Page 116 of Omega's Flight

But I wanted to talk to Bax before I talked to the pups. After all, he'd brought in a new sire for his and it seemed to have worked—he'd know how to do it. So about a week after that first, wonderful evening, I dropped the pups off to school and daycare and headed for the last house before the new section of the enclave.

"Hi! Haven't seen you in ages!" he cried when I knocked on the door. "Well, since full moon anyway. Come in, I just got the baby down. What can I do for you?"

I sat gingerly on the chair Bax set out for me. "Are you free to talk for a few minutes? I have a question. Or a couple."

"I can be. Is everything okay?" He stopped his rummaging through the cupboards for the traditional mug of tea and twisted to stare at me. "Give me a minute to make something to drink and then we can talk in the shade out in the yard."

I thanked him and we talked about small everyday things while he made coffee for himself and tea for me. My taste for chai must have gotten around and when he handed me the mug, the liquid inside was milky and rich with spices.

They were fixing up the space behind the house, taking advantage of the laws that required the land to be cleared for a quarter of a mile just inside the wall. Close to the houses lined up along that invisible barrier sat tables with attached seats, built from scraps left over from the future hospital. There were a few in Central Park as well, and Cas had mentioned that the plan had been to add more. I noticed a sandbox three houses along, and the framework for what I thought might be a set of swings, except missing the swings. And if I squinted, I thought I could see marks in the grass—goal lines for some sort of sport?

We sat in the shade of the house and I wondered how to start the conversation.

"So you and Cas are still getting along all right?" Bax asked, peering at me over his mug of coffee. A little beige box sat on the table beside his plate of lemon cake. He flipped a switch on it, releasing the sounds of a baby in deep, well-fed sleep.

My fingers twitched and I daydreamed briefly about another baby, one with dark eyes and dark hair and a sharp sense of humor. I shoved the idea away—trust an omega to jump right into the hunt. Now wasn't the time. But still, my brain and my womb whispered to me, sending me images of making the baby, of how it felt to make love knowing that the end result would be a pup.

Speculating on what it would be like to take that step with Cas.

"Yeah." I sipped at my tea, a pale tan with milk and sugar in it, the rich sweetness coating my tongue. How much of our relationship needed to be revealed? I wanted to hug this experience to myself, just for a bit longer. Reality intruded—this was an enclave. It was pretty likely that Bax already knew almost as much about my relationship as I did. "I was thinking—he spends so much time with us, maybe he should just move in?"

If I hadn't been watching him so closely I might not have seen the small jerk of surprise. "Have you talked to Cas?"

"Not formally." Now, what had startled him? "You think it's a bad idea?"

"I don't know. I'll ask Abel to find out."

"No, don't!" My insides froze with dismay and I pictured Cas being confronted by his brothers and then a huge fight, ending our relationship. "I'd rather things stayed this way, then."

Bax frowned unhappily. "I think he can find out without giving you away." He paused for a moment, his gaze unfocused, then looked back up at me. "What do the pups think of this?"

"I haven't told them yet. I wanted to see what Cas said." And now I was glad that I had waited. "I was going to ask him before Degan got here." Which gave me three days to either get my act together or chicken out.

"That doesn't give me much time." Bax pulled out his phone and, while I watched open-mouthed, sent a text. "Abel will find out for us. Then we can plan your approach."

I choked on a mouthful of tea, making a mess on the table and down the front of my shirt. "Oh, damn." These stains never came out, and I liked this shirt.

Bax laughed, but stood and pulled a piece of cloth out of a back pocket. "Here, wipe yourself up, we can throw it in the laundry and you can borrow something from me." He gathered up our cups and led me into the house. He found me one of his shirts and sent me off to change and wash the tea from my chest. When I came out, he held out a hand for my t-shirt. "Let's get that into the sink quick. If we can't get the stain out, a bunch of us usually get together in the middle of summer and dye anything we can't bleach clean to cover up the stains."

We were both standing over the sink when the front door opened and closed. "Bax?"

Abel's voice.

"Kitchen," Bax called over his shoulder. He lifted my shirt out of the soapy water and eyed it critically. "This might be okay." He let the water out of the sink and draped the shirt over the side of the sink. "Rinse it out while I go talk to Abel."

"Bax, please," I said, but he was already gone.

From the front door, I heard Abel say, "What's this?"

"Raleigh's considering asking your brother to move in," Bax's voice echoed back to me. I groaned and covered my face with my hands, the shirt forgotten on the edge of the sink. When had my innocent question gotten so out of hand?

It got worse.

A few seconds later, Abel was standing in the doorway, eyeing me with much more interest than he had since the day I'd arrived. "So, you're planning to take that reprobate off my hands?"

Bax burst out laughing. I gasped in shock, and gaped at the two of them.

"I won't tell him you called him that, he'd like it too much," Bax said between whoops. He wiped at his eyes and smiled up at his mate. "I don't personally think it would be a bad thing, but Cas is touchy about being herded." He turned to me. "Of the four of them, Cas is the lone wolf, the one hunting on the edges of the pack and staying close because of family, not need." He reached for my hand. "He likes you, I can tell."