Alta came too, feeling far too empty and he instinctively reached out, feeling for the alpha. His alpha. 

“You’re awake.”

Alta glanced over, noticing a woman sitting near the surface he was lying on. She was muscular and tall but it only made Alta frown. She wasn’t who he wanted. It took him a moment to realize that his alpha wasn’t on top of him, but a weight blanket meant to help him stay calm. 

“Can you hear me?”

“Yeah.”

“How lucid are you?”

“I’m not begging yet.” Alta answered, slowly sitting up, surprised by how heavy his head felt. He reached up, surprised to find that his hair was neatly braided. The messy braid he had done had unraveled during his frantic run; had the alpha done this? “Where’s–”

“He’s not safe for you right now,” the woman cut him off with a tone that left no room for arguing. “If not for his circumstances, you'd be in handcuffs right now.”

“Circumstances?” Alta repeated, not hiding his confusion. Honestly, he had expected to wake up in handcuffs.

The woman stood and Alta frowned, watching as she moved to pick up a laptop sitting on the kitchen counter. He didn’t move as she placed the laptop in his lap, a video already waiting to be played. “I’ll let you hear it from him first, and then I’ll finish explaining.”

Alta frowned, but he didn’t protest. His fingers hovered over the trackpad, hesitant, uncertain. The woman gave no further cues before simply stepping back, arms crossed loosely over her chest. Her brown eyes were firm, but not unkind, and Alta couldn’t decide if that made him feel better or worse.

He hit play.

“Hi.” The alpha’s voice was… kind. Gentle. Tired. Alta watched as the man sitting on the bed took a deep breath, closing his golden eyes as he ran his hand through his hair. He looked like he had just taken a shower and Alta wondered if he had been washed in his sleep. He didn’t feel dirty or sore. 

“My name is Rian. I’m sorry that I don’t know yours yet and I… well, I guess first I should say I’m sorry.”

Alta hummed low in his chest. He asked for the mark; if either of them should be sorry, it should be him for forcing the alpha, Rian, into marking him. 

“I… don’t know how much time I have to explain this, so I’ll try to be quick. I do promise that Ysemna, she’s the woman with you, my boss, won’t wake you up until your heat wakes you up, regardless of what happens to me.” Rian took a deep breath, as if talking was the most difficult thing he had done in his life. “You’ve likely never heard of  it, but I’m something called a Delta Alpha.”

Alta shifted on the couch. He hadn’t. 

“It can mean a lot of things, but right now, what matters is that when I’m rutting, I am not safe. I lose lucidity completely and I… will take and hurt if not restrained.” Rian started to chew on his lower lip and Alta didn’t fight the small moan that escaped him. His heat didn’t like hearing pain in his alpha’s voice. “Usually, I… don’t get lucid from climax. I shouldn’t be able to talk right now, but I can, so I want to warn you.

“By the time you watch this, there is a good chance I will have lost my mind again. Ysemna is used to handling Deltas and she’ll make sure I’m restrained so that I don’t… force anything with you,” Rian paused, taking another deep breath as Alta chanced a look at Ysemna. She was watching him with the same firmness, like she was waiting for him to process the layers beneath the words.

Rian’s hands fidgeted in his lap now, fingers lacing and unlacing. “I know we’re… paired, but I don’t remember anything. I'm sure you know what that means, but my condition complicates things.

“If you are willing to take responsibility for what you did, Ysemna will lead you to where I am in the apartment. You’ll be doing so accepting the full risk that once I start, I may not be able to stop again. Deltas need sex every hour and like I said, I’m not sure why I’m lucid right now or if it’ll happen again,” Rian’s voice dropped, rough with guilt and anger. Alta frowned, but he did his best to keep paying attention to the video. “My rut is not two weeks. It’s a whole month.”

Alta felt his stomach clench, and it wasn’t just from the mounting need to be filled by his alpha. It was from the clear fear in Rian’s voice. This wasn’t someone just trying to scare him; Rian was viscerally afraid that he was going to hurt someone. Rian’s eyes lifted to the camera again, meeting Alta’s gaze across the screen with a raw, open vulnerability.

“If you choose your safety, then Ysemna will take you to the shelter, and ensure your heat is taken care of. I’ll be taken out of town and have my rut taken care of. Once I’m… myself again and safe, I will press charges, with Ysemna as my witness,” Rian swallowed hard and Alta already found himself shaking his head. Why would Rian willingly want to make this worse for both of them? Rian had to understand that if they were separated, their bodies would still scream for each other. His rut would be unbearable. Unsatisfied. “I can't promise that I won't press charges even if you stay but… I don't know. The choice of yours now.”

Alta sat with the video, even after it ended. He stared at the man on the screen, doing his best to push the heat fog from his mind as he considered what was being offered. He had been pair broken before, and Alta knew how much of a unique hell it was to be away from his paired alpha. Even if Rian had no idea what hell he was walking into, Alta did and he took a deep breath.

“Where is he?”

“Hey, you need to–”

“Where’s my alpha?!” Alta stood, forgetting for a moment to maintain his appearance. He saw the silver hair shimmer out of the corner of his eye but he couldn’t focus on it as he rose to his full height, easily towering over the woman. The heat fog was starting to creep into the edges of his thoughts, his body was already aching and he had already made up his mind. He couldn’t run from this. “Take me to Rian.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you are, but if you want me to do anything, you need to calm down.” Ysemna stood her ground, but Alta could see the fear in her eyes. He didn’t have much access to his magic as long as his name belonged to someone else, but it was no excuse for letting his appearance and voice slip. Now he had one more person he needed to explain everything too and Alta closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he struggled to revert.

“I’m sorry, The heat is… I need him,” Alta managed, opening his eyes to look up at the woman. She stood over him again, but he could see every thread of mistrust in her gaze. Dammit, now she was more worried about what he would do to Rian than what Rian would do to him. “I’m a genie, I can’t use that much magic. My magic belongs to my master.”

“Who is?”

“A beta. They are dying of cancer,” Alta answered quickly, doing his best not to bounce on his feet. The emptiness was getting worse and all of his thoughts were falling through it. He needed to be filled, and he needed it to be Rian. “I lost control of my form because of the heat. I need him. Please.”

“You heard what he said. When you go in that room, you may not be able to leave for a full month.”

“It’s fine,” Alta insisted, but Ysemna didn’t respond immediately. She stared at him for a long moment, as if trying to decide whether she was looking at a truth or just a pretty lie made from desperation. Her hand didn’t leave the countertop, fingers drumming against it with a tempo that betrayed a crack in her calm.

“You need to be sure. Once I let you into that room, I’m leaving,” she said, and it wasn’t a question. “No one will let you out, no matter what he does. You did this to yourself.”

“That’s fine,” Alta repeated. He was used to no one coming to his rescue and his body was screaming for the man he forced into this. He was not going to make either of them suffer because of Rian being dangerous. “Please.”

The woman exhaled through her nose and closed the laptop, setting it aside. Alta followed her through the apartment, every step making his skin feel tighter, every breath shallower. He knew the heat was coming on too fast, accelerated by the proximity, the scent of his alpha still lingering on the edge of his senses. His bones itched beneath his skin, and the longing was turning to pain, sharp and fractal, breaking him open one nerve at a time. 

As soon as they got near the bedroom door, Alta had to grab his own wrist to stop himself from shoving Ysemna aside. He could smell his alpha. He could smell Rian. 

“What’s your name?”

“Alta.”

“Alright, Alta. I’ll be back for both of you in a month. As soon as I leave, the apartment will be on lockdown until I release it. Rian shouldn’t be able to escape his straps unless you let him out,” Ysemna hesitated just a second longer, then pulled a ring of keys from her pocket. Her hand was steady now, professional. “I hope to God you know what you’re doing, genie.”

Alta gave a sharp nod. He could barely think past the pressure in his head, the rising swell of heat in his body. Rian was so close. He reached for the door and Ysemna stepped back, already retreating to give him privacy. Or to get away from the heat that would spill out once the barrier broke. Alta barely thought as he launched himself forward, pushing the door open with all his weight. 

The scent hit him first, thick and potent, ripping the air from his lungs. Pine resin filled the space, sharp and earthy, like the weight of a forest pressed into a single breath. Beneath it, the crackle of static clung to his skin, invisible but sparking along his nerves with every inhale. His knees nearly buckled, and he grabbed the doorframe to keep himself upright. A low, guttural growl rumbled from the far end, almost a warning but laced with confusion. Alta stepped inside, letting the door swing shut behind him. 

There were restraints bolted into the floor and walls and he could see Rian at the heart of them. He was strapped down onto the bed, but Alta could see how he pulled against them. A bit was in the alpha’s mouth and Alta could hear how Rian’s teeth clenched around it, breath heaving through his nose in ragged, shuddering bursts. Sweat clung to every inch of his skin, making his muscles gleam in the low light. The sheets beneath him were damp and twisted, kicked aside in his constant struggle.

Alta’s body pulsed. The scent was unbearable now, overpowering everything else. It slid into his mouth, his lungs, his blood, driving his heat to push a single, pulsing truth into his bones: he needed his alpha.

“Rian,” Alta whined, almost running over to the bed. As soon as his hand touched the alpha’s leg, Rian pulled against the restraints, his whole body reaching to touch, to find, to claim. Alta quickly climbed on top of the man, and found himself staring into those golden eyes again. 

But they were no longer lucid. There was no thought, recognition or awareness in them. Rian thrashed against the restraints, the bed frame groaning beneath him as he tried to buck up into Alta’s body. The thick leather cuffs at his wrists and ankles strained taut, veins standing out across his forearms and neck with the sheer force of his need. Saliva leaked past the edge of the bit in his mouth, his jaw clenched hard as he growled low and continuous, a broken sound that never quite stopped. It rattled through the room like a fault line splitting open beneath Alta’s knees.

But Alta didn’t flinch. He pushed his hands into Rian’s sweat-damp hair, fingers tangling in the strands that had dried wild and tangled since the video. The man had looked tired then—gentle, almost apologetic. But this wasn’t that man. This was the rutting beast that had consumed what was left of Rian’s awareness. 

And it was his.