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“The same way it works at any job. Legally you get two weeks off if you’re going to be assisting with the heat. When do you expect to need the time off?”
“Mid-April. Is that okay?”
“It’s always going to be okay, Luca.” Jasper smiled, the simple gesture undoing some of my anxiety. “We’ll return to how we did things before you were here until you’re back. I promise I’ll survive working a little harder while you take care of your omega. Being part of heat is an honor, and I’m not going to fuss about schedules to keep you from that. I know if one of my pack had to work through my heat, I probably wouldn’t cope very well.”
“I’m not, um, I’m not part of their pack, but they did ask me and I’d like to be there.”
Jasper held up a hand to stop me. “I don’t need to know any details. You’re entitled to the time no matter what the situation is.”
Relief relaxed my muscles. “Thank you.”
“In the future, though, if you’re going to be regularly participating, a bit more heads-up would be helpful. I don’t need to know the exact days, but a general schedule will help us plan if your omega is open to sharing.”
“Let me get through one heat before we start planning for more,” I said with a laugh. “Could I possibly ask a favor too?”
“Ask away,” Jasper replied.
“Could you not tell Nicky about this?”
He stared at me for a long moment. “I wasn’t intending to. This is about you as a worker, not you as Nicky’s brother. Why don’t you want her to know?”
I fidgeted, trying to figure out what to say. “I wanna keep it private right now. You know how involved my family can get. If it becomes something she needs to know about, I’ll tell her.” I swallowed hard, hoping that was enough.
“I don’t love keeping things from my mate, but as your boss and your brother-in-law through bonding, your secrets are safe with me.”
I sagged with relief. “Thank you. It’s not my place to share and I don’t want anything to get messy. It’s… I love Nicky, but this isn’t my call.”
Jasper patted my shoulder with a soft smile. “Try not to worry about it too much. Your time is guaranteed. Keep me posted as close as you can to the start of the heat so I can make sure everything is covered.”
I thanked every god I had ever heard of that Jasper took the separation of business and family seriously. I messaged Luna to let her know.
Luca:
I have two weeks off
Not sure if you’ll need me for the whole thing but you have me if you do
Sunshine:
Perfect
I booked the meal service and they’ll be dropping off everything in a few days
Auggie and I both have heat leave approved too
The closer we got to the reality of Luna’s heat, the more nervous I became. I was glad Auggie was on board to help. I had a feeling I was going to be fighting for my life to get through the heat, and having someone who could take care of the meals and monitoring was a massive relief.
It was only two weeks away now. The days had been slipping by so quickly that I felt like I was barreling toward an Ironman I hadn’t even begun to train properly for. I had been trying. Taking the dogs for runs instead of walks, popping over to Auggie’s to practice the pole and beef up my upper body strength, but none of it was giving me the confidence that I would be able to get Luna through this heat without breaking apart.
All I could do was my best and hope my preparation was enough. Auggie would be able to step in if we needed, and while it felt like a point of pride that Luna thought I might be able to handle her heat by myself, there was no way I was going to let that pride cause her any suffering.
I spent the next week and a half in a blur of work, classes, and heat prep. I worked ahead on my class as much as I could so I wouldn’t be playing catch-up while I was exhausted after the heat, and my professor was fine with the break.
Sunshine:
You haven’t washed your bedding yet, have you?
Luca:
