The café is just a few steps from the apartment, a small space with decent coffee and private booths. Amos spoke to the complex right after Richard’s removal from the company so they’ve put someone just outside our apartment building, the Alpha nodding at me when I pass.
Tamsin is already in the booth when I arrive. She's got her phone propped against the sugar dispenser watching something with the sound off and a half-eaten muffin in front of her. She smells like green tea and something floral strong enough to taste. She looks up when I slide into the seat across from her.
"Holy shit." She sets her phone down. "You look different."
"I've had a week."
"You look like you've had a month compressed into a week." Her eyes travel over my face and drop to the bond marks above my collar. "Also you smell different. Also you're glowing."
"I'm not glowing. I threw up this morning."
"You are glowing. It's a specific glow. I've seen it on my cousin and my sister-in-law." She leans across the table and her voice drops. "You're pregnant, aren't you?"
My face goes hot from my collar to my hairline. "Stop asking."
"Oh my god." Her hands come up to cover her mouth. "Oh my GOD. With BOTH of them? How does that even work? No wait, I know how it works, the biology is straightforward, I just mean logistically how do you—"
"Tamsin." I say her name with enough force that the couple in the next booth glances over.
She grins behind her hands. Then she lowers them to the table and the grin softens into something more careful.
"For real though." Her voice drops the teasing edge. "Are you okay? This is a lot. The bonding, the scandal with the photos, Richard getting removed, and now..." She gestures at my stomach. "This is a lot of life in a very short time."
The question tightens my throat.
"I don't know. I think so but it's complicated. I haven't fully forgiven them for... some things. And now I'm pregnant and they're being so careful with me it makes me want to scream."
"Careful how?"
"Dominic won't let me lift a coffee mug. He tried to carry me to the bathroom yesterday and I had to physically push him off. Amos is delivering unsolicited research updates about folic acid at hourly intervals."
Tamsin snorts into her muffin. "That tracks for both of them." She picks a piece off her muffin. "You know that's just how Alphas are when they find out their Omega is pregnant, right? The hovering is biological. It'll ease up once they settle into the reality."
"Or it won't ease up and I'll lose my mind."
"Also possible." She pulls out her phone and starts scrolling. "Okay, practical stuff. You need a doctor who specializes in Omega pregnancies, especially post-suppressant ones. My cousin used Dr. Vasquez at Metro North. I'll send you the contact." She types something and my phone buzzes. "There's also a support group that meets on Thursdays at the community center for Omega parents in triad or dual-Alpha configurations. My cousin said it saved her sanity in the first trimester."
The idea is approximately as appealing as another conversation about folic acid. "A support group."
"Trust me." Tamsin points her phone at me. "You're going to need other Omegas who get it. Your Alphas can love you to death but they can't understand what it feels like to grow a person inside your body while two possessive territorial instinct machines try to manage the process."
"Possessive territorial instinct machines." I pick up my coffee and take a sip. "That's the most accurate description of my mates anyone has ever produced."
"I've been watching them operate for a month. I'm observant." She grins. "Also, congratulations. I know I'm supposed to ask how you feel about it before saying that but honestly I've been waiting for this since the first time Dominic walked past your cubicle and his head turned like a radar dish."
"Like a radar dish."
"You didn't see it because you were too busy pretending your blocker was working." She finishes her muffin and wipes her hands on a napkin. "The whole floor saw it. We had a betting pool."
"You had a betting pool about my love life."
"We had a betting pool about when the CEO's son was going to stop circling and make a move. HR shut it down after the boardroom incident but by then most of us had already collected." She holds up her hands when my expression shifts. "I won forty dollars. You're welcome."
The laugh escapes me loud enough that the couple in the next booth looks over again. Tamsin watches me laugh looking thoroughly satisfied.
"For what it's worth," she says as I'm pulling my jacket on to leave, "you look happier than you did when you started at the company. Even with everything. You look like someone who finally landed somewhere."
"You're the second person to say something like that to me."
