Page 40 of Omega's Flight

But tonight wasn't the night to think about those things. He technically had some free time and should be looking around for someone to spend it with, but the image of the dark-haired omega up in the clinic stood in the way. Holland's words rang in his ears again, and he shook his head to try to dislodge them. "I should go find a dance partner or something," he muttered, but his feet kept following Quin as they stalked the edges of the crowd.

"Feel free," Quin told him. "I'm glad I'm past that."

"Happy?" Cas asked and jammed his hands into his pockets again.

"I am. Don't know what he sees in me, but he keeps insisting I don't need to worry about that." Quin shot him a direct look. "He's tougher than he looks, but you're welcome to worry about him if you want."

What to make of that? "Are you being a sarcastic bastard or are you being honest?"

Quin shrugged and drifted into the shadow of the trees so easily that Cas almost lost him. When he caught up, Quin was standing beneath an old cherry tree, his eyes gleaming in the moonlight. "A bit of both, probably. I'm not a good judge of this here, and I want to protect him. The problem is, he doesn't want to be protected from me, so you can see my problem, right?"

"Yeah." Cas thought about it for a moment, then squinted up at his brother. "What is it that Holland is able to do? He wouldn't tell me."

Quin shook his head. "If he's not telling, I'm not either. I suspect he's right, but I think it's something that we as a family should handle. He should have more support before he goes public with it, but it's got to be his decision or it'll be a disaster."

"You know I'm not a gossip." But he was the youngest, and Quin took a paternal attitude with him far more often than Cas liked. If that's what he was doing over this, then whatever it was that Holland was able to do was more serious than being able to grow plants or figure out where it hurt. "And I'm not the baby anymore."

Quin chuckled, and the strange light from the moon disappeared from his eyes. "You're always going to be the baby."

"Not yours though."

Quin froze for a second, then leaned against a tree and crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you think I baby you?"

Cas sighed and shook his head. "No, not really. I just..." He didn't even know what was wrong. Too much time out in the human world maybe, and never coming home even on full moon. But he'd been restless before then too, which was why he'd volunteered to do the long schooling necessary to be the lawyer the pack needed.

"But you need to have your own identity."

"Yes." He should have guessed that Quin would understand, and not have mistrusted him.

"And you're restless."

Was it that obvious? He squinted in the dimness, examining Quin's face for a clue to what his brother was thinking.

Quin nodded. "I remember that stage." He paused, then added in a meditative tone. "Let me have a look, see if there's a project you can take over if you're looking for work. Lysoon knows I'm not short of stuff I could use help with."

Ahhh. It wasn't more work he'd been looking for, but now he seemed trapped. "Sure," he said cheerfully. "Just let me know." Then he went looking for a drink, and someone to drown his sorrows in.

C H A P T E R 2 9

B ax wiped my forehead with a damp cloth. "How are you feeling?" "Tired." Scared, but I wasn't going to say that. My belly cramped again, harder this time, and my omega line stung like I'd burned it. "Oh!" It made me glad that Bax's packbrother had left.

Adelaide checked underneath my blanket and I felt her wipe another damp towel over the base of my belly. It hurt when she hit my line and I yelled and curled up around it as if I was trying to protect myself from an attack. Except the attack was coming from my own body. I fought sobs as the pain swelled out to the rest of me, then slowly faded away into another of those damned cramps.

"Easy, easy," Bax said soothingly, and he and Bram helped me lie back down on the bed. His lips were pressed tight together as he wiped my face again. "That's a good sign though. It means it won't be much longer."

I looked away, toward the window, and stuffed the knuckles of one hand into my mouth to keep from whimpering. I wanted it to stop. I wanted my baby to live, and for me to have not failed him like this.

Movement in the corner of my eye made me turn back to the Mercy Hills shifters who were trying to help me. Adelaide had scooted in beside Bax to take my pulse, and Bram had gone to the little refrigerator in the room and gotten another tray of ice.

I watched as he bashed the cubes until they were in so many pieces, and wished I could let out some frustration and fear like that. As it was, all I could do was try to ride the pain, worse than I'd ever experienced while giving birth to my pups. Was this why they called omegas fragile? But female omegas had no problems like this. Maybe it was just omegas like me.

Failures.

Bram set the bowl down on the table beside me after offering me a piece. I shook my head, and stared frantically up at the ceiling as my insides knotted again. "Can we give him anything for the pain?" I heard someone say. Bram, I thought. I was too busy wondering what omegas had done in the past to warrant this sort of punishment.

"I have. He'll have to ride it out," Adelaide said from the foot of the bed.

"I'm fine," I croaked, and accepted another chip of ice.