Page 76 of Omega's Heart

I handed him a small cloth bag, heavy with food. “He should find something in there he’ll like.”

“Thank you.” Holland went up on his tiptoes and kissed my cheek lightly. “Look after the place while we’re gone, okay?”

“Good luck,” I said back and then Kaden and I walked them to the door.

Julius grabbed my hand. “Would you come down with me?”

“Of course.”

“Cale too?” Julius peered past me at our sleep-tousled roommate.

“Let me get my hair pinned back,” Cale told him. “I’ll be right behind you.”

We trooped down the hallway to the elevator. No one said anything, but I supposed we were all trying too hard not to think about the coming few days. I know I was.

Kaden, Lysoonka bless him, took my hand any time we weren’t moving, his finger rubbing over mine in soothing patterns. In my turn, I kept a hand on Julius, so he’d know he wasn’t alone.

The prisoner transport van was waiting for us when we got to the front door, Duke leaning against the front of the building wearing a closed expression. I glanced around for Bram, but then realized that Duke was likely on Security detail today. Those two were very rarely ever apart otherwise.

I also didn’t understand the need for the big armored van—we could easily have driven him over, or flown him to the site of the trial. It struck me as a deliberate cruelty and I thought I’d ask Kaden to look into that too. I’d never known anyone who’d had to go to jail or be tried before—it had never occurred to me that they might have been treated like this.

Julius made a small noise, like a mouse being stepped on, and clung to Holland, almost hiding behind him. I caught our Mate’s eye and he blinked slowly at me, as if he was trying to pass on some sort of message. “It’s okay, sweetheart,” he said soothingly to Julius. “You won’t be alone.”

The human guards stepped out of the front of the van. One of them held a set of chains that clinked ominously in the early morning quiet. The other held something with leather straps and a criss-cross of steel that I couldn’t quite decipher, but from the sudden tension in my future mate’s body, it was nothing pleasant.

Meanwhile, Holland was still doing that soft constant murmur, his arms wrapped around Julius like the tiny omega was his pup. Quin looked—formidable, and the guards gave him a wide berth as they approached us.

“He has to wear these,” one of them said, holding up the chains.

“That’s fine,” Holland said sweetly. “Julius, honey, let these gentlemen put the restraints on you so they feel more comfortable, okay?”

The way he put it, it almost sounded like Julius had a choice and it would be impolite not to wear the chains.

One of the men was sharp enough to catch the implication and look embarrassed, because it was obvious that either one of them could tie Julius in a knot without even thinking about it. The other just crept closer, one hand twitching in the direction of the weapon on his belt any time one of us moved.

Julius took a deep breath, almost a sob, and held out his arms.

The human grabbed his wrist and gave it a sharp jerk, sending Julius into a stumble that separated him from Holland by a good three feet. I started to move forward but Kaden put out a hand to stop me. “Stay,” he said under his breath. “Don’t spook them.”

I hated this. Hated how they pushed him around, this way and that, barked orders at him as he tried not to burst out crying, chained him so that the best he could do was a shuffle as they led him toward the van. They started to lift the other thing toward his head—that was when all the straps began to make sense to me and I realized they were going to put a mask, or a muzzle, over his face. To keep him from biting, I supposed?

So stupid.

Holland walked toward the van. “You don’t need that for him, he’s omega. Absolutely harmless.”

I must have made a noise because Kaden reached for me and squeezed my hand in warning. I dropped my eyes, and squeezed back, taking my cue from him.

“It’s the rules,” the human said.

“It’s policy,” Quin corrected. “Policy, but not a rule. Situational.”

Movement out of the corner of my eye drew my attention to Kaden, who was sending a text to someone, though I wasn’t quick enough to catch who it was.

“My judgment is that the situation is one where I’m transporting a shifter.”

Kaden’s phone rang, making us all jump. He answered it with a bright, friendly, “Mercy Hills here.”

We all stared at him, even the humans. Whoever was on the other end of the line was either talking a lot or had put him on hold—he just sat there with that smile on his face like he’d caught a fat squirrel and wasn’t ready to tell anyone yet.