Ruts are a nightmare.
But for Travis, they are so hellish that he dreads them.
Travis's ruts have been so bad that the only normal rut he had was his first one. After that, things went to hell, and nothing has ever been the same for him.
Ruts for him now are the days he completely loses control to his beast and becomes feral, a wild animal that succumbs to its rawest, basic needs.
He is as vulnerable and weak as he is his most dangerous.
After Day was presumed dead, and he felt the bond between them die and go silent, leaving behind only a void, Travis spent his first two ruts alone. Going mad, depressed, and when he got out of his first since the incident, he was not the same.
The second one left him even more broken.
His parents decided that he had to spend it with someone, an omega, on his third, and so they arranged for it.
The omega didn't survive.
