Heats

Heats are part of a hormone cycle that omegas experience. Heats replace periods for most omegas, unless things develop abnormally. Most omegas have 3 to 4 heats a year, and can vary in how regularly they occur.

Omegas have an increased desire to nest, as well as to be surrounded by the pheromones of their group. Most will line their nests with items from their group members which carry their scent. Some may enter an experience called 'heat haze', where it becomes more difficult to think, and emotions and instincts are heightened.

Omega ovaries build up stores of eggs, most of which release during heats. To maximize the possibility of fertilization, omegas give off very strong sex pheromones, which both alphas and betas find attractive.

Eggs can still release and be fertilized outside of heat, but will usually stay in the fallopian tubes/uterine horn until sex during heat allows them to soak up enough hormones to jumpstart development. (This means that a litter with multiple different sires is possible, though fertilized eggs may have decreased receptivity to seminal hormones from a different sire. Research is still ambiguous.) Pregnancy outside of heat is unlikely, but possible. Fertilized eggs are usually lost if the next heat doesn't include sex. But singleton (one child, like our world, with the same possibilities for twins, etc) eggs may develop without seminal hormones. This usually begins immediately after conception, when the eggs continue to the uterus rather than staying put.