this state, if we walk,” he said, as he turned off the car, got out. I unbuckled and got out of the car, shutting it behind me. He grabbed me and tossed me over his shoulder.

“Wait! What are you doing?” I yelled. 

“Quiet, I don’t need my neighbours coming out.”

He took the stairs. 

“I can walk,” I bitched.

“You will draw attention, and I want to limit the time you spend in public like this.” 

He opened the door with his keys and brought me inside. He took me to the bedroom and dropped me on the bed. “Clothing is in the closet, food is in the fridge. Stay here. No one will bother you. Keep the door locked.”

“Where are you going?” I raised my voice at him. 

“Samuel, I need to leave before I’m the one who takes advantage of you while you’re in your rut cycle.” He turned and left the room. 

Standing up, I followed behind him. He was checking the fridge, and placed water bottles inside it. 

“Reid! You did this to me. You fucking stay here and fix it!” 

“Go lay down, Samuel.”

“Don’t you dare leave me like this! It’s your fault.”

“Samuel, if I stay here with you, I’ll fuck you again like before. You clarified it was a onetime thing. I want to respect that.”

“God, are you fucking dense? Fix what you did to me, Reid. I’m telling you to fuck me.” I snapped. Shoving him against the now closed fridge and burying my nose in his throat. I pulled back, only to bite the skin there. 

“Samuel.” 

He tore me off him and dropped me on the couch. “Stay here. I have to go back to the hospital. Take your suppressants, and just mellow out. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

Angrily, I got off the couch, and took one of the water bottles out of the fridge and stomped down to the bedroom where my coat and bag had fallen. I dumped it out on the floor and found the suppressants. Opening the bottle and took a drink before dropping the pill in my mouth and swallowing. 

I was still pissed. I wanted Reid to get back here and fix this. It was his fault.