Page 27 of Flight of the Omega

Still, she raced up to the fence, wings aflutter, and she crowed in JP’s face, before starting to peck furiously at the fence rail where his hands were. JP pulled back instantly, hands reeling.

Jack wondered if JP would shift—it was easier to defend oneself from a bird onslaught in feathers—but JP just recoiled and shouted, “Hey! Come get this crazy bird!”

Jack trotted up, one hand at his hip, ready to grab the lasso. He’d never had to snare Blue before. She was normally so well behaved. “Hey,” he said, putting a hand on her neck, intending to soothe her.

Instead, she wheeled, nearly knocking him over with her wings, then tried to peck him on the head. He barely dodged out of the way. “Hey!” he cried. “Blue, what gives!”

She crowed angrily again, then turned back to JP. She opened her maw and spread her wings as wide as they would go, flapping furiously, as though she hoped to create a twister and send JP flying. Jack could hardly see past her.

“Hey! Hey!” Jack said, grabbing her by the bill and forcing her to lower her head. “It’s okay. He’s a friend. He’s not going to hurt you.”

She harrumphed, then folded her wings back. She glared at him for what felt like a full minute, and Jack had that all-too-familiar sinking feeling in his stomach.

The birds weren’t stupid, he knew that. Blue had evidently discovered that he and JP had been involved. Blue thought JP was an interloper. He wasn’t part of the flock, and yet, here he was, mating with their alpha.

A lot of pieces fell into place suddenly, and Jack could only stare at Blue, wondering how on Earth the bird had figured he washermate.

But that made sense; she’d attacked JP and him too, and then she’d tried to defend him from JP.

The sick feeling Jack had had nagging at the back of his throat for the better part of two days now intensified. This was going from bad to worse in a hurry. If even the birds knew they were banging …

“What’s going on over here?” Dr. Vogel asked as she approached, glancing between JP, Blue, and Jack. She lifted a blonde brow.

“Nutty bird attacked me,” JP huffed, giving Blue some side eye. Blue glowered back and fluffed her feathers.

“Hm,” Amanda said, glancing JP up and down. She lifted both her brows. “And I bet you already know why.”

JP huffed and crossed his arms. “I don’t know what she’s thinking,” he grumbled. “Just like I can’t read your mind.”

The vet hummed, then jumped the fence. “Well, let’s have a look at that leg, shall we, Blue?”

Blue tried to hop away from her, but Jack caught the bird. Blue cawed in terror, then stilled as the doctor examined her leg.

“I’ve got her,” the vet said, and Jack released Blue, because he knew she hated being held.

He shuffled to the fence. JP leaned conspiratorially forward. “The heck are you doing down here?” Jack asked.

JP glanced toward Blue and the vet, then looked back at Jack. He searched Jack’s expression, then seemed to wilt again. “Nothing,” he said finally. “Just bored.”

Jack huffed. “Well, go be bored somewhere else.”

JP’s head sank a bit; he looked at the ground. Jack glanced toward the other pen, where Burr was working with Saffron. “Or come back down here in your feathers.”

JP lifted his head again. “That’s just it,” he said, his brow knitting. “I can’t shift.”

Jack frowned. “What do you mean by that? You’re a shifter, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but I—”

“Uh-oh,” Dr. Vogel said, a bit of a smirk on her face as she drifted closer. Both JP and Jack turned to her. “Sorry. Couldn’t help but overhear.”

Jack glowered at her, but JP looked wary. She gave him a reassuring smile and leaned over the fence. “You said you’re a shifter, right?”

“Yeah,” JP admitted.

She tilted her head. “An omega, the blue one. What did Jack call you? Oh. Cerulean.”

He frowned. Her smile broadened. “If you can’t shift,” she said, “it’s likely because you’ve gone broody.”

He stared at her. She lifted her brows. “You know, waiting to lay—”

“Yeah, I know,” JP snapped, but he didn’t look any less worried.

She shrugged. “Just saying. I see it happen all the time with omegas. You get shapelocked until you lay the eggs. That’spartof the reason you shifters are oviparous, not viviparous—so you can offload the offspring earlier and get back to shapeshifting.”

JP curled his lip at her; he didn’t like what he was hearing. Amanda was unfazed though; she shrugged. “Of course,” she said, “it could be something else. But that’s usually the case, in my experience.”

She turned back to Blue, whistling for the bird. Jack looked at JP, who simply stared after the vet. Then, without another word, he turned and stormed back up to the house.