Page 15 of Omega's Flight
"Good," Quin told him as he pulled on a clean t-shirt and accepted the baby back. He raised a hand to lay it over one of Holland's, as they started up that gentle kneading again. "Zane's anxious to meet you."
Kaden snorted. "I'm sure he is." His eyes moved to Abel and Bax. "How are you three?"
Abel went bright red and Cas leaned back to stare at him. "Three?" he asked pointedly.
Bax's cheeks pinked but he kept his composure, something Cas was certain the pups they had already had something to do with. With five between the ages of eight and three, Bax had likely seen it all. And apparently they were going to make it a full half-dozen. "Spill, you two."
Abel glared at him, then sighed. "Yes, we're expecting again." Bax looked smug as he patted Abel's arm.
Quin leaned forward to stare at them. "And you told Kaden before your Alpha?" he asked, his tone amused.
Abel shrugged and grinned sheepishly. "It slipped out."
Quin snorted, the sound almost identical to Kaden's. "I thought you'd been looking far too pleased with yourself. Why haven't you made him tie a knot in it yet, Bax?"
Holland smacked him lightly and went right back to rubbing his shoulders. "That's not polite."
Bax twisted in Abel's lap to look coolly at Quin. "Why do you think it was his idea?"
Cas, who'd been keeping it together pretty well up until that point, started to howl with laughter until Bax nudged his knee with one foot. "Behave, or we'll invite your mother back and she can stay with you."
"I'm in bachelor's quarters," Cas countered.
"I know." Bax's smile was sweet, enough that Cas knew Bax wouldn't actually do it. Well, he didn't think he would. Regardless, it was all part of the game. And he'd lost, if only because playing the Mom card was the nuclear strike. Kind of like surprise video produced in court.
"I surrender," he said, raising his hands in the air. "Don't shoot."
Holland snorted with laughter. "Now that the armistice has been declared," he said in a droll voice. "Kaden, are you going to get any leave before Birth Moon?"
Kaden shrugged. "Probably not. I think, since they wouldn't let me go for Midwinter, I'm not likely to get any time off in the next while if the humans want it. But I should be able to be around for the spring, unless the rumors are true."
"Rumors?" Quin asked quickly, and Cas saw Holland move to thread his fingers through Quin's hair, like stroking a wolf's ruff. And then he could smell it too, the sharp spike of adrenaline, anger and fear. That it was coming from Quin himself made Cas's heart beat faster—his brother would know better than Cas what rumors would mean, might even know the rumors themselves. If he was agitated enough to lose control of his scent, then it was bad.
"Just that there's something going on overseas and they're going to send troops over, but we don't know how many. I'm just a grunt, right?" Kaden grinned, but they all knew that shifters walked on the thin edge between soldier and cannon fodder when they went into battle. "You guys know me. I always land on my feet."
The room went quiet for a moment, then Bax asked brightly, "Did you get your care package?"
"I did. Thank you." Kaden reached beneath his chair and pulled out a cookie that Cas identified with some jealousy as one of Holland's Christmas Snickerdoodles. He hadn't even gotten any yet. And there was Kaden, munching down on one like they grew on trees. "I put the pictures up in my locker," Kaden mumbled through the cookie crumbs. "Tell the pups thanks. They really brighten the place up."
"Tell them yourself," Quin said. "They're all here." He beckoned to the pups, who had been so quiet that Cas wondered what Holland had put in their food. But as soon as they were called, the noise and giggles began.
Agatha climbed up into Quin's lap and leaned against his shoulder. Holland helped Dorian hoist himself up onto the back of the couch, then bent down to pick Beatrice up and set her beside him with her legs hanging down between Quin's and Abel's shoulders. Teca and Noah crawled into Cas's lap, and Fan pulled himself up onto the arm of the couch beside him.
"Where's Taden? Bax asked, twisting in his place on Abel's lap to look for the toddler. "He was here a minute ago."
"Check your shoes," Kaden joked. "Maybe he's furry."
"Oh, he better not be," Bax replied in a determined tone. "Let me up, love." He slid off Abel's lap and disappeared toward the front door. "Oh, you bad pup! What have we said about your uncle's shoes?" He came back a few minutes later carrying a wolf pup in a bright green t-shirt, and about ninety-percent of a sneaker. "I'm sorry, Cas. I'll replace it."
Kaden's laughter boomed out of the speakers. "That's a good pup, Abel."
Cas flipped him the finger and ruefully examined his sneaker. The heel had been chewed halfway down, and it was wet with puppy saliva. "I can still wear it, I think." He set it on the floor to one side. "I'll let it dry first."
The pups knew about Kaden, but none of them had ever met him. This was the first full-family call they'd managed in...was it five years? First Quin hadn't been home, then Cas, then Kaden was away on whatever the army had him doing, and between everyone's schedules... Cas did a bit of quick math in his head. Yeah, five years. Wow.
He settled down in his corner of the couch to watch the pups get to know this strange new uncle, who laughed and told them stories about the crazy things the soldiers were made to do when they were bad. The pups' eyes grew bigger with each story, and their parents hid their amusement as Kaden began to embroider the tales.
But eventually it was bedtime, at least for pups, and the adults took it in turns to tuck the pups into beds and makeshift nests in the puppy rooms here. Abel and Bax would have the house to themselves tonight, and Quin would get to play The Great Alpha for a pack of miniature shifters.
