Summer and Lucy nodded.
I realized I was shredding my paper napkin, and I hurriedly dropped the pieces on the table.
“So… I’m not.” I kept my eye on the table so I didn’t chicken out. “I have a blood clotting disorder and it means I can’t take suppressants.”
“Oh,” Ivy said, brow furrowed. “So you’ve had heats before?”
“My first one was when I was twenty,” I said. “None of you have had one?”
“I almost did,” Lucy said, her voice low. “I was dating a pack, and I thought… well, I thought they were the ones. I was planning to go off my suppressants so we could go through a heat together and bond, but luckily, they showed their true colors before that happened.”
Now it was my turn to squeeze her hand. Lucy was amazing and deserved better.
“How do you handle your heats?” Summer asked.
“The first two, I used a heat service, and it justdidn’t go well at all. So the doctor prescribed me sedatives and pain medication so I can get through them alone.”
Three horrified faces stared at me across the table.
“Alone? Oh, Olive,” Ivy said. “That sounds so hard and scary.”
“Is that even safe?” Summer asked.
I shrugged. “I mean, the doctor gave me the medication, so I assume so?”
Lucy scowled. “Yeah, except doctors don’t know anything about omega medicine.”
Well, that was true. Omegas had been excluded from drug trials and research until just a few years ago.
“But now that you have your pack, you don’t have to do that anymore,” Summer said.
I chewed my lip. “My heat is actually coming up. Like super soon. But… I don’t know. Isn’t it a lot to ask for them to take care of me through my heat? We haven’t been together very long…”
“You say that like it would be a burden to them,” Lucy said, brow furrowed.
I shrugged. “The alphas hired through the heat service said it was, or I guess that I was just a lot more work than they signed on for.”
“Excuse me?” Ivy said, her voice low and cold. “They said that to you?”
I clenched my jaw to keep the wave of emotion at bay. I’d shoved those memories to the far recesses of my mind, but seeing Rick the other night brought it all back and shook me. What if my alphas reacted the same way he did? Even if they didn’t abandon me during the heat, maybe they would decide I was too much work afterward and end things.
“Olive,” Summer said, her voice uncharacteristically soft. “I’m sure they would be incredibly excited to spend your heat with you. They should be bowing at your feet for the honor of even being considered.”
The sound of a throat clearing over my shoulder had me jumping.
“Ladies,” Char said. “Do you know what you want to order?”
Lucy’s eyes flicked between the alpha and me. “Do you want to ask Char’s opinion?”
My cheeks grew hot with embarrassment, but maybe it was a good idea to get an alpha’s perspective.
“My opinion on what?” Char asked. “If it’s about what to order, I highly recommend the home fry scramble, and I’m not just saying that because I over-ordered potatoes and have run out of storage space.”
“That sounds good. I’ll have that,” I said.
Ivy, Summer, and Lucy all gave me an exasperated look.
“Ugh, fine. Char, what’s it like for alphas to handle an omega during heat?”
