Page 225 of Omega's Heart

I went back to bed after that, rubbing the itchy sections of my belly and the scratchy sections behind Hunter’s ears. “When is your little brother going to come out and meet us?” I asked him.

He groaned and closed his eyes. Clearly, my concerns about being pregnant forever weren’t nearly as important as me finding just the right spots to scratch him on. “Fine,” I sighed. “I suppose these are your last moments being an only pup. You might as well make the most of them.” He raised one eyebrow in my direction, then went back to enjoying his babying.

C H A P T E R 1 1 5

W inter had died and spring drifted over the enclave. Their evenings grew quieter but if anything, even more intimate. Despite both their mothers being in the enclave. Kaden found he enjoyed sitting quietly on their couch drinking tea and watching the news or catching up on work, while Felix knitted or sewed beside him and the baby grew steadily. After years in the Army, Kaden knew how to wait without becoming bored, to enjoy the stillness of their lives while he could. Once the baby came, he’d been warned, peace would be a distant dream.

Felix was restless tonight, unable to find a comfortable position on the couch. He moved his legs up, then put his feet back down on the floor, picked up his knitting then put it down again. “I’m going to check the baby’s room,” he said for probably the sixth time that day. And Kaden had only gotten home a couple of hours ago.

“What could be missing out of it?” Kaden asked, amused. He’d heard about bearers and the den instinct and he figured this was what it was. Felix had cleaned everything within an inch of its life, the baby had all the diapers and hats and shirts and baggy pants it would need for the first five years of its life, and they had enough blankets for the entire enclave.

“I just want to be sure everything’s ready,” Felix insisted and hoisted himself up off the couch with only a gentle push from his loving mate.

Felix was back just a few minutes later, one hand spread over the expanse of his belly, the other one held out so Kaden could steady him on the way back down to the couch. “Are you working?” he asked when he’d made it all the way down.

“Just some reading. Why? Need your back rubbed again?” Without waiting for the answer, Kaden closed the laptop and set it out of the way. “I’ll go get the stuff for it.”

Felix shook his head. “No, I was wondering if you could maybe go get Holland? And call Ori? And maybe Julius and Cale?”

He joked, “Are we having a party?” before the clues all clicked into place. “Is it now? The baby?”

Felix nodded uncomfortably. “I think so.”

“I don’t want to leave you.”

“I think I’ll be fine for a few minutes. I’m going to go get the birthing kit out.” He put a hand on Kaden’s arm. “Don’t be long, though?”

Kaden kissed him and pressed their foreheads together. “I’ll fly faster than Midwinter Wolf himself,” he promised and made his mate laugh. “Do you need a hand back up off the couch?” he asked as he got to his feet.

Felix sighed. “Probably,” he replied in the most doleful voice Kaden had ever heard.

Outside of his squad when faced with Friday Surprise in the mess tent, anyway.

Kaden took Felix’s hands, let his mate work his way to the edge of the couch, then leaned back and let gravity help them both get Felix to his feet.

“Thank you,” Felix said and dropped a quick, distracted kiss on his lips before wandering absently in the direction of their bedroom. “I’ll be in here, I think.”

Kaden suppressed a chuckle and strode out the house. He’d been sneaking his little hatchback down the trail behind the house for the past week, just in case, so it was only a matter of seconds before he was zooming on his way, wishing he’d just called everyone and told them to come. But, with the enclave becoming as spread out as it was, it was probably faster if he drove around and picked everyone up. Felix had warned him they’d probably bring stuff with them too.

He went to Ori’s first, setting that little household on its ears, before heading next door to take the smirk off Cas’s face when he stole Raleigh. Cas’s good humor returned, though, when Raleigh went down to the townhouse on the end of their row and insisted Degan drive them over to Kaden’s, shooing him off into the dark to borrow a car while Raleigh and Ori gathered up anything they thought they might need.

Kaden was laughing as he drove up to sow the same confusion in Cale’s and Julius’s apartment.

Once he’d created enough chaos there, he half-jogged down the hall to Quin’s door, knocking with maybe a bit more enthusiasm than was entirely safe or polite.

Quin threw the door open like he was expecting an invasion, one foot already half jammed into a shoe. “Oh, it’s you,” he said and kicked the shoe back against the wall. “What do you want, besides to give me a heart attack and leave your packbrother alone with four pups?” He crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows.

“Actually, it’s my packbrother I want. Or rather, Felix wants him.”

Quin’s eyes widened a fraction. “Is it time?”

Kaden nodded and felt the first stirrings of anxiety.

“It’ll be fine,” Quin assured him. “Holland! Our nephew is making his appearance. You’re relieved of puppy duty.”

Holland came around the corner, Lonnie on his hip. “Do you want me to take him with me?” he asked Quin.

“No, you’ll be busy enough.” He reached over to pry the little boy off his bearer and hold him up in the air, wiggling him around until the pup giggled and flailed. “You gonna stay with Da tonight? Give Ahmi a break?”