My body was burning hot.

The world spun relentlessly, and a knot tightened in my stomach.

Breathing grew ragged, and vision blurred under the weight of the fever.

Legs faltered, and knees buckled.

These symptoms were all too familiar.

It was a ‘Heat Cycle’.

“No way...”

The frequency of Heat Cycles varies among Omegas, but mine had always been clockwork regular.

I manifested as an Omega during puberty, and my cycle has never been off schedule.

But the past was the past, and the present is the present.

I was in heat right now.

Right here, in the middle of a bustling downtown during the evening rush hour.

“Damn it...!”

After stumbling aimlessly and barely keeping upright, I finally collapsed.

This was the worst possible situation.

I felt warm, slick fluid seeping between my thighs.

I bit down on my lip, each breath hitching and growing increasingly ragged.

Taking the subway like this was unthinkable.

“That’s it... I can’t... take this anymore...”

Fumbling, I managed to pull my phone out of my pocket.

I meant to call one of the Alphas saved in my contacts, but my trembling fingers kept slipping on the screen.

Everything before me turned into a haze, making it nearly impossible to see clearly.

- Hello? Yun Lee, is that you? Bring me a Klondike if you’re coming over.

Somehow, the number I connected to turned out to be Park Sinwoo’s.

Of all people, why did it have to be Sinwoo who picked up at this moment?

He wasn’t even an Alpha; he was a Beta—and, more importantly, my friend.

Even in desperation, I wasn’t reckless enough to call a friend—let alone a Beta—for sex.

I cursed under my breath and hung up.

As the call ended, Sinwoo’s incredulous voice echoed in my mind, still asking why I cursed when all he’d agreed to was bring ice cream.

With shaky hands, I was trying to find another number when the faint scent of an Alpha hit me.

In the throes of my heat cycle, my heightened senses instinctively locked onto the Alpha.

A group of men stood a few meters away, watching me.

“Yo, isn’t that an Omega in heat? Should we go for him?”

“Man, he’s still a dude. Not my type.”

“Come on, even if you’re a Beta, get a taste of an Omega in heat, and you’ll change your tune.”

Their snickering voices reached my ears.

‘Bastards...’

I gritted my teeth.

I was so desperate I would’ve contacted an Alpha I dumped two years ago—after slapping him for being too clingy—but I wasn’t about to deal with these jerks.

I wouldn’t even consider those lowlifes willing to prey on an Omega in heat, not even if they were the last men on earth.

And on top of that, they were ugly as sin.

‘They must be crawling with STDs.’

Muttering curses under my breath, I forced myself to stand.

I needed to get away, but my legs trembled, and the men—including one Alpha—closed in fast.

‘Damn it!’

I scrolled through my contacts, desperate for a last resort.

Checking into a hospital specializing in Alphas and Omegas to handle my Heat Cycle would be humiliating, but it was still better than being assaulted by those so-called ‘Alphas.’

Just as my finger hovered over the button,

“Are you okay, young man?”

A voice stopped me.

A potent Alpha scent, overpowering the faint traces of those taunting ‘pseudo-Alphas,’ enveloped me.

A leisurely deep voice and impeccably polished shoes—almost reflective enough to show a face—appeared before me, but what stirred me more was the Alpha’s raw energy.

In that instant, the obnoxious idiots and the mortifying prospect of a hospital trip disappeared entirely from my mind.

I raised my clouded eyes, catching sight of a man in a dark gray three-piece suit and long coat bending toward me.

“Do you need me to take you to the hospital?”

Desperately, I reached out, gripping the man’s shoulder and pulling him closer.

My heat-flushed hand brushed against his face.

He looked to be in his early to mid-thirties—older than me, but far from unattractive.

The strong Alpha scent emanating from him was undeniably appealing.

Even without being in Heat, his potent pheromones could’ve easily pushed me into a full-blown Heat Cycle.

“You don’t have any STDs, do you?”

He let out an incredulous laugh at my bluntness.

“No.”

“Then let’s have sex.”

He chuckled in response.

“But we’re strangers.”

“Do I look like I even care about that right now?”

Desperation crept into my voice while I swallowed hard.

Only moments ago, I had been irritated by the abrupt start of my heat cycle, but now, my emotions had completely flipped.

‘I must fuck this Alpha.’