Page 43 of Omega's Flight

"Day after tomorrow? I think I'm going to be tied up in puppy care for the next few."

Quin nodded solemnly. "Me too. But, it'll give us a chance to really think this through. What will we do with all these carpenters and plumbers once the enclave is fixed up?"

Abel laughed at him, an odd sound given the depressing news of the night. "You always were an optimist. I think we'd just be starting over again by the time they finish with the first pass through."

Quin shrugged and stared at the flames, then abruptly stood up. "I should go do my rounds, take the pulse of the pack. Enjoy your nights." He nodded to each of them and then strode off into the crowd, his head bent to catch whatever the packmembers were saying to him as he stopped beside each small cluster of shifters.

"He's a good Alpha," Abel mused. "Better than me, I think."

Cas shook his head. "You both have your strengths. He's not working another job too."

"No." Abel held his beer bottle up to the light of the fire to check the level of the liquid inside. "He's doing better than me. This has him down, but he's really digging into this thing with the Mutch money."

"Hmm." Cas lifted his beer to his mouth and downed half of it. "Oh, Quin's found Garrick and Laine." He watched, curious to see what would happen, but all Quin did was say a few words then clap Laine on the shoulder before moving on to another group. "Huh."

"What did you expect?" Abel asked. "He's the pack's lawyer now, he left his big-paying job so he could be free to work on our cases whenever we needed. And I'm pretty sure Garrick's sleeping with him."

Cas paused and took a moment to be grateful he hadn't had a mouthful of beer for that one. "Garrick?" Uptight Garrick who never slept with anyone? "Well, at least we know what his type is now," Cas commented mildly.

Abel snorted with laughter. "Yeah." He stared out across the crowd. "Hope it doesn't come back to bite him."

"Garrick's a survivor." Cas shifted restlessly in his chair. "I wonder how things are going up there," he said to no one in particular, but when Abel glanced over at him, he jerked his chin in the direction of the building.

"We'll hear if anything goes wrong," Abel said. Then, more quietly, "Bax will need a hug after this."

"I'll bet." Everyone knew how Bax felt about babies and it was probably worse now, with their sixth on its way. "I don't have much on my schedule for tomorrow if you need a hand with the pups or anything." He wouldn't be much good at anything else anyway—the itchy tension in his spine told him he wouldn't likely be sleeping tonight. Lysoon, Raleigh had looked devastated up there.

Abel reached over and put a hand on Cas's shoulder. "You're a good brother. Thank you."

C H A P T E R 3 1

B efore Holland could explain to me what an omega really was, I had another contraction. There was no denying that was what they were and even while I was curled up in a ball sobbing at the pain, part of me was screaming at my womb to just stop for a moment, for long enough that I could find out what Holland, or Bram, could do for me and it.

When it eventually faded, I was still curled up on my side in a ball. For a moment, I wondered who was making those awful noises, and then I realized with a surge of embarrassment that it was me. I stuffed the corner of the pillow in my mouth and chewed on it until I could think of something other than my body.

Bram rubbed my back, and Holland and Bax were clustered around me, watching with anxious eyes.

"I'm fine," I croaked.

Holland reached behind him and brought out a damp cloth to wipe my face and my neck. "You aren't, but you will be," he promised. "Adelaide, can't we give him anything better for the pain? There has to be something."

"I can, but it'll be strong and I'd like him to be aware during this." Adelaide leaned over the bed and checked my eyes, my forehead, my pulse again.

"You might want him aware, but I don't think he wants to be," Holland snapped.

"No, she's right. If he starts feeling really bad, we need to know and if he's all looped out on painkillers, he might not be able to tell us." Bram gestured for the cloth in Holland's hand and began wiping the sweat from my back, which felt better than it should have, but the cool cloth running over my skin was both soothing and helped focus me a little. I felt a lot better right from the first stroke and I gave Holland's hand a brief squeeze to get his attention.

"They would know what's safest, right?" I asked him. "And I've had three pups. This can't be much worse."

Holland looked doubtful and glanced over me, at Bram I assumed, because he was still looking past me when he said, "I thought you'd be able to tell. It's not a strength of mine."

Bram handed back the cloth and leaned over me. "You want some more ice?"

My mouth was tacky and dry, but I wasn't thirsty. "No, thank you."

Bram nodded. He pulled the sheet up over me again and looked up at Holland. "I'm about as good as you'd expect, with the experience I have. And what we know about...us."

There was something going on between them. I felt like I'd missed part of the conversation, but the first hints of another contraction were gathering between my hips. "Bram?"