Chapter Text
Neuvillette was sitting at his desk inside his office, scanning over the paperwork that never seemed to end. He sighed as he sat his pen down on the desk and began to organize the case files to separate. As he was setting down the stacks of paper, Neuvillette started to feel warm. He was a little confused as to why the temperature suddenly went up and he stood to walk over to the window to open it a little to let in a breeze in hopes of it helping him cool down. He hoped he hadn’t started going into pre-heat since he didn’t have but a week before it was due. It was never off schedule, so Neuvillette figured the sun made his office feel hot.
When he couldn’t feel the temperature drop, he felt sweat form on his forehead. Neuvillette frowned, reaching up to take off the mantle he always wore, and set it down on one of the couches. He unbuttoned his robes and slid them off, leaving him in a navy blue waistcoat and a white poet shirt. It was then that he noticed that his body was beginning to emit more pheromones and he felt a small shock of panic go through his body. It was the beginning of his pre-heat, it had indeed come a week early. He wasn’t prepared for it like he normally would be. There would be a designated week that he would have set for his heat and all major trials and cases would be postponed until he came back. Now he had to figure out a way to reschedule the trials that he had coming up, maybe Sedene would be able to help. As much as he didn’t want to inconvenience her, he knew he had no choice. He couldn’t work through his heat, lest a whole group of alphas that caught the smallest whiff of his scent come out of the woodworks to try and take advantage of him. It wasn’t like he was weak, but in those moments of his heat, he wasn’t in the right mind as his instincts took control of his body.
Neuvillette walked over to his office door and opened it slightly, afraid of his pheromones leaking out, it wasn’t like he didn’t trust his employees, but he didn’t want to have a chance of anything happening. The only people who knew of his omega status were the melusines, and he knew that they would keep his secondary gender a secret.
“Sedene? Can I have you come to my office for a moment?” he asked softly, not wanting to draw too much attention to the situation.
Sedene looked up from a paper she was reading in her booth and looked at him with a small nod. “Of course Monsieur.” She turned and walked out of the booth and into his office. “Is something the matter?”
Neuvillette shut the door behind her and gave a small sigh. “Unfortunately it seems that my heat has come earlier than I expected, which is confusing because this is the first time that this has happened. I’m terribly sorry to bother you with this but would you be able to reschedule any trials and appointments I may have?”
“Oh Monsieur, that’s no problem at all. There aren’t that many trials for this week anyway, it won’t be any hassle to reschedule them” she replied. Sedene brought one of her paws to her mouth in thought. “Though I think it’s a little concerning that your heat came early, they’re always on schedule for the many years you’ve had them. Would you like me to send a letter to Sigewinne?”
Neuvillette thought for a moment before giving a brief nod. “That would be most appreciated, maybe she can help me figure out the cause for the sudden change.”
Sedene gave a nod and she left the office to write a message to Sigewinne. Neuvillette walked over to the couch and picked up his robes and mantle to put them back on. He couldn’t leave his office dressed down, even amid his pre-heat. He had a profile to upkeep and maintained it no matter the situation. He went to his desk and grabbed a small stack of papers to take home. Even in his pre-heat, he was able to keep a sound mind to work on some cases before his heat fully settled in. He tried to mute his pheromones as much as possible before walking to the door.
He left his office, locked it behind himself, and strode out of the Palais Mermonia through a secret entrance towards the back of the building. Neuvillette did have a living chamber within the Palais but whenever he had his heats, he preferred to be within the comfort of his townhome. It allowed him to be in a safe place with his scent all around it instead of having any other scents that would intermingle. Unfortunately, being outside now gave his senses an assault of scents from everywhere. Trying not to be affected by the overwhelming scents, he kept his pace brisk as he walked home.
When he reached the townhome, he unlocked the door, stepped inside, and swiftly shut the door. His skin started to feel like it was crawling with ants and he quickly stripped off his mantle and robes, hanging them on the coat hanger by the door. Then he unbuckled his spats and slipped them off along with his boots, putting them under the coathanger. While walking to his bedroom, he stripped off his cravat and gloves as quickly as possible, the clothes becoming too much for his overly sensitive skin. Once in his room, he removed the rest of his clothing except his boxers, not even bothering to fold them. His skin felt like it was growing hotter by the minute. Wasn’t this supposed to be his pre-heat? Why was his body reacting like he was in his full heat?
Neuvillette let out a shaky sigh and he gathered his clothes and placed them on the bed. He willed his body to walk to his closet and pulled out all the blankets and comforters he kept there for his heat. Those were thrown on the bed along with some extra pillows and he began to form them into a nest in the middle.
After finishing his nest he climbed into it, slipping under the comforter, and curled up on his side. His body was still burning up and he whimpered as he closed his eyes and let sleep try to find him.
___________
When Neuvillette woke up from his nap he was panting and covered in sweat, his skin feeling like it was on fire. His pheromones had filled the room to a point where it was so thick that it was almost suffocating, even to himself. His boxers were completely soaked through with the amount of slick that his body was producing, it was starting to become uncomfortable. His cock had emerged from his vent and he whimpered when he felt a small surge of heat through his body from every brush of fabric against it.
After kicking off his boxers Neuvillette laid on his back and he trailed one of his hands down his stomach and brushed his fingers against the tip of his cock and he let out a soft moan from the contact. His cock fully slipped out from his vent, an ombré of dark blue at the spade-shaped tip and fading to a lighter blue at the base with small ridges lining down the shaft. He reached down and wrapped his fingers around the length, giving it a soft squeeze, and letting out a shuddering breath. Sovereigns, he was so sensitive. His mind was already clouded with an overwhelming lust as he moved his hand up to rub his thumb across the slit of his cock. The touch was almost too much but also not enough. He let out a moan as he began to stroke himself. His vent was leaking so much slick that it was making a mess of his nest and his hole was clenching around nothing. His body ached to be filled and he moved his other hand down and pushed two of his fingers inside his vent, letting out an aching moan as he tossed his head back, his back arching from the extra stimulation. It wasn’t enough, he needed more.
The lust was driving him crazy as he started stroking himself faster and added a third finger, spreading them out as much as he could. He let out a needy whine because everything he was doing didn’t feel like it was enough. He was so desperate for a release, so desperate. His hole was fluttering and clenching around his fingers as he hooked the tips of them up to try and find the sensitive spot within his vent. It didn’t take long before he suddenly saw stars behind his eyes as his fingers brushed against the sensitive spot underneath his cock in his vent, right where his balls rested, and let out a needy moan as he tried to push his fingers in deeper to press against the spot repeatedly. He could feel the tell-tale sign of his orgasm coiling within his gut until he squeezed his fingers a little tighter around his cock and cried out as he came, shooting cum all over his stomach and chest. He whimpered and moaned as he stroked himself through his orgasm until it became too much and he let go of his cock and withdrew his fingers from his vent. His body felt like a puddle in the sheets as he panted, trembling as he stared up at the ceiling. The heat hardly subsided, and his body didn’t feel satisfied, if anything, he felt even more desperate, more needy.
After managing to wring out another orgasm, he rolled over onto his side and curled up, letting out small whimpers. At this point, it didn’t feel like anything that he could do would satiate the arousal that took over his body. He needed something more, but in the many years he’s been alive he’s always suffered through his heat alone. He never sought out a mate for his heat in the past, his desire to remain impartial preventing him from reaching out to form a deep personal connection with someone. Looking back, he wasn’t sure how he had been able to get through them alone, the overwhelming loneliness that he felt made it unbearable. Hearing rain beginning to hit against his window, he pulled one of the comforters close to his chest and buried his face in it, closing his eyes. Hopefully, sleep will find him again so he won’t be overwhelmed by his emotions.
___________
Neuvillette woke up later in the day, his body was so restless that sleeping for a long time was near impossible. With him slipping in and out of sleep it felt so disorienting. He wished he could just sleep all of it off so it could be done and over with. The fever made his eyes and thoughts cloudy as he lifted his head from the bundle pressed against his chest and he groaned as his head was pounding. This was one of the worst parts of his heat, his hormones going haywire and the stress on his body caused him to have headaches. He opened his eyes a little and hissed when the sun from the window made the room too bright, instantly squeezing them shut and shoving his face back into the comforter. It was all too much. His skin felt too hot and sweaty and he wanted nothing but to go and take a bath but he couldn’t trust his legs to hold him up.
He suddenly felt a weight behind himself and he shuffled under the comforter to avoid the sunlight pouring into his room and saw that his tail had emerged during his nap, the long white scaled appendage with translucent blue frills running down the spine of it with fins that splayed out. His nails were always trimmed down, formed into claws, the tips of his fingers looking like he dipped them into blue ink, scales trailing up the middle of his hand. The blue scales that littered his body had become more vibrant, smattering his chest to his stomach in a trail straight to his vent, other patches covered his shoulders and upper thighs. He was already losing control over his form and it was shifting to a draconic hybrid form.
He was snapped out of his small trance of looking at his sudden changes when he heard the front door to his townhome open and close and let out a low growl, his instincts on high alert. Once he heard the familiar small footsteps approaching his room the growl dissipated. It must be Sigewinne coming to check in on him. He peeked out from his comforter as he saw the little Melusine enter his room.
“Monsieur Neuvillette, are you okay?” Sigewinne asked, walking up to the bed and setting her medical bag on the floor. She looked at the nest on the bed and saw glowing lilac eyes looking at her from under the comforter.
Neuvillette pulled the comforter off his head, exhaustion seeping into his bones as he weakly moved to sit up, keeping the comforter wrapped around his body. His skin was covered with sweat, a deep blush across his cheeks and trailing down his neck to his chest. “No, I feel like my body is on fire. I haven’t had a heat that felt this bad, let alone come a week early.”
Sigewinne tilted her head to the side, the rhinophores on her head giving a small twitch. “Hm, that’s interesting. Do you know what may have caused it?”
“Unfortunately I don’t. This has never happened.”
Sigewinne brought her hand to cup her chin in thought. “Do you think it may have happened because your authority recently returned? Have there been any new symptoms?”
“That may be a possible cause. The only thing that feels different is—” He then winced as he felt a sharp pain in his lower stomach, curling into himself. It felt like his body was aching with the need to have something inside of himself, his muscles contracting into painful cramps that made him whine and pant in pain.
Sigewinne frowned and picked up her bag, looking through the supplies that she brought. “I may have something that could help with the symptoms temporarily but I think it may be best if you had someone to help you through your heat. Especially if the symptoms are this bad alone and it’s causing you so much suffering. It’s not good for your health.”
Neuvillette shook his head. “I—I don’t want anyone to see me like this.” He felt too vulnerable, his body trembling from the pain subsiding for now.
Sigewinne crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. “Monsieur, with all due respect, this is not a heat to go through on your own. Stubbornness won’t make your symptoms go away.”
Neuvillette bit his lip and looked down, his tail moving to wrap around his waist for comfort. “I…I don’t know. Who would want to spend this with me? I’m not human… I fear it would be too much.”
Sigewinne pondered for a moment. “What about His Grace?”
Neuvillette’s eyes widened a bit before he quickly shook his head. “I can’t.”
“Please Monsieur, you need someone, the only person closest to you is him.” She pleaded. “He may be the right person to help you with all of this, he’ll know how to help you, more than you know.”
When Neuvillette didn’t reply, she pulled out a small bottle from her bag and handed it to him with a sigh. “At least take this, it’ll help the fever and headache so you can rest.”
Neuvillette held the bottle and gave her a small nod. “I’ll make sure to take them. Thank you Sigewinne.”
Sigewinne smiled back at him and picked up her bag. “Anytime Monsieur, make sure you get some rest.”
After Sigewinne left Neuvillette set the bottle on the side table next to the bed. He kept the comforter around himself as he moved to get out of the bed. His legs were trembling while trying to support his body but he needed to get himself some water to take the medicine that Sigewinne gave him. Trying to keep himself steady, he took a small step which unfortunately caused his knees to buckle and collapsed onto the floor with a pained grunt. His head was pounding and his body was overheating, almost as if taking that one step was causing him immense exertion. His vision was beginning to blur as he felt the intense cramping coming back with a vengeance. The pain was becoming too much and the last thing he remembered was him falling to the side before everything went black.
———————
After waking up, Neuvillette found himself back in his bed, blinking himself awake. The sky outside had completely darkened. His vision was still a little blurry and hazy but his body didn’t feel as hot as it did before he fainted. He suddenly noticed another scent in the room that intermingled with his own. The smell of ice, leather, black tea, and citrus. It was very soothing. He blinked a couple of times before he looked over to the side and saw Wriothesley sitting in a chair next to the bed, wringing out a rag, not noticing that Neuvillette was awake. Wriothesley finished wringing out as much water as he could from the rag and then turned, pausing when he noticed that the other had woken up. He gave a small smile to the dragon.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” Wriothesley asked softly as he reached over and placed the cool rag on Neuvillette’s forehead. “You had me worried whenever I came in to check on you and found you passed out on the floor.”
Neuvillette felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him, his face flushing a darker shade of red. “My apologies for having you see me in such a state.”
Wriothesley let out a little tut. “None of that, what matters most is making sure you’re okay.”
Neuvillette gave a small nod, still feeling embarrassed but now a little confused. “What are you doing here?”
“Sigewinne came by my office and asked me to come and check on you, she’s been busy with patients since most of the inmates think they’re hot shit when it comes to fighting in the ring. Alphas getting themselves riled up over the dumbest things,” Wriothesley let out a sigh and shook his head. “Aside from that, how far are you into your heat? And when were you going to tell me that you had a tail?”
After hearing the question Neuvillette tensed up. His heart rate began to increase and he clenched his hands as he looked away from Wriothesley, a sour note seeping into his scent. “This…this is the first day. As for the tail, it’s obvious I’m not human, and when I go into heat I lose control over my form and more of my draconic features come out.”
Wriothesley’s eyebrows rose and instantly noticed the change in the other's scent and he tried to release more of his own soothing pheromones. “Hey, it’s okay. My lips are totally sealed about your secret. I also understand what it’s like to go through a heat, I’m just glad I got here before it fully hit you.”
Neuvillette’s body began to relax a little from the comforting scent and looked at Wriothesley after he heard the last part of what he had said. “What do you mean?”
Wriothesley let out a small sigh and stood up from the chair, sitting himself on the edge of the bed facing Neuvillette. “I may not look like it but I’m also an omega, just like you.”
Neuvillette blinked at him in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting that. I…I had always assumed that you were an alpha, given the way that you carry yourself. It explains why you aren’t affected by the pheromones like how others would be.”
Wriothesley let out a snort as he crossed his arms. “I mean, yeah, they’re really strong right now but it doesn’t make me go crazy with lust like it would an alpha. I like to think I have a little more respect than most people when it comes to urges. It’s also something I don’t flaunt around, helps keep up the facade.”
Neuvillette felt his cheeks warm in shame. “My apologies for assuming. It wasn’t right of me to do so.”
Wriothesley gave a dismissive wave of his hand with a lazy grin on his face. “Don’t apologize for things you didn’t know about. If I’m going to be honest, I assumed the same thing about you, so we’re basically in the same boat.” He chuckled.
Neuvillette could feel himself beginning to relax as he was talking with Wriothesley, the other man always had this effect on him. It was comforting to know that Wriothesley was an omega just like him. To be able to have someone who understands his situation and be willing to help him without judgment.
“Is there anything that you need from me?” Wriothesley asked. “I know how rough these can be and I’m okay with whatever you’re comfortable doing. Whatever you need I want to be able to help you with.” He reached over and pulled the rag off of Neuvillette’s forehead, setting it beside the bowl on the side table.
Neuvillette felt his chest tighten at the warmth of the other man’s actions. He had never seen this side of the Duke, his soft voice and gentle demeanor were a complete opposite of his usual sarcasm and snarky remarks. It made him feel special to have Wriothesley’s trust to be this vulnerable around him, it was something that he rarely gave out to others. “Do—do you have any extra clothes to change into?”
Wriothesley tilted his head like how a dog would with a questioning look until it suddenly clicked and he smiled. “You want to add my clothes to your nest?” It was a very sweet request to hear from the dragon, one he couldn’t bring himself to refuse. “If you want I can just strip down to my boxers and we can cuddle if you’re willing. I know skin contact is important when in heat.”
Neuvillette felt his face warm up at the offer, he had never seen the Duke without his clothes and he wasn’t sure if it would be healthy for his heart but he could feel himself starting to slip deeper into his heat and he gave a nod. “Please.”
After hearing the confirmation, Wriothesley began to take off his vest and shirt first. He had already taken off his accessories and boots earlier when Neuvillette was still unconscious so he didn’t have to worry about fussing with them. He then stood up, unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned his pants to slip them off, leaving him in his boxers. Wriothesley gathered all of his clothing into a bundle and set it next to Neuvillette so he could add them to his nest.
Neuvillette sat up and picked up the clothing and placed it in different spots along the outer part of the nest to make sure that the scent would surround the both of them. He looked at Wriothesley and patted the spot next to him in his nest, a small invite.
Wriothesley smiled and climbed his way into the nest, pulling up the blanket and settling himself beside Neuvillette. “Is this okay?”
Neuvillette moved and snuggled himself up to Wriothesley, a small purr beginning deep in his chest as he nuzzled into Wriothesley’s neck where his scent glands were and breathed in. “It is more than okay. You’re very warm.” His tail moved to wrap around the other omegas leg.
“Glad to be of service” Wriothesley chuckled as he wrapped an arm around Neuvillette’s waist. “Get some rest, okay? You’re going to need it until your heat fully sets in.”
Neuvillette gave a small nod, his eyes beginning to droop. “Alright.” He pressed his face deeper into the other's neck and closed his eyes, focusing on the smell of black tea and leather, allowing it to lull him to sleep.