Page 158 of Omega's Heart

“And an omega has needs, hmm?” Holland handed Zane casually off to Kaden and got to his feet. “Hold on, let me get Quin.” He disappeared into the Alpha’s office, his laughter floating back through the half-open door.

Kaden squinted at Zane, who seemed startled to have been handed off to his uncle. The little boy stuck a hand in his mouth, drool running down his chin, then grinned wide and reached for Kaden’s nose with his slobbery hand.

“Ugh, no thanks,” Kaden said, holding the pup at arm’s length.

Felix looked up from directing the collection of the loose Legos threatening the bare feet of anyone silly enough to venture into that corner of the room and chuckled. “You won’t be able to do that with ours, you know.”

“Watch me. A smart soldier knows when to make himself scarce.” Felix was right though. Kaden got up and propped the toddler on his hip, deftly avoiding Zane’s continued efforts to coat him with as much saliva as possible as he crossed the room to join in on the tidying.

Quin spoke behind him. “You look good like that. Maybe we should be calling on Uncle Kaden to pupsit more often.”

“Too late. Won’t be long before I have my own to cart around.” It wasn’t the most elegant way of making the announcement, but the tinge of pink in Felix’s cheeks and the clear shining joy in his smile meant it didn’t really matter.

“When did you find out?” Quin walked over to lean against the back of the couch, reaching out to tease Zane. The toddler squealed and grabbed for his sire’s finger, dragging it into his mouth to chew on it.

“Today. Just now.”

Quin shot him a look, then deftly scooped Zane out of Kaden’s arm. “Then what are you doing over here?”

Kaden grinned sheepishly. “We were hoping you could pupsit for us for the evening?”

Quin stared at him, stone-faced, until Kaden had to squash an urge to fidget.

“Oh, stop, Quin,” Holland said, his voice quivering with amusement. “He’s teasing you, Kaden.” He crossed the room and popped Lonnie into Quin’s arms. “Sometimes it’s like having five pups instead of four.”

Quin chuckled and caught Holland by tangling one leg around his mate’s. “You were complaining I was too serious the other day. Dour was the word if I remember correctly.”

“Did I say I didn’t like seeing this side of you?” Holland kissed him, then patted his chest and tickled the baby’s cheek. “The laundry should be ready now. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Do you want help?” Felix asked.

“I never turn down help.” A meaningful glance passed between the two omegas, then Felix disengaged himself from the pleading of the pups, and the two bearers disappeared out the apartment door.

“They’re going to talk,” Quin mused. He looked down at his son. “So, Lonnie, what should we get up to while we’re unsupervised?”

“Is that what Holland calls it?” Kaden held his hands out to take Zane back, but Quin shook his head and put the pup on the floor on the other side of the couch, handing him a small stuffed rabbit to savage.

“No, it’s just a joke.”

“It’s what we say when Quin wants to tweak Holland,” Aggie chimed in.

Kaden raised his eyebrows at Quin. “Ballsy. You like tapdancing in minefields, don’t you, Marine?”

“You’ve only been mated three months, little brother. Talk to me again when you’ve been in the trenches three years. Sometimes a little danger is fun.” Quin fell into the big armchair and set Lonnie on his knee, bouncing the pup until he giggled. “Sometimes, Holland likes to be tweaked.”

“I can believe that.” Kaden smirked at his brother and rounded the end of the couch to sit by Zane and play tug of war with the bunny.

“You’re not going to be able to be away as much as you are now once the pup comes,” Quin said softly.

“I know. I’m going to talk to them soon.” He let Zane win the tug-of-war, then grabbed the bunny’s legs again. “Felix thinks they might have bigger plans for me than just an office grunt to show off their diversity.”

Quin’s expression grew unfocused and his eyebrows twitched down in a frown. “Could be,” he said slowly. “Or you could be the fall guy.”

“Yeah, I know. Not sure how to tell which one it is, though. I’m leaning on them hoping it’s worth the diversity vote, but holding the fall guy in reserve.”

Zane growled and dropped the bunny, then got up on all fours and started to shift.

“Crap,” Quin said mildly and handed the baby to Kaden. “He’ll get all tangled up if I don’t get him out of his diaper.” He stripped the diaper and t-shirt off the grunting pup with the same speed and casual competence that Kaden had seen his patrol-mates show field-stripping their weapons.