Page 59 of Omega's Flight

A quick intake of air beside him brought his attention back to the other shifters in the room. In particular, Raleigh. The omega's face was pale and his hands were clenched so tightly on the edge of the table they'd turned white, except for a couple of bright red spots between the knuckles. "Quin?" Cas asked, careful not to startle Raleigh.

Damn, but his brother was good. No sooner had Cas brought his attention to the effect his emotions were having on the room than Quin calmed it, like a storm in reverse. A warmth of approval spread out from him right after, as if the sunshine were coming out after a good rain, and the tension in the room dropped exponentially.

Holland leaned over and pressed a kiss to his mate's cheek and whispered something that made Quin grin and pat his mate's back before nodding a silent apology to the rest of the room.

"I didn't mean it like that, Quin, you know me," came Roland's quiet voice from the telephone. The timing made Cas wonder if somehow Quin had reached through the phone to let the other Alpha feel his anger, the way alphas did in person.

No. No, it didn't work like that. But damn, so much was changing now, who knew what would be true in a year, or two, or ten?

"I'm going to forget that you implied that working with the humans was the same as selling out to them." He looked like he wanted to say more and Cas nearly slid off his chair trying to get Quin's attention and keep him from putting his paw in that mud.

Quin waved a dismissive hand at him and took a breath that verged on a sigh. "I've invited Raleigh to stay here. He's not happy in Jackson-Jellystone and his complaints concern issues that you and I both know run deep in our culture."

"If he's unhappy being an omega, then he shouldn't have been born one," Roland said with dry sarcasm. "But I hear what you're saying. Degan is willing to release him from his mating as soon as he returns the pups he stole, like I said. You'll need papers to be able to transfer him officially to Mercy Hills, since I know for damn sure I didn't issue any. And neither of us need that shit raining down on us. I'll leave it to you to get him back outside the enclave so you can bring him in legally."

"Thank you. I appreciate your help in the matter."

Cas let out a breath and he watched the tension drain out of Holland's shoulders. Roland would have been not exactly within his rights, but a shifter who went so far against pack and human rules couldn't count on their Alpha lifting a finger to help them out. They would have figured things out if Roland had been stubborn, but it was easier this way and more certain.

"Now," Roland said. "The matter of how to get the pups back inside Jackson-Jellystone. Degan is understandably anxious to see them again."

"The pups have already settled in here. My nurse practitioner doesn't recommend uprooting them again so soon."

"That's not acceptable."

"We're not returning the pups," Holland said in a calm, flat voice. "That option is not on the table."

"Control your mate, Mercy Hills," Roland drawled.

"Again, Roland, we have the pups here. Are you planning to call the Department on us?"

Stalemate.

"Quin, come on. You know that the pups have always belonged to the sire. I think we're being generous enough, agreeing to tear up this contract without any compensation. After all, Degan is going to be put to some expense to care for those pups without a mate to help him."

"If you're content to stay in the past," Quin answered, with a lilt to his voice that implied that it wasn't a choice he'd make, but each pack to their own territory.

Roland took the bait. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that since Mercy Hills began taking in omegas and treating them as pack members on a par with the rest of us, our fortunes have prospered."

"I didn't have a True Omega to steal!"

Quin gave a very audible sigh. "If that's what you think happened, you can stay there and rot inside your walls. Our luck started when we gave Jason a plot of land and told him to grow things, and then increased when Bax came and we had someone who had a knack for finding funding and figuring out how to get around the roadblocks that keep getting thrown up. And then Bram, who is more like a battering ram than an omega, decided he wanted to be a nurse too, and for damn sure we can't turn down someone who is willing to do that training. And Holland, who can charm a human until they can't imagine why they ever locked us up and was the full and sole reason why the Mutch family finally broke their silence. Only when we stopped wasting their talents did we start reaping the benefits of our omegas. And I wish the leaders of our people could stop being so Barrens-damned stupid about it all!" Quin fell silent but his energy raged around him.

The phone was quiet for long enough that Cas wondered whether Roland had hung up on them, then the other Alpha's voice came through the speaker. "You sound like you believe that, Mercy Hills."

"It's true," Quin said tiredly. "All of it."

He glanced at Holland, who nodded and rubbed his back, giving silent permission, Cas thought, for whatever it was that Quin wanted to divulge.

"True Omega isn't what we thought it was," Quin said. "It's so much different that it's not even really the same thing."

"No? But you've had luck since you got the first one."

"We've had hard work and more of them coming to us because we let them be shifters. Whatever luck they brought us was likely the Lady Lysoonka's doing, in thanks for remembering that omegas were once not the least among us."

Roland scoffed. "What, did she come to you in a dream?"