Page 182 of Omega's Heart

“No. I don’t think so.” Felix took Kaden’s hand and spread it out over his belly. “I think he just kicked hard enough you should be able to feel it.”

Kaden drove with one hand on the wheel and one hand on Felix’s belly for another eight miles, until they were more than halfway to Buffalo Gap, but apparently the baby was saving this sign of life for his bearer alone. “Maybe I can catch up with him tonight,” he suggested as he took his hand back.

“I’m sorry. It felt really strong.” The disappointment in Felix’s words tugged hard on all of Kaden’s soft spots, the ones that only his mate was allowed to see.

“Hey, I’m not upset. A little let down, but I know it’ll happen again.”

Felix gazed down at his belly and frowned. “Pup, you need to have more respect for your sire.”

His tone made Kaden chuckle. “I’m not the one doing the heavy lifting here.”

“How much longer until we’re there?” Felix asked.

“Ten, fifteen minutes, I think. There should be road signs.” The route had seemed straight-forward when he’d checked it on the Internet, except for the actual getting off the highway to head for the gate, which was situated in the southwest corner of the walls. A stupid place to put it, unless you were trying to keep the shifters from having easy access to the main road north.

Felix slumped in his seat and stared out at the countryside. “It’s really brown.”

“Pretty dry here, except in the rainy season, I think,” Kaden agreed. “What wrong, love?” The sweet word felt awkward on his tongue—he wasn’t really a romantic, though he was trying to grow some in that direction for Felix’s sake.

“Just wondering how you grow up in a place like Montana Border and not end up warped? Even their nice houses…” He shook his head. “We’d have torn them down back in White River. Some of them, anyway.”

“It’s what they know. I was in the Army with guys who came from places like that. They thought that barracks was a palace.”

“I don’t know what I think about them.”

Kaden reached across the car again to take Felix’s hand. “It’s okay to be sad about it. These are our people. Yes, they’ve done some of this to themselves, but not all of it. It can be hard to climb out of a hole when the sides are as steep as Montana Border’s.”

“Yeah. But knowing that isn’t going to make this decision any easier.”

He meant about the Mutch Trust. “I know.” There was the sign—Kaden hit the indicator light and started to merge off the highway. “Holland said everyone will get one eventually. If you pick someone who will be cooperative and compliant for the next one, it means that the one after that will be given out faster. We can keep making these trips and reminding packs that the more they cooperate, the faster the money comes. Saying no to someone is not the end of the world or the end of the pack’s chances. Besides, someone has to be last. Might as well be Montana.” He squeezed Felix’s hand. “You could put that on a card and give it to Jason with a big bow.”

Felix shot him an incredulous look, but not only did he not veto the idea, the corners of his mouth turned up in a small smile. “And they call Cas the naughty one.”

“Is that what this is now, naughty?”

“That, and other things.” Felix looked more comfortable in his skin now, and his thumb was making interesting circles on the skin of Kaden’s fingers. “So, this is where Holland and Bax grew up.”

“Yep.” Buffalo Gap’s walls rose in the distance, the road curving around them like a dull gray halo. “They’re better off than Montana Border, I think. At least, when the pack was moved here there were houses already in place.”

“I have some things to pass on to Holland’s mother. Bax’s too. Mostly pictures, stuff drawn by the pups.”

“If you want, I’ll do the boring stuff and you can run around and visit.”

“From the way Holland talks, you’ll probably have to do it all.” Felix glanced up at the walls towering over them. “I don’t know why, but I don’t notice them as much in Mercy Hills.”

“You don’t go in and out that much there.” Ah, there was the lane leading up to the gate. “Grab our papers, would you?”

“Sure.” Felix fished them out of Kaden’s briefcase and handed them over. “But I don’t notice the walls there. Even when we’re going in and out. Something about the way the enclave feels, I guess. I sort of noticed them in Los Padres, but it wasn’t as bad as this.”

“It might be just the way the sun hits them too. It’s sharper here.” But an offhand remark of Quin’s came back to him, something about being in an environment conducive to growth. They’d been talking about the gardens at the time, but anything to do with the gardens always came back to Jason. And anything about Jason always came back to the True Omega. Kaden would have just shrugged it off as wishful thinking, but he’d seen the most awkward young soldier blossom under the right command, while others wilted. It wouldn’t just be true in the Army—it would be true everywhere. And Felix did have an eerie sense about what people were feeling and how they were likely to react. Barrens, he had that crazy, screwed up dog begging for treats and helping him to clean the apartment.

They got to the gate and Kaden put it to the back of his mind. He didn’t want to land that idea on Felix right now. Maybe never—Felix seemed content with the idea of not being a ‘special omega’ and having seen the pressure on the ones already wearing that label, Kaden was just as content to keep it that way.

One of the Buffalo Gap alphas was waiting for them inside the gate to give them directions. He looked their car over with a bit of jealousy and some anger in his eyes as he gave them directions to the Alpha’s house and when Kaden glanced in the rearview mirror after, he could almost see the resentment rolling off the fellow like heat waves.

“I don’t suppose they see cars like this too often,” Felix said softly.

“Neither do we. I made John pay for this, remember?”