Page 25

Bruiser stared. “What?”

“It’s the only pack of heart-shaped cookies in here,” a different omega, Lorne, said, rummaging in the bag. There were cans of soup with easy-open lids, and a few boxes of granola bars. “I think you should have them.”

Bruiser tried to hand the cookies back, but none of the omegas would accept it. “I’ve already had breakfast.”

“That’s your second breakfast, then!” they told him.

He was not thinking about the half-eaten spaghetti he’d shoveled into his mouth this morning. Uriel’s leftovers. Had the noodles touched Uriel’s lips? Ugh.

When Uriel returned this time, it was close to two hours later, and Cassie was bundled up against his back.

The omegas gasped. “You have a baby!”

Uriel smiled wryly. “Yes, I do.”

He crouched to unload his cargo, missing all the looks the omegas were sending him and Bruiser.

Then Bruiser stopped caring, because Uriel was fishing out several bags from different restaurants.

“It would’ve taken too long for one place to cook them all,” Uriel explained. “So I split the order between six different places. There are extras in case someone really hates some of the food.”

He had bought pizzas and burgers, pasta and fried chicken, Chinese takeout and steaks.

Some of the omegas were crying, cradling the boxes of food to their chests.

Uriel had an odd look on his face when they thanked him. “Yeah, I’ve... Just enjoy the food, you guys. I know it must’ve been a while since you’ve had something good.”

Uriel continued to watch even when they had drifted off to devour their food, his fingers brushing absently over Cassie’s hair.

Bruiser had never seen that look on Uriel’s face. Then again, he’d never watched Uriel closely, especially when the rescues were done. How did Uriel know what the omegas needed?

Did this have something to do with his secret?

Bruiser picked through the remaining boxes, grabbing a slice of cheesy pizza to go with his burger. “Looks like you finally brought me food.”

Uriel rolled his eyes. “Don’t think so highly of yourself. I bought more in case they happened to hate beef and broccoli.”

“Should’ve gotten some sushi and tacos.”

Uriel flipped him off. “Shut your mouth before I shut it for you.”

“Yeah?” Bruiser took a huge bite of pizza. It was amazing. “How are you even going to shut me up?”

Without missing a beat, Uriel grabbed a breadstick from one of the bags, reached over, and stuffed it into Bruiser’s mouth.

Bruiser choked. “Wh’ th’ f’ck?”

Uriel shrugged and released the breadstick. “Sure shut you up, didn’t it?”

Bruiser snatched the breadstick out of his mouth. “No, it didn’t!”

The omegas snickered. Bruiser shook the breadstick at them.

Uriel looked down, and his eyebrows shot up. “You took the cookies?”

Bruiser hated that he had ended up keeping the heart-shaped cookies. They were tasty; two hours was a long time to wait for food. “The omegas gave them to me.”

Uriel’s eyebrows crawled up. “They gave you heart cookies?”