Page 82 of The Omega's Alpha
“Have you never done that?” Bax asked, twisting in his seat.
Jason shook his head. “I don’t really know what I do, or even that I’m doing it. Just, Mac tells me afterward sometimes.”
“How do you feel when it’s happening?”
Jason glared at Bax. “I just said I don’t know when I’m doing it.” I noticed his hands clenched together in his lap, the knuckles white, and he looked away. “I suppose I want him to be happy.”
“Do you want our pack to be happy?” Bax asked. His words were quiet, almost gentle, but there was a pointed intensity behind them, like a knife hidden in velvet, that made Jason suck in a sharp breath.
“Bax!” I snapped. We were supposed to be working together, not tearing at each other.
He held up a finger and watched Jason, which made me turn to stare over my shoulder at the other omega. Jason was staring out the window of the van, and thinking so hard I could almost hear the words in his brain.
“Okay, let’s go.” He glanced up at me. “You come try too. You and Bax are cousins, maybe you don’t realize you’re doing anything either.”
“I’m broken, remember?” But there was that strange connection between Quin and me… “I can try,” I said slowly. “I don’t know how much use I’ll be.”
“That’s all we can ask,” Bax said, and leaned across to kiss me on the cheek.
We got out of the van, and the attention of the combined packs gradually turned toward us. I spotted Mac, and then Abel, flanking Quin at the front of the Mercy Hills group.Quin’s anger felt like a bonfire burning, and I could tell it wasn’t doing anything to help the situation. The smell of blood and dust filled my nose and just before I panicked and dragged the other omegas to the van, I realized that it was Quin’s emotions I was feeling. The shock of that understanding froze me in place and instinctively, I reached out to him, though the effort it took to stretch across that space made my chest and my head hurt. But I found him regardless and offered him my support. I felt gratitude and then anger back—he wasn’t happy I was there. But if I hadn’t come, we couldn’t try this.
Do this.
Already, I could hear the tenor of the crowd noises change. Not much, but an obvious shift in mood—at least to me. I glanced between Jason and Bax and wondered what sort of communication they’d had with their mates during this. “Ready?” I asked.
“Yes,” Jason said, and Bax nodded.
I raised my chin and caught Quin’s eye. His expression was grim and there was no question there’d be a discussion, if not more, when we got home.No, this is Quin, not Gregoire.Discussion was as far as it would go. All I could do now was try to make this all worth it and show him I could do more than look pretty and take care of pups. “Okay,” I said to Jason and Bax. “Let’s do…whatever it is.” I wasn’t going to be much help, but I could distract the crowd until they could work their magic.
“Green Moon,” I yelled and waved my arms. Those few who hadn’t yet noticed me and the other omegas turned to stare at us with sullen eyes. I felt a blast of panic from Quin that I let flow around me and die as I did what I could to reassure him. “Mercy Hills. Why are we fighting amongst family? Why do we begrudge a moment of peace and luxury to those who have lost everything? Green Moon, why do you waste your energy fighting your brothers and sisters and cousins, when your pack needs your help, needs your support? Are we really nothing more than the animals the humans think we are? Yes, it’s not comfortable. Yes, those new houses had been promised to our brothers and sisters of Mercy Hills. Yes, Green Moon, you want to go home and you miss your land. We know, and we understand.” Bax and Jason fanned out to the sides. I could track their progress by the changing postures of the people in the crowd, shoulders relaxing, hands unclenching, snarls of frustration smoothing away into still angry but more neutral expressions. It was working, whatever it was they could do. I pushed that sense of peace outward, doing my own small part, but it was hard to tell if it was my words or my omeganess that was doing it. “How does this help? If you feel there is more to be done, why not do it? If you feel you have been unfairly treated, come speak to myself or my mate. Speak to Abel, or Bax.” I hoped they didn’t mind me throwing them into the fight without warning.Too late now.
Quin’s voice rang out into the night, and now I could tell they were listening to him. “This is only temporary. By Harvest Moon—the Blood Moon, as our people used to call it—the first of you will be able to return to Green Moon.”
The crowd made a surprised noise. Me, too. I hadn’t heard about this.
The corners over Quin’s mouth turned up ever so slightly. “I was on the phone with Green Moon when I heard about what was happening here. We would be glad to have you stay, to join Holland and me in celebrating our mating at Midwinter, though we understand that if your Alpha calls you home, you will want to go. But until he tells us how many can return, we must remain a family, and remember the good we do for each other, over the petty squabbles for status within the pack. And in this, I speak not just for myself and Mercy Hills, but with the voice of your Alpha. He was not pleased to have our conversation interrupted.” He didn’t need to explain that, and more than a few of the Green Moon shifters went from impatient and angry to shamefaced at those words.
“Go home,” Quin said finally. “Rest, plan. Let us know what you will need to make your first days back comfortable, so that I and Green Moon can start planning to ensure neither pack is entirely drained of resources in the move.” And that did it. They were all humbled now, reminded of what Mercy Hills had given up for them, and the ties of pack grew tighter between us all.
And now I knew what the purpose of the True Omega was. Or some of it, anyway.
I couldn’t wait to talk to Quin.
Chapter Sixty-Seven
As soon asthe crowd dispersed, Quin grabbed Holland by the arm and hustled him into the van. “What were you thinking, coming down here? You could have been hurt! You’re nowhere near practiced enough in self-defense to not get yourself in trouble in a mob like this!” He was shaking, mostly from fear and that horrible vision of Holland beaten and crushed beneath the feet of a mob he’d had when he’d first looked up and seen his mate standing at the edge of the crowd. Quin closed the van door and stormed around the front of the van while a grim-faced Abel handed Bax into the back seat and climbed in beside him.
“I’ll drop you home,” Quin snapped as he started the van. His hands trembled and it took him two tried to get the engine to catch, but that was the adrenaline still racing through his veins. He’d never been this easily shaken in the Marines.
Then again, he hadn’t known Holland then either.
Quin put the van in gear and began to negotiate the hinted roadway back to the main part of the enclave.
“Are you even interested in why we were there?” Holland asked, his tone mild, with a mixture of anger and worry in it.
“We can talk about it when we get home,” Quin gritted back. He wanted to shake Holland, though he knew it was the aftermath of that fear, unreasonable as it was.
“I think we should stop and have coffee and a snack at our place,” Bax said mildly.
