Page 56 of Omega's Flight

"You okay, Cas?" Agatha said and thumped his back, which just restarted the whole hacking his lungs up thing again. Cas waved and nodded to her that he was fine, coughed up half a pound of flour, then levered himself to his feet.

"Right. You guys need to clean up before Holland gets home," he said, casting a baleful glare in the direction of his unrepentant brother.

"We know," Quin said in a tone of irritating calm. "Broom, pups. And some rags. Go!" He grinned as the two pups scampered off down the hallway and came over to brush more flour off Cas's clothing. "Holland's been saying he doesn't need anything for Christmas, so I got him a vacuum." He glanced around the room. "This was supposed to be a small test run."

Cas did a slow spin, taking in the dusty white layer covering everything in the room. "Well, A—I think your surprise is going to be blown. And B—I think you're in trouble." Quin could be damn scary, but Holland scared Cas more, in a haha, you're my relative and I feel safe with you but I'm not going to mess with you way. Just because he put on the appearance of the traditional omega didn't mean he was one, and since the Mutch money had come into play, Holland had gotten a lot more alpha-like in his manner. It had been good for the pack, though, and when he, Quin, and Abel got their heads together over something, that something was going to happen. Those three were a force of nature kind of like a tornado—fascinating to watch, but you didn't want to be targeted.

Quin plucked at Cas's clothing again a couple more times, sending plumes of flour into the air, then stood back. "Yeah, well, I've got maybe half an hour. Wanna try out the new vacuum?"

C H A P T E R 4 1

C as and Quin had moved over to the couch to talk finances and taxation by the time Holland got home, little Zane asleep on his shoulder. He slipped his shoes off in the doorway and dropped the baby bag on the floor. "What were you guys up to?"

"Nothing," Quin replied, for all the world like he was one of Holland's pups too.

"I can smell the flour in the air." Holland disappeared into the kitchen and Cas heard the opening and closing of cabinet doors, then the pad of Holland's feet back into the living room. "Here, hold your son," he said, carefully passing the baby into Quin's arms. "We'll have to wipe everything down again tomorrow once it's settled out of the air."

"I'll do it, don't worry. Tomorrow's your day to sleep in."

Holland leaned over the back of the couch, casual as a cougar on a tree branch and played his fingertips over his mate's jawline. "Was it worth it?"

"We had fun." Quin moved the baby a little, then reached over to pull Holland in for a quick and tender kiss. Cas looked politely away, but he couldn't help but be aware of the sudden spike in tension in the room. Not the tension that had made Quin so reactive before, but the kind of tension where Cas was going to have to get out of the room and leave his brother and his mate alone.

Holland raised his eyebrows at Cas's presence but didn't let it stop him from enjoying his mate's attention. "Merry Christmas," Holland whispered before he stood up. "You put the other two to bed?"

"I doubt they're asleep, but they're hiding under the covers anyway. Eventually, they'll doze off." Quin moved his hand back to the baby, patting the padded bum in a slow gentle rhythm. Holland stepped behind him and slid his hands down over Quin's shoulders, kneading at the triangles of muscle at the base of his neck. Quin sighed and his eyelids drooped.

"What brings you here, Cas?" Holland asked.

Quin put up a hand to stop him. "It's okay, Holl. I'm fine."

"Yeah?" Holland cast an amused glance in Cas's direction, then slipped around the corner of the couch to settle into Quin's lap with a triumphant chuckle. "How fine?"

Quin laughed, low in his chest. "Very fine, now that you're home." He tipped his head back for a kiss and Holland obliged, though the two of them were laughing too hard for it to be much of a kiss.

"Do I need to leave?" Cas asked, both amused and relieved. Yes, the bruise was still on Holland's neck. Yes, Quin still carried that tight, anxious swirl of power around him. But it was obvious that they loved each other, and just as obvious that they were happy together.

"Naw," Quin drawled. "We still have to make sure Midwinter Wolf makes it here."

"Oh!" Holland jumped off Quin's lap, neatly twisted out of Quin's grasp and laughed when Quin made another grab for him. "I left the things out in the hallway, hold on." He disappeared for a moment, then returned with a basket piled high with boxes and oddly shaped packages wrapped in paper. "I hope you haven't been looking in Agatha's closet," Holland said, laughing as he passed by his mate.

"Me? Never." Quin got off the couch to kneel beside Holland at the base of the tiny plastic Christmas tree. Cas remembered it used to be Abel's when Abel was Alpha—he must have left it when he left the office. And he and Bax had so much more room in their house.

In the meantime, his family was setting out presents under the tree. He went to sit beside them and watch as they arranged everything, feeling their own excitement at this rich Christmas bubbling through his own veins. "You want me to make Midwinter Wolf tracks around the building here too? I'm doing it for Abel and for Raleigh."

The two of them froze for a moment, staring at each other, then Holland turned to Cas. "That's good of you. I'm sure Raleigh will appreciate it."

He shrugged, puzzled by Holland's odd intensity. "It seemed right. I was dropping the gifts off that Bax had gotten together for him. He seems lonely."

Holland gave a slow nod and sent another of those oddly speaking glances in his mate's direction. "He would be. Thank you, Cas. Anything to make a good impression on both him and the pups."

"You're welcome." It wasn't normal to feel this out of the loop, but there was a subtext to this conversation that Cas wasn't picking up on. So, as was his usual strategy, he turned off what little tact he had and blundered right in. "How was your meeting tonight?"

"Cas—" Quin began, but Holland just laughed.

"It was fine. We not much farther ahead. I'll tell you both about it once we've got this all set out." He poked his mate in the knee. "I still need to go get your things to put out."

"Do I have to close my eyes?"