Page 14 of Omega's Flight
"You could stand to put on a few pounds," Holland said complacently and handed him the dish without needing to be asked.
Cas wondered for a moment if Holland was psychic, then decided that if it got him fresh buttered biscuits, he didn't much care.
Holland watched him butter his biscuit and nodded in satisfaction when Cas bit into it. To please his packbrother, Cas made a big deal out of enjoying it, until Abel slapped him gently on the back of the head and his lungs got confused between air and biscuit crumbs for a few moments.
When he finally stopped trying to cough his lungs out, he turned a mock-furious look on his brother. "You trying to deprive Mom of her entertainment?"
Abel snorted. "She makes her own entertainment."
"Hmph," was all Bax said, but it effectively killed the conversation.
Cas knew things had been tense for a while when his mother had come to visit—he'd made damn sure he wasn't around much, ducking out of rooms as soon as he heard her distinctive tones had been his favorite tactic, mostly because it took him completely out of the equation. He'd heartily approved of Holland threatening to throw her out a window and while it had been Abel who'd finally informed their mother that she'd outstayed her welcome, Cas had no doubt it was Bax that had been the one to put his foot down. For all his gentleness and self-effacing manner, his other omega packbrother was a force to be reckoned with of his own sort.
Holland got to his feet and began collecting plates, though not without a quick kiss for Quin's cheek. "Do you want any more? There's still potatoes and Brussels sprouts and a bit of pork left." His words included everyone, but his tone was pointed directly at Quin, which gave Cas a warm feeling, seeing the evidence in front of him of the affection between the two. The bruise still bothered him, but he couldn't see or smell any strain between the two mates, so Holland must have been telling the truth.
Quin shook his head. "Seconds was enough. I'm not in the Marines anymore." He patted his stomach, then pinched some of the skin up between his thumb and forefinger. "Getting fat."
Holland winked at him and Quin grinned. Holland picked up his plate, then stole Cas's now-empty one from him. "Can you check on the pups?" Holland asked, of no one in particular, it seemed.
"I can do that," Cas offered. "Least I can do to have someone cook me a meal."
"I'll go get the computer and start setting up," Abel said and stood. He picked up Bax's empty plate and his own as naturally as if he weren't the former Alpha of the pack, and carried them into the kitchen, closely followed by Bax, who'd gathered up the salt and pepper and the butter dish from the table. Quin grabbed whatever was left and they all split up, each to their separate tasks.
The pups were in the living room, having a picnic on the floor in front of the couch. Cas squatted beside them and made them finish their meals, with bribes of dessert and the soda that no one had happened to mention until then. The promise of liquid sugar acted like jet fuel on their appetites and they cleared their plates like...well, wolves, finishing up just as Holland came through from the kitchen.
"Everyone full here? No room for dessert?" He acted shocked at the chorus of puppy dismay, then held up a finger like he'd just had a thought. "I think I forgot something." He gathered up the dirty plates and sent the pups off to wash up with a warning not to wake the baby. Cas hid a grin as Fan nodded seriously—he was such a solemn pup most of the time, like he was Alpha of a pack already. Cas had no doubt that someday Fan would be just that—it seemed to run in the family.
Not me. Never me. Don't have time for that kind of responsibility. Truth being told, he liked his lifestyle, footloose and fancy free, with nothing to tie him down except the paperwork that kept the human government from bleeding the pack's coffers even drier than they already were.
Though now that he'd gotten the worst of it under control, he'd been thinking he'd have a look around the pack and see who might be up for some no-strings fun. If it got under his mother's skin, so much the better. Maybe she'd finally write him off as a producer of grandpups she could hog and spoil like she'd done to his cousins when they'd had theirs. It had ended with them requesting transfer to Los Padres, and his mother pissed off for days because she was going to miss the pups.
Thinking of his mom made him sigh and he went to go help with the clean-up in the kitchen. Two plates of cookies sat at one end of the counter waiting to be passed out. Bax was washing dishes and Cas shouldered in, stealing the drying cloth from Holland. "Go check on the baby," he said. "Or your mate. I can do this."
Holland patted him gently on the shoulder. "Thanks. Zane should be up soon, if he isn't already." He disappeared around the corner and was back again with a smiling six-month-old boy before Cas had finished drying the last of the dishes.
"All fed and clean and ready to say hi to Uncle Kaden," Holland cooed and entered the kitchen on a few danced steps. "Look, it's Cas!" He whooshed the giggling baby through the air until he was close enough for Cas to rub noses, then whooshed him away again. "Let's go find Da!"
Little Zane giggled and squeaked, then made a terrible attempt at a howl with his human mouth and reached for his Da as Quin came toward them. Cas watched Quin carefully, but the Alpha looked, if anything, even more relaxed with his son in his arms. Maybe I need to trust my packbrother to understand his mate. Holland had been the one to bring Quin out of his depressive funk after he'd gotten out of the Marines. It was easy to forget that his brother's mate was more than just good-looking.
"We're ready!" Abel shouted and settled himself in the middle of the big couch. Cas followed Bax out to the living room and plopped himself onto the cushions next to Abel, who held his arms out to pull his mate down into his lap. Watching his brothers with their mates gave Cas a warm kind of feeling, but it wasn't enough of one to make him wish he had a mate himself.
Quin sat down at Abel's other side and balanced Zane on his lap. "Ready."
Abel patted Bax's thigh. "Pass me the keyboard?"
Bax twisted and reached under the couch, and the noise of the pups suddenly grew deafening. They all came racing in, eight-year-old Fan in the lead like usual, followed by the rest of his brothers and sisters, and the two Green Moon pups that Quin and Holland had adopted. Holland himself brought up the rear, walking his long-legged model's slink across the room. He didn't come to sit on the couch, but instead stood behind Quin, his fingers absently kneading at the muscles of Quin's shoulders.
The projector hanging from the ceiling came alive, the wall in front of them lighting up a brilliant blue, then flickering through a couple of other screens before the desktop of Abel's computer showed.
Cas cracked a laugh. "You're still using that old logo?"
Abel smiled and opened the video chat app. "There's history in that logo." Abel had created it himself years ago, seeing an opportunity to make the work he was doing for the pack bring human money inside the enclave. The big wolf's pawprint sat exactly in the middle of the screen, surrounded by the raggedly written words Good Dog Software. Abel's sense of humor was more subtle than Cas's—he'd chuckled over that logo for days, but with a dark look in his eye.
Well, Cas always had been the least sneaky of the three younger brothers. The only one more upfront than him was currently covered in baby puke and trying to find someone to take little Zane while he changed, something Cas was also glad he didn't have to deal with.
The chat app only had time to make its fake telephone ring twice before the call was answered.
"Hey, Happy Midwinter and Merry Christmas everyone!" Kaden Salma Wood, third of the four brothers, appeared on the screen. He was leaning back in his chair with the laptop balanced on his knees, Cas thought, wearing army green and drinking something from a mug. "How's everyone doing?"
