Page 33 of Omega's Heart

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” Kaden watched Quin quietly for a moment, then said, “If you’re tired, I can go.”

“I’m always tired. It’s fine. It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to just hang out.”

“True.” Kaden glanced around the living room again. “It’s nicer than it looked on video.”

“It’s home. For now. I’m thinking about turning it into a set of offices for Holland and some others. Building Holland a real house, over by the little pond. You remember the pond?”

“I remember getting thrown into it,” Kaden said darkly.

“You were learning how to swim. I was right there.” Quin smiled and propped his head up with one arm. “Those were good days.”

“They were.” The baby stirred in Kaden’s arms, then quieted again. “I’m thinking it’s time to settle down, like the rest of you.” He grinned. “I can’t believe Cas is mated.”

“It’s a good match. Not that Mom agrees, but the rest of us think Raleigh has been good for Cas. And Cas has been good for Raleigh.”

“They seem happy.”

“I think they are. Cas is carrying a lot heavier workload right now. I’d like to get Garrick home again for a while to clean up some of the backlog. Right now, it’s just the things threatening to burn us down that Cas has time for.”

“How’s that case going anyway?”

“Two steps forward, one back. Sometimes two back. I think we’re making progress. There’s a bit of a shake-up coming down the line in the legislation, but it’s not here yet. The ripples it’s making are to our benefit though, however little that is.”

Holland paced silently into the living room. “They’re all out now.” He nudged Quin to straighten up and sat down beside him, letting his head rest on Quin’s shoulder. “I’ll have to feed him soon,” he said to no one in particular, nodding toward the baby.

Quin took Holland’s hand. “You can go to bed if you want. I know you’re tired.”

“No. I said I’d answer questions.” Holland sighed and closed his eyes. “Anyone going to be upset if I do the two at the same time?”

No answer from Quin. Oh. He means me. “I think I can be a grownup.”

Holland’s lips twitched. “Then you might as well pass him over.” He leaned across the space between them and carefully took the sleepy pup from Kaden. Kaden watched as Holland got the pup situated, but he looked away when Holland’s hand went to the buttons on the front of his shirt. Still, the small glimpse he’d gotten, of the baby gazing eagerly up at his bearer and Holland’s utter contentment as he smiled down at his little boy, made it all the more evident to Kaden that he was ready to settle down.

His leg twinged as if to remind him that he’d left a lot of his best prospects in a desert on the other side of the world.

Fuck you.

Holland settled into the circle of Quin’s arm, the baby half-hidden behind his arms and the shirt that he’d pulled back over his naked chest.

“You know, I’ve seen a guy’s chest before,” Kaden said.

Holland flicked a searching glance in Kaden’s direction, then smiled. “I try to be discreet. Jason said he got a lot of odd looks and people just staring when he first had Macy. I think it’s better now. There’s so many of us!” He laughed and leaned back, accepting the kiss that Quin offered him before relaxing against Quin’s side. “You talked to him?”

Kaden was confused for a moment, until Quin cleared his throat. “A little. It’s not that easy to explain.”

Holland turned his head and rubbed his cheek against Quin’s chest. “Yeah.” But he didn’t sound entirely happy about it. “Okay.” He turned his head to catch Kaden’s eye, and then he proceeded to scare the crap out of Kaden worse than anything the Army had ever done to him.

At first, it felt like long grass brushing against his fingers, only it was inside his head. Then deeper, like he was dragging his arm through it. Holland frowned, then sucked in a sudden breath.

That seemed to be Quin’s cue. While Kaden sat there, frozen in horrified fascination, Quin began to talk. “I told you about what the others can do. What Bram does for bodies, Holland can do for hearts and minds. He took the darkness out of so many of my memories, let me live a normal life. It’s not perfect, but it’s something. Something only we have. That we know of, anyway.”

“There’s more to it than that, isn’t there?” Kaden asked breathlessly, his gaze locked on Holland’s. “What are you waiting for?” he demanded of the omega. “What are you doing?”

In response, his mind flooded with the memories of Honisloonz on the ground, the pained groan he’d made, his absolute conviction that no one would come for him obvious in the gaze focused anywhere but where the squad was. The shocked expression of hope in his eyes when he realized that Kaden was coming back for him despite everything. And then the darkness of the grenade.

“What do you want to do with these?” Holland asked, his voice eery and intense. “I can take the emotion away entirely, so they’re just like a movie. I can take some of the emotion away, but it’s not really reliable. I can take the memories themselves away, but you’ll always have a blank spot there, I think.

Instinct took over and Kaden tried to run, forgetting the chair, the missing leg, the fact that he was in his brother’s living room. All he could think about was the sensation of those ‘fingers’ in his brain, picking through his memories, holding them up to be judged. Faintly, he heard the sound of glass breaking just before the feeling in his brain disappeared.