Page 56 of Omega's Heart

I was turning back into the pack matchmaker and I’d only been here two months. Maybe that was the fate that Lysoonka had destined me for and I should just stop fighting it.

A wave of noise grew and swept across the clearing, and then Alpha Quin and Holland were there. They laughed—well, Holland did. Quin rarely did more than smile, though Cale had told me that when Quin had first come back to Mercy Hills he hadn’t even done that. But tonight his smile never wavered and he watched his mate nattering away with their packmembers fondly, occasionally adding his own commentary into the mix but in general giving his mate the freedom of the path.

It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it took them almost twenty minutes to make it from the edge of the park to the food tables and the stack of firewood waiting to be set alight. This wasn’t one of the big Full Moons, so I’d been surprised when I’d seen it, but Cale had explained that hidden in the middle of the pile was also a bunch of burnable things that were of no more use. The pack used them as fuel for the monthly fires to save on disposal costs, so it served the dual purpose of lighting our monthly dances and of saving the pack money. I was all for that.

Tonight’s fire was being fueled by the unusable parts of one of the old pack houses. Not the ones that Raleigh and Ori had lived in first when they’d come to Mercy Hills, but in that area. It was the first one to be torn down, but it wouldn’t be the last. They were keeping the dozen closest to the main building and Central Park, while the rest would be razed and combed for salvageable materials, then the burnable bits consigned to future Full Moon blazes. It was a good compromise.

Quin put his hand in the small of Holland’s back and ushered him over to the wood. Holland waved at us as he went by, but they still had to open the evening—no time to stop and talk. The smell of gas wafted past me on a stray breeze, and a quick flicking motion of Quin’s hand set off the flames. He turned to the shifters crowding around and held out his arms, letting his head fall back so the light of the rising moon landed on his face.

“May we all give thanks to the Lord and Lady, for the moon, for the fire, for the prey, and most of all, for the pack. Pack is family, and with pack, a shifter is never alone.” Then he let his arms drop and gave one of his rare grins. “Let’s eat!”

He led Holland over to the table, got a plate for himself and one for his mate, and started picking his way along the wealth of foodstuffs displayed before him. I noticed he didn’t take much of anything, but his plate was soon covered with samples from as many of the dishes as could fit. Holland’s plate looked similar, though when I squinted in curiosity, I realized that nothing on Quin’s plate appeared on Holland’s. They seemed to be doing their best to make sure that each offering of food showed signs of the Alpha or his Mate having taken some before they released the rest of the pack to come get their share.

Interesting. I wondered briefly why I’d never noticed my former Alpha doing that, when Cale suddenly appeared. “Finally!” He grabbed a plate, then handed out a few more. “I forgot to eat lunch and I thought I was going to die.”

“It’s not like I locked the refrigerator,” Julius said, bemused.

Cale put a casual hand around his shoulder and steered him along the table. “Never, ever eat after noon on Full Moon. Otherwise, where are you going to find the room to put all the food?” He let his arm drop and contemplated the table in front of him. “Come on, Quin, get your ass in gear,” he muttered.

I put a hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter and turned away. My eyes met Kaden’s, and he cracked a grin and shook his head. I picked up a plate and handed it to him. “I’m counting on you to run interference for me so Cale doesn’t run me over.”

“From the sound of it,” he returned, “We might be better off just to stay out of his way until he’s full.”

“I heard that,” Cale said primly, then, “Yes!” He reached for the spoon sticking out of a bowl of beans and began serving himself.

I looked up to find Quin and Holland leaving the tables in the direction of the two chairs that were set up for them over by the fire.

“I guess we’re free to fight for food,” came Kaden’s voice at my elbow and then he reached for Julius’ squash and dumped a spoonful onto his plate.

The crowd surged up to the tables and soon they were surrounded. I did my best to make sure that Kaden got anything he showed interest in but we were quickly separated in the crush. Julius somehow managed to stick close to him, though, and Cas and Raleigh, so I didn’t worry too much and just browsed along the tables, hoping there’d be enough left that I could come back for a second plate. It all smelled delicious. I paid particular attention to trying Holland’s chicken and the rolls that Bax had dropped off earlier, plus Julius’ squash skewers, which were a surprising treat. After the first bite, I decided I’d ask him for the recipe so I could share it with my mother.

I found a clear spot over at the other side of the bonfire to stand and watch the flames and eat my meal. This would pretty much be it for my night; I might stay to watch the first part of the dancing, but it wasn’t going to be any less painful here than it was back at White River. The library had a pretty decent selection of movies to choose from and I’d borrowed a couple to watch when I went back to the apartment. If I’d been thinking, I would have volunteered for the clean-up later and put off going back to that quiet room a little longer, but next month maybe. It could be a regular thing. I might not even come back down to run four-legged this month.

Ori bounced over. “Hey, I see you managed to get to the tables.” His plate carried much less than mine did, but he ate with a sort of mindless ferocity that fascinated me. “I’m trying to make room to go back for the stuff I couldn’t get to on my first pass,” he said when he noticed my semi-horrified stare. “I skipped lunch.”

“Does everyone here skip lunch on Full Moon?”

He paused and stared down at his plate. “Maybe?”

Patton wandered up, his own plate piled high. “You won’t have to feed me tomorrow, I promise,” he said.

Ori fended off his mate’s offered kiss. “No, you’re all greasy already.”

“So are you,” Patton argued mildly. “Wanna swap grease?”

“Ugh.” But Ori delicately presented a cheek to be kissed, then laughed when Patton ignored the offered target and stole one from his lips.

I bit my lower lip and focused on my plate. I would not be jealous. I wouldn’t. These two deserved their happy ending—they’d fought hard enough for it. Fought as hard as if they’d both been alphas.

Kaden came rolling across the grass with Bax and Fan in tow. Fan was holding a plate in each hand, while Bax only had one. “There’s where you went,” Kaden cried, voicing his triumph. “I bribed the nephew to play porter for me.”

He parked himself across from Patton, at right angles to me and Ori and with his back to the fire.

“You sure you aren’t too close there?” Bax asked, worriedly checking the distance between the back of the chair and the edge of the bonfire.

Kaden waved the concern off. “The fire’s going to burn down quickly, don’t worry.” He accepted his plate from Fan and I noticed a good section of the space was taken up by my Brussels sprouts. Which Kaden had said he didn’t like. I thought about it for a moment, then gave a mental shrug and tamped down the wispy hope trying to grow in my heart—who knew why alphas did things sometimes. Maybe it was the bacon.

Fan sat down with his back against one of the wheels of the chair. I saw Bax start to frown at him, but Kaden made a motion of his hand like cutting something off and Bax shrugged and went back to eating.