Page 16 of Omega's Flight

And Cas had a few minutes to talk to his other brother, shifter to shifter.

"I hear you're gonna be a real lawyer someday," Kaden drawled. He pulled out another cookie and made a point of enjoying it thoroughly, his eyes dancing with fiendish delight.

"Prick," Cas said coolly. "Don't expect me to bail your ass out of jail."

Kaden grinned, but then the grin faded and he leaned toward the camera and lowered his voice, as if that could keep everyone else in the apartment from hearing him through the speakers. "But seriously, how's he doing?"

"Quin? Okay. I don't think we need to worry about him." He hoped not, but still, he was glad Kaden wasn't here in the flesh to smell the lie on him.

"Good." Kaden chewed at his lower lip for a moment, eyeing Cas as if he wasn't sure whether or not to share whatever bee was floating around in his bonnet. Which worried Cas, because if Kaden was worried about something, it had to be big.

"You might as well spit it out. I'm the only one here right now." Prudently, Cas leaned forward and turned down the sound on the speakers. "But I won't be for long."

"Okay." Kaden took a deep breath and let it out again. "This deployment, there's something off about it. Even the humans in my squad think it's strange. But all the squads being tagged for this one have shifters attached to them and it sounds like we're all going to be mixed in together."

"You worried you're going to have dominance issues when you're all shoved in together?" That wasn't right at all—the army kept shifters as separate as they could, because they were convinced that if you put two together in a room they'd do just that—fight to see who was the bigger alpha.

They were about half right, he supposed.

Kaden waved that off. "I don't think I'll have any problems. But, just in case..." And here he looked uncertain again, which made the hair stand up on the back of Cas's neck. "My stuff is in storage in Salma. There's a packet of letters there, in a yellow envelope with Abel's name on it. If anything happens, make sure he gets them?"

"Mom will want to read them." No doubt in his mind at all.

No doubt in Kaden's either, apparently. "There's one for her that should keep her busy enough. But I'm trusting you, as my lawyer, to make sure that it all gets collected. Though I guess it doesn't matter if I'm not around..." His lips compressed into a firm line, then relaxed again. "You okay with that, or should I tell the other two?"

Cas shook his head. "You know you can count on me." A thought occurred to him. "You're expecting something to happen?"

Kaden shrugged. "Not really. Just my ruff in a bundle—it's probably nothing, they maybe just have something in mind that needs a good nose, but can't be trusted to the bomb dogs."

"Uh huh." Cas would have liked to pursue the topic a little more closely, but then Abel and Bax strolled back into the living room and the moment was lost. For now, anyway.

C H A P T E R 1 2

I 'd never eaten bought pizza before in my life. It was greasy and messy and shiny with fat and I could have eaten an entire one on my own, but didn't. My stomach wasn't used to such rich food and after two slices, I started to feel queasy again and had to push my plate away.

When everyone had finished as much as they could, Laine showed us to a couch in the back of the office and I was firmly told not to clean up after myself and the pups. I might have done it anyway, but the ache in my gut that had never gone away was changing. It was sharper now, and from feeling like a bruise, it had spread wider and moved down.

Toward my omega line.

Please no.

But there was nothing I could do about it and the opportunity to rest on what looked to be a comfortable couch would be good. Maybe if I was still for a while, this would stop, go away on its own. Oh, how I hoped it would.

With full bellies, the pups were now starting to droop, worn out by the excitement of the day and the long bus ride. I put an end to a looming squabble about who got to sleep with their head in my lap, and was surprised when Laine come over with blankets.

"I have a daughter," he said in explanation, though I hadn't asked him. He spread the blankets over the pups and tucked them in, then frowned and moved a chair over in front of Pip, who was lying precariously close to the edge. Ann was squashed behind her against the back of the couch—no chance of her falling off. She had her arm around Pip's waist and her nose practically buried in Pip's hair. For all they either fought like wild animals or ignored each other when they were awake, they were sisters and their solidarity in the face of other children, adults, and strange humans was unquestionable.

Henry lay with his head on my other thigh, his face slack and flushed with the warmth of sleep. I stroked his hair and tucked the blanket down closer around his shoulders.

"Here," the other human, Jack, said and held out a mug. "I'm told I make decent coffee." He shot an amused look in Laine's direction, so I gathered that it was a joke of some sort between them.

"Thank you," I said, and accepted the mug. Cautiously, I took a sip and wondered what the fuss was. I'd never had coffee before I'd arrived here and now I was discovering I didn't entirely like it. It smelled wonderful and tasted...not.

"They're sending a car for you," Laine told me. He pulled a chair over and waved at Jack to join us. "We're going to need someone for family law," he added, his head turned toward his friend. "You know anyone?"

Jack shrugged. "A few, but the good ones aren't going to want to come to a brand new firm."

He didn't say it, but I could almost hear the words, One that works so closely with shifters, drift through the air.