by Leta Blake
The reek lit up Xan’s nerves, his alpha instincts going on alert: danger, pain, suffering—and yes, sex—was to be had here. He could smell it. He gazed around at the vast room, divided into different sections and overrun with men.
This must be where all the alphas of Virona congregated at night. Between the upstairs and the down, how could there be any left at home with their omegas and their families?
Speaking of, there were no omegas in this room. Alphas only. That was evident at once and brought home by the sign across the back wall: OMEGAS FORBIDDEN. And in smaller letters: due to the danger of alpha expression in their presence.
“They’ll fight—and not by the rules of competition, sir,” the concierge said under his breath, noticing the direction of Xan’s gaze. “No one wants to lose in front of their omega.”
Urho nodded and loosened his tie.
The air was humid and thick. Half the room was dedicated to boxing and wrestling rings, and the other half to punching bags and weights. There were seats set up in front of one ring, as though for an audience, but they remained empty at the moment.
Alphas prowled the room in tight shorts and shirts that exposed their ripped, muscled arms and sweaty shoulders. They punched and kicked sand-filled bags, and, in the rings, each other. Some wrestled on a mat in the corner, and another group of men were helping each other lift bars of heavy weights.
Xan’s mouth went dry and his balls grew heavy. The scent of so many alphas in the room was thrilling and dangerous. He cleared his throat and looked up at Urho, who was watching him with an expression of amusement.
The concierge went on conspiratorially, “Of course, there is gambling to be had here as well, if that’s your poison.” He motioned at a large chalkboard with names and bets next to each one. Xan spotted Janus’s name listed, though marked as absent for the evening’s event. Other names were listed under the Virona Gentlemen’s Club Wrestling team, and most were marked as present, and several had quite high odds next to their names. Another board for a visiting team was up as well, and a young man with strong arms was chalking in the names of the members in attendance.
“I take it there’s going to be a series of bouts tonight?” Urho asked, nodding at the chalkboards.
“Yes, indeed. For future reference, there are gym clothes for rent here in the locker rooms, if you gentlemen would like to partake in any of the activities.” He nodded toward doors on the left-hand side of the room marked with drawings of the male form.
Xan would rather die than come here amongst all these muscular alphas and take off his clothes. He was small and wiry enough, and definitely not ashamed of his body. He had no reason to be, given the way Urho seemed to want him, but he also didn’t want to chance getting hard in public, or being teased for his size.
“However, the gym is going to be closing shortly for the main events,” the concierge said apologetically. “So there’s no time for that tonight. However, you really should stay and watch. It’s quite a show.”
Xan followed Urho’s lead and undid his tie in the heat of the room, and then met Urho’s eyes. He seemed open to the idea. Xan swallowed hard, images of sweaty alphas grappling already filling his mind. “When does it begin?”
“Oh, you’ll have plenty of time for dinner beforehand, just as you planned. The first pair will start in an hour.”
“Is it quite violent?” Urho asked, his hand falling on Xan’s shoulder and squeezing.
Xan leaned back into his palm and then had to steady himself with Urho suddenly removed it. It was wise, of course. They couldn’t be seen as anything other than friends in public, and especially here. What would men like these do if they knew?
“Oh, quite violent, sir! But the tournaments are fun to observe from the safety of the seats around the ring,” the concierge said, smiling. “I’m pleased to say our wrestling team is quite good. Though we are missing a very talented member tonight—Janus Heelies. Not only a fine businessman, from what I’ve overheard, but an excellent wrestler.” The concierge leaned close and whispered, “He fights dirty, but you didn’t hear it from me.”
Urho chuckled and said, “You hear a lot, don’t you,” just as Xan muttered snidely, “Oh, I’d believe that.”
The concierge ignored Urho’s comment and turned to Xan. “You know the young man, then?”
“Too well.”
“I see.” The concierge smiled again, ingratiating and a little too smarmy for his own good. “Well, as I said, our team is quite talented. Tonight we face off against the team from Blue Vein. They come all the way from the city.”
“Oh my,” Urho said, and he managed to sound impressed instead of amused. But the twinkle in his eye gave it away.
“Indeed. They’re our biggest rivals and I expect the room will be packed tonight. Why don’t we go ahead and reserve two of the seats near the front for you?”
Urho and Xan agreed, and the concierge led them up the stairs again. “You have reservations for dinner in the Sea View dining room?”
“Yes,” Xan confirmed.
“Excellent. It’s the only mixed room in the club. We allow anyone from the community to dine with us, of course. So long as they can afford to pay.”
Xan gestured for Urho to follow the concierge first into the dining room offering a wide view of the ocean. The tables were only half full. There were several tables of alphas, a few beta couples, and a good number of alpha and omega couples, including some Erosgapé—obvious from the way they were so absorbed in one another. However, compared to the activity in the games room and the gymnasium, it felt nearly empty. Obviously, the dining room was not the main draw of the club, despite its fantastic reputation for excellent cuisine.
“What a view,” Urho murmured.
“We should invite Rosen and Yosef up,” Xan said, once they were seated by the window, facing out to the sea. “After the baby is born, of course. And then we could all come out to dinner here and stay to watch a brawl.”
“If Vale leaves that baby with a caretaker for more than five minutes during the first year, I’ll be shocked,” Urho said, laughing as he took a menu from the waiter who had come to serve them. “But otherwise, I think that’s a fine plan.”
They settled into their seats and chose a bottle of wine. After ordering their meals, Xan smiled and said, “Caleb thought we should take this opportunity to talk.”
“About anything in particular?”
“I think about ourselves. He’s worried we aren’t getting to know each other.”
Urho’s smile was filthy as he whispered, “I’m getting to know you very well, in all kinds of interesting and intimate ways.”
The waiter showed up again with the wine at that moment, and Xan was able to take a second to collect himself, hiding his arousal with his napkin. After the waiter left, Xan said, “Caleb says truly knowing someone comes from more than that.”
“I’ve watched you for two years now, at parties, during our beach trips, over dinner at Vale and Jason’s house, and now I see you here in your home. I’ve watched the way you treat your friends, your servants, and your omega. I’ve observed you put on a show to hide the tenderest parts of yourself from the casual eye. And now I’ve seen you in bed—your vulnerability, and your passion. How should I know you better?”
Xan grabbed his glass wine and took a large sip. He almost couldn’t swallow around the gratitude welling up inside his chest. “I don’t know,” he finally murmured. “I feel the same. But Caleb says we should be friends first and foremost.”
“That sounds like good advice. Aren’t we friends?”
“Yes.”
“And more than friends?”
“Yes,” Xan said, his cock twitching dangerously beneath the napkin.
Urho leaned closer, his white teeth so compelling against his dark skin. “Is there something you feel like you need to know about me before you can trust in what we’re building?”
The fact that they were building something was dizzying. And to
o good to be true. Aside from that, though…
Xan thought carefully, sipping his wine and staring out at the dark, rough sea. “I’ve never seen you angry. Upset, yes. Maybe that day when you came to my house after…well, when I was hurt. You were stressed, confused—”
“Afraid. I was beyond afraid.”
Xan swallowed hard. “For me?”
“Yes, I was afraid for you, obviously, but I was also terrified of what my reaction meant. What it said…about me.” Urho’s voice was calm now, a soothing, low tone that gave no indication of the man who’d been so bewildered.
“You don’t seem afraid anymore.”
“I should be,” Urho said, glancing over his shoulder, clearly checking that, yes, the closest table to them was still several feet away. “But when I’m with you, I forget about all of that.”
“That’s dangerous.”
“Only in public,” Urho said, relaxing back into his seat with a shrug. “And we’ll be smart. Keep our hands to ourselves.”
“Of course.”
It irked Xan, though, to look around the dining room. He saw omega and alpha couples canoodling in a corner, or beta couples holding hands at the table, and even one set of omegas hugging each other on the sofa near the far wall. How unfair that he would always be afraid to act naturally with Urho in public for fear of devastating repercussions.
“Virona is probably safer than the city,” Urho said. “The culture of northern seaside towns is more relaxed and people are accustomed to tourists coming through, bringing with them other ways and beliefs. But obviously we’ll be as discreet as possible. We don’t want to risk ourselves—or Caleb’s safety.”
Xan nodded and smiled tightly as the waiter returned with their meals. He found the flavor was a bit dull with the taste of regret fresh in his mouth. “If I’d been born an omega…” he started, but Urho put a hand over his and squeezed briefly before letting go.
“There are things we can’t change. Riki is gone. You’re not an omega. The sky is blue. Water wet.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “It doesn’t change my feelings for you; my lust or affection, either one. I want you just the way you are.”
Xan couldn’t help but want to turn the words “lust and affection” into love, but he knew that was a word that only came with time. Many Érosgápe didn’t even use it for the first many months or even years of their relationship, despite quite obviously being in love. He still remembered the first time Vale said it to Jason, well after they’d contracted. Jason had been flying high for weeks after.
Yes, it was a good bit too early to think about declarations of love.
“I feel the same way,” Xan said, smiling softly and taking a sip of his wine.
Urho turned back to his steak and lobster plate. “Is there anything you want to know about me? I’m happy to fill in blanks for you.”
Xan tilted his head. “I know who you are—what kind of person, I mean. But I don’t know a lot about your life before I met you. Why did you go into the military? Why didn’t you just become a doctor immediately?”
“I wasn’t born into wealth like you and Jason. I came into it via Riki when we contracted. Before that, I had to scrape and save. The military was the best option for me after I left school and before I met Riki. It trained me in the virtues of self-discipline, which I still sorely lack when it comes to you, and it paid for my physician’s training. The war itself was horrific, and I’ll spare you details, mainly for my own sake. There aren’t a lot of memories there that I like to dredge up.”
Xan nodded, eating his steak and fussing with the salad he’d ordered.
“I met Riki while I was still enlisted. It was a surprise, as all Érosgápe bonds tend to be, and I can’t say his parents were impressed with me. In the end, his father didn’t live to see Riki die, and his pater succumbed to cancer not long after.”
“I’m sorry.”
Urho frowned. “It was a dark time. I don’t know how I survived it. Eventually, I learned to go on. But I didn’t let go.” He took a long swallow from his glass before meeting Xan’s eyes. “But maybe it’s time I consider how to do that.”
“Letting go of Riki would be impossible, wouldn’t it? He completed you as only one other person in the whole world could. I’m not going to replace him.”
“You do understand,” Urho said, squeezing Xan’s hand again. “I don’t want you to replace him. But holding on doesn’t take me anywhere new, does it? You, though… With you, I could go somewhere different. A fresh journey to close out my life.”
“You’re not that old!”
“I’m good deal older than you. It’s better to accept that now so you can plan for it when you need to.”
“Do you see us together that long?” Xan asked, his heart leaping with hope.
“I don’t see why we wouldn’t be, if we learn how to manage the taboo nature of our relationship and want to accept the risks of it indefinitely.”
Xan swallowed hard, his hope a fluttering, twittering thing. “I do. I want that.”
Urho smiled. “Right now you do, but you’re young. As I age, things may change. I might not be able to satisfy—”
“Stop. I’ve never had something like this in my life. Don’t take it away from me before I even get a chance to enjoy it.”
“Then let’s enjoy this dinner instead.”
Xan agreed with a smile. He was quite content with their friendship. Later he’d tell Caleb that he and Urho had more in common than perfect fucks—though, the sex was so good, Xan would have been entirely content to let that be the end all and be all of their relationship. It was beyond lucky that it didn’t have to be.
Xan had never imagined he could be so truly happy.
Afterwards, they entered the gymnasium again, Urho saying, “When I was in the military, of course we held wrestling matches for entertainment, but it’s been a long time since I saw one.”
The chairs they’d reserved waited for them, despite the now-overflowing room. It seemed all the men from the upper floors had descended for the wrestling. The crowd paced the back of the space and the sides. Urho and Xan took their seats, eager for the matches to start.
“Interested in placing a bet?” Urho asked, nodding to the chalkboard, which was now covered in numbers and names.
Xan shook his head. “Father would think even less of me if I took up gambling. I’ll leave that to Janus. He’s the golden one in the family and can seem to do no wrong in Father’s eyes, even while doing plenty of wrong in the eyes of society. But never mind. I’ll leave that aside for now. Let’s just pretend that the only reason I’m not betting is that I have no idea who to put money on.”
Urho grinned and shrugged. “Not much of a betting man, either. Riki used to bet on horses, though.”
“Did he win?”
Urho laughed heartily. “No, he lost like a fiend, but he loved it so much I didn’t want to tell him to stop. He was always hopeful, and then so disappointed every time. Comforting him was worth whatever he lost. It was his money anyway.”
“He sounds like a fun man.”
“He was quiet, actually,” Urho said, knocking Xan’s shoulder. “Nothing like you. But his smile made my heart sing.” Then he looked at Xan again. “So maybe a little like you after all.”
Xan’s own heart soared on the praise. To be compared in any way favorably to Urho’s Érosgápe was the highest compliment he could imagine. He grinned up at Urho, pleasure suffusing him from head to toe.
“Yes,” Urho murmured. “Exactly like that.” He touched his chest and winked. “It’s singing.”
A whistle called the crowd’s attention to the ring, and Xan laughed happily, his joy rushing louder than the announcement of the first two contenders. The Virona man wasn’t familiar to Xan from his dealings setting up the new office, nor was the Blue Vein competitor from the city, but he took notice that the crowd cheered rousingly for both.
“This should be good,” Urho said, leaning forward in his seat and
gazing toward the ring with interest.
The match was quick. The Blue Vein competitor kicked the pants off the Virona man. Still, the moments between the bell and the call of victory had been thrilling. Man on man, grappling with effort, rolling around on the raised mat with hard panting breaths and flexing muscles.
Xan’s cock had woken again. He couldn’t help but imagine Urho pinning him like that as he struggled. How the ending might go differently between the two of them, especially if they were naked.
“Enjoy that?” Urho whispered in his ear, and Xan shivered happily.
“Yes.”
“I thought so.”
“The rug in my room is pretty big,” Xan said softly, turning to Urho and pressing against his side recklessly. “We could try it for ourselves. You could teach me a thing or two.”
“I could,” Urho agreed. “And we could do some boxing in the garden too. Less grappling. More tactical.”
Xan nodded and sat back in his seat, breaking the sweet contact of their arms and torsos. That’s when Xan saw him.
His heart stuttered and stopped for a long, wretched second and then thundered hard.
Standing by the ring, wearing the uniform of the Blue Vein Wrestling Club, and grinning right at Xan like a predator who’d spotted his prey, was Wilbet Monhundy. His muscled arms and powerful thighs were on display in the tight, Blue Vein wrestling uniform, and his cruel smile sent a horrible convulsion through Xan.
Monhundy looked at Urho significantly, raised a brow, and sneered at Xan, shaking his head in disgust. Xan went cold all over.
Urho leaned close again to explain some of the finer points of the next competitor’s backgrounds as outlined in the pamphlet handed out at the door. Xan wanted to shove him away, keep him safe from Monhundy’s knowing gaze, but he didn’t want to react at all either. He held as still as possible, but an urge to stand and run, a strangled need to flee, made him squirm in his seat.
