Page 147 of Omega's Flight
She gave me a startled look. "Oh, I'd assumed you were like Bax..." Her voice trailed off and she turned a questioning look on Cas.
"He's tearing up his contract, just like any of us would do," Cas said in a calm voice. "After all, why should he have fewer rights than the rest of us, right?" He draped an arm around my shoulder and nudged me away from the table. "Let's go get rid of the dishes and see if we can digest enough for at least one dance, okay?"
I laughed, but it sounded forced to my ears. "Sure." Gossip. I hated it. But honestly, what had I expected? As Holland had said, I was breaking new ground here—I had to expect people to be confused by me. So I looked over at Hayven. "It was nice meeting you. I'll definitely take you up on that." There. If they were curious, I'd feed their curiosity until it was as full as I was right now. Turning to Cas, I asked, "Did you see where they put the table for the dirty dishes?"
"This way," he said and jerked his head over toward the trees. I waved goodbye and followed him over to the table.
"Sorry about that," he said as he made space for our plates.
I shook my head. "It's okay. There's going to be questions. This might be as good a way as any of dealing with them. Let the gossips do our work."
He laughed and squeezed me close. "Okay, I bow to your greater wisdom. Want to go claim a couple of chairs?"
"Is Bax around? Or Holland?"
"I saw Bax earlier with Abel, and Quin's here somewhere, but I haven't seen Holland. Why?"
"No reason." I did kind of think I knew what the surprise was, though. Holland was coming into heat when I spoke to him a week ago. I wondered if both of us would be pregnant at once, which would be fun if it happened. "I imagine he'll be down to start the dancing." Or Quin would suddenly disappear. The thought forced me to turn my head to hide a snicker as we wove our way through the crowd on the hunt for a pair of unoccupied seats.
When we finally found them, I fell into mine with a huff and sigh of contentment. "I might never move again," I commented and rubbed my somewhat distended belly. “At least I won’t need to eat for the next two days.” I wondered wistfully what the pups were doing, if they were having a good time. I couldn’t wait to go get them back.
Cas draped an arm over my shoulders. "Just making sure everyone knows you're mine," he said casually, and winked at me before turning his head to scan the crowd. "Glad it warmed up."
"Me too," I said. We were both dressed lightly, me in a long-sleeved t-shirt that Cas had bought me on a whim, him in the button down that I'd embroidered to give to him to say thank you for helping with the pups so much.
The noise of the crowd spiked, more laughter and some shouting. I heard the sound of a guitar, the player testing out the strings, and someone with a fiddle tuning it to match the guitar. Underneath it all, a drum thudded away like the heartbeat of the enclave. The crowd swirled and split and Quin walked out into the center of the now clear stretch of grass.
"Holland must have some real dirt on him," Cas mused. "He hates dancing. In public, anyway. The only one who can get him out there is Holland." He paused thoughtfully. "And maybe Agatha."
But whatever Quin's opinion on public dancing was, he waited in the middle of the clearing like being there was his own idea. I craned my neck to see if I recognized anyone else in the crowd, waved to Jason about a quarter of the way around the ring of shifters and Bram a little farther along, clinging with obvious excitement to his huge mate.
A sudden hush fell over the crowd around me and Cas sat up straight, his nostrils flaring. "What the hell...?" His eyes had gone dark and fixed on the crowd not far from us.
No, not the crowd. Holland.
Only it wasn't Holland the Alpha's Mate, or Holland the frazzled parent. This was Holland the model, Holland the omega mate of a powerful alpha. He stood in a gap in the circle, wearing a simple pair of dark, flowing pants and a shirt open in the front. His feet were bare and, in contrast to his usual knot of hair up on the back of his head, it now hung in gleaming midnight waves around his face. The breeze brought his scent to my nostrils—he was well in heat and really shouldn't have been out in mixed company. I was surprised he could think straight, given the strength of his scent. But then again, he was Alpha's Mate. If he couldn't control himself, he wouldn't be as good a Mate as he was.
"Did you know he was planning this?" Cas murmured. His hand caught mine and his fingers squeezed so hard it verged on painful.
"No." But I was looking forward to seeing what happened.
Holland stood there long enough to capture the attention of the entire pack, then walked gracefully up to his mate and kissed him the way a mate should be kissed, with passion and abandon. I felt the urge to drag Cas over to me and he must have felt something too, because his hand left mine to curve around the top of my thigh, and I could feel him shiver, a fine vibration against my shoulder. For a moment, I wished I was in heat, but then changed my mind. I'd enjoy this much more with my entire mind at my disposal. I wanted to see what Cas was like when he gave up that hard-won control he wore like a shield against the world. Even against me, sometimes. I didn't think that was intentional; I rather believed that it was long habit, and something he didn't quite know how to put aside any more. So maybe I could turn tonight into a chink in that armor that I could eventually use to pry it off him entirely.
The kiss in the center of the circle broke off and Holland and Quin stared at each other for a moment. Are you sure? I saw Quin mouth, and Holland nodded and reached up to kiss him again, more delicately this time. Quin bowed his head briefly to his mate, then took Holland's hand and led him forward as if he was presenting him to the pack for the first time. And maybe he was—there was a whiff of power coming off Holland that I really shouldn't have been able to feel at this distance.
Quin raised a hand and the crowd went silent. "The old times were not like ours. In those days, omegas was respected, revered, prayed for. They were the keepers of the peace, the dispensers of justice. Where the alpha led and protected the pack from threats from without, the omega followed and kept the inner wolf from tearing us to pieces. We have seen how things have changed here in Mercy Hills since we opened our hearts and minds to the idea that the omega is not last amongst us. After the Enclosure, the old ways were ground into the dust and trampled underneath our paws as we fought to survive, turning shifter against shifter. It was necessary, in that era, but we are a different pack now, and our survival as that pack is no longer in question. It is time that we looked back on our history and brought back the things that will make us strong again. And part of that is the place of the omega in society."
I heard whispers in the crowd, some friendly, most just curious. A couple that were deeply disturbed. I glanced at Cas, but his gaze was fixed so hard on Quin and Holland I doubted I could pry it away with a truck.
Holland never said a word, simply stood there looking beautiful and majestic and, above all, wild. Like he'd just come out of the forest and taken human form for the first time. It made me shiver, though I couldn't identify the emotion that caused it.
Quin nodded into the crowd and Abel came out, then Mac, then Duke. I looked to see if Patton would be joining them, but he and Ori hid at the edge, though they watched as eagerly as I did.
Then Quin looked straight at Cas and jerked his chin.
"I have to go," Cas said softly and kissed me as he stood up, the movement taking his lips from mine as he straightened and walked out into the group in the center. He reached Quin and turned to stand beside him, but his eyes never left mine. I love you, he said, or whispered. I couldn't hear it, just read the shape of his lips as he formed the words. I love you too, I returned, in my quietest of voices.
Quin spoke again. "We stand here as mates to omegas, to pack members that have been thought of as less, and found that we were mistaken." He took a deep breath and looked around him. "Our histories tell a different story, one which we have only just found. You have all benefited from Jason's nurturing talent, from Bram's touch with the body, from Bax's ability to make things happen as he wishes. From Holland's ability to weed away the dark thoughts and darker desires."
