Page 111 of Omega's Flight

Cas tore himself off me with a snarl and clawed at the drawer. "Don't you move," he commanded and tore the drawer out of the desk, scattering pens and other random, noisy things all over the floor. His phone made a heavy clunk as it landed. Cas snatched it up off the floor and answered the call, hitching one hip up on the edge of the desk so he could reach me where I ‘d stayed, obediently resting on top of the desk. I rolled up on my side and took his hand in mine, kissing the knuckles one by one while he tried to keep his mind on whatever the topic of this very important call was.

I was enjoying myself immensely. But, I had to go to work, and from the sound of it, so did Cas. Reluctantly, I sat up on the desk and shook my head at him. I'm dropping the pups off to Bax after school, I mouthed to him. Come by at five-thirty, I'll have dinner ready.

He grimaced but nodded. I started to slide off the desk but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him, kissing me fiercely, as if he couldn't bear to let me go. Then, I was suddenly free, and he was buried deep in whatever issue was taking him from me, and I slipped quietly out the door, trying to forget how incomplete I felt now without him.

C H A P T E R 8 0

I rushed to Supplies at lunch time to spend precious credits on a pair of tiny sirloins for tonight's celebration dinner, then rushed home to start my preparations. I'd planned to leave them soaking in marinade all afternoon while I went to the community gardens to do my hours there for the day.

"You look happy," Jason commented as he handed me a pair of gloves and walked me down to the section he wanted me to weed in. The gloves were new, bought with the Mutch money.

I still found myself confused by that money, which I gathered had something to do with Mercy Hills' history. To be honest, I didn't care a lot about it except that it was paying for my art lessons now and maybe for a graphic design course that I'd been growing more and more interested in over the past months. Abel had promised me some work with his software company once I could draw on the computer, which was turning out to be more difficult to learn than I’d expected.

"I have a date," I told him.

"Someone other than Cas?" His eyebrows rose and he watched me expectantly.

"No." A blush raced up my neck to make my entire face burn. Should I tell him? It was kind of private. But I'd told Bax, in not so many words. "I'm making dinner for him tonight. Bax is taking the pups." I chewed my lip and considered my next words. "I think I'm free of Degan."

He grinned wide and pulled me into an enthusiastic hug. "That's great!" The he leaned back and examined me anxiously. "I mean, if that's what you want."

"It is. I'm happier here. More me, I think." Whoever me was. I still wasn't sure how much of what I thought and wanted and dreamed was what I'd been taught I should think and want and dream, and how much of it was driven by my own needs. It was becoming clearer, but I still stumbled over it sometimes.

Not over this, though.

Jason hugged me again. "I'm so glad for you. Did you want to take the afternoon off to get ready?"

"I need the hours for my credits, I can't. But thank you."

He took the gloves back, nipping them neatly out of my hand before I could protest. "I record the hours. I make the decision on how many hours you get marked down for. Go, I'll make sure you're credited for them."

"But—" I read the expression on his face and gave in with all the grace I could muster. "Thank you. I'd like to clean up a little more."

"Do something for yourself too. Is he taking you out to the restaurant?"

I hadn't been to the restaurant in ages, not since I'd first arrived. "No, I'm making something. I got a couple of small steaks marinating and I'll put some vegetables on to go with them."

Jason slipped the gloves into his pocket and crooked a finger at me. "Come here." He led me along the end of the rows nearby, picking handfuls of yellow beans and baby carrots, finishing up by pulling out a couple of young potato plants, the potatoes tiny yellow balls half-hiding in the soil still clinging to the roots. "Take these, too, but don't tell anyone, okay? They're good at this size, but we can't afford to lose the extra food if we harvest them this young." He produced a plastic bag from somewhere, and we dumped everything into it. "Enjoy yourself." He bent to set the plant back into the ground, carefully spreading the roots out and covering them with the loose soil.

"Will it survive?" I asked, surprised. I was certain that plants died when you pulled them out. They'd always done so at Nevada Ashes.

Jason shrugged. "I have a knack. It'll live." He looked troubled for a moment, then his expression cleared. "Go, enjoy your date." He swatted my arm with the back of his hand and grinned, then headed back off into the garden to inspect the plants.

I wasn't going refuse the gift of time, so I took my not exactly ill-gotten food and beat a hasty retreat for the house.

I put the vegetables in the sink and gave them a quick rinse to take the worst of the dirt off, ate an apple to tide me over the dinner hour, then gave that little house a cleaning it wouldn't soon forget. The windows were so clean they were almost invisible, the furniture gleamed, there wasn't a speck of dust anywhere, and all the dirty clothing had been picked up and put away. I even took the rugs outside to beat them and, if I was going to be honest with myself, burn off a little nervous energy.

Ori stuck his head out the back door. "A little late for spring cleaning, aren't we?"

Oh. Um... Hmm. "I'm having company tonight." I was borrowing Ori's phrase for it. I still wasn't quite sure if it was a joke or if he was that uncomfortable with a mated omega spending time with an alpha not their mate, but I was leaning toward the joke. He was too sweet a boy to sit in judgment on others.

"Not your usual company?" He crept out onto their back step in bare feet and sat down. "Rose is sleeping," he offered. "I'm taking a break."

"How is she?"

His lips twitched. "Hungry. All the time. I get maybe a couple of hours of peace, then it's back on she goes." But he didn't seem bothered by it. "Guess she's gonna start growing again."

"They do a lot of that. You have enough clothes?"