Page 49 of Omega's Heart

Oh, you found out about that, did you? Now, this was starting to get interesting. “So you want me as, what? Your mascot?”

“You’ll be my assistant,” Senator Johnson said with satisfaction. “And once we’re into the White House, you’ll come with me. I hope you don’t mind travel—we go back and forth a lot between Memphis and D.C. and once we’re in office, we’ll have to actually move to the capital for the length of our term. It’s a great city, though. You’ll love it.”

Some small motion on Quin’s part caught Kaden’s eye. Quin, asking silently if Kaden wanted him to field this problem. They stared at each other for a moment, then Kaden nodded.

Quin said quietly, “You’re forgetting that the Segregation Laws will still be in place then. We have limits on how late we can be out, where we can be, security on our doors and windows, travel. Will you be willing to release him once a month to come back for Full Moon?”

“That can all be worked out,” Johnson said. “There’s time yet. For now, we’ll keep you close to home, get the voters used to you. You have to understand that this is a risk for us too, but Mike has some ideas about that. I trust him.”

Kaden wasn’t going to make this decision on his own, no matter the thrill of excitement setting out roots and branches in his chest. This—this could be useful work. Good work, where his missing leg and shitty hearing didn’t matter. Might even help; watching these humans, he could see how they would twist his identity to serve their ends. But what if that twisting served his as well? “Is it something that needs to be decided right now?”

“Not right now,” Mike said. “But, the sooner we get you established, the better. Think about it.” He dug into the pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a business card. “My card. Give me a call in a week’s time and let me know what you’d like to do.”

C H A P T E R 3 1

H olland had booked rooms at a local hotel that had the kinds of locks and windows required to keep them in line with the law. “I’ve stayed here before,” he said as they arrived in the foyer. “It’s not a bad place.” After a short, low-voiced discussion with his mate, he paid for the rooms and they headed for the elevators to settle in, unpack their clothes, and then get into the larger unpacking job of picking out the unspoken truths behind the events of the afternoon.

Quin ordered food delivered, something that Kaden wholly agreed with. They did not want to be having this conversation in public and no one felt like going out.

“This is so good,” Holland said, digging into one of the dozen different cartons of Chinese food still on the table with his chopsticks. He poured some more stir-fried vegetables out onto his plate, then sighed and leaned back against his mate. “I’m going to have to starve myself for two days after this.”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Quin told him. “You’re fine.”

Holland laughed and leaned his head against Quin’s shoulder. “Tell that to the agency.” He blew out a breath. “I need to figure out a different way to make money. Or stop having pups.”

Kaden expected Quin to say something along the lines of ‘omegas are supposed to be home looking after their pups anyway, so it doesn’t matter’ but he didn’t. Instead, he just got this unhappy look on his face and stabbed at his orange beef.

Holland patted his leg. “I’m just whining. It’s getting to be less and less fun each time I go and I can feel Mercy Hills pulling on me harder and harder every time I leave. And there are all those new young ones coming up… It’s getting harder to compete.”

“You’re not old,” Kaden told him. “How can anyone call you old?”

“Old for a model,” Holland explained. “I’m almost past my best before date, especially since my big draw was that I’m a shifter. That’s not new and exciting anymore.” He shook his head. “Anyway, we shouldn’t waste time listening to me complain. That was an interesting offer, Kaden.”

Kaden glanced up to see Holland’s eyes dancing. “Did you know that was coming?”

His packbrother shook his head. “Not precisely, but it all just seemed so odd. I wondered. President Whitney has been supportive of us, if quietly.”

Abel reached for a can of soda and popped the tab, the pressure escaping with a hiss that made Kaden’s skin twitch with old memories of other, less pleasant, things that hissed. “I can see the advantages of it,” he said thoughtfully, turning the can this way and that in his hands. “How do you feel about it, Kaden?”

That was hard to put a paw on. “I’m...intrigued is the word, I guess. Curious to see how it would work out. Curious to see if he’s actually capable of following through on his promises. A little worried, too.”

Quin nodded agreement. “You’ll have a target on your back the entire time. You won’t be able to put a paw out of line, or make any kind of mistake.”

Bax let out a long breath through his nose. “I have to agree with that.”

The room went silent for a moment—no one questioned Bax when he said things like that.

Bax continued, “Have you thought about what else you’d like to work at, Kaden?”

And there was the thing—he had. And hadn’t. There wasn’t much out there that interested him that he could still do. But this intrigued him, with that same old fear-slash-curious excitement feeling that he’d felt going out on a new patrol. “I’ve been thinking about that problem all afternoon,” he confessed. “I think I should take their offer, at least in the short term. Once I’ve had a chance to sit down and talk to them about what the job actually is, and get across to them some of the issues I can expect to face.” He thought about that for a moment. “I’m going to need help making a list for that. The Army isn’t the same as civilian life.”

“You’re certain about this?” Holland said, leaning forward to put a hand on top of Kaden’s damaged one. “Don’t be a hero here. We’d rather keep you and lose this opportunity than take a chance on it and risk losing you.”

How did he explain that he thought he’d lose himself if he didn’t have a goal, something to reach for? At the very least, he thought life owed him that much for having taken the future he’d imagined away from him. And while carefully not thinking about it had gotten him this far, he could already see the signs that it wasn’t going to take him much farther. Being home was already changing him.

Kaden turned the wreck of his hand over and hooked his finger around Holland’s. “I’m not being a hero, or at least no more than you or Quin or Abel or Bax. It would be easy to sit at home and live off the pension that’ll be coming once my retirement goes through. Safe, no stress. A life of luxury.” He grinned at Abel’s snort of laughter and tossed a chopstick at him. “But how many chances do we get like this? Presidential candidate with the president’s backing?” He paused to think of how to say this, then decided that maybe his family should know how he felt. “I don’t like being used. By anyone, even my family.” He looked around the table, taking a moment to catch the gaze of each of the others. “But I also don’t like sitting back while someone else is doing all the work. And I figure if I can run headlong into live fire without turning tail, I can walk into a politician’s office too and do whatever job they want me to do. If that’s something you can all live with.”

The room fell silent. Kaden waited, having said what he needed to say.