Page 85 of Bonded By Tea and Tarot

“Thank goodness I don’t have to worry about that.” Claire might be a beta, but we consider her an honorary omega and a staple in our Omega Gardening Club. “Is that why I haven’t seen you around town this week? You’re normally all over the place filming or burning incense or hiding crystals⁠—”

“Hey!” I protest and fling a weed at her.

“What!” Claire says with a laugh. “It’s true.”

“Kinda is,” Sage murmurs under her breath, and I stare at her in betrayal. She twists her lips to the side, trying to hide a grin, and I roll my eyes with a snort-laugh.

“Fine. But yeah, kinda went into an unexpected heat.”

“How early?” Sage asks.

“A few weeks, basically a month.” I wrinkle my nose. “Does that mean I’ll still have one soon?”

“No idea.” Claire shrugs.

“I’m already looking into it,” Bea says in their soothing librarian voice, which has the opposite effect it’s supposed to.

I take a deep breath, trying not to let my thoughts spin.

“Sooooo?” Claire says, and I twist to look at her. “Who helped you with it? Do you know why it came early?”

I knew this was coming, and I don’t mind sharing with them—they’re my best friends—but for some reason my face still heats when I think of telling them about it.

“Ooooooh! Spill!” Claire dumps her armload of plant debris right where she’s standing and bounces over to me, then falls to her knees, puppy-dog eyes locked on mine and hands clasped to her chest.

“Oh my Goddess,” I mutter. I push away from the planter box and turn around so I can rest my back against it, and the others crowd around until we’re all squeezed into the four-foot-wide space between two of the grow boxes. Our heads are barely visible above them now that we’re all sitting down, and it reminds me of building blanket forts with my friends as a kid. Daisy noses her way between us and tries to nibble on my hair. “Well, it started when I was spending the night with Aury⁠—”

Sage squeaks and I turn to her in alarm. But she’s got her big doe eyes locked on me, purple hair blowing in the breeze while she bites her lip to hold in what looks like an excited smile. Wren is shooting me a knowing look from next to her.

“I take it tai chi stalking—I mean, lessons—have been going well?” Bea says, nudging my knee with theirs.

I roll my eyes, but I can’t hold in the grin. I love our little group. “I guess you could say that…” I explain what happened, how I met my scent-matched alphas, and Wren pipes up.

“That’s probably what triggered it,” she says. Her voice is soft, and she has her gardening gloves folded neatly in her lap where she sits with her feet tucked under her, a couple inches away from the rest of us. My heart pangs and I long to snatch her up and pull her closer, demand she let herself fully be a part of this—with us.

I don’t, but I do tilt my head in question at her words, and she continues. “It’s biological. Sometimes a strong scent-match can trigger an early heat. Evolutionists hypothesize that it was a survival mechanism.”

“Force omegas into heat as soon as they meet a strong enough pack and the species is more likely to survive?” Bea says.

Wren nods with a rueful smile. “Something like that.”

“Huh.” I pick a twig from Daisy’s fur, and we all jump when a shadow looms over us.

“Why is there a pile of plants in the middle of my walkway?” Neveah, one of Sage’s alphas and the owner of the community garden and associated lavender farm, stares down at us. “And what are you all doing crammed into such a small space? You know you can use the picnic tables or the employee lounge if you want to hang out and chat.”

“Sorry Vee,” I say. “My fault.”

“Siobhan’s got good tea right now,” Sage stage-whispers to Neveah, who beams back at her.

“Oh yeah? Well in that case, forget I was here.” She drops a kiss on the top of Sage’s head, then bends down to pick up our mess.

“Ah, I can get that, Vee!” I say.

She waves me off. “I got it, you finish up with the gossiping so I can hear about it later.”

“Mother Earth help me,” I groan and plunk my head back against the wooden planter.

Sage giggles, but she doesn’t deny it. I also don’t expect her to.