Page 35 of Omega's Flight
"But what do you know?" It was frustrating. He was tantalizingly close to understanding what they needed to do in order to take back what they were, but Quin's and Holland's closed-mouthed behavior with the information from the journals was slowing him down.
Holland switched the brush to the other side of his head and stared at him with a thoughtful expression. It was possibly the hardest thing Cas had ever done—aside from that time he'd not filled his cousin's sandwich with hot peppers after that incident with the compost barrel—but he managed not to demand that his packbrother cough up everything he knew. Cas was known to put more than a toe over the line, but in this, Holland was his Alpha's Mate and even if he managed to nag the information out of Holland, Quin and he would be having a very uncomfortable talk shortly after.
Eventually Holland turned back to look in the mirror, the brush smoothing the hair down around his head. "Anything I tell you from this point on is an educated guess. You're the pack's lawyer, I'm going to hold you to lawyer-client privilege." His eyes met Cas's in the mirror and there was none of fussy, precise Holland left, his place taken by the Alpha's Mate of Mercy Hills. "You agree?"
Cas nodded. "Who can I discuss this with?"
"Myself, Quin, Bax, Abel." He paused and put the brush away. "Jason, Cale to a certain extent, though he's got his courses to get through and I don't want him distracted. Bram, maybe." Holland grimaced. "He's kept it between just us so far."
Only years of guarding his face in front of his human classmates let Cas hide the smile that threatened to break out over his face at Holland's commentary on Bram. Snakes and eagles, Abel called their relationship. Someone's always snapping at the other. It wasn't serious, and Holland was fierce about giving Bram anything he needed to do well at university. But it wasn't an easy relationship.
"Anyway," Holland said on a sigh. "There's Duke, too, and Garrick, obviously, but they're more interested in the trusts than they are in the omegas." He shooed Cas aside and swung out of the bathroom and down the hall to his and Quin's bedroom. "I need to change my shirt," he called back. "Hang on."
Cas followed him anyway, but hung out in the hallway. Full moon nudity was one thing, but this was his brother's mate. I am turning into a human. "So, what's different about omegas than what we think we know?"
Holland came out of the dark room, pulling a sweater down over his slim chest. "That the old stories of True Omegas aren't really true, but they aren't false either. Omegas have their strengths and weaknesses, and once they figured them out, that's what they would concentrate on. So Jason is a nurturer, he's always enjoyed gardening and growing things. We're going to put in some real greenhouses for him, to see how far he can push it. Bram has a knack for figuring out what's wrong with someone, healthwise, to the point where even Adelaide sometimes defers to him. At least, when it comes to figuring out the problem—he doesn't have the skills yet to do more than that, and even that's kind of iffy. Bax...makes things happen the way he wants them. Sometimes. We don't know how it works." Holland held out a hand and ushered Cas down the hallway. "Don't ask him about it. He's worried he wished Patrick dead. You and I both know that's stupid. Bax isn't like that."
They left it unsaid that the same probably couldn't be said of the two of them.
Cas walked out with Holland, his head in a whirl as he tried to fit Holland's matter-of-fact delivery in with this world-shifting concept of magic omegas being real. He waited, expecting to hear more about the different omegas. Particularly the one walking beside him. But when they'd reached the front door and Holland hadn't said anything more, he stopped and caught Holland by the arm. "What about you? What is it that you do?"
Holland's eyes darkened and he shook his head. "I don't think I'm ready to talk about that. Not yet. But we'll let you know when I am."
"So Quin knows." It was a statement of fact, more than a question.
"He does, and that will have to be enough for you for now." Holland pulled his shoes on. "You coming dancing? I made Quin promise to do an official opening of the dancing with me, and he's been trying to cancel it ever since." The Alpha's Mate was gone, leaving behind the amused and loving mate of Cas's brother. "Think of all the ammunition you'll have for teasing after."
It was tempting, but the scared face of the new omega rose in his mind's eye. "I might drop in to the clinic again. Your new omega looked like he was at the end of his rope and it won't hurt to have a runner in place in case anything goes wrong."
Holland shot him a knowing look, but kept whatever was going through his brain to himself. Cas straightened his shoulders and decided to ignore his packbrother.
They found everything pretty much the same when they got to the clinic. Bax was seated next to the bed, talking about old acquaintances from Jackson-Jellystone. Bram was busy in the corner with something medical-looking, and Adelaide was standing by Raleigh's other side, checking the bag of fluid hanging above him.
"How's everything here?" Holland said as he breezed through the door.
"I'm going to keep him overnight," Adelaide said.
"I'm going to take the pups back to my place," Bax said placidly. "Between me and Jason, we'll find places for them. Or they can just sleep wherever they happen to pass out." His eyes twinkled and Raleigh laughed weakly.
"Well, I'm trading Cas for you then. Come on. Adelaide, he's all yours."
Bax chuckled, gave Cas a hug in passing, and disappeared down the hallway with a squeeze of Holland's arm. Holland grinned after him, then turned back to raise his eyebrows at Bram.
"We'll be fine," Bram said, and there was that weird sense of communication running between the two Mercy Hills omegas.
"All right." Holland stepped into the room, far enough to pat Raleigh's arm. "You want Bax to bring them up to see you?"
Raleigh shook his head. "If they're having fun playing, I'd rather they didn't find out."
Holland squeezed where he'd patted. "With a choice of places to stay tonight, they probably won't even notice. But if they ask?"
Raleigh's jaw worked and he frowned. "If they ask, yeah. Uh..." His brow wrinkled and he looked entirely lost.
"Text me," Cas offered. "I'll go get them and make sure they leave before you get tired."
Raleigh gaped at him, then glanced at Holland who, once again, looked amused, and Cas was starting to realize it was at his expense. He frowned at Holland, but the omega didn't get the hint, or maybe just ignored it, because he shrugged gracefully and squeezed Cas's shoulder. "Thank you for your help," he said gravely, with that glint of humor dancing at the back of his eyes that made Cas grit his teeth.
But Cas forgave him almost immediately, because Holland leaned in and whispered in his ear, "The omegas were always the ones to choose their mates, but the alphas apparently always knew when they'd been found by the right one." And then his packbrother was gone, and Cas realized it was just him and Raleigh alone in the room.
