Chapter 360: Chapter 360: Emotional support (2) [Win-Win]

“Is she going to eat me?” he asked, voice careful.

Chris looked at Tania, then back at Ethan. “Not unless you do something stupid.”

Ethan swallowed. “I do a lot of stupid things.”

Chris nodded like that tracked. “Then don’t do any right now.”

Tania rubbed her head against Ethan’s knee.

Ethan’s whole soul left his body for half a second.

“I don’t know what to do,” he admitted, very quietly, still staring at the tiger like she was a philosophical problem with teeth.

Chris stepped closer, calm shifting into business. “Sit,” he said. “Breathe. And stop doom scrolling. Half of what you’re reading was written by people selling fantasies to teenagers.”

Ethan blinked. “That is… unfortunately accurate.”

Chris took the phone from Ethan’s hand like Ethan had lost the right to it and set it facedown on the table. “I have experience,” he added, matter-of-fact. “I did the same thing when I stopped relying on suppressants and reality hit me in the face. And explaining it to Mia when her first heat came was… educational.”

Ethan’s brows lifted. “Oh. Right. Mia is an omega too. I should talk to her—”

He reached for his phone on instinct, momentarily forgetting the predator in the room.

He got exactly one step.

Chris’s hand shot out and caught him by the collar, dragging him back with humiliating ease.

Ethan yelped, stumbling. “Hey—”

“You asked me first,” Chris said, and his grin turned wicked.

Tania sat down like she was watching a show.

Ethan blinked up at Chris, half offended, half impressed. “You know you just did that like a villain.”

Chris didn’t let go. “Correct. Sit.”

Ethan sat, grumbling. “This is abuse of royal authority.”

“It’s abuse of common sense,” Chris corrected, finally releasing the collar. He pointed at the chair like Ethan might forget how chairs worked. “Now. You’re going to tell me what you’re actually afraid of.”

Ethan opened his mouth, then closed it again like the words were annoying.

Chris waited.

Tania’s tail flicked once, slow and pleased.

Ethan exhaled hard. “I’m afraid I won’t have control.”

Chris’s expression didn’t soften into pity, he was not that kind of person. “Good. That’s the right fear. Not because it’s inevitable, but because it means you’ll prepare instead of pretending you’re fine.”

Ethan’s jaw tightened. “I don’t like being… vulnerable.”

“No one does,” Chris said. “Especially not engineers who think everything can be measured, reinforced, and made predictable.”

Ethan stared at him. “That felt personal.”

“It is,” Chris replied evenly. “Now listen.”

He sat on the edge of the table, posture relaxed but eyes focused.

“Heat is biology,” Chris said. “Not morality. You’re not ’weak’ because your body does what it’s wired to do. What matters is what you set up around it: suppressant schedule, monitoring, safe room, people you trust, and boundaries you decide while you’re calm, not while your hormones are screaming.”

Ethan swallowed. “People I trust.”

Chris’s gaze held his. “Yes. Because this isn’t about pride. It’s about your safety.”

Ethan glanced toward the door, then back at Chris, voice dropping. “And what if… it makes me want things I don’t want?”

Chris didn’t flinch. “Then you don’t act on them. Wanting isn’t consent and impulse is not necesarly something you want, but your body asking for the easiest path.”

Ethan’s shoulders lowered a fraction, like that sentence hit somewhere deep.

Chris continued, practical. “The first heat can feel intense because your body hasn’t learned the pattern yet. But you’re in Saha. You have doctors who actually know what they’re doing. We’re not letting you ’wing it’ with internet advice and panic.”

Ethan huffed. “I was trying to be informed.”

“You were trying to scare yourself,” Chris corrected.

Ethan’s mouth opened to argue, then he glanced down as Tania leaned her head against his shin again, purring like she approved of Chris’s tone.

Ethan went quiet. “Why does she like me?”

“She likes everyone and if you don’t want her close, she will come closer. It’s a cat Ethan.”

Ethan’s golden eyes snapped to Chris. A brow lifted, pure doubt, and then his gaze flicked past Chris, toward the direction of the palace wing where the king existed like a permanent threat.

“She is not a cat,” Ethan said flatly. “And your definition of danger is ruined by the predator you married.”

Chris stared at him for a beat. “First of all, rude.”

Ethan pointed weakly at the tiger. “Second of all, accurate.”

Chris huffed, because this was dangerously close to Ethan successfully dodging the entire topic by picking a fight with reality.

“Okay,” Chris said, tone shifting back into business. “What do you actually want to know? Did the physicians suggest you have a partner for your heat?”

Ethan’s expression tightened. “They suggested a plan. They didn’t say the word partner.”

Chris’s mouth twitched. “They never say the word. They imply it and hope you’ll be too embarrassed to ask questions.”

Ethan stared. “Are you saying they expect me to… what. Borrow someone.”

Chris leaned forward slightly, gaze sharp. “I’m saying heats can be managed medically. They can also be managed with support. Those are two different conversations, and you don’t get forced into either.”

Ethan swallowed. “Good.”

Chris nodded once. “So tell me exactly what they did propose.”

Ethan hesitated, then admitted, “They asked if I had someone I trusted. Someone who could stay nearby. They also mentioned suppressants and monitoring and,” he grimaced, “’comfort measures.’”

Chris’s tone went dry. “Of course they did.”

Ethan rubbed a hand over his face. “Chris, I don’t want this to turn into… a thing.”

“And you’re thinking this too much,” Chris said, immediate. He paused, then added with the kind of bluntness that could only come from someone who’d survived the same world, “Ethan, you’ve had one-night stands before.”

Ethan stared at him. “Can you not bring up my personal history like it’s a medical chart.”

Chris ignored that completely. “If you don’t want it to be a ’thing,’ then don’t make it one. You’re not choosing a soulmate. You’re choosing a solution.”

Ethan blinked. “Oh my god.”

“Yes,” Chris said, utterly unapologetic. “If the physicians are hinting at a partner option, then you pick from the vetted list. Preferably someone with a brain, a clean record, and enough professionalism not to fall in love with you mid-crisis.”

Ethan’s mouth opened. Closed. “A vetted list.”

Chris nodded like this was obvious. “It’s Saha. Everything is vetted. Even the scandals.”

Ethan gestured wildly. “You just told me to pick a model like I’m ordering furniture.”

Chris’s eyes narrowed. “I told you to pick someone pretty if you’re going to be miserable anyway. Don’t act like aesthetics don’t matter when your hormones are about to riot.”

Tania purred, as if in full agreement with the concept of choosing the prettiest option available.

Ethan looked at the tiger like she’d betrayed him personally. “Even the tiger is judging me.”

Chris pointed at him. “If you go this route, you do it smart. You choose someone consensual, discreet, and trained for heats. You set boundaries while you’re calm. You keep a medic on standby. You don’t do ’romantic,’ you do ’safe.’ Understood?”

Ethan swallowed, still scandalized. “You’re insane.”

Chris shrugged. “I’m practical.”

Ethan muttered, “You’re the queen. You’re not supposed to say ’pick a model.’”

Chris leaned back, calm and sharp. “I’m the queen. That’s exactly why I can say it and no one can stop me.”

Ethan stared at him for a long beat, then said, painfully honest, “What if I pick wrong?”

Chris’s expression shifted, just a fraction less teasing. “Then you don’t pick alone. Let the doctors walk you through the options. If you don’t like any of them, you go medical-only. But you stop spiraling and you stop treating this like a moral failing.”

Ethan exhaled slowly. “So I either pick a model or I pick a syringe.”

“At some point, you’ll have a partner,” Chris said with a shrug, like this was as inevitable as gravity. “Maybe not tonight, maybe not even for this first heat. But eventually.”

Ethan stared at him. “You say that like you’re talking about buying a toaster.”

Chris’s mouth twitched. “I’m trying to make you stop acting like intimacy is a courtroom.” He paused a second. “Also, enhanced sex.”

Ethan let out a sound of pure disbelief. “You are a menace.”

“I’m practical,” Chris corrected. “And you’re overthinking. If you choose the partner route, you choose someone vetted, discreet, and attractive enough that you don’t feel like you’re being punished by your own hormones.”

Ethan glanced at Tania, who was sitting like a judgmental statue.

“This is humiliating,” he muttered.

Chris nodded once. “Good. Humiliation keeps you from doing something stupid like running out of the palace to ’handle it yourself.’”

Ethan’s brows lifted. “Was that a threat?”

Chris smiled sweetly. “That was a prediction.”

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