Page 135 of Omega's Heart

Did he? Yeah, why not? He grabbed Max as he wandered by again. “Where’s your grandmother live?”

“Which one? They’re both alive.”

“Gram?”

“Oh, she’s out past where you were staying last night.” Max smiled in a way that somehow managed to be both happy for them and lewd. “Why are you looking for Gram?”

“That’s where Felix is. He said to come over.”

“What’s she got him doing now?” Max complained. “Dad!” he shouted over his shoulder. “Gram’s kidnapped the omegas!”

“Well don’t let her catch sight of Kaden then,” Kaden’s packfather shouted back. “We’ll lose both of them!”

Max’s smile stretched into a grin. “Come on, I’ll show you where it is. And protect you like a good packbrother should.”

“Do I need a flak jacket?” Kaden asked, falling into step beside him.

“Naw. But since Grandpa passed on to the Moonlands, she takes her help where she can get it, which means if you look the least bit handy it’s almost more than your freedom is worth to even walk past her place. I have an aunt who lives there, but she’s only a gamma and Gram says that she’s either got her nose in a book or head in the clouds and isn’t much use at fixing things when they break.”

Kaden snorted and followed his packbrother.

The house, when they got there, was a tiny cottage with a neatly kept yard and freshly painted shingles on the sides. It looked clean and well-kept, and when he was ushered inside, the smell of flowers and fresh plants filled his nose. It was homey.

He found Felix easily enough, seated in the corner beside a woman of incredible age. “Morning,” Kaden said in a low voice and bent down for a kiss.

“Morning,” Felix said back, then turned to the old woman and, in a louder voice, said, “Grandma, this my mate, Kaden. He’s from Mercy Hills, and he used to be a soldier. Now he’s a politician.”

“Not really—” Kaden began, when the bright eyes of his mate’s great-grandmother landed on him.

“Oh, he’s a looker,” she said in her sandpaper voice, with all the devastating directness of the very old. “I see why you waited for him. Lysoonka was certainly watching out for you.”

Felix went red and Kaden grinned. “Ma’am. I like to think I got lucky too.”

“Well, if last night was your mating night, I expect you did,” she said with a glint of wicked humor. “Your omega here’s been fussing at me to read your sheets. I have to say, you were both born in a fortunate phase of the moon from the look of these, though you may regret it when the fourth pup comes.” She giggled and for a moment, Kaden could see the girl she’d been once, and then the woman, and then she slowly faded back to the wise great-grandmother as she turned back to his mate. “Now, show me this corner that has you so worried, dear, and let Gram see what’s going on.”

Dutifully, Felix moved the fabric covering his lap around. Kaden was pleased with their work last night—they’d done a good job on those sheets. His packbrothers gathered around them until they were all crammed in the little corner.

Felix reached for his hand and Kaden gave him a quick squeeze, still not sure what the trouble was.

Gram bent over the sheet, then poked Holland and said, “Get out of my light, young man.”

Holland jumped and then squeezed himself in behind Felix like he wasn’t the Alpha’s Mate of a pack on equal footing with White River.

Wait until I tell Quin.

The old shifter squinted and moved the sheet back and forth, holding it by turns at arm’s-length and right in front of her nose, then she let it fall to her lap. “Well, it’s not the disaster you were expecting. I don’t see a dead pup, so stop getting your whiskers in a twist. Those lines are an omega, not a pup, and that’s a sign I haven’t seen in years. Not since my granny taught me how to read the sheets and even she’d only seen one once. It’s an old one, you know, from when we had more than the alpha to determine our guilt or innocence of breaking pack law. And there’s something there that makes me think of human law too. There’s going to be big changes, for sure, and you and your mate will have something to do with them, though it won’t be you that makes the change.”

Kaden watched the strain slowly drain from his mate’s face. “As long as Kaden is safe, I don’t care,” Felix declared and reached for the sheet. “Thank you, Gram. Are you coming to the breakfast?”

“No, you two go and eat. Allora will bring me something back if she can pry herself out of that book long enough to go celebrate her nephew’s mating.”

Felix’s Aunt lifted her head out of—of course—her book. “Gram!”

The crowd began to drift out the door, a hint that it was well past time for the breakfast to start. “I’ll try to drop by and visit you later,” Felix said and leaned down to press a kiss to one wrinkled cheek.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’ll have much better things to do,” she said slyly and flicked a glance in Kaden’s direction. “You be good to my great-grandson, you alpha. An omega is a special thing, even if we’ve forgotten a lot of what they were originally created for.”

“I promise,” Kaden told her and bent down to press his own kiss to her cheek. “And don’t worry,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ll keep him entertained.”