Sensing the distress in their friend, Rory and Stacia rush to her. Luckily, it’s mainly our core friend group sitting in this room while most of Alpha Xi are upstairs playing games and in the kitchen playing beer pong. Ciro and Kit walk back in—bright colored cups in hand—but stop in the doorway, their attention swept up by the situation. Ciro steps over to help, but Kit stands there, frozen in place as his eyes zone in on the distressed omega.
“I don’t think I can handle it anymore.” I hear Opal say as I take a step towards Kit. “Cindy is driving me nuts, her roommates aremean, and I just want somewhere to make a nest, damnit!”
I look over to see if Kit wants to step away, give Opal some space to vent to her friends, but he’s listening intently, unaware of my presence by his side.
“I thought your place was supposed to be done being fumigated a couple of weeks ago?” Kendall rationalizes.
The redhead’s lips tremble as she throws her hands up. “Yeah, but they also found mold, and there’s supposedly water damage. Issues with the plumbing? I don’t know. I kind of zoned out while he was explaining. I just kept seeing more days of living with Cindy and tried not to freak out on them.”
“At least he’s terminating your lease so you don’t have to pay rent anymore,” Rory mentions, but she looks just as concerned.
Something rumbles in my chest. I wonder what kind ofcontract these girls signed that gave their landlord the power to kick them out. I make a mental note to ask about this guy later.
Stacia rubs Opal’s back. “I thought you said everything was going good with Cindy? Is she not being a good roommate?”
Opal shrugs, but tension laces her shoulders.
“I’m sorry, I’ve been lying about that. We haven’t been sharing her room. I’ve been crashing on her couch.”
Rory nearly explodes at that revelation, but I can’t hear her words because my alpha growls in my chest without permission. Luckily, it’s low and inaudible, and I pat my chest with reassurance. I have this strange urge to reach out to her, comfort her in the way every alpha wants to comfort an omega, but it’s unwarranted. My own omega is by my side, and I don’t think he would appreciate it if I offered any kind of help…
“You can stay with us,” Kit says abruptly. I turn to look at him, but his gaze stays locked with hers as she looks up with surprise. He looks determined, his slim figure standing tall, his eyes glossy with anticipation. Even as the entire room turns to look at him, he never breaks their eye contact, determined to show the seriousness of his words. “We have plenty of space. And Sam and Thatcher are gone all the time, anyway.”
She’s taken aback by the offer, her eyes wide and startled. Kit’s watermelon scent spikes slightly, the fruit aroma growing sweeter and more plentiful by the second. The reaction confuses me, but one look at him and I know he’s earnest in his proposal. So, like any good partner, I cosign.
“It’s true,” I start, going for nonchalant in my delivery. “We’re busy a lot, and there’s a spare room. You are welcome to it.”
There’s no way her omega feels settled sleeping on someone else’s couch, and we have a perfectly good bedroom in our house that’s devoid of any scents. It’d be perfect for her.
Rory cuts in. “And, there’s always a spare room with us. You know this.”
Opal’s attention turns back to her friend. “I appreciate you for offering. But as I said before, you’re newly bonded. Our friendship means everything to me, and I don’t want to risk it.”
“We’re not bonded,” Kit says, which makes me choke on my own spit.
Opal looks even more surprised by that. “Oh… I didn’t know you guys weren’t… Okay, then.” They all look at me like I might freak out over that information going public, but mainly, I’m amused. When Kit has his eye on something, he goes for it, and I’m guessing he wants to help soothe this omega almost as much as I do.
Kit’s smile is broad. “I’m just saying. I won’t have any desire to have a catfight, I can assure you.”
That causes a few of our friends to laugh, Ciro the loudest. “Don’t let that omega fool you. He is the most flippant person I have ever met.”
“Fuck off, Ci,” Kit hisses at him. “I am a sweet angel.”
Now it’s my turn to snort, which causes my omega to shoot daggers at me with his eyes. I hold my hands up in surrender. “You are the sweetest. And now that you’ve offered, we can give her some time to think about it.” I meet Opal’s gaze, showing our sincerity. “Is that okay, Opal? Will you at least consider it?”
She bites her lip, unsure, but then she gives a meek nod. “I’ll think about it.”
FIVE
“Anymore flare-ups?”
“Not more than usual,” I answer sincerely. “Unless I forget to take my meds. Then it’s more often.”
“Have you given any more thought to what I said about going off your blockers?” Dr. Wyatt asks me. Her black hair is tied up, tight along her scalp, and her fingers work seamlessly as she types on her computer. The screen is just out of eyeshot, but I’d guarantee that she’s typing notes about what the next couple of months could look like for me.
I give a meek nod because I can’t bring myself to lie right now. She sees it anyway, the fear behind the falsehood. “Your meds work to manage your pain and regulate your hormones, but they aren’t going to prevent your heats now that they’ve begun. Continuing to take your blockers can affect your heat cycles moving forward. You could have them more often.” She gives me a meaningful look. “You’re still studying to be a teacher, right?”
I wince at the implication. “Yes.”
