Page 51 of The Omega's Alpha
I smiled, but I didn’t laugh. It was hard, this slow progression. I knew I couldn’t speed it up, help them recover any more than I was already doing, but Iwantedto so badly. “I wish this could be easier on them.”
Quin held out a hand to help me up. “Grief moves in its own slow dance, my grandmother told me. Eventually you’ll come to the end of the figure, but every once in a while, a piece of music will remind you of it and you’ll take a step or two, then go back to your walking life. They’ll be fine.” He pulled me close, so we stood face to face with the pups cradled between us. “They have you and me. They aren’t dancing on their own.”
“Yeah,” I said, and leaned to rub my cheek against his. I slipped an arm through his and leaned against him. “Maybe it’s time for a family nap?”
“Let’s go, then,” he said, and we left the grove and the two abandoned markers behind us to step firmly into our family’s future.
Chapter Forty-Four
Afew days after Christmas, when the rhythm of the pack had returned to its usual stride, Quin pulled Holland aside. “Do you have an hour this afternoon?”
Holland sauntered up to him with a grin, and at any other moment Quin would have taken the offered opportunity to steal a few kisses, and maybe a bit more. His future mate’s reaction every time Quin used his mouth on him—every single time, no matter how often Quin did it—made it an attractive option when they didn’t have enough time for Quin to truly savor the omega who’d taken over his heart. But today’s stolen hour, sadly, couldn’t be used to indulge Quin’s fascination with Holland. So he fended off Holland’s advances and said solemnly, “Can you come in the office a moment?”
Holland frowned, but followed him quietly through the door, turning to watch as Quin close it behind them. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
Quin shook his head. “Nothing.” He sat on the edge of the desk and looked at Holland. “I’d like you to be around for the first part of my therapy today. I want to talk to him about the pups and see what he says.” The word therapy rolled off his tongue more easily now. In the beginning, he’d hardly been able to admit to himself that he needed someone to tell him it was all right. But with the wisdom of hindsight, he knew he’d done the right thing, no matter that those first few sessions had been harder than some of his worst days in the Marines. At least then, he’d been reacting in the moment and there hadn’t been time to think. It seemed, when he talked to the therapist, there was entirely too much time to worry over the past and the future. But it had been absolutely the best investment of time he’d ever made. Especially since it had made him and Holland possible.
Holland tilted his head to one side and regarded him closely. “You want to ask the pups about the adoption today?”
“I want to leave the idea in their minds, anyway. You’re going to be away for a week soon, so we can’t do anything right away, but it’ll give them some time to get used to the idea before we actually sign the papers. And if they don’t want to, we can put things off.” He took Holland’s hand and tugged him closer. “Though I’ll be sorry for not having an excuse to bludgeon you into mating me sooner.”
Holland raised his eyebrows. “Don’t think you’re getting away with depriving me of a big splashy mating, Alpha Mercy Hills.” He draped his arms over Quin’s shoulders and looked down his nose at him. “This ismymating and it’s going to be amazing.”
Quin laughed and leaned in to steal a kiss. Holland’s abject dismay when he’d been told he needed to have a huge, showy mating, suitable for an Alpha, had been the stuff of legend, and the bargaining that had followed—in full view of both the Mercy Hills and the Green Moon shifters—had given Quin an arsenal of stories he’d still be telling when they were old and gray with their grandpups around their knees. Or when the grandpups were getting mated themselves. Quin was well aware this wasn’t Holland giving in like a ‘good’ omega, but Holland pulling Quin’s tail. And probably planning something.
He was right. Holland brushed at the shoulder of Quin’s t-shirt, removing a stray hair—real or imaginary—then smoothed the cloth out against Quin’s skin. “Does it have to be in June? Can it be later?”
Oh.“You really feel that bad about it? If you do, we can break another tradition—”
“No! No, it’s not that.” Holland looked uncomfortable and he was peering at Quin from beneath his eyelashes, a sure sign of some uncertainty on his part. “Freddy called. He’s chasing me to go to New York, to talk to a few agencies and take some better pictures. I might be gone as long as a week. But if it works, he thinks I can start going to something—he says ‘calls’—for advertising campaigns and maybe do a few fashion shows. He claims that the shows are usually early enough in the day that the curfew won’t be a problem.”
“Of course!” Shit, what had he done that Holland thought he’d be upset about putting Holland’s career first? “You think you’ll be too busy to plan?”
“I don’t know. I might be.” Holland chewed at his bottom lip, then took a deep breath. “I don’t know what I want.”
“Do you need some time?” Quin stroked the hair away from Holland’s face and watched the tiny shifts in his love’s expression. “We can put it off until later. You don’t have to do this modeling thing if you don’t want to, either.”
“I do. I do want to.” Holland sighed. “I need to grow up.”
Quin hugged him and grinned. “You feel plenty grown up to me.”
“Not that way. Goof.” But it brought the smile that Quin had been hoping for to Holland’s face. “It’s a lot of responsibility, is all. And a lot of time outside walls. I’m nervous.”
Ah. Quin hadn’t considered how sheltered Holland’s life had been until then. “You can delegate responsibility—it’s Alpha’s mating. I’m sure the pack can find some credits somewhere to get you an assistant to handle the details. As for outside walls, myself or someone else I trust will go with you. No—” He held up a hand to forestall Holland’s inevitable argument. “That’s not negotiable. You are important, you are valuable, and not just to me. This isn’t up for debate.” He held his breath and waited for Holland’s response, but Holland simply nodded in acceptance and leaned into Quin’s embrace.
“Yeah, okay.” He laid his head on Quin’s shoulder and breathed deeply. “You smell good.”
Quin chuckled. “I hope so. It’s the soap you gave me.”
Holland snorted gently, then sighed again. “Would December be too late? I’ve been thinking of dates, but I don’t know how busy I’m going to be, and late October to November is out for obvious reasons.”
“Yeah. No orgies at the mating.” He ducked Holland’s light punch to his ribs. “No, December sounds fine. Midwinter Wolf themed?”
Holland leaned back to stare at him. “I thought I was the omega in this relationship?”
“What, I can’t have ideas about my own mating?” Quin dropped a kiss on Holland’s mouth. “Go plan what you want. I’d like to include the pups, though.”
“Of course.” Holland rubbed his cheek against Quin’s. “Okay, December it is. And I’ll make sure I have someone to cover for me for the session this afternoon.” One hand trailed down Quin’s arm as he turned to leave, as if he couldn’t bear to lost contact with him. “See you for lunch?”
