Their very eloquent alpha, who has written songs that make the masses swoon, had been reduced to grunts and growls—yanking them about and, at one point, putting them in a row so he could lie on them all at once before promptly falling asleep. Finn had the unfortunate position of being smack dab in the middle, under his midsection. But memorably, he’d been consoled with a make-out session with Nix, eventually coming when he’d been told to—without so much as a hand on his dick.
Good times.
Nix had been doing that a lot the first day, wielding what Finn callsomega voice.Fernando hadn’t mentioned it when he’d detailed common omega traits like a slight increase in endurance, strength, and physical attributes such as beauty and charisma. Yet none of the other omegas appeared to be as beautiful as Nix—and that isn’t just coming from a place of love or bias.
So, Finn is increasingly wondering if some of these attributes are justNix.He can’t fathom why, but he thinks it’s important, making him wonder what else they can discover.
The other omegas stayed at a local hotel with added security, courtesy of Sentinel and the Kennedy pack. Baz and Arlo acted as hosts, offering interactions with the press and officials by invitation only. They were fortunate that Lauren had magnanimously agreed to translate for them,making communication with Fernando and a few of the other omegas much easier—without putting them at risk from outside translator services or the overly taxed translation apps.
Fernando was kind enough to answer Finn’s questions about his pack’s origins while Dr. Trudy Spencer’s friend, Dr. Michelle Pandorini, sat close by, taking notes and looking like she’d won the lottery. Finn had also found a minute to ask about general physiology and health care.
Later, Riordan had finally tracked him down, a concerned look on his face, and secured Finn’s promise to speak to him soon. “You can come to me about anything, Finn,” he’d said gently. “We’re family, yeah?”
It had felt good to know his mentor and friends cared—beyond the doors of the hospital or their joint family get-togethers.
Fernando’s information would serve as a fantastic line of inquiry and study in omega physiology. To properly serve the omegas in a specialized unit inside the hospital, Finn needed all the help he could get. Lauren had even engaged the older omega with intuitive questions, steering the conversation and offering a unique perspective on aging omegas that Finn hadn’t considered.
Finn learned a lot about her that day. But as she’d laughed and charmed the “delegation,” he was reminded never to underestimate his mother-in-law—there lay a lot beneath the surface of her mantle of graceful disdain.
Finn wonders again about what characteristics are unique to Nix and what remains undiscovered or undisclosed about this incredible secondary gender. The thought sends a jolt of anxiety through his brain because it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how someone could exploit unique talents like strength or stamina on a large scale.
Finn shudders at the thought as he makes his iced coffee, and Tsuki sits her bony butt right on his foot in comfort. “Ow, you. You are too big for that now.” And she was. She was growing so rapidly that she more often eschewed her puppy bed for the couch and ate twice what she had just a week ago.
“Are you overeating? Did you eat the cats while we were too busy to stop you? Wherearethe cats, come to think of it?” He slides his foot out fromunder her and enters the living area, turning the gas fireplace on and finally sliding the door to the pool deck closed.
He finds the cats in the six-foot cat tunnel Gideon had ordered the same day they’d arrived. He’d complained about the oversight and how careless Lauren had been when she’d forgotten to buy one. Didn’t she know cats needed a cat tunnel?
“There you are. Cozy? Or can I persuade you to cuddle me in exchange for treats?”
Domino and Doodle crawl out at the sight of him and the offer of treats. He only wishes he’d taken his antihistamine after he covers his legs with a blanket, and they make themselves at home on his lap, with Tsuki on his feet.
He lets his mind wander again—a rare moment of mental quiet, especially lately.
Eventually, he hears the door upstairs and two sets of footsteps. Leo and Luca appear in the kitchen a few seconds later, whispering and eagerly making their iced coffee.
Luca groans, “Coffee,” like a zombie looking for life-giving brains.
“Please make that a gallon,” Leo says as he pulls the largest glasses from the cupboard and ice from the freezer.
Coffee had not been allowed in the nest. Luca’s implication that he might die without some had been met with wrinkled noses from both Jay and Nix. Oddly enough, Nix had done so while riding Jay reverse-cowboy style and with Gideon’s cock in his mouth. There might have been teeth involved, given how fast Gideon had come.
“Shoo,” Leo mutters, and the cats slink away to where Luca is sitting, wrapped in a purple blanket he’d brought from the nest upstairs. They curl up in the curve of his legs, and Leo sits his perfect ass down on Finn’s lap with an exaggerated, “Ahhhh. That’s the stuff.”
“There is a perfectly nice cushion twelve inches to the left,” Finn points out with a whine but pulls Leo’s hips down tighter.
“Yes, Finn, but your lap is much nicer.”
“Right?!” Luca says. “Laps are the best. I am glad you can see where I’mcoming from now.”
Finn snorts because Luca has been singing this same tune since he met Leo in middle school twelve years ago. There are photos of Luca sitting on Leo’s lap at the Costas’s home even then.
“Nix let you both out of the nest? What about Jay?”
Leo wiggles and then turns to the side, throwing his beautiful, toned legs onto the couch beside them. Finn has to run a hand up his thigh and under the leg of Leo’s shorts in appreciation.
“I think Jay’s rut is done. Well, almost. He’s got Nix in the bath now with Gideon, and Rowan and Grayson are still asleep. The enigmas can’t get enough of him. They’re stoked by his heat. It’s like it’s morphed into something, you know? Did you notice, Luc?”
Leo pulls up the leg of his shorts a bit and waggles his eyebrows, showing that Finn should continue until he gets to the good stuff.
