Page 93 of Omega's Flight
He smelled like forest and fur and alpha, a deep musk that I filled my nose with while he nuzzled at my ruff. I could have stayed there for hours, just the two of us, but Cas nipped at my ear and led me off into the trees.
The forest here was larger than it had been in Jackson-Jellystone. We hadn't really had one in Nevada Ashes, just running beneath the moon. Cas led me on twisty paths, sometimes alone but more often running with other members of the pack. We were really too many in too small a space to be able to run the entire night alone. It was probably for the best, in the end, because running with Cas was the most fun I'd had in a long time and I would never have wanted it to stop if not for the occasional intrusion of other shifters into our little world.
We broke out into a small clearing with a little stream running through it. Cas glanced at me with dark eyes, then lifted his muzzle and sang for the Lady, gifting her his song in exchange for what blessings she could offer. I joined him, and prayed that she would look kindly upon an omega in need and grant me some small favor as I struggled to leave the past behind and move into this new future.
C H A P T E R 6 6
C as was careful not to haunt Raleigh's doorstep, especially now that he was certain of Raleigh's interest.
Not that he was given much time. The very next day after they'd installed the Perseguir couple into their new house, after a glorious night of shy glances and food and singing to the Lady in the moonlight with the omega he was determined to keep, Quin texted him, asking him to come up to the office.
What blew up this time? He surveyed the spread out paperwork of the four different filings he was working on and wondered briefly if it would just be better in the long run to close up the enclave walls and never come out again. At least that stupid civil case about someone crashing their car into a post because they were scared of the shifter walking on the sidewalk looked to be easily dealt with. He could probably finish it tonight and have one of the Security crew run the paperwork in tomorrow morning to file it. But in the meantime, his Alpha commanded and Quin wouldn't be asking him to come to the office if he didn't have something official he needed Cas for.
It was something bad, he knew even before he got in to talk to Quin. Not only was Bax in the office when he should have been home on his baby leave, but he looked particularly unhappy.
As soon as Cas came through the door, Bax stood up, one hand on the baby in his sling in front of him. "He's on the phone, but he asked me to let him know as soon as you got here." Bax slipped out from behind his desk and went to the Alpha's door, knocking briefly before sticking his head inside.
He was back almost immediately. "Come in, but be quiet until he's done."
Cas nodded agreement and stepped through the door. Quin glanced at him and held up a finger to ask for quiet and Bax closed the door behind them before taking one of the chairs that sat in front of the desk and patting the seat of the other for Cas to sit down. Cas took the chair obediently and let himself relax, watching his brother in action.
Quin leaned back, the chair creaking like it was threatening to rebel and dump the Alpha on his ass. "Yes, I understand that, but my people can only be on site until nine and the earliest they can make it there is seven in the morning. Unless you plan to put them up someplace that meets regulations, that can't change. It's federal law." He stopped to listen for a moment, the corners of his mouth turned down in displeasure, but his voice showed none of it when he began to speak again. "No, we can't do that. Look, we've done business before. You know all this." He stopped again, then took a breath and broke into whatever it was that the human was saying. "Yes, you do know all this and we ran into the same problem the last time you decided to hire shifters. The best I can do is free up another ten from my own projects and send them out, but it'll be under the same contract terms, and you'll cover the transport. No, check your contract. You did this last time too, so we had that clause built in." He listened for a moment, then said evenly, "That's certainly your choice, but you'll pay more for them." Quin caught Cas watching him and crossed his eyes, something Cas hadn't seen him do since Cas was a pup.
Quin listened patiently, then nodded. "I'll have my foreman select another ten, then. He'll know what specialties you need." His fingers tightened on the phone's receiver and he closed his eyes, obviously just waiting for the call to end. "I'll send out an addendum on the contract as well for you to sign. They don't work until it's signed." He opened his eyes again and stared at Cas. Cas nodded back— he'd have to put the contract changes together tonight. "I'll have it sent over in the morning. Yes." His shoulders jerked and he sat up, letting the phone fall carelessly onto the base. "Asshole."
"In what way exactly are you ruining my evening?" Cas teased him. Not that he'd had plans. He'd definitely not been reminding himself to give Raleigh some space all day long.
"I need a standard addendum to the contract with B. Loren, Ltd. for another ten construction workers until the project is completed, with him covering the costs of the extra van." Quin shook his head. "Damn Mutch and his movie theater reno."
"Thought that was worth it?"
"It is, if only for the electrical apprenticeship hours. But it's left us damn short, and Loren's been a good—" Quin made a face and shook his head at Cas. "—a reliable contract outside walls for years. This'll slow the hospital down by a couple of months at least. Maybe longer."
"We've gotten along without one until now," Cas reminded him.
"You're not the one who's going to have to listen to Adelaide. Or Bram," Quin said wryly. "But that wasn't why I called you. Damn Jackson-Jellystone called me today. Raleigh's mate is having second thoughts."
"He's what?" Cas yelled, forgetting all decorum at the shock of the news. "What the fuck is he on about?"
Bax polished his fingernails on the sleeve of his shirt and raised an eyebrow at the Alpha. "Told you."
"Told him what?" Cas snarled, rounding on his packbrother. If this was a fucking test of his interest in Raleigh...
"He told me you wouldn't take it well," Quin said evenly. "Calm down, little brother. We'll figure this out, it's just going to take longer before you can go public with your...plans." His tone was bland, almost clinical, and for a moment Cas wondered if Quin was maybe a little angry that Cas was complicating this situation. But no, there was no smell of anger about his brother, just exasperation.
“What do you need me for?" Cas asked. "I'm not planning to cry challenge, unless we can't do this any other way. I'm not the fighter you guys are."
"I don't expect you to," Quin said. "That's not your job here. But he's insisting on hearing it from Raleigh's lips." Quin leaned back in the long-suffering chair again. "It might be the easiest, the most straightforward way if we set up a video call and Raleigh tells Degan to his face that he doesn't want to go back."
Ah. Cas sat back in the chair and thought about the likely outcomes here. Raleigh was going to be upset, for certain. "He's going to try to manipulate him to go back to Jackson-Jellystone by taking his pups, isn't he?" Damn, he shouldn't have talked so loosely about the omegas on the last call. "You think this is Roland trying to keep an omega?"
"Could be. I've tried to explain to him what Holland and Bax have explained to me, that just mating them isn't enough."
"Can't we just refuse to give all of them back?" Possession being nine-tenths of the law, right?
Bax made a small noise, but it held a wealth of frustration and a hot anger that Cas had never before sensed from his usually cool-headed packbrother. "He's threatening to go straight to the government for them if we don't turn them over by the date we all agreed on."
"Shit." Nobody wanted the Bureau of Preternatural Beings poking around in their business. Poking was probably a misnomer; their involvement in something like this could very well topple a pack into such disarray it would end up being disbanded. "Asshole!" he muttered.
