Page 43 of The Omega's Alpha
Quin sat up. “There are going to be at least a dozen orphans to find homes for. Most of them, according to Green Moon, will have family but you told me yourself that they don’t. And the pupslikeyou. If you want a family, they can be your family. Them, and me.”
“And you’d want to raise someone else’s pups?”
“They’d be ours. It’s not as if it’s the first time pups have been adopted.” He reached out and scooped Holland’s hands into his. “Mate me. It would make me so happy, I don’t know that I’m big enough to contain it.”
That made Holland snort. “That’s a lot of happy.”
“That’s what you do to me.” He lifted Holland’s hands to his mouth, one at a time, and laid lingering kisses on the back of both of them. “I know I’m asking a lot.”
Holland sighed and shook his head. “I just—” His voice broke and his hands curled around Quin’s. “I couldn’t live with it if I let myself hope like that, and then had to give you up because you realized later you wanted a mate who could give you pups of your own body.”
“I’d rather haveyourbody.” Quin drew him closer, until he was curled in Quin’s lap. “Can you not trust my integrity?”
Holland smiled sadly. “I do. And that frightens me. I know you mean it in this moment.”
“And I’ll mean it later too.” He tucked Holland in under his chin and rocked him gently to the beat of their hearts. “You make me happy. I laugh when I’m with you. I want to look forward to laughing with you for the rest of my life.”
“Your reputation—”
“Screw my reputation! I’ll make it what you want it to be some other way. And if I have to be Alpha and wear myself away in paperwork and politics, I at least want something in my life that’s just for me. And that’s you.” He kissed the dark head and laid his cheek against it again. “Come live with me, love me, mate me. Care for needy pups and help me make our home a better place.”
“Damn, you’re stubborn,” Holland said. His voice was thick with unshed tears and his arms snaked around Quin to hug him. “You’re not ever going to give up until I say yes, are you?”
“No.”
Holland sighed and his weight rested heavy against Quin’s chest. “You really want to adopt those pups? You didn’t just say that for me?”
“I do.”
Holland was quiet for several long moments, until the silence beat at Quin, determined to pummel words out of him. Then Holland twitched and sat up, stretching his arms as if waking from sleep. “All right. I’ll mate you. But promise me we’ll talk about it if you decide you want your own pups?”
He’d won; there was no point in pushing it. “I promise.”
“Then we’re betrothed.” Holland relaxed into his arms again, and Quin could feel his smile, even in the concealing shadows of the night.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Iwas goingto be mated again. And to Quin, who I loved with all my heart. It was… amazing. Especially since I’d panicked and tried to take back my yes during the night and he’d let me. And then I’d panicked harder and made him promise he’d never leave me. And he’d agreed to that too.
It was probably lucky that I’d landed on a patient alpha.
Bax had hugged me hard enough to hurt when he heard, and whispered “Thank you,” which puzzled me, but I hadn’t had a quiet moment to corner him and demand an explanation yet. I’d put the thought aside for now, but I’d get him alone one of these days.
Today, we were going home. We’d been in Green Moon for just over a week and a half, and the bulk of the clean-up was done. What remained, mostly, was to rebuild and heal. We’d left a few shifters behind to help with the construction, as had Jackson-Jellystone and Salma Wood. Las Padros, Winter Moon, and Jordan Bay had sent money, loans that Green Moon would eventually have to pay back, but the pack’s insurance was being difficult as had been predicted and it was far from sure that they’d pay out. Laine was looking for someone, a lawyer, who specialized in insurance. He said it was too far outside his purview and he wouldn’t feel comfortable dealing with it.
I shoved my bag of dirty clothes into the belly of the bus and stepped out of the way. Someone bumped into me and I turned with an automatic apology ready on my lips, then swallowed it in surprise. It was the photographer. Thom. “Hello.”
“I wanted to talk to you before everyone took off. I have a friend, we went to school together, he works in fashion photography and he’s always looking for a new face. I don’t normally pay attention to that sort of stuff, but you’re very striking.” He raised a hand as if to touch me and I pulled my head back. He froze and nodded in casual apology. “I’d like, if you’re willing, to give him your phone number at the pack. I think you and he could make a lot of money together.”
I’d been on the point of telling him to leave me alone, but the mention of money brought me up short. “Money?”
He nodded. “I don’t know the ins and outs of it—to be honest, it bores the snot out of me. But I know that models get paid, and if you catch on, you get paid well. You—you’re handsome in a style I’ve seen in his photographs. You’re exotic, being a wer—shifter.” He grinned. “Laine made sure we knew not to use that word. But I recommend you talk to him and if he can’t convince you, then you don’t need to do anything. I’m going to do my best to shine a light on what’s been going on with respect to the enclaves. I think you could be a light too. Talk to him.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded, and only found my voice as he started to walk away. “What’s his name?”
He spun on one heel and began walking backward, his face split by a huge grin. “Freddy Coontz. I’ll tell him to call the pack?”
I nodded and watched in bewilderment as he walked away, until one of the Green Moon shifters that were coming back to Mercy Hills with us nudged me out of the way with a, “’Scuse me, dearie. I need in there.” I stepped clumsily to one side and only managed to avoid falling by grabbing at the side of the bus.
