I purse my lips. I was really enjoying this food, and he had to ruin it by bringing upthat.
Swallowing, I reach for my glass of water. “Apparently, my hormone levels are high enough that it’s unusual that I haven’t had a single heat spike yet. So…it’s possible I have something called SOHS.”
“Sudden Onset Heat Syndrome,” Teddy nods once, and my brows shoot up.
“How did you know that?” I tilt my head.
“Pho’ographic memory, Dove,” Teddy grins, tapping his head.
What?
“What do you mean?” What the hell is a photographic memory?
His face blanks. “‘Ave…’ave I never told you that?”
I arch a brow. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“It means he can read or look at something one time and basically remember it whenever he needs to,” Brennan sighs. “Makes him absolutely insufferable. Especially when we were nest shopping.”
“Is that…” my heart beats a little quicker, “is that why my nest is so perfect?” I hadn’t put much thought into it before, but…
“Thir’een throw pillows, four full-pillows, and seven blankets.” Teddy nods.
“Okay, wait—back to the SOHS thing,” Ethan interrupts. “What does that mean exactly? Sudden Onset Heat Syndrome?”
Maggie looks at me. “Do you want me to explain?” When I nod, she turns to Ethan. “When someone without SOHS has a spike, it’s the body’s way of ‘warming up’ forthe upcoming heat. If an omega doesn’t have heat spikes, their body is hit with an influx of hormones all at once, which can make heats longer and more intense.”
“Aw, Little Bird,” Ethan gives me a sympathetic look, “I’m sorry.”
I shake my head. “No,I’msorry. It could hit at literally any moment, and you’ll have to drop whatever you’re doing—”
Brennan snorts. “Believe me, Song Bird, we’d much rather be in your heat than working.”
My eyes widen and I jerk my head towards Maggie. “Boo Bear, not in front of company.”
Maggie snorts a laugh. “It’s alright. I’ve been privy to worse. That being said, it’s also completely possible that you could… ‘grow out of it’, so to speak, the more heats you have.”
Oh. That’s…that’s better, right? Even if I have SOHS for this heat, that doesn’t mean it’s forever.
“Well, that’s good, innit?” Teddy grins, echoing my thoughts before he turns to me. “I dun told ya, Dove. Fings always ‘ave a way of workin’ out.”
My mouth gapes open. “Teddy, you said no such thing.”
He shrugs as Brennan and Ethan chuckle. “Well…I was finkin’ it.”
Maggie hasn’t been gone for more than two minutes before we’re all collapsed on the couches, my ass in Brennan’s lap, and my feet in Teddy’s.
“So…” Teddy turns to Maverick. “”Ow is that goin’ to affect ‘ow we deal wiff her parents, if ‘er heat can come at any time and will last for days?”
“We could lock in and do nothing but work the next couple of days. The Messinas did another press release, shiftingblame. So we’ll reach out as soon as the file is completely put together. I want absolutely every single infraction, every suspicious transaction, every email—and then we corner them with it. If her heat hits before we can do that, then so be it, but we can work to get her parents in line as soon as possible.” Maverick concedes. ”No more lounging around, doing nothing.”
Not that they were exactly “lounging around” before, but they had at least made sure that we spent at least a couple hours together as a pack.
“They won’t stop looking for me.” My hands tighten into fists. “They have a lot of money invested in me with this whole Nest Luxe situation, they aren’t just going to let me go unless we make them. So what can I do?” I ask, looking around the room. “I want to help, this whole mess is because of me anyway.”
Brennan shakes his head. “No, Song Bird. This whole mess is because your parents are shitty. The way you can help is by giving yourself as little stress as possible. Why don’t you paint? Or find a good book to read?”
I frown, looking up at him. “That seems…lonely.”
