“Ha-ha. I know it may sound counterintuitive, but dead heading makes sure your flowers continue to reproduce.”
“How’s that work again?”
I leaned toward the window, eager to hear Ven’s explanation. While I was glad to have Ricky back, I missed when Ven and I fooled around in her garden, when she taught me about all the little things I never even knew existed.
“Well, you see, basically all plants want to reproduce. That’s kind of their whole purpose. The way most flowers reproduce is by the seeds that come once their flowers dry up and die. Not all, but a majority. So, if you cut off the blooms right before theystart to dry out, it tells the plant it needs to make more flowers in order to produce more seeds and make more babies.”
“Huh. That’s so crazy. I never would have thought of that.”
Ven chuckled. “Plantsarefascinating.”
It was a sweet moment between my beta and Ven, but I wanted to be the one out there with her. Even though we were both so happy to see each other again, and I knew I loved her down to the bottom of my heart, there was an awkwardness between us. Something a conversation would fix, I was sure, but I simply didn’t have the energy for it.
Funny how I could face off against powerful warlocks with little-to-no trepidation, but speaking to the woman I was in love with seemed like a monumental task.
Come on, Leo, get yourself together.
Easier said than done.
I stood there, waffling for several moments about whether to go outside, until I felt a very deliberatethunkagainst the side of my leg. I looked down and met Goober’s wide, beseeching eyes. He had one of his streamer toys in his mouth. I’d never met a cat who would drag a toy to its owner like a dog, not even Andromeda’s, but Goober clearly didn’t care about his canine leanings.
“Well, I suppose I am free.”
Was it exactly what I wanted to do? No. What I wanted was to be out in the garden with Ven, acting like nothing had happened, like I hadn’t been captured and tortured for days on end. But I had to admit, playing around with the giant Maine Coon wasn’t a terrible consolation prize.
Just when I thought we were having fun, Goober abandoned all interest in the toy and marched to the back door of the kitchen.
“What, was my technique off?” I teased. I knew the cat couldn’t actually understand my words, but all of Ven’s furry charges had a very strong grasp of tone.
Goober looked at me with those big eyes of his and let out a truly egregious meow. It was almost accusatory in nature and demanding as well. Certainly not the usual gentle giant sounds I heard from him. Whatever he wanted, he was adamant about it.
“Oh, I don’t think you’re supposed to go outside. Don’t you have a kitty tunnel for this?”
Before I met Ven, I probably would have felt like a dolt talking to a cat like a human, but Ven did it all the time, so I figured they were used to that sort of communication. It was kind of comforting, like having three little nonverbal friends who found increasingly creative ways to share their opinions.
And boy, did they have opinions.
But apparently, my gentle parenting wasn’t working because the large cat continued to chew me out like I had offended him. If it was Mud Pie or even Fork—the eternal chaos goblin that he was—I would have chalked it up to a temper tantrum. But Goober wasn’t so temperamental, so after several long moments of absolutely no negotiating with him, I opened the door, hoping I wasn’t about to piss Ven off by letting one of her indoor cats out into the great outdoors.
Strangely enough, Goober didn’t try to go out the door. Instead, he practically ran away from it and went out the flap to his tunnel.
“That was weird,” I said, and made to shut the door, only for Goober to raceoutof the tunnel and back to my side. “Buddy, what do you want?”
After a few more head butts to the back of my legs, I guessed he wanted me to be outside for some reason. Obliging, I took a step outside. Goober gave a satisfied meow, then ran right backinto the tunnel, until he was parallel to me in his protected passage.
“Well, you got me out here. What now?”
At that, the cat let out a chirp and began to strut through the winding structure, pausing after a few feet to look behind him. Those big eyes of his landed on me, almost as if he was asking why I wasn’t following.
I shrugged. Even alphas had to follow the orders of a very determined cat.
More amused than anything else, I followed him. It amazed me how much personality each of Ven’s cats had. What amazed me even more was how fond I’d grown of them. I’d never beenagainstcats, but I’d always preferred canines, what with kind of being one myself. However, there was something so comforting and entertaining about having three family members who didn’t speak my language but still loved cuddling with me and purring every chance they got.
I was so fixated on Goober and how he continued to stop every few feet to ensure I was still following him, that I didn’t realize how close I’d gotten to Ven and Ricky until my beta called out to me.
“Hey, man. You sure you’re ready to be walking out and about?”
I smiled at Ricky, but my gaze was fixed on Ven, who had shot up from the flower starts she was planting. Did I know what they were? I had a feeling she’d shown them to me when they were smaller, but I wasn’t nearly the expert she was, so I couldn’t identify them.
