Page 37 of Omega's Heart
By the day of the Full Moon in July, he and Holland had gotten more comfortable with each other. Cale still made Kaden occasionally wonder if he needed his flak jacket, but since Holland’s little brother spent most of his time in his room studying, it wasn’t something Kaden was going to put on his list for Midwinter Wolf. Even little Julius, who had to be the shiniest, brokenest toy in all of Mercy Hills, had started to relax around him.
His biggest issue was that damn leg of his. Or rather, the one that no longer belonged to him.
Kaden knew he needed to practice with the prosthetic. He couldn’t get around the enclave with the wheelchair—that had already been proven to him when he’d gotten the chair stuck and had to call over a couple of passing teenagers to help him get unstuck. But damn if walking around with the fake leg didn’t end up hurting almost as much as the original injury had after he’d worn it a while.
Twice now he’d gone back to the VA, looking for a new fitting or a new something. Only once had he gotten in—they’d had some sort of delay behind the scenes, and his travel permit wouldn’t let him stay long enough for the make-up appointment they’d offered him three days later. That they’d gotten him an appointment only three days later was a miracle in and of itself, since the VA ground in slow and unfathomable ways, but still—it had been a wasted trip. And his leg hurt as much as ever.
He didn’t want to lose his knee.
And the poor damn omega they’d sicked on him. Or sicked him on. Thank Lysoon or Lysoonka or whoever that watched over pain-addled alphas that Felix was as level-headed and easy-going as he was, or Kaden was certain he would have been bounced around the room a couple of times until he’d learned his manners. The omega was certainly big enough.
This morning he was going to do it. He was going to put that damn leg on and walk on it all day, until whatever kind of callus he needed to build up finally appeared. With the same grim determination that had gotten him through some of his worst patrols, he pulled everything into place— the knitted sock that cushioned his stub, plus a second one for extra cushioning, the leg itself, and then the rubbery sleeve that held it onto his thigh. He rolled it up over his knee and worked the air out of it so that the vacuum would hold the leg securely in place and made himself stand up.
Ow.
But with this, he could walk tonight for Full Moon and since it wasn’t one of the big moon celebrations, he should be okay wandering through the crowd. Not as likely to get bumped and knocked off balance. He took an experimental step, made a face at the ache that began to creep up the side of his knee, then took a deep breath and pasted a smile on his face.
“Good morning,” he said cheerily as he came out of the bedroom.
Felix looked up from the frying pan he was standing in front of and put down his spatula. A smile lit up his dark hazel eyes and he reached for a mug set out on the counter and the coffee pot. “You must have slept well last night,” was his first comment. “I wasn’t expecting you for another ten minutes or so.” He poured a mug of coffee and met Kaden at the table.
Gratefully, Kaden sank into the chair. “Thank you. Yeah, it was a good night.” The smell of the coffee made his stomach jerk and he started to ladle honey and milk in until the liquid actually domed up at the rim.
“Breakfast will be another couple of minutes,” Felix said from over by the stove, then after a pause. “Maybe not that good a night after all.” He stared at the coffee mug in concern.
Kaden shrugged and leaned down to slurp the level of coffee in his mug down to something safe to pick up. “I’m used to more work during the day. I don’t do enough here to tire me out for that much sleep.” He’d been trying to read the Segregation Laws, but even with Cas’s help, it was a slog and the number of times he’d had to call his little brother already was starting to interfere with Cas’s work for the pack. Which was a no-go, as far as Kaden was concerned, so he’d set that project aside for now, until he could find some other resource to help him pick meaning out from the legal jargon.
Felix nodded and poked around in the frying pan. “Yeah, I like to keep busy too.” He left the stove to go rummage in one of the drawers, coming back with a fork and a knife and a napkin that he set up in front of Kaden like he was at a nice restaurant. “But your job is to heal and get comfortable with how things are now. I’d think that was enough to keep anyone busy.”
“Physically, maybe,” Kaden agreed. “My brain is as bored as a pup on its own.”
Felix laughed, a low comfortable sound. He was busy at the stove again, an empty plate in one hand and a spatula in the other, moving things from the frying pan. “You should mention it to Quin, then. I bet he’s got paperwork you could do.”
“Not likely.” Kaden laughed and then accepted his plate. “Thank you. Are you eating?”
“Ate across the hall. Cale started his next set of distance courses and Julius and I are taking turns making sure he at least gets breakfast. I’ve never seen anyone so focused on anything in his life.”
“They might be best off to just turn him loose on some unsuspecting university.” The eggs were perfect and two slices of ham plus some fried potatoes filled the plate up nicely. “What do you put on the potatoes?” Kaden asked, shoving a forkful into his mouth. Damn, they were good.
“Oh, a bit of this, a little of that. Kinda depends on my mood.” But his omega housekeeper looked pleased as he started running water into the sink.
“It’s good,” Kaden mumbled around a mouthful of potato.
Felix set the frying pan in the sink, turned off the water, then poured himself a cup of coffee and came over to sit at the table with Kaden. “I’m glad you like it.” He sipped at his mug and watched contentedly as Kaden ate. “What do you have planned for today?”
“Walking,” Kaden said and slapped the side of the prosthetic. “I called the clinic and they said to pad the stump with two socks because it sounds like I’m sliding around in it a bit.”
“Do you have enough of them? I should see what they have for yarn down in Supplies. You’ll go through them faster if you have to use two at a time.”
“I’m not sure, but I imagine I can buy them. You do enough for me, you don’t need to spend all your time that way.”
“I don’t mind. It’s soothing. We put a TV show on or a movie and my hands just work away automatically. I finished a jacket for Bax’s little girl last week and I’ve almost finished one for Holland’s baby.”
He was running out of excuses not to depend on this omega any more than he already was. “Thank you,” he said.
Felix shrugged and sipped at his coffee. “It’s not a problem.” He glanced down at Kaden’s plate. “Do you want more potatoes? They only take a second to fry up.”
Kaden looked down at his plate, startled--he’d eaten all the potatoes without even realizing it. “No, but thank you. They’re really good.” He knew his packbrothers were always pleased when he complimented something they made and it seemed Felix was no different from Kaden’s mated family, because he smiled and looked down, his cheeks pinking slightly.
