Page 79 of Omega's Heart

“No, but he’s got some extra credits now that he’s working as Quin’s assistant and working for the Omega Council. It’s kind of bulky, is all. I wasn’t sure if your car had enough room in it.”

“I just have the one suitcase. We can make it fit.” The little two-door car was barely big enough for him, but he could make things work. Felix would have fifteen kinds of kittens if Kaden left dirty clothes here at the house instead of bringing them back to be washed, but Kaden was pretty sure he could bring his betrothed around if he ended up leaving stuff here.

It was rather nice to have a mate, even if they weren’t actually mated yet. Good things to look forward to. Not the least of which being spending a large portion of this evening reacquainting himself with the omega he was going to spend his life with.

The thought of getting home to see Felix after the long week away from him spurred him to finish his meal with more haste than was polite, or probably good for his digestion. Duke cocked an eyebrow at him, but the age-old fraternal brotherhood of alphas kept his mouth shut.

Nonetheless, Kaden had no doubt he’d get razzed later for his eagerness to get back to the enclave.

“I’ll clean up,” Bram said. “Duke, could you get that stuff down from the pups’ closet shelf and put it in the car for him?”

“Sure,” Duke said and picked up his plate and Kaden’s, taking them over to the sink. “You want the kettle on?”

“Please,” Bram said.

Kaden rolled away from the table. “I can help wash up if you want.”

Bram shook his head. “It’s only us, no big deal. If people were here for school, it would be a different matter.” He grinned and winked cheekily at Kaden.

Kaden grunted in response before rolling out to the living room to gather up his belongings.

An hour later he was presenting his papers at the gate. He’d been back and forth enough times now that they hardly glanced at them, just asked what he was up to and if he had any interesting news to share. He usually gave them something innocuous—it made them feel like they had the inside scoop and predisposed them to not giving him a hard time going in and out of the enclave.

As soon as he was through, though, he ripped those damned tabs off his collar and tossed them in the empty ashtray. Dogtags in the military he understood the reason for—these putrid yellow abominations needed to be the first things to go, once he got to a position where he could put pressure on someone amenable. Or just bludgeon his way through.

Seosamh was happy to get the comforter set, though he’d seemed a little startled to see Kaden hopping up the steps toward him with the comforter in his free hand. Kaden shrugged it off, figuring the omega had never really dealt with someone with one leg before and didn’t realize that they could get around even while carrying something big and awkward. Maybe we’ll get one like that once we’re mated. He liked the dark green and he thought the satiny feel of it would be interesting against the skin. It would bring out the mossy color in Felix’s eyes.

Home. And it was home. Time to put in for an official transfer, change his name to Mercy Hills. It would probably fuck him up for the veteran’s pension for a while, but he had his salary at the senator’s office to get by on once those paychecks started coming in. Felix could pinch a penny hard enough to make the president squeal, too—Kaden could count on him.

Maybe put the request in closer to his mating, though, get a month’s pension in before he started the next battle with bureaucracy. He wanted Felix to have the mating he deserved, and he himself wanted to rub it in the noses of those idiots in White River, let them really see what they’d missed right in front of them.

“Honey, I’m home,” he joked as he walked into the apartment, but nothing except the echoes of his own words came back to him. “Felix?” No answer.

With a shrug, he emptied his suitcase, putting the dirty clothes in the bin where his future mate had decided they should go and set the suitcase out of the way in the closet.

Still no Felix.

Well, he was an alpha. Alphas were hunters. He’d have to go...hunt his mate.

It wasn’t a long hunt; he found him right where he’d expected to find him—across the hall in the big apartment. Felix and Julius were sitting at the kitchen table, arguing, which kind of surprised Kaden because Felix wasn’t much given to quarreling. In fact, they were disagreeing so intently that no one even heard him knock, or noticed when he opened the door and stood watching them.

“I’m happy the way I am,” Julius said mulishly.

“They need the help, Jules,” Felix told him. “I can’t believe you aren’t going just a little lunar in here, with just us to look after and a couple of hours a week in the library. It’s a great opportunity. And who cares what your parents might think?”

“What are you trying to get him to do?” Kaden asked from the doorway.

The two omegas jumped, and Felix turned to him with a guilty expression. “I didn’t hear you come home.”

“That’s okay. This sounds important.” Kaden rolled forward to get a kiss of welcome, then leaned back in his chair and turned his attention to Julius. “What’s he trying to get you to do?”

He wants me to take over in the office and learn how to do all that while Bax is doing schoolwork.” Julius pouted and Kaden had no doubt that particular expression on that face had worked wonders for him with other alphas.

Too bad Kaden had never had a thing for pretty little flowers.

“That would be a great idea!” he said. “Think of all the people you’d meet,” he added, ignoring Felix’s frantic gestures to stop. “After all, the Alpha’s office is always where Alphas and other important shifters end up.” Felix froze and raised wide eyes to Kaden. Kaden met his gaze for a moment, then Felix blinked.

“I think that’s what he’s worried about,” Felix said blandly.