Page 91 of Omega's Flight

"Yeah," the dark-haired young man said and shuffled out of the way.

The door swung open and I could see clearly into the little house. A black cowboy hat sat on the back of the couch and two pairs of worn-out sneakers had been lined up beside the front door.

"I'll put this in the kitchen, okay?" I asked, reminding them of the food.

"Please, let me. Thank you so very much." A young blond in a stained t-shirt stepped forward to take the tray. Cute was the first word that popped into my head. Not conventionally pretty the way young Julius was, but even as tired as he was, there was a liveliness to him that turned that cute into something else. I could see why the dark-eyed boy—Pat—looked at him the way he did.

"No, I'm a stray that Mercy Hills took in, too. I remember what it was like." I followed him through to the kitchen and helped him set everything out on the table. I hadn't brought tea for myself, thinking they might want to just eat and be quiet, but the blond boy immediately began to rummage in the cupboard until he stumbled across the mugs that had been donated to him by the pack. "Oh, you don't need to do that. I thought you might be too tired to make something, but if you aren't hungry, the sandwiches will keep."

"I'm too tired to relax," the blond—the omega, I thought from the scent—said. "Sit, I'll see if I can find tea in the cupboard."

"It's in the top one to the left of the sink."

"Right," he said, nodding his head. "I forgot. It's so much information."

"Ori." The dark boy went over and took his arm. "Sit down. I can make another mug of tea. You eat."

"You're just as tired as I am," Ori complained.

"Maybe, but I haven't just had a baby." Pat glanced awkwardly in my direction. "He needs to eat. For the baby."

I nodded agreement. The hollows of Ori's cheeks were unmissable. "He does. Sit, Ori. I know where everything is." I didn't wait for agreement or approval, but guided Ori back to the table and set a sandwich in front of him. "Eat some of that and drink your tea." He was going to need good food, and lots of it if he was going to nurse a new baby and put back on the weight I was guessing he'd lost on his trip here.

His mate wasn't any better. "You too," I said sternly and pointed toward the other chair. They're not much more than children themselves. Most omegas mated early, but Pat, as Ori had called him, looked no older than Ori did.

Pat sat obediently, an expression of relief on his face.

"Thank you," Ori mumbled through a full mouth and Pat nodded agreement.

I simply smiled and put water on the stove to boil. "You'll be fine here." I leaned against the edge of the countertop and watched with satisfaction as they tore into the food. "There's a casserole in the refrigerator that you can heat up for dinner, or you can leave it for tomorrow and come to Full Moon tonight and eat your fill there. But don't feel like you have to." I got one of their mugs out of the cupboard and made my tea, then waited comfortably with the warm mug in my hand while they ate every scrap I'd brought.

"Please," Ori said, pushing the plate of sweets toward me. "Have something."

I shook my head. "Saving space for Full Moon," I told him and winked.

He chuckled and looked over at his mate, then turned a shy smile on me. "Holland said you would show us how to get there when the time came?" He plucked at his t-shirt. "I don't have much that's fit to wear, but Holland said I could get more?"

"There's a few outfits in your bedroom, but we weren't sure of sizes, so you'll have to try things on and then we'll take the rest back."

"I never looked." Ori pushed the sweets toward Pat. "Eat, you. You've been looking after me for months, it's time I took care of you."

Pat took a square and bit into it. "I forgot how good this all tastes. Thank you, sir," he said in my direction.

"Raleigh," I corrected him. "We're going to be neighbors, right?"

He nodded, but I noticed that he was considerably less at ease here than Ori was. I turned back to Ori. "Holland said he thought he knew you?"

Ori nodded and swallowed the last bite of his date square. "He was mated in Perseguir, back before I was old enough for mating. He helped me out with a lot while he was there." The corners of his mouth turned down. "They weren't very good to him at the end. I'm glad to see he's made something of himself. Serves them right, dumbasses."

Pat choked on his tea and laughed while he mopped up the mess. "Ori, I think that's the first real swear word I ever heard out of you."

"You've heard a few. You just have a slant toward me, is all," Ori told him. "You eat that cookie, then I'll wash up." The sound of a baby crying made him turn. "Or maybe not. I'll be right back."

He disappeared in the direction of the bedrooms and while he was gone, I gathered up the dirty plates, stacking them back on the tray. "No, don't worry about it," I told Pat when he tried to get up to help. "I'll wash them at home."

Ori brought the baby back into the kitchen to show me. "Willie Rose is her name," he said in a soft voice. He held her out for me to see, grumpy little thing that she was. "I need to feed her." Willie Rose waved her fists in the air and made those mewling noises that babies made when they were working up to a good cry.

"I'll take myself off," I said, picking up the tray and moving toward the front door. "I'll be walking up to pick up my pups after school in a bit, but I'll be home after that until it's time to head up for the meal if you need anything. And we'll stop by on our way up to Full Moon to check in and see if you wanted to come up for the meal once you've had a chance to rest a bit." I fully expected they'd both be asleep by the time Full Moon started—both of them looked worn to a nub.