Page 157 of Omega's Heart

He had his family, and most of all, he had Felix.

“I’m going to talk to the senator about staying closer to home,” Kaden decided as they walked home.

“Can you do that?”

“Probably. It’s not like I’m irreplaceable.” Kaden opened the door to the building and ushered Felix through ahead of him.

“Aren’t you?” Felix hit the button for the elevator and shuffled his feet until his shoulder brushed against Kaden’s. “I thought he hired you to help get him elected.”

“He did. I don’t need to be in Washington to do that.” The elevator doors opened and Kaden put his hand in the small of Felix’s back, that simple touch not nearly enough for him after nearly three weeks away. Hunter was spending the night in the living room tonight.

“I wonder if maybe you do, though,” Felix said thoughtfully. This time, he stepped aside and let Kaden push the button for their floor, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

Kaden ignored him, but he made sure that button was solidly pushed, just to prove his right to it. “I’m sure they’ll survive without me,” Kaden told his mate, answering the unspoken question.

Felix stole up behind him, his arms sliding around Kaden’s waist. “Yeah, well, you said this guy is smart, right?”

“Yeah.” The senator was smart. Probably smarter than all the rest of his staff put together, if Kaden was any judge. “You think he sent me to Washington for another reason, not just because they were behind?”

His mate shrugged, which slid parts of his body distractingly against Kaden’s back. “I kind of wonder.” Felix’s hands drifted up Kaden’s torso and his breath was warm against Kaden’s cheek. “I don’t know. It doesn’t add up for me.”

Truthfully, it hadn’t really added up for Kaden either, but he’d been buried so deep in learning his job he hadn’t spent much in the way of brain cells on thinking about it. Now, though, with Felix pointing out some of the strangeness of it all, he wondered.

The elevator came to a halt at their floor, breaking his train of thought.

“We’ll have to take Hunter out to pee as soon as we get back,” Felix reminded him, his grip tightening briefly before he let Kaden go with a dissatisfied noise.

“Let me take care of that,” Kaden told him. He wished now that the Marine that had dropped Hunter in their laps was staying in the enclave—he was one of the few people who could be trusted with Hunter who wasn’t a pup.

The only one within a reasonable distance was probably putting his pups to bed right now in unsuspecting domestic bliss.

He knocked on Quin’s apartment door, grinning at Felix, who he was pleased to note wasn’t raising any objections. Maybe Hunter could have a sleep-over with Uncle Quin tonight.

The thunder of small feet sounded on the other side of the door and then it was wrenched open, Aggie and Dorian fighting over who got to be the first one to greet the callers.

“Hi!”

“Hi! Is Hunter with you?” Dorian peered past them, then his face fell with obvious disappointment.

“Is your sire around?” Kaden asked. “I need a favor.”

“Pups! Get back in here and finish picking up your toys!” Holland appeared around the corner, barefoot, hair in a careless knot on top of his head, and carrying a half-dressed toddler. “Go on. No playing with Hunter until you’ve cleaned up.” He watched them go and then turned back to Kaden. “Quin’s stuck in the office tonight. You can go through our door if you want.”

“Is this a bad time?” Felix asked, peeking past him.

Holland shrugged. “No worse than any other. Come on in.”

Damn. He hadn’t intended to get roped into a visit. Kaden tried to catch Felix’s eye, but Felix was already inside the apartment, asking after their niece and nephews. Kaden suppressed a sigh and closed the door, mentally crossing off half of the semi-formed plan he’d had for the evening.

Felix was on his knees in the corner of the living room, getting a tour of Dorian’s latest foray into city planning via Lego blocks. Aggie was trying to help, expanding on Dorian’s enthusiastic explanations until the little boy grew frustrated and Felix got called on to play mediator between the siblings.

Kaden joined Holland on the couch where he was fighting to get Zane into a clean diaper and shirt. “You can go on through, he won’t mind. The phone call part of the evening is over,” Holland told him as he pulled a slightly over-sized t-shirt on his son.

“No, it’s okay,” Kaden said glumly. “The pups have kidnapped my mate anyway.”

A look of comprehension spread across Holland’s face and he laughed. “Oh, you were looking for someone to take Hunter for a while?”

“Well, it has been three weeks.”