"Firefly." He says it quietly. "Wake up."
Mattaniah stirs. His eyes open, glassy with exhaustion, and find Dominic's face. "What time is it?"
"Almost five." Dominic keeps his hand on Mattaniah's forehead. "We need to talk about what's happening to your body."
"The spikes." Mattaniah pushes himself upright and the blanket falls to his lap. "They're getting worse. I know."
"They're getting worse because they're not spikes anymore." I sit on the arm of the couch beside him. "Your body is transitioning into pre-heat, Niah. The frequency and intensity of your spikes have changed, and so has your scent. Your suppressors have been failing for weeks and your system has reached the point where it's not going to accept the blockers anymore."
His face goes pale. "Heat. You mean an actual heat. Like a full..."
"A full heat. Your first “real” one in seven years." I keep my voice steady. "It's going to be intense because of the suppression backlog, and it's going to last longer than a normal cycle."
"How long?"
"Three to five days. Potentially longer given the duration of suppression."
"Three to five days." He repeats it, his voice hollow. "I can't be in heat for three to five days in the house. Richard is... if he smells me in heat he'll..."
"We know." Dominic's hand moves from his forehead to the back of his neck and squeezes. "That's why we're leaving."
"Leaving where?"
"We have an apartment." Dominic glances at me and I nod. "Downtown. Father doesn't know about it. It's been ours since college and we've kept it off every record he has access to."
"You have a secret apartment." Mattaniah blinks. "Of course you have a secret apartment. Why wouldn't you have a secret apartment."
"Amos is going to pack a bag for you." Dominic stands and pulls Mattaniah to his feet. "We're going to walk out of this building tonight looking like we're headed to a conference in Philadelphia. By midnight you'll be somewhere safe where your heat can run its course."
"What if he notices I'm gone?"
"He will notice." Dominic pulls the throw blanket off his lap and wraps it around Mattaniah's shoulders. "He'll also notice that Amos and I are gone at the same time, and he'll draw the right conclusions."
"And you're okay with that?"
"I'm okay with you being safe." Dominic's hand cups his jaw and tilts his face up. "Everything else is a problem for after the heat."
Mattaniah's eyes search Dominic's face for a long moment. His hand comes up and covers Dominic's against his jaw.
"Both of you?" His voice is quiet. "You'll both be there?"
"We'll be there the entire time." I rest my hand on his lower back. "We're not leaving you alone for this, Niah."
"Okay." He swallows hard and his fingers tighten on Dominic's hand. "Okay. When do we go?"
"Tonight, as soon as the building clears." Dominic releases his jaw.
The next two hours are logistics. I book the Philadelphia hotel under the company travel account. The confirmation goes to Dominic's assistant with instructions to hold his calls for a week. Dominic texts the housekeeper that we'll be traveling and to inform Father that dinner will be served for two. I slip into the house through the side entrance while Father is in his study and pack bags for all three of us. In Mattaniah's room I grab his blocker bottle and the nest items from his closet because he's going to need them at the apartment.
I fill the bag with the cardigan, the scarf, the sweaters, the stolen socks, everything he's collected.
Mattaniah dozes on Dominic's office couch while we work, waking every ninety minutes when another spike rolls through him. Each one is shorter than the last but more intense, his body compressing the cycles as the heat approaches. His scent fills the office until every surface carries it. The warm coconut has deepened into something primal that makes both Dominic and me shift in our chairs.
At seven thirty the building empties. Dominic carries the bags to the parking garage while I walk Mattaniah to the elevator with my arm around his waist. He's steady enough to walk on his own but his body gravitates toward mine with every step. His nose finds the collar of my shirt and stays there.
"I'm scared." He says it into my collar as the elevator descends. "I've never had a real heat. It was always more of a clinical thing like clockwork and I used a rent-an-Alpha. I don't know what it's going to feel like or what my body is going to do."
"You're going to be safe." I press my mouth against the top of his head. "Dominic and I have handled things like this before. We know what your body is going to need and we're going to make sure you have it."
