Page 94 of The Omega's Alpha
“I know. I want to be sure I’m awake when they get here.” He closed his eyes and let his head rest on the arm of the couch.
Quin brought him a blanket and tucked him in, pleased to note that his mate was already asleep, and went to unpack the bags. It didn’t take long, but they had a load of laundry to do and he was debating taking it down to the laundromat while Holland slept when he came across the carry-on that Holland had taken with him. He emptied it, putting Holland’s toiletries back in the bathroom, then silently regarding the pile of papers and books that had filled the rest of the bag.
Two of the books were old, leather-bound journals, written in a tight copper-plate in a language he didn’t recognize, though he guessed it was the old pack language. He set them aside and picked up the coil-bound notebook that had been with the journals. On the pages inside, he recognized Holland’s careless handwriting and began reading as he walked out into the living room. His steps slowed as he realized what it was that Holland had written out and he paused a moment, looking back toward the journals lying ignored on their bed, then backtracked to bring them along too.
Holland still slept, so Quin laid them on the table next to Holland’s head and quietly gathered up the dirty clothes to take them down to the laundromat. He could run over to pick up the pups while the clothes washed, then move them to the dryer on the way back. Holland always let them help move things from one machine to the other and push the buttons, something the pups seemed to delight in. He put Holland’s phone on the table next to his head and turned up the volume so he could wake him up before he brought the pups upstairs.
When Quin walked in the door of the three-year-olds’ room at the daycare, Dorian threw his toy buffalo over his shoulder with reckless abandon and raced across the room. “Quin!” He leaped into Quin’s arms for a hug. Quin hugged him back and set him on his hip.
“Have a good day at school?” he asked.
“We learned a new game today,” Dorian said. “Everyone is rabbits and the wolf hides under the blanket and we all stick our legs under and the wolf tries to eat us!” He giggled and laid his head against Quin’s shoulder. “Is Holland home too?”
“He is.” Quin waved to Elise, the young shifter looking after this room, and went in search of Agatha. “Where’s your sister?”
“They’re having story time in the library,” Dorian said. “I saw them go.”
“Okay, then. We’ll go find your bags and go home for supper. You want to help with the laundry before we go upstairs?”
“Yeah!”
Quin picked up the pups’ bags and hung them over his arm. “Let’s go!” They stopped to pick Agatha up—Quin having been warned that it was World War Three if he let one of the pups do something special without including the other one—they changed the laundry over, then headed home.
He sent Holland a text just before they got in the elevator. “Now, remember, Holland isn’t going to be feeling well for a couple of days, so you have to be careful around him, help him out as much as you can, okay?”
Agatha nodded and swung from their clasped hands. “The doctors fixed him up, right?”
Quin nodded. “We hope so.” The elevator doors opened and the pups raced down the hall, fighting to be the first into the apartment. Quin got there just as they tumbled through the doorway.
Holland was awake now, his eyes half-lidded but open. “Hey, pups. How was school today?”
“We had fun. I was a rabbit,” Dorian said. “Holland, can I climb on the couch with you? Quin says we have to be careful.”
Against Quin’s protest, Holland moved over to make space for Dorian to climb up beside him. Dorian settled happily against Holland’s chest and began telling him about his day, while Agatha followed Quin into the kitchen. “Can we have bowties again?” she asked plaintively.
“Sure. Cheese or tomato?”
“Let Holland choose.” She ran over and jumped on the arm of the couch before Quin could stop her, jarring the couch. “Holland, you want tomato or cheesy bowties?”
Holland snuck a quick smile in Quin’s direction. “Cheesy sounds delicious.” They both knew it was her favorite.
“Yay,” she yelled and ran back to the kitchen. “Cheesy bowties!” And then she said, “I hope the baby likes bowties too. Then we can have them all the time!”
Quin exchanged a startled glance with Holland, then crouched down to Agatha’s level. “The baby?”
“Uh huh,” she said, dragging the box of bowtie macaroni out of the cupboard. “Samara’s mom told Veronica’s mom that Holland was going to the doctor to get his insides fixed so he could have babies.” She set the box on the counter and went to the fridge. “Can we have a girl baby? Boys are gross.”
Quin patted her on the head, and shared Holland’s exasperated expression. “I think we’ll take what the Lady Lysoonka gives us.” He put the pasta on to boil and left Agatha setting the table to come back to the couch. “I never told anyone outside Abel and Cas.”
“It doesn’t matter. Stuff’s bound to leak out. I expect it’s important to them.”
“Or you’re important to them.” He leaned down to kiss Holland on the cheek. “You go to sleep again if you need to. I’ll defend your plate from the ravenous beasts.”
“I think I will. Thank you.” Holland closed his eyes again and Quin had Dorian help tuck the blanket down around him, then they tiptoed back to the kitchen to finish making supper.
Chapter Seventy-Six
Martin showedup out of the blue one day with one of his special garment bags. “Your present,” he told me.
