Page 108 of Omega's Heart

“I can find it. I can find food anywhere.”

Felix laughed softly. “You do that, soldier. I’ll be right back.” He called the dog to him and led him down the hall, talking to him about the plans for tomorrow the way Kaden had heard him talking to the young pups at the daycare. He’s going to be a good bearer. Why his mother couldn’t see past the omega label to Felix himself, he couldn’t understand.

Well, no, he could understand. He just didn’t want to.

Kaden shook his head and went to make the tea.

When Felix came back out, Kaden was waiting in the living room, surrounded by the slightly floral smell of the chamomile he’d picked out. He didn’t figure it would hurt to have something that would help them both sleep tonight. A soldier needed rest before going into battle.

Felix sat down heavily and leaned against Kaden’s shoulder. “He didn’t want to go to sleep. I think he’s upset.” He accepted his mug of tea gratefully and took a sip. “Oh, that’s good.”

Kaden put a hand on Felix’s knee and let his thumb trace the shape of the bone beneath it. “He’s smart. And he doesn’t like it when you’re unhappy. Neither do I.”

Felix grunted and stared down into his mug, thinking so hard Kaden could almost hear it. Kaden left him to it, figuring that Felix needed some time to process the evening and decide how he wanted to handle those emotions in the future. This was, after all, Felix’s packmother. And Kaden had his own thinking to do, trying to find some way to not fracture his relationship with his mother, while still making sure that Felix felt loved and knew he was the most important wolf in Kaden’s life. Because he was, and even if Kaden didn’t want to practically cut his mother off for the sake of Felix’s happiness, he would absolutely do it.

It would hurt her, though. Badly. For all her tough exterior, she had no defenses where her sons were concerned. And she was one of those alphas that attacked when she felt threatened.

Something his brothers had never figured out. She still measured herself by Salma standards, and she was panicking as all the things that reinforced her status slipped out from underneath her paws.

Felix took another sip of his tea, frowning thoughtfully, then turned to Kaden with a resigned expression. “Would you mind very much if I just…stopped trying with her? I can’t give her what she wants and it upsets you and Hunter and there’s still so much to do before the mating. I can be polite when we have to be in the same room, but if she’s just going to pick and complain, there’s not much point in us both being miserable. And it sets a bad example for the pups.”

Kaden laughed and draped an arm over Felix’s shoulders. “Is that what the malicious compliance was about tonight? She was pissed because you two disappeared with the pups.”

Felix’s cheeks went pink. “Maybe a little. After all, that’s all we’re good for, right? Having pups and keeping them out from underneath the feet of the alphas?”

“Not to me.”

“I know.” But Felix’s smile was sad. “I always hoped that I’d have the kind of relationship with my packmother that I have with my mother. I guess I was being naive.”

“Her loss.”

“And ours. I don’t want to be always fighting with her.”

“She’ll get over it. She’ll have to because in five days I’m going to stake my claim on you so hard they’ll know about it in Los Padres.” Kaden nosed in to take a deep lungful of Felix’s scent, rolling it through his mouth so he could taste every subtlety of it, then sat back and regarded his future mate with a serious expression. “But this isn’t all on you. If you want, I’ll send her home. She’s gotten worse and I’m not sure what to do about it except take her out of the equation.”

“No.” Felix shook his head and leaned into Kaden’s side. “I don’t want you to have to give her up, and it’s not like she’s going to be around that much. You get that kind of attitude sometimes when you’re an omega. We didn’t see it much in White River, but it was there, the idea that omega meant weak or a burden.”

“Finish your tea and you can burden me as much as you want.” Kaden tried to leer at Felix, though he suspected he just looked like he was having a seizure.

Regardless, his future mate was as sharp as a knife and he grinned at Kaden’s expression. “I think it’s you that’s supposed to burden me,” he said primly, but the look that swept Kaden’s body from underneath the omega’s lowered eyelashes made Kaden’s stomach jerk in sharp arousal. Five days. You can survive.

“I can’t wait for the mating night,” Kaden said in a soft and dangerous tone.

“Me neither,” Felix told him before reaching for Kaden’s mug of tea. “I don’t think we’re going to finish these, are we?”

“I can think of better ways to spend the time.” Kaden gave up his mug and watched with anticipation as Felix turned away to set them on the small table at the end of the couch. As soon as the omega let go of the drinks, Kaden ran a hand up under Felix’s t-shirt, tracing the line of his spine.

“Oh,” Felix breathed and his entire back bowed into the sensation.

Kaden slid his arms around his betrothed’s ribcage and pulled Felix back against him, burying his face in the omega’s hair to soak up the calm, warming scent of him. “I needed this. What an evening.”

“I’m sorry. I can try harder. She’s your mother.”

“She’s not helping either. You have my full and unwavering support to do whatever you need to do to have the kind of relationship with her that means I don’t have to come home every day and put the pieces of you back together.” He pulled his betrothed in for a kiss and that was the end of all the talk about his mother for the night.

C H A P T E R 6 2

O f course, fate or maybe the zcerneb had to put a paw in and our schedule went to pieces. “Come with me,” Kaden coaxed me for probably the fifteenth time since last night. He was hanging out the open window of his little car, ready to leave for the airport.