Page 16 of Heat Me

A surprise awaited me: as soon as I stepped into his entryway, there he was, fully suited up in his dog gear—but standing upright again.

"So, how did it go?" was the first thing he asked.

For a moment, I just stared at his plastic muzzle, at a loss for words. I knew what he was asking about, but it was none of his business. "Why do you even care?"

"Just… curious."

"I can’t share details about what I do with other clients. You wouldn’t want me revealing your private stuff, right?"

"Right, but since you already told me you were unsure whether to take this assignment…"

I rolled my eyes.

"C’mon, I’m not going to spill anything intimate. I can only tell you this: you’re my last client."

A short silence.

"Because of what’s happening with this… guy?"

It hit me then—I was so ready to leave this job behind, all because of the slim hope I had that it might give me a chance to be with Damien. A painful squeeze in my stomach came with the thought that his heat could have already started, and he might be with another alpha… And I was doing it all in vain, rejecting the loads of money I could get from Johansson’s ass. One more gig and my installments gone. Was I delusional?

"Yep," I mumbled. Then, before I could stop myself, I blurted out, "It sounds stupid as hell, but I feel a connection with him. I miss him. But… he’s probably chosen another alpha now. It’s… unfortunate."

Dog-man tilted his oversized, canine-like head, the big brown lenses over his eyes giving him an oddly attentive look. He didn’t comment for a while, just watched me curiously.

"Well, let’s hope for the best," he finally added. "I’m sure he’s conflicted now, promising something to another guy and—" He cut himself off mid-sentence.

It was kinda strange he made such a specific remark about it. Conflicted? How could he extrapolate that from my one-liner about choosing another alpha?

Then suddenly…

…he dropped on all fours, a clear signal he wanted me to start our roleplay.

A weird interruption, but oh well. Maybe he didn’t want to waste any more of his one-hour slot, or he didn’t want to dig into the topic for whatever reason.

Well, I had no interest in discussing it anyway, so off we went, heading out for our usual ‘dog walk’ to the park.

The entire time, I barely interacted with him, too deep in thought. Still, I did everything that was expected of me. The only relief was that there was no last part, the one where he usually humped my leg. For some reason, he just crawled away and headed toward the park exit. I let out a sigh of relief—because that would’ve been even more uncomfortable than usual. Maybe he sensed my mood or something and didn’t push it, for which I was grateful.

When we were back at his house, I said, "Next month, I won’t be accompanying you anymore. I’m leaving this job."

He stood up and replied, "That’s okay. I understand. Thanks for doing it so well for me. I know I’m probably a bit weird, but… I appreciate that you never made me feel like it was… laughable."

"Weird? Nah… No way!" I muttered politely and patted him on the shoulder. Why would I shame the guy for his harmless kink?

He reached out his ‘paw’ for a goodbye, and I awkwardly shook it.

But when I got back home, my negative feelings only intensified. I wandered around the house, doing nothing—restless and upset.

I started to feel more and more certain that Damien had arranged something with another alpha. Or perhaps he’d decided to go to one of those public houses where alphas worked and could be hired for heat periods—no strings attached. He had money; he could do whatever he wanted.

Going to bed that day, I lost hope. Were we True Mates after all?

Maybe Nathaniel was right in the beginning, telling me not to read too much into this.

Or perhaps I should disregard the whole TM thing anyway and just go to Damien—beg him on my knees to spend the heat with me, even if we weren’t a perfect match? After all, I was stillstrongly attracted to him. Perhaps the fated mates status didn’t matter. Could be, he was my High Mate, and that was good enough?

But in the end, I stayed home. I didn’t want to come across as desperate or lose his respect. It had to be his decision—this was too delicate, too intimate. I’d already given him the green light; that was it.

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