Page 8 of Omega's Heart

“So?” the younger one said in a sulky tone. “He’s huge.”

The older one shook his head. “I’ll explain it later.” He handed back the paperwork. “Go on in.”

He nodded toward the gate, where two alphas waited, one dark-haired, one with rusty red hair in a crop.

“You’re not going to search their trunk?” the younger human demanded.

“Waste of time,” the older one said. He held up a hand, stopping the other one’s protests. “I’ll explain that too.” He waved in the direction of the two alphas and stepped back to let us get into the car.

My hands were shaking. Humans were scary and unpredictable and I had a feeling that we’d just narrowly escaped some sort of disaster.

“You okay?” Dad asked.

I had to swallow twice before I could answer. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Phineas put the car in gear and glanced at me in the rear-view mirror. “They don’t understand omega, not really. To them, you might as well be an alpha. Their noses are practically useless. I understand that the old Alpha’s Mate spent a lot of time out here being friendly and trying to explain things, but there’s only so much you can do, I guess.”

I nodded and just wished he’d drive so I could get away from the stares I felt burning into the back of my neck. Phineas watched me for a moment, then the car began to move and we passed through the gates to meet the two alphas from Mercy Hills.

They waved us around the corner of the pack’s security building, to a place obviously meant for us to park. Phineas turned off the car, twisted in his seat to look at me and, with a glint of humor in his eyes, said, “Now you can stretch.”

I went bright red, which was how I met both the former Alpha of Mercy Hills and the pack’s Head of Security. Great.

“We’re going to room him in with a couple of our other omegas, in the main building,” Mac—the redhead—told us. “It’s on the same level as the Alpha’s apartment, so Holland will be there too if you need anything.” He looked me over fully for the first time since we’d gotten out of the car and his eyebrows pulled together. “I see what Quin was talking about.”

The blush, which had finally started to fade, came back full force. Abel, the dark alpha, punched Mac in the shoulder. “You’ve been mated to an omega for longer than any of us and you’re still saying things like that?”

“But I’m mated to Jason,” Mac replied, in a smug tone that implied some subtext to the conversation that I didn’t get.

Abel shook his head and made an exasperated noise, then turned to me. “Let’s get you up to the building. Bax and Holland are waiting there for you. Cale’s probably studying, but Julius will be around. Be nice to him, okay? His sister’s in a human prison waiting for her trial and he’s not doing well with it.”

Oh, I remembered that from the Alpha’s call to the Mercy Hills Alpha. And now the human’s words at the gate made more sense. “Of course, whatever I can do to help,” I promised.

We got back in the car and followed the two alphas in their battered pick-up truck through the enclave. I pressed my face to the window, trying to see everything, to memorize it all.

My first views of my new home were spectacular. They took us past what Phineas said was the newly finished hospital, ready to open as soon as they could find people to staff it.

Such a rich pack. I didn’t care that the money had come from humans.

Then we drove past houses and a rough pair of ruts that disappeared toward a break in the walls. New houses had sprouted up from the ground here, with pups playing outside a few of them. Then it got more crowded and shabbier, but still well-kept—just old. The buildings began to change and I saw apartments and then a large park and, rising above it, a tall, tall building filled with windows.

That was our goal.

We pulled up in front of the ground floor doors, where an alpha even larger than me stood waiting beside another shifter. The other shifter was a small, handsome blond male, but it wasn’t until I got out of the back seat of the car that I could smell that he was omega. For a moment, the urge to hate him on sight made my sight go dim, because he was the kind of omega I’d always wished I’d been—slim, pretty, slender.

Perfect.

Phineas held out his hand to me and I shook off my unfair anger and followed him around the front of the car to meet the two Mercy Hills shifters.

“Alpha,” Phineas said and offered his scent to the tall dark shifter. I watched with interest as the Alpha bent to accept the offered scent and, in an entirely generous move, offered his own in return.

“This is Julius,” the Alpha of Mercy Hills said, gesturing at the tiny blond. “He’s here from Winter Moon.”

Oh, the runaway. Suddenly, I wasn’t quite so jealous and, when Logan waved me forward, I was able to step up to be presented with a reasonable facsimile of friendly interest.

“I’m Quin,” the Alpha said. “You’re going to be living with Julius here, just down the hall from me. Let’s get your bags and we’ll take you upstairs so Cale can settle you in.”

Who was Cale? Maybe the housing manager? But he was in school. I had so many questions, but all these alphas around me were intimidating, so I kept them to myself. Maybe this Cale would less frightening.