Page 162 of Omega's Flight

I burst out laughing. "I dare you to say that to Cale. But I think he's more careful with Julius than he is with us."

"That's not a high bar to get over." But I knew them well enough now to recognize Holland's pride in Cale's stubborn alpha-like behavior and how much Cale looked up to his older brother. "Felix Winter River."

"Felix?" I exclaimed. "Really tall?" Ori'd met an omega on his journey to Mercy Hills that matched that description.

"Do you know him?" Holland asked. "I haven't seen him, but the Alpha did say he was having trouble finding a mate, being taller than most of the alphas."

"No, but he gave Ori some money to help him out when he and Patton were trying to get here. They met by accident, but Ori seems to think a lot of him."

Holland looked thoughtful as he picked up his sewing and sat back in the rocking chair at the end of the couch. "That's good. He'll have someone here he's seen before, and Ori can help settle him in."

"I'm sure he'd enjoy that." I turned the heel on the little sock and started up the leg of it. "I think Ori's getting a little den crazy. The books aren't keeping him busy enough."

"Does he want to do some school?" Holland tied off the embroidery thread and trimmed it short, then held up the gown. "What do you think?"

"It's gorgeous." I reached out to touch it, careful not to snag any of the threads. "Are you sure you want to give it to me?"

He laughed and began to fold it. "I do. I still have mine from when Zane was born." He passed the soft bundle over to me. "Besides, you're doing some socks up for me, right?"

"I am." My thoughts turned back to Ori. "I don't know if he wants to do school. He might."

"Could you find out?" Holland leaned back in his chair, his hand drifting slowly over the curve of his growing belly. "With Felix coming, and with Julius to think about, we're going to have to get them set up to finish their high school courses. Ori should too. I kind of put it to the back of the pack with him having the new baby and then the hospital. I forgot he'd be out of his newborn time."

"I think he's used to having more to do. There's a lot more hand labor in other packs than you have here."

"I know. I think I'm becoming spoiled, because I'd kind of forgotten."

The door to the apartment flew open with a bang against the wall, making Holland wince, and his two oldest raced in. "We're home!" they announced and ran across the room to hug their adoptive bearer.

"Shoes!" Holland complained in the middle of hugging them back. "Go! Shoes live by the door!"

They giggled and ran back to take their shoes off.

"Where's your sire?" Holland asked as he got to his feet, one hand supporting his belly.

"He's coming. Zane's slow," Agatha explained as she organized the pillows on the couch into a little nest. "Can we watch TV during dinner? Please?"

"Can we have hot dogs?" Dorian asked. He climbed up onto the couch and disturbed Agatha's careful arrangement of her pillows, but Holland managed to get between them before a riot of two started.

"Dinner at the table, TV after," he said sternly, but his love for the two pups was obvious. "Say hello to Raleigh."

"Hello, Raleigh." "Hi, Raleigh."

Holland nodded in approval. "You can go wash up while I get dinner onto the plates. And after, we can eat dessert out here and watch TV."

I hoisted myself out of the chair. "I can't believe how late it is! I was supposed to pick the pups up."

"Don't worry," came Quin's voice from the doorway. He had Zane on one arm, the little dark-haired omega pup chewing on the collar of his jacket with a wide grin on his face. "Cas got them, or they got him." He smiled and set Zane down on the floor, scrambling to get the little boy out of his jacket before he got away. "They're stopping at the restaurant to pick up something to eat and said to tell you that you have half an hour to get home or they'll eat it all."

That sounded like them, and it made me laugh. "I'd better go then. I'm starving."

Holland kissed his mate in passing and came to walk me to the door. "This was fun. Thank you for spending the afternoon."

"I enjoyed it," I told him, and accepted a quick hug before I left him to the care of his family and returned to mine.

C H A P T E R 1 1 2

A fter we'd eaten, I'd offered to clean up, seeing as how I hadn't had to cook anything. Cas took the pups out to the living room and put on a movie, then curled up on the couch with them to watch it. I decided to take advantage of the lack of 'Papa, can I?' to take some laundry up to be washed and by the time I came back, the house was quiet, except for the soft murmur of Cas's voice from the girls' room.