Page 189 of Omega's Heart

I gave him a stern look. “She’s a smart alpha. Surely she can figure out where the best den is.” Then I softened. “If you really want her, I’ll do my best. I know I can’t make her happy, because I can’t suddenly become an alpha, but I want you to be happy. It’s not right that we should be playing tug-of-war with your heart between the two of us. She can have what she wants, as long as it doesn’t mean I have to give you up.”

He cupped my face in his maimed hand and pressed his forehead to mine. “I won’t have you made unhappy. Nothing I’ve said has gotten through to her. I don’t know what to do here.”

I didn’t doubt it. I’d read everything—what she had said, what he had said. I was certain that during their phone calls there’d been many more words, and probably more forthright ones as well. She did seem to be trying, though, as much as she understood trying.

Which left me staring down the last few months of my pregnancy and wondering if there was even a right choice in the situation. “I know you’re doing your absolute best, soldier. I don’t know what to do either. I suppose we take it one day at a time and try everything we can, make plans and things. I’ll leave the battle strategy to you if you want.”

The corner of his mouth twitched—I thought it amused him when I called him soldier, which was mostly why I did it. “And this right here proves that I am a complete genius in picking mates,” he said, his arm tightening briefly around my waist.

But he still wore a frown and I wasn’t going to have that. Not in the middle of these two important projects. “We won’t be back to Mercy Hills for good until April at the earliest. Let me talk to Holland and Bax when we drop by to pick up Hunter and see what we can come up with.” Omegas were the peacemakers, right?

So why did I suddenly feel like I needed some RPGs and whatever else soldiers took with them when they went on deployment?

C H A P T E R 9 9

K aden went into this evening meal with a sense of foreboding. Some of the things that Bax and Holland and Cale did and said and—to be honest—blew up over now made more sense, especially knowing that Mitchel was Holland’s and Cale’s father.

Felix was carrying the box that Holland had put together for his parents. Kaden was carrying a mid-sized bottle of packmade wine and a smaller one of the brewery’s latest attempt at vodka. Together, they made a gift that should show the respect that Mercy Hills held Buffalo Gap in.

Even if that respect was more than half feigned.

Kaden knocked and narrowed his eyes at Felix, who’d stopped half a step behind Kaden as if waiting on him, one of a million tiny actions that he’d started doing since Montana Border. Since here. Felix shook his head and turned his attention back to the door.

We’ll talk about this tonight, mate.

The door opened and Mitchel’s mate, a tall, cool-looking brunette with Holland’s hair appeared in the opening. “Hi, I’m Colette, the Alpha’s Mate. Come in,” she said and stood aside, holding the door open with one arm.

Kaden nodded and entered, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that the invitation had been meant primarily for him. The feeling became rock-solid when she offered him scent in greeting, then immediately turned and led them to the back of the house and into the kitchen, having given Felix nothing but a nod of acknowledgment. The young female omega working frantically away at the counter stopped and stood straight, hands clasped behind her back like she’d been called to attention as the Mate passed her, then went back to mixing whatever it was in the bowl in front of her. Colette didn’t greet her either.

They went out through a door at the end of the kitchen and onto a nice deck. It looked slightly out of place surrounded by the slightly shabby buildings that made up the enclave. Even the Alpha’s house wasn’t as pretty as this deck. Where had that money come from? And it had to be money, not credits. The wood was too nice. As was the seating Colette had ushered them to.

“Mitchel will be down in a moment. He had a call come in just before you got here. Please, take a seat.” She accepted the bottles from Kaden, then she called through the open window. “Dynasty, bring water please.”

A pretty glass jug of water with ice cubes and slices of lemon in it soon appeared, in the hands of the female omega. She looked maybe a couple of years younger than Felix now that Kaden could see her in the bright sunlight. Quickly, she filled their glasses and set the jug aside, then asked if there was anything else anyone wanted in a sweet soprano voice that reminded Kaden of how his packbrothers spoke. Her eyes rested curiously on Felix as they all refused anything more, and then she left.

“Dynasty looks after the house,” Colette said off-handedly. “If you need anything and Jacob isn’t around, just come over and she’ll sort things out.”

“Thank you,” Kaden said, politely neutral, after a slightly-too-long pause.

Felix only smiled and looked to Kaden.

Colette began some bright small talk about the news, about happenings in the pack, questions about Kaden’s job and what it was like to live in Washington. She did include Felix in the conversation, though something about it itched at the back of Kaden’s neck like he was lost and hadn’t quite figured it out yet. Felix had narrowed his eyes at her a couple of times, but he kept whatever he was thinking to himself.

Mitchel walked in after a few more minutes of awkward conversation. “Sorry about that. We’re bidding on providing some laborers for a state project and there’s some more information we’re looking for.” He patted Colette on the shoulder and yelled in through the window. “Dynasty, bring the meat out. I’m going to start the grill.” He turned to Kaden. “Come see it, it’s new.” He walked down the steps at the back of the deck and onto a patch of well-watered grass, where a shiny, silver barbecue gleamed in the Texas sunlight.

Kaden didn’t know much about barbecues, except what he’d picked up eavesdropping on his squadmates in the Army. This didn’t look like the cheapest one on the shelf.

Mitchel turned on the propane and pushed the button to set the gas alight, then closed the cover. “I had Dynasty pick up some nice steaks for us and some potatoes for baking. And Colette made us some of her barbecue sauce. I can tell you, you’ve never had barbecue until you’ve had my Colette’s sauce.”

“I’m sure it’s better than anything I had in the Army.”

Mitchel laughed and started to show Kaden all the highlights of the barbecue, while Kaden began to wish he was back on the deck with Felix.

Dynasty came out the kitchen door with a plate of steaks and a bowl of a reddish brown sauce that smelled of vinegar and sugar and spices. She set them on one of the side racks of the barbecue, then beat a hasty retreat back into the kitchen. As soon as she was gone, Colette got up from her seat on the deck and joined him and her mate, leaving Felix sitting by himself at the table.

“Come on down,” Kaden told him.

Felix hesitated, then came down the steps to stand at Kaden’s side.