Page 135 of Tides of Fate

How do you tell someone their omega is in heat when they’re not home—and hope they don’t accidentally kill themselves trying to get back?

How long will the heat even last? Is it like a rut? Two or three days, and you’re done?

Shit…maybe he should call Finn first?

While he waits for Finn to answer, he pulls out the rut basket and checks supplies, replenishing water and snacks.

What does an omega in heat need?

Gideon feels his panic rise a bit.

What if he can’t care for Nix the way he needs?

What if his kitten’s first heat is a terrible experience—and that compounds the trauma he’s already battling?

“Gideon?” Finn asks, for what sounds like the second or third time, his concern coloring his voice. “Gid?”

“Heat,” Gideon says, pressing his hand to his belly, where he feels a yearning tug.

“I’m sorry, what? Hang on. Let me go where it’s quiet.”

Gideon throws some more things he’s sure they’ll need into the large basket while listening to Finn close the door. Most of the ambient noise disappears.

“There. Did you say ‘heat?’”

Gideon finds his words and blurts them out. “Nix is in heat. What do I do, Finnie?”

Finn sucks in a sharp breath. “Holy shit. Hang on,” he says, and then there’s the squeak of the door again. His footsteps pound back the way he came.

He hands the phone to someone, and for the first time in Gideon’s life, he is mortified.

“Gideon? Why am I talking to you on the phone?”

“Where is Finn?” Gideon asks through gritted teeth.

“Hold, please.” She covers the end of the phone, and Gideon can hear two muffled male voices on the other end.

“Oh. Well. I am going to translate for Fernando, and you are going to say nothing. Then I am going to give you back to Finn, and we will pretendthis never happened. Clear?”

Gideon is thrilled that in this, they agree, and while he’d normally love to embarrass her, this is not one of those times.

“As glass. Go.”

Over the next ten minutes, Gideon adds the things she translates for him from Spanish into the basket—things like painkillers, ice packs, and electrolyte drinks. He’ll need to grab all the dirty clothes they had from the past week, except anything they’d worn to court. Those would smell like fear and anger, and an omega in heat could go into protective mode if he thinks his pack is in peril.

There are several other things, and some of them aren’t what Gideon is expecting at all—like food with extra Vitamin C.

She stops abruptly, and it’s the only way Gideon knows the list is done.

Now, Gideon is no expert on uteri, but he definitely knows biology. And heats can mean babies. And if they don’t want babies, then they will need to prevent them.

Logic.

How are they doing that, exactly?

“I’m leaving here now. Lauren will drop me off. Do you need me to pick any of that up?” Finn asks breathlessly.

“Wait. Fuck. You have to ask Lauren—er fuck,Fernando—about birth control, Finn.”

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