Page 12 of Omega's Flight

The truck slowed and rocked over a heavy bump as it turned a corner. My pups came alert and I had to hold onto them to keep them from popping their heads up above the bags that made up our disguise. The truck sped up again, and just when I had started to relax back against the floor, it began to slow again, then rocked to a stop. A moment later, I heard the door slam shut and the sound of someone climbing up the tall tailgate.

"Raleigh?"

Were we at the bus stop already? "We're still here."

"You can get out now and get in the front of the truck. The bus stop is just down the road." The bags covering us disappeared and Yuri held out a hand to help me up. "I bought you tickets."

"Bought me tickets? How?"

"Pack credit card."

I froze. "They'll know you helped me."

He nodded and scooped Ann up into his arms. "They'll figure it out anyway, from the tabs. Come on, I can't be stopped here too long."

"Yuri—" I began.

"No." He paused at the gate of the truck and looked at me with an expression of sorrow. "I'm sorry I never stepped in before. It wasn't the first time he did that to you, I know. You seemed to be handling it and Dad had always said that what a mating looked like on the outside was rarely what it was like on the inside. I always thought he meant they were better. I was wrong."

"What will Estelle say?" He'd mated well and I wondered with a sudden chill of foreboding if he'd lose his mating over this, and with it his place at Jackson-Jellystone.

He shrugged. "She'll have to deal with it. Get over the gate and I'll hand the pups down to you."

I stared at him for a moment in surprise, then did as he asked. "Thank you," I stammered as I caught Ann and set her on the ground beside me.

He shrugged. "Promise me you'll write when you get there? Let me know you made it?"

"I will." I set Pip on the ground, then Henry, and we all five crammed ourselves into the cab of the truck for the rest of the short drive to the bus station.

C H A P T E R 1 0

C as knocked on the door to Quin's apartment, carrying his offering for the annual dinner and video chat between the brothers. For the first time, they were all in one place—all but Kaden. The third youngest of the boys would be the video chat part of tonight's get-together and Cas hoped the care package he'd taken into town three weeks ago had made it to him. There was something to be said for having omegas as packbrothers—they knew what to put in a Christmas box.

Honestly, he was a little jealous of big brother Kaden, mostly because now that Cas was living in the enclave again, he wasn't getting care packages anymore.

The door opened and Agatha appeared in the gap, wearing what had to be a new holiday dress from the proud way she held herself. "Hi Cas, like my new dress?" she asked, confirming his guess. She twirled in the doorway for him, making the skirt flare.

"It's very pretty." It was—Holland had a good eye for style and color. As Cas followed his niece into the living room of the Alpha's apartment, evidence of Holland's talent for color enveloped him. The walls were a warm shade of deep brown, the ceiling cream, and Abel's old scarlet fake-suede couch had been replaced with another, with deep cushions and a mottled gray and brown fabric that Cas guessed was carefully chosen not to show the marks of dirty paws and hands.

The smells of meat and baked goods warred with each other, tempting him and making his stomach growl with anticipation.

Bax laughed from the kitchen. "I heard that!"

Cas walked around the corner and held out the two bottles he'd brought with him. "I thought I'd bring wine. And look—" He held out the bottle of red and pointed to the description printed on the back of the label. "Distinctive coffee flavors!"

Bax laughed again and took the bottle from him. "I don't know whether to hug you or smack you."

"Oh, smack him," came Abel's voice from the direction of the door into the Alpha's office. "Otherwise, he'll never get his ego out the door again—it'll be too fat to fit."

"Hey, you're supposed to be a grown-up," Cas scolded his brother.

"That might explain why you behave like a five-year-old most of the time," Abel said dryly, but came forward to hug Cas. "Want a drink? Coffee? Tea?" He threw an arm over Cas's shoulder and walked him slowly in the direction of the kitchen. "It's supposed to be a dry dinner."

"Shit." Cas stopped short of the archway that set off the small kitchen from the living room. "I brought wine." He glanced back at the open office door. "Quin?"

"He's having nightmares again," Holland said quietly and pulled them into the kitchen. "Anything with alcohol in it seems to make them worse, it's like it opens some door inside his head that's usually shut tight." He grimaced and turned back to the counter where a roast of pork was sitting, waiting to be sliced. "I'm working with him on it, but those old journals weren't exactly written as a how-to manual on omega abilities."

As his packbrother moved, Cas spotted a dark shadow on his neck, barely noticeable under the long dark hair. "Did he do that?" He reached out to brush the hair away and pulled his hand back abruptly, smarting from the sharp slap Holland had given him. Sometimes he forgot that Holland could be more alpha than omega and for a long moment they stared at each other like they were two rivals at full moon.