Page 131 of Omega's Flight
"We have an agreement," Degan spat. "And he's not part of it." The finger pointing at Cas shook with rage.
"Neither is my personal life," Raleigh snapped back in hushed tones. "You are the pups' sire. I'll remind you again that you are nothing to me or my life now. I will not have you storming into my house like you owned it and acting like you have any say at all!"
It was about then that the sound of the pups’ crying broke through Cas's focus on the argument happening in front of him. "Come on, let's get out of here," he said, and touched Raleigh's arm. "You want to take them outside?" He'd stay and finish Degan off. This was not the way an alpha was, with anyone, let alone his family.
"They're not going anywhere with you!" Degan snarled and stepped toward him.
Cas stepped up face him, only inches between their teeth-bared grins. "You're going to have a screaming fight in front of them? Again?" He lowered his voice, until it was barely a whisper in the tense air. "Or are you going to hit him again in front of them? Try to, anyway." He loosened his grip on his alpha power and let it thrum against Degan's body. He watched with satisfaction as Degan's eyes widened. Yes, Cas was the baby of the family, but he came from a long line of alphas on both sides.
Raleigh pushed in between them. "Stop it, both of you," he hissed. "You're upsetting the pups. Degan, go home if you can't be polite and put the pups first." Cas only had a split second to feel that burst of satisfaction before Raleigh rounded on him. "You too. As much as I like you, my pups come before you, before me, and before Degan." He glared at them both, then stormed back to the pups. "These pancakes are burned, but I'll make more. Anyone want sausage patties?" he asked, as if nothing at all was happening. But Cas noticed that the nice cast-iron frying pan Bax had given him had moved from the wall to the stove, close at hand.
The pups sniffled and crowded around their bearer, huge eyes watching the two alphas.
"He's right, you know," Cas said.
"He's my mate." Degan crossed his arms over his chest.
Cas shook his head and sighed, suddenly tired. "I've never understood why an alpha would be so determined to keep someone who obviously doesn't want them. Where's the enjoyment in that? And what does it say about you that you can't keep someone unless they're afraid of you?" He went back to his chair and sat down. "Stay or go, I don't care." Then he turned a squinty-stare at Pip. "Hey, munchkin. Why did the puppy cross the street?"
She sniffed and mumbled, "Why?"
"To get to the barking lot!"
"That's not funny," she complained in a dull voice.
"What, can you do better?"
A challenge. Pip loved a challenge, and he could already see her brightening up. He caught a grateful glance from Raleigh and winked back.
Pip tipped her head to one side, her thinking pose, and appeared to consider the wide array of lawyer jokes his jerk of a brother had taught her. The corner of her mouth twitched up and she said, "You know where the wire they put in lamps came from?"
"Where?" Cas asked warily.
"Two lawyers fighting over a penny!" She didn't quite howl with laughter, but Ann gave a muffled snort and Raleigh had to step away from the stove for a moment, a hand over his eyes. Cas pretended to be offended, then threatened to tickle Pip, all the while keeping watch on Degan out of the corner of his eye. He didn't want to get caught by surprise, and Raleigh's old mate didn't seem to have much in the way of self-control trained into him.
But as he observed the Jackson-Jellystone shifter, he began to wonder what the root of all this was. Degan still looked stern on the outside, but something in his eyes looked confused, uncertain. Maybe there was hope there.
Cas got up and went to the stove. He touched Raleigh's hip, not too intimate, then went out the back door to where a spare chair sat beside the step. He brought it inside and made space for it at the table. "There enough pancakes for six?" he asked. He turned to Degan and pointed at the chair. "Have a seat." For the sake of Raleigh and the pups, he might be forced to deal with the other alpha, but he wasn't going to let him come in and try to make this territory his own. If Cas did nothing else, he would make sure that Degan knew he was in the house upon sufferance alone. He tapped on the back of the chair again and smiled broadly. "The pancakes are delicious."
C H A P T E R 9 1
A fter what had to be the most uncomfortable breakfast I'd ever experienced, I took the pups up to the playground and let them run. Away from their Da, who would be working the morning with Mac on this new business venture. And away from me too, at least a little. I needed some time to clear my head, and to calm down. What had I been thinking? I picked a bench off to the side, a little out of the way under a tree, and tried to be invisible.
Pups ran madly about, a mix of human and wolf forms. It made me want to smile, but I was fighting that dark bleakness again. Strange how I could hold it all together while I didn’t have to deal with unpleasant things but as soon as my life got the least bit difficult, it was like everything I'd pushed away came crashing over me again. No one else I knew seemed to have this problem. What the hell was wrong with me?
Lysoonka, was I really that weak?
I must be.
Why had I thought anything would be different with Degan? He still thought he owned me, still believed the pups were his and his along and that I was nothing to them except the person who cleaned up after them. Not even a person, really, if I were truthful about it.
Maybe he was right.
Had I been wrong to run? Were the other omegas were right, the ones who understood their place and accepted that they were of no importance? Accepted that they weren’t anything more than a status symbol, but not because of their value. Because of their uselessness in anything but breeding. Would I be happier if I could train my thoughts that way?
Could I even do it, or was I a failure in that too?
Oh, Lysoonka, poor Cas. I really had him fooled, didn’t I? Believing I was something more than an omega could be. Maybe a Mercy Hills omega could be what he needed, but I was Nevada Ashes through and through.
