Killian scrolled through the text from the agency as he walked up the apartment stairs, making sure he had the names of his next clients right. Randy and Jamie, an Alpha and Omega pair looking for a third. It’d been a while since he’d had a session with a couple, but they were always great—it was fun to jump into already constructed chemistry.

His optimism lasted until the apartment door swung open, an emaciated Omega blinking at Killian nervously from the other side.

“Oh. Hi,” the Omega—Jamie, if Killian’s information was correct—chirped. There was a noise from behind Jamie, and then a massive Alpha appeared at his shoulder, dark eyes sweeping over Killian suspiciously.

Killian smiled affably, used to all sorts of reactions, even though alarm bells were ringing in his head. “Hey. Jamie and Randy, right?”

Jamie twitched a little. “Uhm, yeah.”

“Killian,” he introduced himself.

There was an awkward moment as they all stared at each other. “Oh, my God, sorry, come in,” Jamie stuttered.

Killian shrugged easily, shuffling into the apartment. “Shoes off?”

“Uhm,” Jamie glanced at Randy. “Yeah, please. Do you want a drink or something? We have, like, a lot of tea. And juice. And stuff to make smoothies. And we have food if you’re hungry?”

“Would love a glass of water. Thanks.” It always set the hosts at ease to accept a drink, even if Killian would leave it untouched.

Randy put one of his big hands on Jamie’s shoulder, tilting his head down so his dark hair swept over his forehead. “I’ll get it.”

Jamie smiled at him, and Killian watched the small moment of connection between the couple, something easing inside him. Jamie definitely looked…unwell. Sunken cheeks, brown, messy hair limp, clothes hanging off him—but it didn’t necessarily mean Randy was to blame.

God, if this was a make-a-wish situation, Killian was out. No matter how fucking good the two of them smelt—how good the combination of their scents was, filling the whole house richly, even though the Alpha’s scent was clearly stronger.

Jamie wrung his hands together, guiding Killian into the living room. Killian sat in the stuffed chair, sensing that a bit of distance between himself and the couple wasn’t a bad thing right now.

Randy returned with the promised glass of water, and Killian took it with a “Thanks,” pretending to take a sip. Not that he thought he was going to be drugged, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

Randy sat beside Jamie on the couch, taking his hand and giving him a small smile. The look seemed to calm Jamie down, his shoulders slumping slightly.

Killian placed his drink on the table and leaned back, body language open and easy. “Nice apartment you’ve got here. Greenpoint nice?” he asked even though he’d been there plenty.

Jamie straightened. “Oh, thanks. Yeah, we really like it.”

“How long have you guys been here?”

“Uhm…” Jamie looked at Randy. “Since we mated, so…like three years now. Wow, damn. Has it been that long?”

“You don’t remember how long we’ve been mated?” Randy teased.

Jamie rolled his eyes. “Shut up, like I could forget. The ceremony was big enough.” He turned to Killian. “Overbearing parents. Mine, not his.”

“They’re fine. They just…like to be involved,” Randy said diplomatically.

“Over-involved. Anyway, sorry. Uhm. Fuck, sorry, this is our first time doing this.”

Killian waved him off. “First time for everything, right? You guys are cute together.” Killian winked, laying it on a little thick. Sometimes it was good to just fit a role, to seem familiar—it put the clients at ease, gave them a script to read off.

“Thanks.” Jamie laughed. “We like to think so. Obviously, I do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to bringing the cuteness into this relationship, but Randy tries.”

Randy snorted incredulously but didn’t say anything, looking at Killian steadily, clearly still not at ease.

“I dunno,” Killian drawled, “he seems like the romantic type.”

Jamie poked his tongue out at Randy cheekily. “Damn, you’ve got him pegged.”

Killian didn’t react to the word ‘pegged’, for which he deserved an award. “So, you’ve never done this before. Wanna tell me a little bit about what you’re looking for?”

Immediately, the couple sobered as if Killian had asked them how much debt they had or something. Jamie cleared his throat, taking the lead. “So, uhm. This is probably unusual…I mean, I actually don’t know what’s usual in your line of work, but…”

“You’d be surprised, but go on.”

“Uhm, so. I, uhm. I have a condition. It’s called hyperhitastia. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it?”

Killian frowned, shaking his head and sitting up a little.

“So my body, like, the hormones that regulate heats, they’re totally out of whack. I get a heat every two weeks, and they’re…intense. I can’t, uhm…sorry, you’d think I’d be used to talking about this by now, what with all the doctors’ appointments.”

“Hey, it’s cool. Take your time. I mean, even what you’ve just said sounds rough as hell. Twice a month? Shit.” Usually, Omegas had a heat once every two months, and a lot of people took suppressants to make it even less.

“Yeah. It’s. I mean, if they were normal heats, maybe it’d be fine. But. They…I can’t really be without a, uhm, a knot. It just…I can’t sleep, barely eat. It lasts four days at least.”

“Fuck. I’m sorry.” No wonder he was so gaunt, the scent of him so faint.

“Yeah. So. I mean, we’ve tried everything. Every treatment, suppressants, heat aids, it just…it just doesn’t work. But, uhm, there’s a new treatment that seems promising, but I would need to get my immune system up for it—would have to put on weight, all that shit—and I just…can’t. So it’s a catch twenty-two, if you see what I mean.”

“Right. Yeah, shit, that sucks.”

“Yeah. So. Uhm. We thought we’d try…I mean, if there was another Alpha, you know, during my heat…”

Killian nodded slowly, looking from Jamie to Randy, who was tense as fuck, glaring down at the floor darkly. “Okay. I mean…I guess I just have to be blunt here. It’s not typically easy for a mated pair to invite someone not in their relationship into a heat—or a rut, for that matter. I don’t want to get sliced to ribbons if you, Randy, I mean, can’t take it.”

Randy lifted his head up at that, broad jaw ticking under his skin. “It was my idea. I can do it.”

“Okay. I mean, you look like you hate the thought of it, so. You were sent my limits, man. No injury allowed. I gotta know I’m not in danger here.”

Randy shook his head, very obviously relaxing his body. “I…I understand your concern, I really do, but…this disorder has been hell. Watching Jamie…I’d do anything. And I know how heats can be, but I know I’d never do anything to harm you, just on the basis that it’d harm Jamie.”

Jamie jumped in, “We totally get that this is probably not your usual thing, and we’d totally understand if you didn’t want to take us on as…”

“Clients,” Killian filled in for him.

“Right, clients. But, we would never put someone in this position if we thought they’d get hurt.”

Killian took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He certainly hadn’t been expecting this when he woke up today, but, well…it almost took him back to the simpler days when he was just helping Omegas through heats. “Okay. Yeah, I mean, if you’re sure, I’m good.”

They both looked a little startled. “Really?” Jamie asked.

“Yeah, for sure. I mean, not to sound like an asshole, but I’ve got a lot of experience with getting people through heats, so I’m good with that side of it.”

“Right, we thought the best thing would be to get a professional, you know? Instead of some rando from Tinder.”

Killian snorted. “Uh, yeah. That seems like a disaster in the making. So, do you have an idea when your next heat is?”

“Yeah, it should be in eight days. They’re shit but pretty regular. We’d try to always give you at least three days’ notice but, uhm…if there’s an emergency, we might need you to come in pretty quickly? We’d pay you double, obviously, to make up for any inconveniences.”

“Oh, right. Yeah, that shouldn’t be a problem. I can warn my regulars that something like that might happen, avoid any problems. I guess the only thing I would suggest is that we see each other at least once before your heat? Not to have sex, necessarily, but at least to scent mark a little.”

Killian hummed in understanding, one of his hands rising, thumb brushing across the blush that still lingered on Jamie’s cheeks. “He gives you what you need, huh?”

“Yeah.” Jamie half sighed.

Killian looked at Randy, making sure his stare wasn’t threatening, wasn’t even teasing. He couldn’t imagine what it must be like, watching your mate go through heat after heat and not being able to help, not completely. Killian wanted them to know that he didn’t think it meant Randy wasn’t enough—that Killian was here because Randy had failed somehow.

The mere fact that Randy was willing to invite Killian into their relationship was enough to show how much the Alpha cared.

He truly loved his mate.