I sat with Felix, the large omega, in the back of the SUV on the way to wherever we were going. I knew it wasn't Mercy Hills, we'd had that discussion as soon as the doors were shut and the gates of the enclave behind us. Some meeting place, where Oscar and Damian were supposed to be waiting. Felix’s mate Kaden sat behind us but hung over the back of our seat like he couldn’t bear even this distance between him and Felix.

The Mate sighed as the gates closed behind us, as if he'd been holding his breath waiting to leave Nevada Ashes behind. The Alpha reached across the front seat and took his hand, bringing it briefly to his mouth before putting it on his own thigh and covering it with his own hand. I hid my irritation behind a blank face and stared out the window until the walls disappeared into the darkness behind us.

"Have you found out if you're having a boy or a girl?" Felix asked politely.

I shook off the strangeness of that typical omega question coming in that deep voice. "I don't know. We hung the twig and it went in circles, so I'm guessing a girl."

"You didn't get an ultrasound?"

"I did, way back in the beginning. I don't want to know."

"Huh." He didn't seem to be bothered by my decision though, unlike my family. "We're having a boy."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you." He slumped a little in his seat, hands folded over the baby. "I'm looking forward to it. I want a big family."

I made polite noises about that and then the conversation moved on to, of all things, politics. Not something I'd ever paid attention to before and I didn't pay much now. Most of my mind was consumed with wondering if I'd made a mistake, now that there was nothing I could do to take this choice back.

Over everything else, I wanted to see Damian again and know that he was all right.

We didn't go straight to the city but pulled off onto a side road that led out into the desert. Maybe ten minutes later, the Alpha turned toward a pair of lights gleaming in the night and the conversation in the SUV died.

They had one vehicle, an SUV like ours, but larger, and a couple of lanterns set out on the ground to make everything easier to see. The Alpha pulled up just outside the circle of light, sat there a moment, then got out.

As if it was a signal, the rest of us followed him and gathered into a little clump at the side of our vehicle.

"Wait here," the Alpha said, and his voice was grimmer than I thought the situation warranted. Then again, I suspected he would want to be sure he wasn't abandoning me in a situation that wasn't what it seemed—Alphas tended to be like that, I thought. At least, mine at Nevada Ashes had been.

He strode across the clearing toward the headlights of the other vehicle, and I saw two figures move out from the darkness into the yellowish cones. By squinting hard, I was able to make out Oscar and then, half a step behind him, Damian. I let out a lungful of air I hadn't realized I'd been holding and started forward, but the Mate put a hand on my arm and stopped me. "Stay here."

"You're not my Mate," I reminded him, though politely.

"Wait," Kaden said with that same grim tone. "He's going to make sure they aren't screwing you and Damian over. If you go over there, any leverage we had is probably gone."

I didn’t know what it was that they were expecting, but the tension in the group—even Felix, who struck me an eminently unflappable—made me obedient. At least until I had enough information to make my own judgment call. So I stayed, and watched.

The Alpha spoke mostly to Oscar, his body language screaming that he was ready for violence. Uncertainly, I put a hand on Kaden’s arm. “Nothing’s going to happen, is it?”

Kaden glanced down at me. “Oh, something’s going to happen, that’s been too long in the making. But he’ll make sure you get what you want.” And with that, I had to be satisfied, because he ignored me afterwards, focusing on the human and the shifter in the criss-cross of lights.

Felix shuffled in between us and put an arm around me. “It’ll be fine.” His hand rubbed up and down my arm a couple of times, then he leaned forward and passed me a slip of paper. “When you have an email, send me a note, okay? Just so I know you’re all right.”

What was it with these Mercy Hills shifters, thinking no one but they could be independent or look after themselves? But his worry seemed genuine and I was moving out into a world of humans. It would be comforting to have someone to talk to. I could still talk to Ma and some of my friends from Nevada Ashes, but I would always be lying to them. With Felix, I could tell the truth.

I smiled at him and tucked the slip of paper into the pocket of my loose pants, pushing it right down to the bottom so I could be sure it wouldn’t get lost.

The Alpha turned and waved to us and then both groups were walking through the beams of the headlights, to a spot somewhere in the exact middle between the two vehicles. Like a no-man’s-land, or neutral territory. It felt weirdly like an exchange of hostages and I shook that thought loose so hard that Felix looked down at me with a question on his face. I waved him off, too intent on Damian’s face and his body, the unspoken things his expression told me. He was eager to see me, and worried, and I smiled at him to try to ease the lines on his face.

“These are yours,” Oscar told me, handing me two envelopes. “This one is your human identification. Driver’s license, birth certificate, passport, social security. The other is your Mercy Hills identification papers.” He stared for a moment at the tabs on my collar and shook his head. “Best to leave those on until after you’re at the house.”

The Alpha turned to me. “You don’t have to go with them if you don’t want to. You’ll always have a place with us.”

Oscar smirked and shook his head, but didn’t say anything and his raised hand held Damian silent. I thought about it for a second, then looked at Damian, stoically waiting for me. Or not so stoically—his scent had changed, just a hint of adrenaline and anxiety. “Thank you, Alpha,” I said with as much grace as I could muster. “Can we take a raincheck on that?”

He started to frown and then stopped himself. “Take Holland’s phone number. He looks after the omegas in Mercy Hills.”

Uh, no. “I have Felix’s email, that’ll be fine, I’m sure.” I walked over and took Damian’s hand. “I’m getting tired.”

“Let’s get your stuff loaded up.” He walked me over to his SUV and sat me on a camp-stool in front of the bumper. “You can supervise.”

I laughed. “Far be it from me to say no to watching a group of well-built alphas doing physical labor.” I stretched luxuriously and crossed my legs at the ankles.

Felix came over to lean against the front of the car beside me. “Don’t mind Holland,” he said, completely out of the blue. “Nevada Ashes is associated with a pretty bad time of his life, from what I’ve been told.”

“I don’t mind him,” I said stubbornly, then had to hold my tongue as the others trooped past with my boxes. Once they were gone, I explained, “He obviously has the same ignorant ideas about the public houses as all the other packs do.”

Felix shook his head and I could have kicked him. “You chose to go into the houses, right?”

I nodded. Of course I did. No one was forced to work in them.

“And you’re choosing not to work in them now, right?”

“Kind of hard with the omega bond,” I agreed.

“What if they told you that you had to, bond or no?” Felix stared out into the darkness, where we could hear Holland hard at work keeping the alphas loaded up. “I’m from White River, so I guess I don’t get that attitude. But some of the packs out there…” He shook his head again. “Kaden and I are going around to all the packs, talking to them about the next election. And in some of them, I’m no better than a deficient pup and I’m treated that way. In others, I feel like a member of the pack.” He glanced down at me. “Never tell Holland I told you this story, okay? And don’t tell anyone else. It’s not exactly top secret, but he tries really hard not to remember it.”

I raised my eyebrows, truly curious now, and nodded.

We had to wait again for privacy, then Felix began. “Holland had medical problems back when he was first mated that meant he couldn’t conceive. So his first mate repudiated him and sent him home without even trying to figure out what was wrong. And if it hadn’t been for having a cousin at Mercy Hills who spoke for him, he was going to be sent here to work the houses. Whether he agreed to it or not.”

“There’s nothing wrong with working the houses. It’s good money.” But this cast the Mercy Hills Mate in a different light. I could see how a series of events like that could poison someone on an enclave. It didn’t make me like him better, but that loss of control, when he’d probably had little enough to begin with… Yeah, I’d have been sour too. Wait… “He has pups, though, doesn’t he?”

Felix nodded. “Four. Two of his own—there was some treatment he went through—and two adopted from Green Moon after the fire.”

Oh. We’d heard about Green Moon. I remembered contributing to a fund to send over to help them rebuild.

Damn Holland, I couldn’t be angry with him at all now. And I’d given my word, so I couldn’t even apologize. I sighed and leaned back against the car. “Okay, I get it. Cut him some slack?”

“Not too much,” Felix said. “He’ll run right over you like a herd of deer if you don’t stand up for yourself. Or get out of the way.” Then he smiled and stood up. “Hello, love. All done?”

“Everything’s in, or on its way,” Kaden said. He took Felix’s hands and kissed him. “We’re going to have to come back here again, unless you want to stay a couple of days right now and we can get Nevada Ashes to drive us over to the airport.”

Felix bowed his head and I could see that he really didn’t want to be away from home right now, with the baby so huge in his belly. Then he sighed, “We should stay and do it now. This is probably the best time, when we’re on good terms. And I’ve only got about three more weeks of traveling left in me.”

Kaden nodded and let go of his hands. “I’ll let Quin know.” Then he did something that surprised me—he turned and crouched in front of me and looked me straight in the eye. “You have Felix’s email. I’ll make sure you get a Mercy Hills one too, once I get back. It’s secure, there’s no worries about that. And we have a spare bedroom, if you need to get away for a while. You’ll probably want some company when the baby comes, or so my packbrothers tell me. You’re welcome in our home, you only need to let us know when you’re coming.”

I was touched, if a little wary. When I glanced up at him, Felix nodded and I gathered they’d already discussed this between them, the way a good mated couple did. “Thank you,” I said. “I’ll keep that in mind.” And I put a hand over my pocket in emphasis and to show them that I was serious.

Besides, most of my friends in Nevada Ashes weren’t omega—it would be reassuring to know I had someone I could discuss omega things with when I needed to.

Felix put a hand on his mate’s shoulder. “I think they’re done.”

I looked up and it did seem like the Alpha and Damian were carrying over the last of the things we’d crammed in around everyone’s feet for the drive here. Good. I stood up and went to take Damian’s hand, relieved to see the genuine smile on his face as he laced his fingers through mine.

“We done here?” the Alpha said, and Damian’s fingers closed painfully on mine.

“Guess so,” was Oscar’s laconic response.

The Alpha nodded, and then he punched Oscar in the face.