Page 156 of Omega's Flight

"He is." Then, as if Raleigh had read his mind, he added in a firm, loving voice, "I don't want him, Cas. Not at all. Whatever we could have had was burned to cinders long ago. But he is the sire to my pups and Ann and Henry still love him. I won't deny them, not even for you." His voice shook with some strong emotion on those last words. “I want you.”

“Good,” Cas told him. “I don’t share well. Too many years of having to defend my things from the bigger wolves.“

“As long as you remember it goes both ways.”

“Yes, dear,” Cas whined, mimicking a line from a silly movie they’d watched together one night after the pups had gone to bed.

Raleigh must have remembered it, because he laughed. “We’re just trying to pack the rest of the pups’ things now, while they’re at school. I'm as cranky as an old badger—I hate packing.” There was a pause on the line while Cas tried to think of something funny to say, then Raleigh spoke again. "I have one other thing to tell you." His voice had gone from assured to weirdly tentative, in just that one moment of time.

I'm not sharing a house with Degan, not even for my love of you. "What is it?"

There was a pause, like Raleigh wasn’t quite sure how to say it. Holland murmured something in the background, and Cas heard Raleigh say No, I’ll tell him.

Tell me what?

Raleigh came back on the line before Cas could ask and in the uncomfortable tone of someone making a confession, he said, “We, umm, might have started some trouble over here.”

Someone snickered in the background and Raleigh hushed them, but that only made them laugh louder.

“What kind of trouble?”

“Umm…” The sound became muffled for a moment, and then Raleigh was back. “We gave Roland a copy of Cosimo’s diaries? And then Bax kind of… laid a curse on my packmother.”

Oh, Barrens. “What did you three do?”

“She was mean,” Raleigh said. “And she deserved it. But we thought maybe someone should tell Quin.”

“And I’m the one that’s nominated to do that?” Cas asked, half appalled, half amused.

“You are my legal counsel,” Raleigh said primly, then dissolved into giggles again.

A sneaking suspicion occurred to Cas. “Raleigh, did you three happen to maybe hold back a few bottles of cider when you gave Roland his gifts?”

Bax answered this time. “We’re celebrating. Well, Raleigh and I are. Holland’s driving. Be a good alpha and go give Quin a head’s up about the rumors he’s going to hear, okay?”

“Bax, he’ll nail my hide to the wall!”

“Why? You didn’t do it?”

“Bax!”

“Fine, I’ll ask Mac.”

“No, no. I’ll do it. I am legal counsel for the pack.” And he figured he could probably still run faster scared than Quin could mad.

Maybe.

“Thank you!” Bax sang out.

“Put Holland on, would you?” Cas asked, irritated.

When his packbrother answered the phone, Cas kept his voice calm. “I thought you were there as the voice of reason?”

“I am,” Holland said calmly, though a thread of hilarity colored his words. “Quin knew about the binders, it was agreed upon.” A pause and then, “The curse was…unexpected. But absolutely worth every bit of trouble it’s going to cause.” He gave a small, half-choked laugh that just avoided being a snicker.

Cas gave up. “I suppose it can’t be any worse than anything else out there.” He thought about it for a moment, then gave in to his curiosity. “It was a good one, was it?”

“Beautiful,” Holland assured him. “We’ll re-enact it for you when we get home.”