“Rian? Rian. Rian!”

“Huh?”

“I… I kinda need that chair.”

Rian looked down, his heart sinking as he realized what he was doing. He slowly relaxed his grip on the chair, his cheeks turning red with embarrassment. He did his best to adjust his clothing, refusing to look the other man in the eyes. At least it was another alpha that caught him, and not one of the betas. 

“Sorry.”

“All good, happens to all of us. Guess it's your turn soon.” His coworker chuckled as they patted his back, sitting down at the computer. Rian walked out of the office, covering his face as if it could somehow erase how he had just been caught humping a chair. 

Rian slowly walked down the hallway, trying not to let the echo of his own mortification bounce off the sterile white walls. The building’s faint hum, the buzz of overhead lights, the whirr of aging ventilation, offered little comfort. Every step felt like it carried the weight of a thousand judgments, even though no one but his fellow alpha had seen.

Which made it worse, somehow. Or maybe just a different flavor of bad. 

He pressed a cold hand against the side of his neck, willing the flush to fade. It was no use. The need curled in his gut, a warning, a sign he desperately wanted to ignore. 

It wasn’t here yet, but it was coming. He hadn't felt anything before today, but that's how it always was. He'd be fine one moment, and then the scrunching would start. The lapses in memory. 

Molten gold eyes replacing his blue ones.

“Oh Rian, Ysemna’s on site and looking for ya!” Rian glanced up as one of the girls waved at him, carefully escorting one of the residents back to her room. The girl still looked out of it and Rian nodded, internally grateful. Better to tell her now.

“Where is she?”

“Uh, I think she’s in her office? Katy told me to tell you.”

“And Katy is?”

“She’s in booth 14, alpha just booked the lapper couple.” the girl pointed and Rian waited another breath before he walked by. He kept his steps even, his spine straight, the same way they’d taught them in early training: neutral body language, purposeful movement, no unnecessary lingering. Katy was stepping out of the booth, closing the door just as Rian reached her. 

“Oh Rian, perfect. Ysemna–”

“Is looking for me. Where is she?”

“Before that, can you mark the booth as ready? I had to change my password recently and I don't remember it yet.” Katy pleaded and Rian let out a loud sigh. The beta just looked up at him with puppy eyes, knowing he was a sucker for them. All of the newer betas had learned this trick from her and if he wasn’t struggling to not start scrunching against the wall, he might have had the energy to be mad about it.

“Fine.” Rian stepped in front of the touch screen, quickly logging into the shelter system. He checked the cameras first, watched as the beta helped his partner settle the nose guard over his face. They were young and Rian frowned. “They’re a couple?”

“Married. Certificate was uploaded in Nest.”

“Seem… young.”

“Yup, childhood sweethearts. This is his first heat,” Katy shrugged, leaning in to see the screen as Rian watched, waiting as the pair did their best to get comfortable. The way the beta cuddled his husband, gently stroking his hair. “Omega’s really jumpy.”

“The first time… is always the hardest,” Rian managed, doing his best to keep his voice steady. It wasn’t entirely a lie, but it wasn’t the truth either.  

He tapped through the checklist. Filters replaced. Floor sanitized. Bedding changed. Visual confirmation of nose guards. He sighed as he marked the booth ready, signing out as he glanced down at Katy. “There. Ysemna?”

“She’s cleaning the bondage room. There’s a booking in two days.” Katy shrugged and Rian felt his blood freeze.

“How long?”

“Just the typical two weeks.” 

Rian released the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He quickly thanked Katy and turned back down the hall, heading to booth 32. The largest booth the shelter had, the one that was usually saved for the deltas. Omegas whose heats weren’t manageable by the once a day alpha visits. Who needed intensive care and an assigned backup alpha just to hope they survived their month-long stay. 

“Rian.”

Rian looked up, finding himself looking into Ysemna’s brown eyes as she frowned. He noticed he was pressed flush against the wall and he closed his eyes as he groaned. He was scrunching. Again.

“When did it start?”

“Today.”

“My delta sense is still sharp. I figured it was your rut was soon. Halia’s will be by the end of summer,” Ysemna shrugged, motioning for Rian to follow her. Rian peeled himself off the wall, hating how his body kept betraying him as he trailed behind her down the corridor. The slick edge of anticipation clung to his limbs, like static before a lightning strike. Each breath, shallow and restrained, scraped the back of his throat. 

Ysemna didn’t say anything for a while, and Rian was grateful. The hall narrowed slightly as they passed through the north wing, quieter here, the rooms more spaced out, insulated. Ysemna’s office was at the far end, tucked away behind a reinforced door with a frosted glass window that bore her name in worn gold lettering. She pushed it open without ceremony and gestured for him to follow.

“Sit,” she said, already moving toward the small fridge tucked into the corner behind her desk.

“Katy said… the bondage room got booked.”

“It did.”

“It’s not…?”

“No. It’s not a delta. Just an omega with intense preferences.” Ysemna confirmed and Rian accepted the cold soda he handed him. He didn’t even consider before he shoved it in between his legs. The cold was a shock, but always helped with the scrunching. “You are the weirdest delta alpha I know. Your mom  just gets it out of her system like everyone else.”

“It fucking works, and I don't want to hear about what my mom or anyone else does,” Rian muttered, keeping his eyes on the floor as Ysemna moved around her office, slowly organizing the clutter on her desk, giving him space in the way only she could. She was blunt, but not unkind, and she knew better than anyone what it meant when a delta began to fray around the edges.

He held the can tighter, condensation soaking into the fabric of his uniform pants. His thighs clenched reflexively, the cold enough to dull the ache, but not kill it. Rian let out a slow breath and forced himself to sit still, shoulders square, spine straight. 

“How long do you think you have before it starts?”

“A few weeks at most.”

“Can you manage the scrunching today?”

“I’ll manage,” Rian bit his lip, doing his best to ignore the desire to move his hips. “The first day is always the worst and I’m not usually at work.”

“I know. Usually I find out it's time when we both go home and you text me while I’m trying to enjoy time with my wife,” Ysemna scoffed and Rian managed a chuckle. He always appreciated how she made it feel so… mundane. “Know where you want to go?”

“Wherever.”

“I’ll make some calls. See which cities are expecting a lot of omegas in their shelters. You have enough to cover the hotel room?”

“Always.”

“Good. You and Halia are so damn good. Sean, I was on the phone with him the other day. He’s the one I told you about, the director out west who…” Ysemna’s voice started to fade from Rian’s notice and he let it. It was safer to let her voice blur into the ambient hum of the vents, the distant shuffle of staff down the hall, the muffled sound of a door latching somewhere far away. Safer than listening to the part of his brain that kept looping back to the booth. The omega in the hallway. The couple in booth 14.

His hands tightened around the soda can.

The sting of cold seeped through his pants and grounded him, but it wasn’t enough. Not really. It wasn't very strong yet but Rian knew that was going to change. The heat that he barely could feel would only grow stronger, the desire to scrunch shifting to the desire to breed. To claim. To–

Rian blinked and realized he started to crush the can between his thighs. His hands were flattening the aluminum, bending it inward without even noticing. He forced himself to ease up, peeled the damp, warped thing from his lap and stood, too quickly. At least it hadn't exploded over his pants yet.

Ysemna looked up mid-sentence and sighed.

“Still with me?”

“I… yeah.” Rian placed the can on her desk with care, but didn’t meet her eyes. “I should go.”

“You got an omega?”

“Booth 125. She’s gone two days without a booking. Nearly ripped out Bobby’s throat.”

“Okay. It’ll help with your scrunching anyway.” Ysemna waved Rian out and Rian nodded, taking a deep breath as he stood. Lucky for him, the 120s were right next to Ysemna’s office and it didn’t take him long to see Bobby desperately leaning against the panel. The poor guy looked like he had lost five years off his life.

“Thank fuck, Rian. I think she might kill anyone else.”

“It’s all good. Any lucidity?” 

“Absolutely fucking none. I couldn’t even get the nose guards on her.” Bobby admitted and Rian nodded as he checked his pocket. He still had all his backup supplies on his. “Thank fuck for you backups. I don't think she'll last another hour without an alpha in her.”

Rian froze, his hand hovering over the enter key as he logged into the room. He hated how callous some of the betas could be at times. He understood why; they didn’t understand, couldn’t understand what it was like to be a slave to your own body. To have instincts decide that you, the person, no longer mattered.

But he did.

“Yeah, that’s what we’re here for.” Rian marked himself as back up and stepped into the room. Peach blossom and cream, thick in the air like summer after rain, washed over him as soon as he stepped inside. It clung to the walls of the booth, unmistakably omega and painfully fresh. 

Somehow, Bobby had managed to strap the girl down, but she was thrashing wildly, doing her best to free herself from the straps. Her eyes were glassy and it only took one look for Rain to realize how bad this was. She was completely lost in her heat. 

“I need it! Fuck, I need–”

“Hey,” Rian spoke softly, gently touching her face. She almost moved to bite him, but he watched as she stopped, her body taking in his alpha pheromones. Instead, she began to nuzzle his hand, soft desperate moans escaping her lips as her hips started to buck. “Shhhh, it’s alright. I’m here now.”

Rian gently pressed his hand against her collarbone, just enough to remind her of his presence. She responded immediately, her flailing subsiding as her body began to still under his touch, calm flickering behind her heat-hazed eyes.

He stayed like that, crouched by the side of the bed, one hand on her cyphora, the other smoothing down the side of her sweat-dampened hair. Her skin was burning. Heat poured off her like a furnace, her body arched and taut as she rubbed herself against the restraints in shallow, involuntary motions.

“Easy now,” he murmured, voice pitched low, soothing. He reached for the panel on the side of the bed, marking that she would need medical attention. Her wrists were rubbed raw. “You’re not alone. You’re not alone.”

“Please,” she whined and Rian felt his heart twist. “Please, I need–”

“I know, I know. I’m here,” Rian promised, slowly moving as he climbed onto the edge of the bed, his knees pressing into the mattress with careful restraint. He kept a firm hand on her cyphora, fingers relaxed but commanding, letting his presence settle into the air like a stabilizing force. It was the only thing that ever worked in moments like this. Consistency. Presence. That bone-deep assurance that he wasn’t going to leave. That he would fill the emptiness.

“Please…” her voice was barely a whisper now, broken and high-pitched, a sound more instinct than language. Rian stayed calm, keeping his movements slow as he braced one hand against the mattress. 

“You’re gonna be okay.”