HEAT

Ironically, Kael had always been grateful for his abnormal absence of heats. It was one less thing to explain, one less way he could be exposed. Now, as he lay on Alaric's plush bed, a wave of searing pain radiating from his lower abdomen, he realized how foolish he’d been. Ignorance, in this case, was definitely not bliss.

Could it be? Was it possible?

He curled tighter, clutching his stomach, the silk sheets doing little to soothe the throbbing ache. It wasn't just pain; it was an unfamiliar, burning sensation, a primal need clawing at him from the inside out.

There was only one explanation that fit. One terrifying, impossible explanation.

“I think I’m going into heat.” 

As if Alaric could hear his thoughts, his voice, laced with concern, cut through the fog in Kael's mind. "Kael? Are you sure you're alright? You’re looking… pale."

Kael squeezed his eyes shut, fighting the urge to cry out. "I… I'm fine. Just a stomach ache, I think." He forced a weak smile, desperately wishing he could believe his own lie.

Alaric frowned, unconvinced. He moved closer, his Alpha presence a tangible force in the room. "Are you sure? You seem… different."

He opened his mouth to speak, but the words died in his throat. It wasn’t just a stomach ache. It was a raging inferno, consuming him from the inside. He gasped, his body arching as a fresh wave of pain washed over him. "I… I don't know," he whispered, his voice trembling. "Maybe… maybe I'm actually getting sick."

He refused to give in, refused to acknowledge the truth. He’d spent his entire life hiding, and he wasn’t about to let his body betray him now.

"A heat?" Alaric asked, his tone laced with curiosity.

He shook his head frantically. "No! No, I’ve never had a heat. I… I don’t even know if male Omegas…” His voice trailed off, the lie hanging heavy in the air. It was partially true. He'd never experienced a full-blown heat, but he remembered the unsettling stirrings Alaric's Alpha presence had once elicited, a pre-heat sensation that had left him confused and shaken.

Before the conversation could explore other possibilities, the unthinkable happened. The world tilted on its axis. His carefully constructed defenses shattered, and the scent blocker he'd religiously applied every morning dissolved in an instant, leaving him exposed, vulnerable.

The air crackled with his true scent, a potent, intoxicating aroma that filled the room, thick and sweet like honeyed jasmine, cinnamon, just Kael’s omega scent but heavily layered. It was the scent of an Omega in heat, raw and untamed.

Alaric’s eyes widened, his gaze locking onto Kael’s. The air grew heavy, charged with a tension that crackled like static electricity. “It’s… your heat,” Alaric stated, his voice a low, almost guttural rumble. “Your scent… You’re in heat.”

Panic seized him, a cold fist clenching around his heart. "No," he gasped, scrambling backwards on the bed. "No, it’s not possible. I… I’ve never had a heat before.”

He was spiraling, logic abandoning him as the primal instincts took over. His body was no longer his own, driven by a force he couldn't control. He whimpered, his eyes darting around the room, searching for an escape, a way to make it stop.

His eyes landed on Alaric, his Alpha, and everything shifted. All he could see was his mate, his Alpha and his body wanted to be with him.

Suddenly, his vocabulary shrunk, his thoughts simplified, reduced to a single, overwhelming need. "Alpha," he breathed, the word a desperate plea. No longer just a name of his sub-gender, it was a title, a command, a recognition of the power that Alaric held over him, a power he now desperately craved.

He reached out, his fingers trembling as they brushed against Alaric’s sleeve. "Alpha… please." He was begging, pleading for something he didn't understand, something his body demanded. For attention, for intimacy, for Alaric's touch. It wasn't Kael pleading, it was his Omega, yearning for its Alpha, driven by an instinct as old as time.

Alaric flinched, stepping back as if burned. His expression was a mixture of shock, desire, and a stark, almost painful conflict. "Kael, stop," he said, his voice strained. "You need to calm down. You’re not yourself."

He knew it was a futile request. He knew that trying to reason with an Omega in the throes of their first heat, especially when their mate was present, was an exercise in futility. But he couldn't bring himself to… to give in.

He refused, forcing himself to resist the primal urge that threatened to overwhelm him. He couldn't explain why, not even to himself. Was it the ingrained societal bias against male Omegas? Was it the fear of what this bond would mean for his kingdom? Or was it something deeper, something rooted in his own insecurities, fears and doubts?

At this point, Kael had started to cry, tears streaming down his face, hot and heavy with desperation. "Please, Alpha," he sobbed, his voice cracking. "Please… help me."

Each tear was a searing indictment, each plea a painful reminder of his own inadequacy. He hated this, hated the way his body was betraying him, hated the raw, animalistic need that was consuming him.

"I hate this," he whispered, the words barely audible, lost in the storm of his emotions. But he couldn't stop it, couldn't escape the confines of his own body, the prison of his own instincts.

Alaric stood frozen, his face a mask of anguish. He wanted to help, yearned to ease Kael’s suffering, but something held him back, a force as powerful as the heat that now raged between them.

The air crackled with unspoken desires, unfulfilled needs. The tension was unbearable, a taut wire stretched to its breaking point. And then, as suddenly as it began, it broke.

Kael, lost in the throes of his heat, his mind fractured and raw, felt a sharp, piercing pain, a sense of rejection so profound it ripped through him like a physical blow.

He was nothing more than a bastard; son of nobody, an abomination, a mistake. In his muddled state, he came to believe that all the rejection he'd endured throughout his life was his own fault. He was unworthy, unwanted.

Alaric turned abruptly and fled the room, leaving Kael alone in his pain, his sobs echoing in the suddenly empty space.

Kael didn’t know that at the very moment his despondent thoughts took over, Alaric was struggling with a force all his own. His own rut had hit him, a primal, overwhelming urge to lay claim on his mate… To knot, and breed his omega. It surged through him with the force of a tidal wave, triggered by Kael's heat and his own internal struggle. He didn't know if it was the rejection of the bond or its acceptance that triggered the rut in him. Or maybe Alaric’s alpha triggered Kael's omega into heat and himself into rut altogether.

He’d left not out of disgust or rejection, but out of a desperate need to control himself, to protect Kael from the raw, untamed Alpha that threatened to break free. He knew, on some level, that he was failing, that his actions were causing Kael immense pain, but he couldn’t see any other way. He needed to find a way to control his Alpha before he went back in there. Who knows the damage he might do to Kael if he loses control of himself.

The door slammed shut, leaving Kael alone with his pain, his insecurities, and the terrifying, overwhelming reality of his first heat. The silence of the room was deafening, broken only by his ragged sobs. He was alone, utterly and completely alone, with the monster he had spent his entire life trying to keep hidden.