Page 165 of Omega's Flight
Bax buzzed me up in the elevator and was waiting at the door for me when I got to the Alpha's floor. "Hey, glad to see you." He gave me a hug, then let me past while he closed the door. "This one's slower than Zane was, we're just hanging around watching movies."
"That's fine. After the morning I had, I could use the distraction."
"Bad news?"
I shook my head. "Just that the books aren't selling and I think if the Mutches hadn't been putting money behind this, they wouldn't have taken the second one."
He put an arm around me and began leading me into the living room. "It'll be fine. I did some research —" He shot me a sidelong look as I snickered. "What? Research is what I do. Anyway," he continued, ignoring my stifled giggles, "It's hard to gain traction, but once you do, people will find your old work and start buying it. Think of this as laying the foundation for the success of book three or book four."
I stopped giggling, because what he said made sense. After all, I didn't generally find out about a book until long after it was published—unless Bax found it, anyway. Bax could find anything he wanted. Which made me wonder if that was a part of his omega ability.
Holland was stretched out on the couch when we got around the corner, pillows piled up behind him and a blanket that had obviously once been tucked in over his legs had been tossed over the back of the couch. He wasn't wearing a birthing shirt yet, just a stretched out old long-sleeved undershirt and a pair of disreputable sweatpants. "Hi," he said and rolled over onto his side. "Good, we need someone to break the tie."
"Tie?" I asked, taking the big armchair that Bax directed me to.
"Moana or Monsters Inc," he said. "We're running out of movies."
"Movies that don't have big explosions in them, anyway," Bax agreed. "We have a couple of sleeping pups in one of the rooms, can't have scary things on in case they come in."
"Ah." I picked up the cases and looked at the backs. "I haven't seen either of them."
Holland gaped at me. "You haven't seen Monsters Inc," he said incredulously.
I shook my head.
"MI it is," Bax said in a tone of resignation and Holland laughed.
"His pups love that movie," he told him in a low voice while Bax set it up. "He could probably quote most of it to you."
"We can watch something else," I started to say, but Holland's eye twitched and he grunted and put a hand to his belly. "Contraction?" I asked.
He nodded. "Getting stronger. I'm guessing before midnight." He nodded at my belly, almost as big as his despite being a couple of weeks behind him. "How's yours doing?"
"Busy. He and Cas like to play tag in bed at night." At Holland's confused expression, I explained, "The baby kicks and Cas tries to be there before he does. So far, the baby's winning."
Holland laughed and settled back on his pillows. Bax came back to take the chair beside me and picked up a book. "Boo can take a flying leap," he said to no one in particular, and opened the book with a decided snap of pages. Holland made a sort of snuffling noise of amusement and then the sound of the movie started and he and I sat back to watch while Bax read and twisted his hair around his fingers.
By the time the movie was over, though, it was obvious that Holland's 'before midnight' prediction was correct. It might even have been a bit generous.
"You want to bother with the birthing shirt?" Bax asked as he packed up puppy things into a bag. "Raleigh, could you get the pups up? Not Ryker, but the other two? They're going to go to Jason's so Mac can look after them. He'll be here soon."
"What time is Jason coming?" I hadn't spent much time with him—I had to admit to a little bit of curiosity and a lot of star-struck about the omega who had started this revolution.
"Soon, I texted him that things were starting to happen." He set the bag down on the floor and went to check on Holland. I headed down the hallway to find the pups.
Zane, Taden, and Ryker were still asleep in the big bed in the master bedroom. I woke the older two as gently as I could, asking if they wanted to go play with Mac and Seb. With only a little grumbling, they got up and followed me sleepily out into the living room.
"Ahmi!" Zane said and threw himself at Holland's lap. Holland caught him and set him carefully on his knees.
"Hey, buddy. How was your nap?"
"Yuck."
Holland hid a smile in a kiss on his little boy's cheek. "I know, but you need them to grow. And Lysoonka knows, between me and your Da, you're going to be tall. You need to sleep for that to happen."
"I know," the pup sighed and leaned against his bearer.
"Good. Now, you're going to stay with Mac tonight, because your Da and I are going to be busy getting your little brother or sister out of my tummy. That's a pretty big job and kind of boring, so Mac has pizza and a new movie for you all to watch, and there's a present waiting there for you, for becoming a big brother."
