Page 69 of Omega's Heart

“I suppose you’ll want to have it back in White River?”

“I don’t know. Julius wouldn’t be able to come if I did.” I dished up the food, turned everything off, and carried our meals over to the table. “He said something about it this morning.”

“You should talk to Quin about that.” He sighed happily as I slid his plate in front of him. “I’m going to miss this when I move to the city. You sure you don’t want to come with me?”

“I’ll have a mate to look after by then,” I reminded him, sitting down with my own plate.

“Set a date yet?” he asked through a mouthful of ham.

I shrugged again. “We need to talk to the Alpha and the Mate, see what their schedules look like. Suppose we should do that soon. We were looking at September.” Especially if I was going to ask Quin to intercede on Julius’s behalf with the Department of Justice. “It shouldn’t take too long to organize. I don’t want a big mating, just something small with immediate family.”

Cale looked thoughtful. “I guess I forgot you can have small ones. Holland’s was huge, and Bax’s was even bigger.” He grinned. “And Raleigh still refuses to make an honest alpha of Cas.”

I laughed, though truly, my future packbrothers baffled me. Those two, anyway. And Raleigh’s ex-mate as well, a concept I’d never associated with an omega before. To see all three of them living in the same building, the pups going back and forth between houses as they pleased, was so strange. And yet, it seemed so very Mercy Hills too. It was like the pack here had taken all the rules of pack life and tossed them in a heap, for people to rummage through until they found the ones that suited them. It made for a bit of chaos, but mostly I liked it.

The alarm went on my phone. “I’m late. Don’t worry about the dishes, I’ll get them later.”

“I’ll get them when I’m done eating. I’ll need a break,” Cale said and stretched. He scratched his head, making his long hair stand on end. He was still gorgeous, even uncombed and bleary-eyed, but I hardly noticed it now, except at odd times like this.

“Would you be in my rozvennya?” I blurted, startling myself.

His eyes widened, then he grinned. “Thought you’d never ask! But before September would be better for me than after. I hope.” The corners of his mouth turned down again. “I should get studying again.” He picked up his plate and his mug and headed for the hallway, before he stopped and turned to add, “Let me know where to be and what I need to do. I should have more time once these last two courses are done.”

“I will.”

I was getting mated. With that one question, it had become real. I practically skipped as I took my dishes to the sink and was incredibly glad there was no one in the apartment to see me acting like a pup. There was nothing sillier than someone my size hopping around like a three-year-old with a new toy.

Except I had the best toy going. And I was supposed to have been in his apartment three minutes ago.

C H A P T E R 4 4

O nce the decision had been made that Kaden was going to take the position with the senator, his life went from a slow amble to Learjet speeds. It only took two days to shovel his pack responsibilities onto someone else’s shoulders, a miracle in and of itself. Not that he had many, but with everything going on right now, it seemed like anyone with the kind of experience they needed to oversee the demolition and reconstruction in the Enclosure houses was already working two or even three other projects.

Still, Quin made it happen—somehow—and wouldn’t say how he’d managed it, which left Kaden worried that his brother had just shoved it onto his own overloaded plate. If it hadn’t been for Holland, he might have had second thoughts about this job with the senator, but the Alpha’s Mate had talked him around.

“The pack is our problem, as are the members of it. Our people are now your problem. I don’t envy you the task in front of you and anything we can do to make that easier, we will do it. Trust us.” Holland had then kissed him formally on the forehead. Like a blessing.

He smelled different when he went like this. More like a forest and wild things—it spooked Kaden a bit, but this was Holland and despite their rocky start, he’d come to trust Holland’s intentions, if not his omega packbrother’s subtle ruthlessness and occasionally impulsive actions.

True to Holland’s prediction, it didn’t take long for his thoughts and worries about the pack to end up on the back burner. Between being newly employed and newly betrothed, his brain was going full tilt from the moment he opened his eyes the next morning.

Kaden came out of the bedroom in his next best suit and realized ruefully that he was going to have to spend some money on clothing since his best suit was also his only other one. He rolled into the kitchen and pulled up beside Felix. “Good morning, betrothed.”

Felix went bright pink, but it smelled to Kaden like a delighted pink, a guess confirmed when Felix turned to offer a shy kiss. Kaden happily obliged, not even the least bit bothered by Felix having to get down on one knee to make the kiss possible. Soon all this foolishness wouldn’t be necessary, once the hospital got off its ass and scheduled him for his surgery.

After the kiss, Felix sent him to the table with a cup of coffee while he loaded plates—or, actually, just one plate. Kaden frowned as Felix slid his breakfast in front of him and then sat down with his own cup of coffee. “Where’s yours? I’m not going to watch you starve yourself out of some misguided notion that you have to be a stick like Holland for our mating.” Not that Holland was unattractive, but it wasn’t a look that would suit Felix at all.

“No, but I was feeding Cale this morning and wanted to make sure he ate, so I ate with him. I’m glad he’s going to have a couple of weeks before his fall classes start so he can rest, or he’s going to burn himself out.” Felix sipped at his coffee and nodded at Kaden’s plate. “Eat.”

“It’s not the same,” Kaden complained, but obediently picked up his fork.

Felix smiled and his eyes lit up. “No, it isn’t. I like breakfast with you much better.”

Kaden swallowed a mouthful of Felix’s amazing fried potatoes and narrowed his eyes at his betrothed. “So how do I arrange to make sure this,” he gestured at the empty space in front of Felix with his fork, “doesn’t happen again?”

“You are the alpha.”

The down-swept eyes and submissive smile should have looked out of place on an omega that large. Kaden found it charming, but something about it also made a fierce, possessive desire surge through his body. “I’m starting to regret agreeing to wait until our mating night.”