Page 99 of Omega's Heart

Lysoon, the world was a wonderful place in wolf form. So sharp-edged, the scents so close you could almost feel them brush against you. Felix smelled even better to his wolf nose, rich and musky with that hint of spicy sweetness that all omegas seemed to have, something to lighten the wilder scents of wolf and wood.

The park was empty—everyone seemed to be off to the north. He could hear the howling and yips of the younger shifters as they played the games that the pack organized for them on these nights.

Should he try a run? The walking was getting a little smoother. Trotting was out—you needed two pairs of legs for that, but maybe a quick run?

There was that pretty little pond on the far side of the enclave, surrounded by trees. If the lovers hadn’t found it yet—why not try for there? He turned toward the woods at the far side of the enclave and began his awkward shuffle-hop again. Felix kept easy pace beside him, every once in a while leaning in to sniff some part of Kaden that had caught his attention.

If it hadn’t been for Felix, Kaden might have given up and gone home early. This was harder than he’d expected, his body not accustomed to this effort, and the atrophied muscles he was using made their complaints abundantly clear in pain and a breath-stealing cramp that tumbled him onto his face right at the edge of the trees. Felix paced around him, whining in concern and trying to get his paws into the right place in Kaden’s back to force the muscles to relax, until Kaden snapped at him to just get a little peace to ride out the pain until the cramp wore itself out. Then he had to spend some time making it up to his betrothed with licks and sniffing and some gentle-ear tugging, until the omega untucked his tail and followed Kaden into the trees again.

The pond was occupied—Kaden hustled Felix out of there before he could get an eyeful of their Alpha and his Mate doing what Kaden’s old army buddies would call ‘the wild thing’.

Though he was happy to know that being chained to a desk hadn’t turned his brother into a ball of flab, he really didn’t need to see his packbrother riding Quin like he was trying to break him. It reminded him of the weeks he had left to wait in celibate agony before he could do more than sniff the beauty pacing along beside him.

Damn, he had a hard-on again.

Felix nosed him once more, swinging his head back toward the park and the direction of their clothes. Yeah, you’re probably right. At least he’d chosen a mate with a sensible head on his shoulders.

It seemed to take twice as long to get back to the cherry grove than it had to get to the pond in the first place, or maybe it just felt that way because he was so tired. When they’d changed back, he was so much more focused on getting dressed and back into his chair that he almost didn’t notice Felix’s nude body helping him back into his clothes.

Almost.

It was kind of...well, he wasn’t certain what the correct word was. Sweet? Practical? Somewhere in between maybe. And while Felix blushed as Kaden made the adjustments necessary to coaxing a half-hard cock back into his jeans, he also made no effort to hide his own arousal from Kaden’s eyes, just smiled and blushed a little harder when he caught Kaden looking.

“I’m glad to know the scars don’t bother you,” Kaden told him as he fitted his hearing aid back into his ear.

“No, they don’t.” Felix pulled his jeans on, then sat down on the ground beside Kaden to pull on his shirt and tie his shoelaces. “They’re just you. I think they say a lot more about how strong you are, what a good alpha you are, than Quin’s or Abel’s bodies.” He glanced up at Kaden, then turned back to his sneakers.

They’re just you. Another piece of evidence proving his pure and unearned luck in finding this omega, who created a whole new history around his scars and losses. Kaden reached for him, gently turning Felix’s face toward him.

Felix watched him from under lowered eyelids, but he made a noise when Kaden leaned in to kiss him. They didn’t touch, except for their mouths and Kaden’s fingertips against the line of Felix’s jaw, but they didn’t need it. They knew each other, Kaden realized. Not the way that long acquaintance granted you knowledge of someone, but at a level deeper and more instinctive than that. And now some of the hints his brothers had been dropping started to make sense. What new understanding would he gain when he and Felix were truly mated?

Three fucking weeks. Was there no way to move that date up?

The kiss ended, as they always had to, but some new level of comfort had grown up between them. Felix rubbed his cheek against Kaden’s, then nosed in behind Kaden’s ear and breathed deeply. “Wanna go play cards?”

“I’d love to.” Then, placing all his pride in Felix’s hands, he asked, “Help me up?”

Felix smiled and got to his feet, holding out his hands for Kaden to grasp. “Always.”

C H A P T E R 5 8

W e were down to one week left before the mating. I was a bundle of nerves, not just over the mating, but because Kaden’s mother was arriving the day after tomorrow. She was staying in Kaden’s apartment and he was couch-surfing in his own home until the day we were to leave for White River. Mostly because he refused to let someone else be inconvenienced even for that short a period of time so that he could have his own place.

I got up early that morning and sneaked across to let myself in. Not to make breakfast, it was far too early for that, but to empty out the kitchen cupboards above the stove and wash them, inside and out. I wanted Veronica to have nothing to complain about in the manner I would be looking after the last of her unmated sons.

But Kaden had been a soldier half his life and he slept like he was still on patrol. “What are you doing in here at this time of the morning?” he called groggily from the bedroom before I’d even gotten halfway across the living room.

“Go back to sleep, I just want to finish the cupboards on the outside wall,” I replied, as hushed as I could.

The mattress creaked and I heard the whisper of the sheets being thrown back, then Kaden hopping across the bedroom to the door. The muscles of his arms bulged as he braced them on the edges of the opening and I shivered a little. Using the chair and the crutches had given him incredible arm muscles and my body played me a ghost memory of the hard curves of them under my palms.

He leaned his head against one half-closed fist, mushing his features around in a way that I found absolutely adorable, then laughed and shook his head. “Get over here.”

“I need to clean,” I protested, even though my feet were already inching me in his direction.

“It’s a bachelor’s apartment,” he said firmly. “And if you’re going to be in my apartment at—” he glanced past me to the clock on the stove and raised an eyebrow in my direction, “—oh silly o’clock, you’ll have to pay the price, omega.”

I swallowed hard and my breath caught, butterflies doing complicated aeronautical stunts in my belly. “Not likely,” I told him. “I have work to do.”