Page 128 of Omega's Heart

The wood went up with a roar and for a few minutes, they had to stand back to keep from being singed by the heat. The White River boys didn’t do things by halves, it appeared. Kaden wrapped an arm around Felix’s waist and waited impatiently for the flames to die down enough that they could make their offerings to the gods, then he could abscond with his new mate.

Someone brought him beer, good beer, and Felix was offered a bottle of something too but he waved it off. He swayed beside Kaden as if he couldn’t keep still. Packmembers drifted by in some unrecognized order to offer their congratulations and chat and the entire time, Kaden was wondering how rude it would be to just walk over and piss on the fire to kill some of the flames.

“I think we’re safe now. I’m sorry, my brothers are idiots,” Felix said in his ear.

“That’s okay,” Kaden said, putting down his still half-finished beer. “They have me for a packbrother now.” Bolder now, with the end of this interminable waiting in sight, he patted Felix on the ass. “Let’s go make our offerings.”

The crowd gathered around them, Felix’s rozvennya shouldering through with their hands full of the gifts meant for the fire. They each had several, the rozvennya being smaller than either Bax’s or Holland’s had been. Felix gravely accepted them one-by-one and passed them to Kaden, who tossed them into the fire to carry their wishes up to the Moonlands. Then they stepped back to let the younger shifters approach the flames, carrying their slips of paper with their own wishes written on them, and in the resulting confusion, Kaden was able to whisk Felix away into the night.

They never even made it to their apartment before Kaden had Felix up against a wall, mouths pressed together in ferocious hunger. “You sure you want a bed for this?” he panted.

“Yes!” Felix cried, but his hands were already fighting with the knot in Kaden’s belt.

“Careful with that. It’s really old.”

“Oh.” Felix paused and let go. “How old?”

“Before the Enclosure old. It’s okay, I was just worried you were going to strip me right here.” He leaned in for another kiss.

“Wasn’t that what you were just asking me?” Felix tipped his head to the side and groaned, the moonlight highlighting the edges of his jaw and the thrust of his cheekbone. “We’re not far. Let’s go before someone decides to come looking for us.”

“Would that really happen?” Kaden asked, taking Felix’s hand and leading him in the direction he thought he remembered their room being in. This place was a warren of one and two-story houses, with taller buildings scattered through them, and it looked like no one here had ever sat down and planned a neighborhood in their life.

“Not once the door is locked.” Felix’s hand tightened on his. “There’s the lane.” He pulled Kaden off to the right and now the buildings looked familiar. “One, two, three, four... There!” Felix counted off. “Here it is.” He stopped outside the door and put his back against it, staring at Kaden with huge, unaccustomedly anxious eyes. “Last chance to back out.”

With a snort, Kaden reached past him and opened the door. “Get your pants off.”

C H A P T E R 7 0

I t’s happening, it’s happening, we’re mated! My hands shook as I fought with the knot Kaden had tied in my mating belt, until he came to help me, his fingers gentle and not shaking and twitching like mine were. I should have had a drink when they offered it. His shirt was already off and I was so damn sick of this knot keeping me from him... As if it heard me, it gave way and my belt hit the floor with a soft thump.

“I was told to be careful taking this off you, so I could get the full effect,” he told me as he lifted the mating tunic off my shoulders. “I knew omegas painted themselves for mating, didn’t realize there was meaning behind it.” He moved around behind me and the tunic disappeared like fog in the morning.

I swallowed and nodded and closed my eyes as the cool air from his movement brushed my skin. “It’s wishes for our mating, from one omega to another. And, silly really, kind of a prophecy. Tomorrow we’ll all meet and see if we can read anything in the stains on the sheets.” I heard the slithery whoosh of the tunic landing on a piece of furniture just before Kaden reached around me to undo the ties at the waist of my pants. The cloth billowed as it fell to the floor and then Kaden was in front of me again, looking like a warrior out of an old pack legend, his scars not ugly things to be hidden, but sure proof of his strength and his powerful will to live. I couldn’t have picked a better mate and father to my pups even if the Lady Lysoonka hadn’t thrown him at me. Thank you, Lady, and whatever I did to deserve him, know that I am eternally grateful.

“So what does this one mean?” he asked, tracing the symbol in the middle of my chest with one finger, his eyes as fierce as the new moon.

“Love,” I said softly. “And beside it, strength, and faithfulness.”

“And here?” His fingers moved down to the hollow below my ribcage. His lips were slightly parted, a flush creeping up his chest and into his neck. His scent was stronger and my knees went weak with anticipation, but I couldn’t stop playing his game.

“Health, and prosperity.”

“And here?” He’d moved down to my hips and I closed my eyes again.

“Success and Happiness.”

“You left one out.” His palm covered it, the one that sat over my womb.

“Fertility,” I whispered and opened my eyes to find his face only inches away.

He leaned in and kissed me gently, his palm burning against the skin below my belly button. “November,” he whispered as his lips teased mine, his words holding all the promises we’d made in the time leading up to this moment.

“November,” I whispered back and pressed myself against him.

He made a sound, half growl, half laugh, and before I knew what was happening, I was flying through the air to land on the bed. “You’ll hurt yourself!” I protested.

“Not tonight,” he promised and undid the laces of his pants. In one fluid movement, he seemed to pull them off and loosen the brace that held his leg on, so that when he came to me in a rush like hunting, they both fell away, discarded as my clothing had been discarded.