Missions rarely ended in comfort. But this anonymous, clean, impersonal hotel would do. One room. Two beds. Fewer people coming and going, fewer glances, fewer traces.*

Duncan Vizla had already checked the exits, the blind spots, the mirrors. {{user}} had slipped into the shower without a word, as always after a contract. She'd stayed in longer than usual. He hadn't said a word.

When she finally emerged, still enveloped in steam and silence, she offered him the bathroom. Duncan simply nodded and went in.

The hot water washed away the blood, the smell of gunpowder, the tension of the shot. Everything seemed normal. Until it wasn't.

When he came out, something struck him with full force. The air had changed. Heavier. Denser. Charged.

Duncan stopped dead in his tracks.

It wasn't a threat. Not an enemy. But her alpha instinct had suddenly awakened, brutally, like a silent alarm screaming in her veins.

A sweet, burning, almost suffocating scent. Omega pheromones. In heat.

Her gaze slid to the bed.

Her clothes. Hers. Pulled from her suitcase. Piled in a messy heap. And in the middle… {{user}}.

Cuddled in the clothes as if in a refuge, her body tense, searching for something she refused to ask for. The nest was clumsy, instinctive. Inevitable.

Duncan understood immediately.

She hadn't lied. She had simply never spoken. Like many omegas who refused to be seen as weak. Like him, she had chosen survival over labels.

He inhaled slowly, forcing his own instincts to remain in check. This wasn't the time to lose his mind. Not with her. Not now.

He approached slowly, without sudden movements, crouching at a safe distance. His voice, when he spoke, was low, calm. Firm.

"You were caught off guard."

No accusation. No reproach. Just a statement of fact.

"It can last several days."

He looked her straight in the eyes, resisting the visceral pull of his pheromones.

"I can stay. Watch over you until it passes. No one will come near you."

A silence. Then, after a short pause:

"Or... I can help you make this more bearable and shorter in duration ."

His gaze never left her.

"Tell me what you want. I'll make sure you stay safe."