Page 165 of Omega's Heart

Someone pulled up behind them and Adam glanced at his watch. “Maybe. What are you doing for breakfast tomorrow?”

“Probably coffee at the office. Why?”

“I’ll meet you here at seven. You’re going to miss curfew if you don’t head in now. And I need to think a little more about this.”

Kaden nodded and stepped up onto the sidewalk, the suitcase bumping along behind him. “See you tomorrow then.”

Adam sketched a wave in his direction, then jumped in the car and tore off like he was being bombed.

C H A P T E R 8 9

T he next morning, Adam was right on time. He had menus out on the table when Kaden walked into the restaurant and coffee already ordered for the two of them. “Breakfast meeting,” he said with a grin as Kaden slid into the chair across from him. “You have any trouble last night?”

Kaden shook his head. “One thing about places this expensive, check-in’s pretty smooth.” He glanced down the menu and made a face, rapidly calculating how much space he had left on his credit card.

“I’ll get it, order what you want. My way of saying sorry for not realizing how the Segregation Laws affect your bottom line.”

“I can pay for myself,” Kaden said stubbornly.

“Don’t be an ass.” Kaden dropped the menu and Adam smirked at him. “Yeah, I’m stepping on your alpha honor. Get over it. We want this to succeed, which means we need you to succeed. So order what you want, or you’re going to hurt my feelings.”

“Fuck.” Grudgingly, Kaden opened the menu again and glanced over the choices. “Serve you right if I ordered the steak and eggs.”

“Why not? I am,” Adam said calmly and set his menu aside. “Did you have a chance to talk to your mate last night?”

“For a few minutes.” Felix had been quietly supportive, but Kaden had picked up on the subtle signs that his mate wasn’t terribly excited about him being away from home even more. Kaden himself wasn’t particularly excited about being away so much, especially with Felix pregnant with their first pup.

“Good. I talked to John last night and he’s going to talk to the senator. I think we have a line on a nice townhouse not too far from where you’ll be working. You’ll have to share it, but we’ve worked it out that we can probably set up the Maglocks to be card-activated and deactivated. So you and your mate will need cards to get in and out, and yours will be coded to meet the curfew requirements. The senator is going to see if he can get an exemption or special dispensation or whatever through the Bureau so that you can be out past curfew.”

Kaden froze, shocked. “They’ll never go for that.”

Adam shrugged. “Maybe not. But you never know until you ask. And if it’s the senator’s office asking, we might have better luck.”

And it would set a precedent. This was…he didn’t have the words for it. “Thank you. That would make things easier.”

“Don’t thank me yet. If we can keep you out past ten, for damn sure we’re going to be working you that late. Your mate might kick my ass over this.”

Kaden snorted and set his menu aside. “He could too, but he wouldn’t. He’s the image of the perfect omega.”

“Speaks the besotted alpha.”

Kaden grinned and added more sugar to his coffee, wistfully thinking of Felix’s. “Nothing wrong with living under the omega’s paw. When it’s Felix anyway.”

“You should bring him down to the office next time you’re home. Delilah is determined to meet him.”

“I’ll ask.” Felix might like to come spend a day with Cale, now that the other omega had moved into the city.

The server came by and they placed their orders. Then, as soon as she left, Adam pulled out his notepad—heavily written, but not the page that he’d been using last night—and set it on the table between them. “I talked to John about getting you out into the social scene here more, helping to make the connections you’ll need to be effective for us.”

Years working with humans let Kaden hide his surprise, though it was a close thing. “You sure that’s a smart move?” he asked.

“Yep.” Adam waved a finger at him. “Think about it. Right now, you’re a single shifter, being vouched for by a respected politician. Not a threat. We put you in a situation where people in power get exposure to you, work things so that they come to you for favors and we build you up a backlog of political favors you can call on later. Now you’re a politician, not a shifter.”

Kaden leaned back in his chair and stared at Adam, dumbfounded. “You’re really serious about this.”

Adam frowned. “I’m not sure I get what you’re asking.”

“The feeling around the enclave is that there’s about a fifty-fifty chance that the senator will get his votes and then find himself unable to follow through on his promises.” Kaden kept his face blank and let the implication speak for itself.