Page 29 of Omega's Heart

“How long do the funds last for?”

Quin shrugged. “Ten years, at least. Longer, if the investments do well. I think the family might be topping it up—there’s some guilt there over having made so much money off the land our ancestors gave them. Holland’s ancestors, that is.” He smiled and lifted his mug to his mouth. “I mated up. Mom would be appalled.”

Cas snickered.

Kaden ignored him—they’d always had a different understanding of their mother. “So what exactly am I looking for then?”

Cas dropped a few goldfish into his mouth and chewed happily. “You have to understand that the way we live now wasn’t always the way we lived before.”

“Really? I can’t imagine,” Kaden said dryly.

“Stop it, you two.” Quin rapped his knuckles on the table. “Personal history, Kaden. Just listen to him, okay?”

Kaden raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Fine. Go ahead, Cas.”

“Thank you,” Cas said blandly. He ate another couple of crackers and his gaze unfocused. “Before the Enclosure, our social structure was different. I know, we always knew that,” he said, raising a hand to forestall any replies. “But beforehand, omegas were held in much higher esteem. At least equal to alphas. Maybe even a little higher. They were justice in the packs, the judges, the keepers of the pack’s history. When a shifter broke pack law, it was the omegas who decided on the punishment and, as often as not, they were the ones that carried it out. The alphas were responsible for protection in the pack, for maintaining territory boundaries, some other stuff we haven’t quite figured out. The damn books we do have are written like we should already have half a clue.”

Quin made an amused noise.

Cas bared his teeth at him. “Not my ancestor. Can’t your mate do something about that?”

Quin’s good humor disappeared instantly and Kaden watched with fascination as Cas started to backpedal. “Not that I think he can go back in time or anything,” Cas babbled. He leaned slightly away from Quin and tilted his head to expose the side of his neck. “But he can’t draw conclusions from what he can do and what this Cosimo could do? And what you do?”

“He has enough to do as it is. I will not have him broken,” Quin replied, the words sounding like a growl.

Shit’s going down. Kaden sighed and threw himself into the breach. Again. Seemed like that was his lot in life. “I’m missing something here, and I’m not agreeing to anything until I understand everything.”

His brothers stared each other down for a moment, until Cas said, “He’s your mate.”

“I should toss you out on your ass,” Quin growled.

“My house.”

“Pack house.”

This wasn’t getting them anywhere. Time to be the lightning rod. “Fuck off, the two of you. I’m confused, and you’re both being assholes, and that big omega’s going to be here any minute to see you snapping at each other like pups. I’m going back to the apartment. Quin, you’ve got twenty-four hours before I call Mom and tell her I’m coming home.” He got to his feet and wobbled as his stump shot red-hot pain up his leg and into his back. He bit back a yelp and borrowed from his wolf until two sets of arms came to support him and help him back down into his chair.

“Sorry,” Quin said gruffly. “I’m worried about him. It makes me cross. And he doesn’t accept help without a fight. I’ve been trying to convince him that he doesn’t have to do everything himself, but you can’t erase seventeen years of knowing you’re only there to make other people happy in the space of five.”

Kaden took a deep lungful of air and let it out, trying to breathe the pain out with it. Quin had to be talking about Holland—Kaden doubted he’d ever talk about any of his brothers with that tender tone to his voice. “Okay. I don’t really get it, but maybe if someone explained it to me?” he hinted.

Quin exchanged an uncertain look with Cas.

“It’s complicated,” Cas finally put in. “And a lot of information. Degan and Felix will be here soon, I don’t think we have time.”

“Can I get the highlights, then?” Kaden asked sharply. “We can meet up later for more detail.”

Quin nodded, then blew Kaden’s mind. “Those stories about True Omegas? They’re real, but not like the stories.”

Kaden’s head snapped around and he stared so hard at his brother it actually made the big alpha fidget. “What do you mean they’re real?” In the stories, True Omegas brought luck and riches and health. In some of them, death-dealing blows had been healed.

Quin leaned back in his chair and rubbed his neck. “I mean, there are omegas who are capable of…things…that aren’t what we’ve come to expect them. Like this—” He pushed a little against Kaden—not physically, but with that force that defined an alpha within the pack. “Only it’s not the same. Bram has a talent for medicine and can encourage healing. He’ll have a look at you sometime, whenever we can open up a hole in his schedule. Bax makes things, I don’t know—” He glanced over at Cas.

“Bax makes things happen,” Cas said firmly. “We don’t have the first clue how he does it, but if he really wants something, it just…happens.”

“Except, since we don’t know how it works, it’s not something we can count on,” Quin put in. “Close your mouth, Kaden. It gets better. Or worse.”

Worse? How could they see this as a bad thing? “Tell me.”