Page 140 of Omega's Heart

“Sorry,” the young shifter stuttered and leaned forward to allow Felix to sniff him.

When Felix glanced his way again, silently asking if he should offer scent back in return, Kaden shook his head gently no. He wanted Felix’s status made clear, right from the start.

Following his lead, Felix stood straight again and moved to take Kaden’s arm. “We should go pick up our luggage,” he said lightly, as if he flew across the country every day.

The young shifter’s eyes bugged out a little, but he swallowed whatever it was he wanted to say and meekly showed them through the airport to get their bags, then helped them carry everything to the car.

Los Padres had sent one of their nicer vehicles. Kaden suppressed a smile, but made a mental note to let Quin know. It might have been because Kaden was working in human government. It might equally have been because of the backlash after that incident when Holland had come here for his medical treatment, back when he and Quin had decided to have pups together. Holland didn’t seem to hold any hard feelings about it, though he did have a tendency to scrutinize anything from Los Padres a little harder than Kaden sometimes thought was necessary. But Kaden also suspected that Los Padres was playing very carefully with Mercy Hills right now, especially given the current political climate in the packs.

Once they were in the car, Felix did a reasonable job of acting like he wasn’t almost vibrating with excitement. Kaden knew he was because every time they passed something that Felix had mentioned he wanted to see while they were in California, Felix nearly crushed his hand. It made it hard not to grin like he was lunar, but he managed it.

Passage through the gates was…surprisingly easy. Kaden was used to gliding in and out of Mercy Hills, with its strong ties to the neighboring city and his job with the senator. White River had been more difficult, Honisloonz more difficult still. But here, they just checked him and Felix off on a list and waved them through.

“Is that usual?” Kaden asked as they rolled over the main street, a relatively new improvement, he thought, wide and covered in crushed stone.

Jephra met his gaze in the rearview mirror. “Pretty normal. Not for everyone, but some of us go in and out a lot. The Alpha would have arranged a quick passage in for you and had the paperwork pre-approved. In’s usually easier than out.”

Interesting.

There didn’t seem to be much in the way of businesses here that needed shipping. He noticed the security building, a garage, a shipping headquarters that looked far too small for a pack this large.

The houses were very different from Mercy Hills. More trees—a lot of them looked like fruit trees of some sort and Kaden made a note to bring that idea back to Quin. Briefly, he wondered why either Abel or Quin or any of the other Alphas of the pack hadn’t made a rule that everyone had to have a fruit tree in their yard, then dismissed the thought in favor of watching Los Padres roll by.

He guessed they were likely being taken through the newer section of the town—some of the turns in the road made no sense geographically to Kaden and he would normally have expected the main road to lead directly to the Alpha’s.

The car turned left onto another road, this one just as flat but narrower and not covered in the crushed stone. More trees lined the edges of it and when Felix rolled the window down, the smell of flowers and greenery filled the inside of the vehicle. It was all houses along here, built so close they might as well have been one building. Behind them rose other, taller buildings, four or five stories, the walls pocked with windows like an anthill. Probably apartments. Did they cram their pack into these buildings? Why? They had the same acreage as Mercy Hills, maybe even a bit more because so much of it was unusable for human purposes. Kaden made another mental note to look into that, because it was something Holland would be interested in for the Mutch funding meeting that was coming up soon.

They pulled up in front of a stucco-covered house painted a warm yellow, with red curved tiles on the roof and a low porch running across the front and down both sides. Unlike the rest of the houses, this one had actual space around it, though it was the same two stories in height as the rest of the houses on the street.

Jephra shut the engine off and popped the trunk. “I’ll bring your cases in,” he said as he jumped out of the car.

Kaden squeezed Felix’s hand. “Ready?”

Felix raised his eyebrows. “I’m fine. Really.” He took a deep breath and smiled. “It smells wonderful here, doesn’t it?”

“Regretting mating in Tennessee now?” Kaden joked.

“Not for an instant.” Felix leaned in to steal a kiss, then followed Kaden out the driver’s side door.

The Alpha was waiting for them at the edge of the porch. “Kaden Mercy Hills, welcome to Los Padres.”

Kaden stepped forward to offer his scent and then held his hand out for Felix. “My mate, Felix, originally White River.”

“Yes, I heard that you’d slipped in and stolen away with an undiscovered treasure,” the Alpha said genially, while his gaze roamed Felix’s body in a way that made a growl rise unbidden to Kaden’s throat.

Felix’s hand tightened on his and then his mate leaned against Kaden’s shoulder. “Thank you, sir,” Felix said. “That’s just about the prettiest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” No sarcasm, but now Kaden was left wondering what the prettiest thing anyone had ever said to Felix was, and hoping it was him. If not, he had some work ahead of him, because he wasn’t going to let another alpha have any first place position with Felix if there was anything he could do about it.

“Well, I wouldn’t expect less of one of Veronica’s boys. You two come in and my mate will show you to your room. Lunch is in about an hour and a half, you can rest up in the meantime and refresh yourselves.”

“Thank you, sir.” Kaden turned to reach for his suitcase but the Alpha held up a hand.

“Jeph will take those in for you. You’re our guests.”

Kaden led Felix into the cool shadows of the house. The inside was all white, with pictures covering the walls. To the left was a door, open on a hallway that ended in another door—probably the Alpha’s office. Just beyond that was a set of stairs, and another door across from them, then a wide archway that gave a glimpse of part of a kitchen.

A woman at least a decade younger than the Alpha stepped out through the archway. “Oh, they’re here! And early too! Well, nothing wrong with that.” She glided forward, as graceful as a poplar tree swaying in the breeze, and came to a stop a half-step behind and to the right of the Alpha.

“My Mate, Violetta.” The Alpha drew her forward so Kaden could offer his scent, then Felix. “You two are related, she tells me.”