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“So you’ll do it,” Uriel said as they joined the rest of the alphas.

“I can’t,” Raeburn muttered. “Important meeting tomorrow.”

“Ace and I have to get home to help with both sets of twins,” Raptor said.

“I have a meeting too,” Duke said apologetically.

Crush sighed. “Killian is going into labor any day now. It was already a risk for me to come out today.”

Doc shook his head. “I’m on call at the ER tomorrow.”

Bruiser stepped into the charred room, whistling. Everyone looked at him. “What?”

“You’re on vacation,” Raeburn said slowly. “You have nothing to do but sit around and jerk off for the next week or so.”

Bruiser froze. The other alphas began to nod.

Uriel bit down the urge to laugh.

“Yeah. You can vacation in these parts for a few days, can’t you, dear brother?” Raeburn slung his arm around Bruiser’s neck. “Sit in a tree and watch the road. Trucks with victims incoming.”

Bruiser twitched, his good mood evaporating. “Fuck. Me?”

“You’re the one with vacation days,” Crush said unapologetically. “And no omega.”

Bruiser narrowed his eyes, his hands clenching. Uriel had to look away. It always made him feel... weird, whenever the others teased Bruiser about having no omega.

Not that Uriel wanted to help him with that.

“I can’t spend entire days sitting in a tree,” Bruiser protested.

“If you set up some magical trip wires along this road, you wouldn’t even have to be here the entire time,” Qais pointed out, with a sideways glance at Uriel.

Uriel narrowed his eyes, but the other alphas were perking up.

“Actually, yeah,” Duke said slowly, looking around. “The building’s kind of wrecked. We’ll need an illusion spell to keep up the appearance that things are unchanged here, so the trucks don’t turn away before they’ve parked in the compound. We don’t want them to risk fleeing, and hurt the victims in the process.”

“You might need extra spells to keep the victims safe,” Ace added thoughtfully. “Normally I’d suggest handing out your spell sheets so you don’t have to be here, but we don’t know if there are other unforeseen circumstances. Your skill set is the best we have for dealing with that.”

Suddenly, this wasn’t so funny anymore. Uriel scowled. “I have a baby to care for, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“But you’ve taken care of that, right?” Crush said. “Is it possible to get an extension on the babysitting?”

Uriel wanted to smack him, but he didn’t want to give away just how difficult it was to find childcare at such short notice, how he was struggling a little. If he were out as an omega, instead of pretending to be an alpha, he would’ve collected all their credit cards so he could book himself and Cassie a nice hotel room, and order room service for the entire stay. “I’ll figure it out.”

Doc glanced at Uriel—he was the only one who knew Uriel was an omega. Uriel shook his head slightly to show it wasn’t an issue.

Then he turned and caught Bruiser watching the exchange between him and Doc. Fuck.

At least Bruiser didn’t know what it meant.

“So,” Raptor said, with a strange weight to his words. “Uriel and Bruiser will stay behind to make sure the incoming victims get here safely.”

Uriel fought the urge to sigh loudly. Having to see Bruiser repeatedly over the next few days? That was going to be a mess. Fuck. “I guess, yeah.”

“We’ll help with the wrap-up today,” Doc said kindly, coming to stand next to Uriel. “If you think of anything we can help with in advance, tell us. We’ll do our best to make it happen.”

“You’re my favorite,” Uriel said, leaning into him. “Thanks.”