Page 202 of Omega's Heart

“Because I’m your alpha and I love you. And I’ve never seen you in this kind of state.” He reached out carefully, ready to pull back if Felix flinched, but the tall omega just watched him with sad, gentle eyes, so he let his palm rest along Felix’s jaw and stepped in close. “I don’t understand it. But I understand you. And I trust you. Anything that upsets you this deeply deserves my attention and any help I can offer. And, well, I was going to have to go to Nevada Ashes regardless at some point.”

Felix laughed and looked down, then up again, almost shyly. “Thank you. I’m sorry, I try to be a good mate.”

“You’re an exceptional mate. And your pack is filled with fools.”

“You keep saying that.”

“Doesn’t get any less true.”

Time stretched between them, but instinct said that the next move had to be Felix’s.

After what felt like forever, Felix reached out and took Kaden’s hand. “We should go to bed.”

Kaden nodded and pulled Felix’s hand up to lay it over his heart and held it there with his own one and a half hands. A small price to pay, he thought, for the opportunity to watch Felix become the shifter he was meant to be. “Yeah, if we’re flying out to Vegas tomorrow, we’ll have to get up early.”

“Not that early.” Felix stepped closer and bent to kiss Kaden in a way that left no doubt about his intentions. “Hunter,” he said when their mouths finally parted. “Go to your bed.”

C H A P T E R 1 0 4

“I t’s…not what I was expecting,” Felix said in a tone of wonder as they drove up to the side gate of Nevada Ashes. Unlike most enclaves, this pack had one gate for the humans to enter through, and another, older one, that was exclusively for pack use. The walls were in good repair—they had to be, by law—but the roadwork around it was in good shape too, which spoke to a pack that was doing better financially than rumor and opinion had led Kaden to believe.

He hadn’t quite believed Felix last night when his mate had spoken about Holland’s state of mind, but today, trapped in the rental with his brother and his brother’s mate, he could see the edgy tension in Holland’s body and the way Quin almost catered to him with skin on skin and proximity.

Until they got to the gates, where somehow Holland pulled it together, like putting on a mask, and became the calm, thoughtful Alpha’s Mate that Kaden had gotten accustomed to seeing. Which was a weird, unsettling transformation to watch and made him wonder just how deep that unseen strength of his brother’s mate went.

The took the SUV inside the enclave and parked it where they were pointed to. Heat shimmered off the ground, reminding Kaden a little too closely of some of his time overseas. He put an arm around his mate and used that solid presence as a shield against unhappy memories.

It even worked a little.

On a pretty stone bench tucked under the thin branches of something that looked like an orange tree, an older man and woman chatted lazily while she worked away at something that needed needles and yarn, and kept a discreet eye on the approaching Mercy Hills shifters.

“Gray,” Quin said with a respectful nod once they were in polite speaking distance. “I didn’t expect you or your Mate to come to meet us.”

“I’m very fond of Salem,” the Mate said, in a matriarchal tone. “I don’t see why you think you need to steal him from us. It’s not like we sell our babies.” The words were cutting, like a queen slitting your throat with a razor blade.

“No one’s said that, now, Verena,” the Alpha said. “He’s just making conversation.”

She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it with a snap and went on with her knitting, watching them closely from the corner of her eye.

After a stretched out moment where no one spoke, Quin introduced everyone. “My mate, Holland. My brother, Kaden, and his mate Felix.”

“You don’t have enough omegas of your own?” Verena growled, gesturing at Holland and Felix. “You have to come take ours?”

“No one’s taking anyone. But we heard about the problem he was having and wanted to help.”

Verena exhaled short and harsh through her nose and turned back to her knitting.

“Ma’am,” Holland said, moving to stand closer to her. “He’s welcome to tell us to get out of his enclave, that’s fine. But we in Mercy Hills try to look out for each other, the omegas especially, and I wouldn’t have felt right if I didn’t offer him something. Even just for a little while, until he gets back on his feet. I’ve got no problem with that. And if he says no, then that’s that.”

She glared at him, then looked back down at her hands with a brooding expression.

The Nevada Ashes Alpha put a hand over hers and squeezed. “What can it hurt, Ver, to let him talk to them? You know I try not to make decisions for our young folk, but looking at him going around like he’s been rode hard and put away wet, I’m about ready to bar him from the houses right now, for his own good and the good of that pup. Quin here says they look after their omegas for six months after they have a pup, which we’ve never really managed to do around here. You don’t think that boy maybe deserves a little pampering and luxury, as hard as he’s always worked?”

She looked away then and her jaw muscles tightened. “Fine.”

But even Kaden could tell it wasn’t actually fine.

Verena got to her feet and packed away her knitting. “I’ll take you to his mother’s house. If he isn’t there, she’ll know where he is.”