Page 190 of Omega's Heart

Dynasty came out again, this time with the potatoes all wrapped in foil. The smell of cooked potato drifted to Kaden’s nose.

“We’ll just put them on long enough to crisp up the skin. Gives them that good roasted flavor,” Mitchel explained in a good-ol’-boy voice. “Colette, have Dynasty bring some drinks out for everyone?”

“Of course.” Colette kissed Mitchel on the cheek and disappeared into the kitchen.

Mitchel turned to Felix. “Why don’t you go on with her, let us alphas talk? I’m sure you and Dynasty can find something to keep you busy and you’d probably find all this political talk boring.”

Kaden stiffened, but Felix gave his hand a quick squeeze and agreed quietly, putting a halt to anything Kaden might have said. But the glance he sent over his shoulder as he left told Kaden that Felix had something in mind as he mounted the stairs to the deck.

Colette came back a few minutes later. She had Dynasty in tow, carrying a tray with a glass of wine and two bottles of beer. The omega offered the beer to Kaden and Mitchel. Colette took the glass of wine and dismissed her to the kitchen again.

It was probably just an alpha’s need to keep his omega safe, but Kaden was hard-pressed not to go hunting for Felix. His mate was an adult and had a good head on his shoulder. Plus, it wasn’t likely that anything would happen to him in Holland’s father’s home. Or maybe he just didn’t want to be out here with these shifters.

The steaks hissed as they hit the grill. “I marinated these overnight. Should be as tender as a baby’s bottom.”

Kaden raised his eyebrows. “Sounds great.” Three of the steaks were thick, expensive looking cuts. The fourth, still thick, but it didn’t have the same shape as the others. With a sinking feeling, he realized that this was probably meant for Felix. Lysoon take it, this was going to be a problem. There was no way the Mutches were going to approve a trust here, ever, if the pack wouldn’t agree to specific measures to improve the standing of omegas. It was getting harder to remain impartial, except for the consideration that this might just be the pack to pick after all if they could force a change in the attitudes about omegas.

He wished now that he’d paid more attention to that group back in Salma. He might have some idea how they felt about it all, or if they even put any thought to it in the first place. His eyes strayed to the door into the kitchen and he wondered what kind of information Felix was delicately teasing out of Dynasty in the kitchen while Kaden was stuck out here with a plastic smile glued to his face.

Oh, just fuck me. Why did I take this job again?

He knew why, though, and he stood six foot two in his sock feet and their baby was kicking inside his belly.

Maybe I can salvage this. “How many omegas do you have in the pack still? Bax mentioned that there were quite a few born around the same time as him.”

Mitchel snorted and took a pull on his beer. “Too many, still. Half of them unmated too. Good thing that trust money comes with some for the omegas. Give them all a good prydaya and mate them off to the best offers.”

Shit. Now he had to consider that this was what the rest of the packs were planning to do with that money as well. “I don’t think that’s what the money is intended for,” Kaden began, but Mitchel interrupted him.

“It’s our money, right? To be spent for the good of the pack? Well, getting rid of that drain on the pack’s economy would be a help, for sure.” He squinted in Kaden’s direction. “I don’t suppose you Mercy Hills folks want to take on a few more, do you? It was a hell of an example for Veronica to have all four of her boys mate an omega. A little showy—everyone knows you’ve had a barrelful of money dumped in your laps. You probably didn’t need to mate omegas to prove it.”

“Is that what you think we did?” Kaden downed a good third of his beer, praying for numbness.

“What else would it be? Look, I’m as grateful as the next father to see Holland with a mate that looks after him. I think your brother spoils him, but that’s not my problem to deal with anymore. But really, unless you’ve got reason to know you’re never going to lack for credits, who’s really going to take on that kind of responsibility? And around here, the credits just aren’t that plentiful.”

“I don’t think the Mutches are going to agree to your plan for those funds,” Kaden said in a reasonable voice. “Maybe if the omegas themselves ask for it, but for the most part it’s meant to let omegas finish their education and start businesses or go to school.”

Mitchel snorted. “Waste of funds.” He poked at the steaks and turned them over, then flipped the potatoes to crisp the other side. Idly, Kaden noticed that the tin foil covering them had scorched black already. He wondered if they were going to be edible, and his tastebuds teased him with the memory of Felix’s fried potatoes. What he wouldn’t give to be home right now, lazing around in the kitchen and teasing his mate while Felix scolded him.

He came back to the present to realize that Mitchel had kept on talking.

“…pregnant and have babies anyway. And it’s what they’re made for. They wouldn’t find it so easy if it wasn’t what the Lord and Lady had intended them for.”

Kaden shrugged, uninterested in having this argument but feeling as if he needed to defend his mate and his packbrothers. “I’m not sure that’s the only thing they intended omegas for. After all, look how well they do for Mercy Hills.”

Mitchel sent him a look, the kind of look that older alphas often shot at younger ones when they were acting full of piss and vinegar and being stupid in it because they were young and didn’t know anything. “Yes, letting my son parade around half naked for humans to gawk at. We aren’t a spectacle, even if it does bring in a lot of money.”

“He did it for the good of the pack, and he works harder than anyone else I know except maybe my brother. He’s a good shifter.”

“We raised him right, to know the value of family and to be loyal. He at least remembers that it was because of us that he has anything he has and what he owes us.”

The source of the money paying for all this luxury hit Kaden like a landmine blowing up beneath his feet. How much was Holland sending them, and how often? Did Quin even know about it? He had to—that pair had no secrets from each other. Unless Holland…

No, he didn’t think that Holland, even at his worst, would play games with his mate’s memories. Not for something like that, not when Quin was so very obviously devoted to him.

“I’m going to run inside and borrow your washroom if that’s okay?” Kaden said, putting his beer down on the edge of the deck.

“Sure, help yourself. Up the stairs and at the end of the hallway.” Mitchel smiled genially at him and Kaden beat a hasty retreat to the kitchen and the good sense of his mate.