by Leta Blake
“Shh, I’m listening,” Urho hushed again. He moved the stethoscope down to press against Vale’s belly.
Jason radiated impatience.
Urho had seemed anxious lately, Vale had noticed. He didn’t think it was about him or the baby. In fact, it seemed tied to Xan’s move to Virona. That, along with Jason’s random hints, made Vale fairly sure that Urho and Xan had entered into a relationship of the most taboo kind.
Jason huffed. “You’ve been listening a long time. Is there a problem?”
Urho shot him a glare, closed his eyes, and counted softly under his breath. Then he sat back on his heels. “The babe is getting along just fine, but Vale’s blood pressure and heart rate are elevated. He’s stressed.”
“He’s right here,” Vale said testily, shifting on the sofa. His stomach had grown a lot over the prior weeks, and he could feel the child moving inside him. “I don’t like being talked about like I’m not present. I’m a grown man, for wolf-god’s own fucking sake.”
Jason clucked gently, stroking a soothing hand over Vale’s arm. “Don’t get upset. It’s not good for the baby.”
Vale glared at Jason irritably.
Jason swallowed hard and looked down, whispering, “But, of course, we’ll stop. Right away. I promise.”
Vale groaned and rubbed his bulging, shifting stomach. “Is it normal for him to do that?” he asked, referring to the baby. He knew it was normal for Jason to be overprotective. All alphas were. “He head-butts my ribs and then pushes with his feet against the mouth of my womb.”
“Perfectly normal.”
“Well, I wish he’d stop!”
Jason rubbed Vale’s shoulders and kissed his head.
“It’s preparation for the life to come,” Urho said. “Children rarely do what we wish they’d do. And, from what I’ve witnessed, their growth into adulthood is never without pain to the parent.”
Vale sniffed and closed his eyes. “That’s all fine and well, but I’m tired.”
“I can prescribe something gentle to help you rest.”
“Please do,” Jason said, his fingers kneading into Vale’s shoulders in a light massage. “He was up walking last night. Nothing soothed him. Not even his usual bedtime tea—the one with the herbs that make him drowsy.”
“Speaking of,” Vale said, as pulled away from Jason’s fingers and buttoned his shirt. “I want some tea. Daytime tea. Something strong and well steeped. Jason, will you get it, please?”
Jason rose, obviously reluctant to leave Vale’s side, but like any alpha, he was also prepared to do whatever his pregnant omega demanded of him. This Vale counted on because he wanted a few minutes with Urho alone.
The doorbell rang.
Vale growled, almost pulling off the final button in his annoyance. “If that’s your pater or father, I will murder them both. Do you hear me? Murder. Them. Both.”
Jason bent to run his fingers over Vale’s dark beard, whispering, “If it’s them, I’ll tell them to leave. I promise.” Then he rushed off as the doorbell rang a second time.
Urho began to gather his things. “I’ll get out of your hair, too.”
“You never come over anymore except to examine me,” Vale complained. He never thought he’d say it, but resting on the sofa all day, reading books and eating the food Jason had left behind for him grew a little dull. He’d been accustomed to teaching at least two units a day at the university and seeing his friends a night or two a week. Now he just saw his annoying in-laws.
“I come here every day.” Urho buckled his bag and sat on the sofa next to Vale, a knowing smile on his face. “But I can stay awhile if you want.”
Restlessness rose up in Vale, and he stood to pace. The baby rolled and kicked, visible even beneath Vale’s loose shirt. “He moves around so much,” Vale said, rubbing a hand over his stomach. “Is that normal?”
“Better than normal. It’s a good sign.”
“I can’t stop eating. Sometimes I eat so much, I can’t put any more in, but I’m still hungry.”
“Another excellent sign.”
“And everyone just pisses me the wolf-hell off.”
“Normal enough,” Urho said with a sympathetic smile. “You’re uncomfortable, and the weight of the baby is putting a strain on the scar tissue now. That’s enough to make anyone cranky.”
Vale glanced toward the doorway out to the hallway and sighed. “Jason is adorable.”
“I’ve heard that from you before, yes,” Urho said.
“But he’s making me crazy!” Vale gestured emphatically to make his point. “Eat this. Drink that. Sleep more. Let me rub your feet. Don’t tax yourself. Let’s read together.” He snorted. “Read together. Read together!”
Urho raised a brow. “Did Jason not read before?”
“No! He has a photographic memory, and so he just skims books. “Vale was rather proud of his baby alpha for that trait, but still… “No, he doesn’t read. Unless I read to him.”
“I see.”
Vale didn’t like the judgment he heard in Urho’s voice. Jason might not be much of a reader, but he was a very good alpha, very smart. The best of all men. “He tinkers. Out in the garden, mostly. Or with his microscope.” Vale groaned. “But now he’s glued to my side. Plus, he smells amazing to me. Like my alpha, yes, but I scent him even more strongly.”
“This is normal.”
“This leaves me aroused all the time.” Vale threw his hands wide. “All the time, Urho!”
“I know but—”
“No but! Being aroused all the time is exhausting. Let me tell you this now. Are you listening?”
“Yes.”
“I am getting ridiculously tired of being fisted every day.”
Urho’s lips quivered. “I told him to do that.”
“I know.” Vale crossed his arms over his chest and snarled at Urho. “Tell him to stop.”
Urho sighed. “Love, it’s important that you keep stretching that scar tissue. It’s going to be a tough few months, but in the end, you’ll have a beautiful baby, and it will be worth it.”
“I know all that!” Vale exclaimed. Then it hit him. The pet name Urho had used… He turned to Urho speculatively. “Wait, though. Should you still call me that?”
“What?”
“Love? Should you call me a pet name like that?” Vale tilted his head, waiting, certain that this line of questioning would produce interesting results.
“If it bothers you, I can st—”
“No. I don’t care, but does Xan mind, do you think?” He raised a brow, studying Urho’s reaction.
Urho frowned. “I’ve called you ‘love’ for years—”
“Not when Jason’s around.”
Urho scoffed. “Because I don’t have a death wish.”
“So, what you have with Xan, it’s not…” Vale rolled his hand, watching Urho closely.
“Nickname material?” Urho hazarded.
“No!” Vale ran a hand into his hair and tugged in frustration, growling softly. How could Urho be so obtuse? “Is it not serious, you fool? What you have isn’t serious?”
“I have no idea what it is.” Urho wiped a hand over his face. “I haven’t seen him since he left for Virona. Between the twins, you, and this wretched flu season, I’ve barely had a moment, much less a day, away from the clinic or work. And he can’t come here. He’s ‘banished’ from the city, according to him. At least the work on his new office seems to satisfy him because otherwise, I’d worry.”
“Jason talks to him.”
“I talk to him, too,” Urho said defensively.
Yes! This was what he wanted to know! This would be entertaining! Vale dropped his voice conspiratorially. “How often?”
“Daily,” Urho admitted. His cheeks glowed.
“I see. So, it’s not serious, but you talk every day, and you miss him. I can tell.” Urho was such a fool. But Vale already knew that. He resisted rubbing his hands together eagerly.
“I didn’t s
ay it wasn’t serious. I said it’s complicated.”
“You said you didn’t know what it was.”
“You’re so exasperating today!” Urho started to stand, but Vale took hold of his shoulders and pressed him back down to the sofa.
“You have to tell me everything. Now.”
“It’s a long story, and it’s been a long day.”
Vale rolled his eyes. “I’m a miserably pregnant omega who is essentially trapped in this house by the flu epidemic and tortured daily by the attentions of my loving in-laws. Please talk to me.”
Urho gave a quick half-smile and then cast a glance toward the liquor cabinet across the room. That was an excellent idea. The truth would come out of him more smoothly with a bit of bourbon.
“I’ll pour you a drink if you tell me how it all began.” Vale crossed the room and lifted the bottle temptingly.
“I found out that he was involved…” Urho trailed off. “He was in a dangerous situation. So, I offered to fuck him, like a surrogate for an omega.”
Vale almost choked laughing. That was…that was more than he’d expected to Urho to give. He almost whooped, but instead, after pouring a generous glass, he collapsed beside Urho on the sofa and passed the bourbon over with a grin. “I see.”
Damn, he was good.
Urho sipped the bourbon before going on. “I didn’t anticipate how that turned out.”
“Oh, I imagine you didn’t.” Vale was utterly delighted. This was the most exciting thing he’d heard in weeks. Someone else’s dramas were so much more entertaining than his own.
Urho rolled his shoulders and took another swallow. “I hadn’t realized that it would become something so…”
“Different?”
“More.”
Vale leaned back on the sofa, grinning, with his hand on his bulging stomach. “Ah, then you’re still the idiot I’ve always known and loved.”
“I wanted to believe that what I was offering was no different than helping an omega in heat, but in reality, it was nothing like that at all.”
“It was forbidden,” Vale supplied, the rush of the taboo thrilling him vicariously. “Which is definitely different.”
“Yes, but—” Urho squirmed on the sofa like an embarrassed child. An odd look for a man of his size and muscle mass.
“But?” Vale prompted.
“He reminds me of Riki.”
That was the last thing Vale had anticipated hearing. “I thought Riki was a paragon of gentleness and obedience. Something Xan is decidedly not.”
“Riki was. No, Xan isn’t like him in that way at all.” Urho scrubbed a hand over his head. “I meant the way I feel about him reminds me of Riki. The way I react to his scent and the way I want to…”
Vale sat up straighter. “Yes?”
“The way I want to own him.”
“Oh, dear friend,” Vale whispered, putting a hand on Urho’s shoulder. “I suppose that must have shocked your old-fashioned, traditional soul nearly to death.”
“I keep telling you. I’m not old-fashioned. If anything should prove it and put a nail in that coffin, I’d think it would be this situation.” Urho smiled wryly. “I admit I did lose my mind at first.”
“After you’d…” Vale made a lewd gesture that meant “fucked.”
Urho grimaced. “No. Before I made the offer to him, I was in a state—overwrought, afraid, and angry. I wanted to protect him and shake him. I wanted to…” He trailed off. “Once I settled on the idea of acting as a surrogate for him, everything seemed to click into place. I was able to make peace with it.”
“Well, you always did have a hero kink,” Vale said. “I think that was half your attraction for me.”
“No.” Urho shook his head in denial.
Vale wasn’t going to argue with him about it. Well, not much. “Oh, maybe our relationship eventually became more than heroism to you. But at first, you were my surrogate during heats because you wanted to save me from ever being in a dangerous position again. And then we became lovers outside the heats…and, yes. I’ll concede that was based more on friendship and fun than on heroism gone awry. But that was where it had started.”
He knew Urho would leave that discussion behind, either because it was still painful for him, or because he knew it was fruitless to hash out. And he was right. Urho began speaking of Xan again. “It’s wrong, though. Two alphas. It’s against the Holy Book and the law. How do I reconcile that it feels so right?”
“I think you’re smart enough to know the answer to that.” Vale flicked him a harsh glance. “The laws and Holy Books are all about control. But hearts are wild things. They can’t be controlled no matter how much those in power wish it.”
The child growing in his belly was proof of that. No amount of control would have stopped Jason’s love taking root inside of him. Somewhere, deep inside, he’d come to believe that what had happened was destined, just like their bond.
“It’s an obstacle,” Urho mused, his mind clearly still occupied by thoughts of Xan. “We can never truly be together.”
“Plus, there’s Caleb.”
Urho chuckled. “Yes, Caleb. Who is strangely accepting of all this.”
Vale nodded. “Contracted relationships aren’t like Érosgápe. I’m sure he has his reasons for being content with the arrangement.” He’d heard the rumors about Caleb. Omegas gossiped, and there was a lot of gossip about when it came to someone as beautiful as Caleb Riggs waiting as late as he did to contract.
Urho tilted his head. “You know.”
“I know what?”
Urho cocked his head, and Vale widened his eyes, all innocence. He might listen to gossip and rumors, but he didn’t spread them around himself. At least not very often.
“Caleb is special.”
“I think he’s a wonderful man and Xan is lucky to have him.” Vale shifted back with a grunt, rubbing his stomach. “Good wolf-god above, this child! He never rests.”
“When he’s bigger, he’ll have less room to move around. So, he’ll slow down.”
Vale frowned at his stomach, imagining the terror that would come when that happened. “Then I’ll panic and rejoice every time he makes himself known. I’ve heard as much from Miner.”
“Miner’s driving you up a wall, is he?”
“They both are. They’d put me in a glass cage if they could and feed me only the freshest fruit and vegetables straight from golden tongs.”
“Interesting image.”
Vale sighed and rubbed his bulge again. “So, with all that out on the table, indulge me some more. What’s the plan now? How will you proceed with this relationship—is that even the term for what you have? And how are you coping with all of this time apart?”
“I’m not sure. Making plans is difficult because his cousin, Janus, an alpha with a reputation for seducing contracted omegas, has been sent there to spy on Xan. Or so he believes.”
“Oh, I can believe it.” Vale rolled his eyes. “Xan’s father is a controlling man from what I’ve seen and all I’ve heard.” Memories of ugly behavior at various social functions flashed through his mind.
“Yes. Well, Xan wishes he could get away from Virona to meet me halfway in Montrew, but he’s so busy with his work. And I’m busy here, of course. Plus, his father has put the kibosh on Xan traveling anywhere near the city during this flu epidemic, and his cousin is there to enforce it.”
“Jason didn’t tell me about that. What if you went up to see him for a few days?”
“He says even if I did find a way to get up there, we wouldn’t have any time alone. Not with his cousin keeping such a close eye on him.”
Vale scoffed. “You could be inconspicuous.”
“Perhaps.” Urho rubbed a hand over his forehead.
“Don’t be such a coward.”
“What?”
If Urho didn’t make a move, then he was sure to lose Xan or talk himself out of pursuing a taboo relationship with him. For some reason he only vaguely under
stood as love for both of his friends, Vale didn’t want that to happen. “Surely you could find someone to look after the omega who is pregnant with twins? And we could engage another doctor—just for a day or so. What’s really stopping you?”
Urho’s shoulders drew up. “This flu contagion is growing in proportions that frighten me. The omega expecting twins and his alpha have decided it’s too risky to stay in town. They’re heading west to Elinton for the rest of his pregnancy.”
“Perfect.” Vale snapped his fingers. “When they’re gone, you should go up and stay with Xan.”
“I could, but—”
At that moment, Jason entered with a stack of mail and a tray of tea. He looked adorably flustered, and Vale’s heart went all gooey at the sight of him. Really, it was ridiculous, and yet he wouldn’t change it for the world.
“The door was only the postman. He was coughing up a storm. Ugly wracking coughs. I’m not sure he shouldn’t be home.” Jason nodded at the envelopes. “Out in this cold weather with a cough like that, he’ll catch his death, as my father would say. And all for a stack of junk mail and fliers.”
“Go wash your hands,” Urho said gruffly, standing up. “And burn that mail.”
Jason paled and stared down at the offending papers like he held a murder weapon in his hands. “The flu.”
“Do what I said,” Urho commanded.
Jason fled the room, and an acidic taste flooded Vale’s mouth. He didn’t know what he’d do if something happened to Jason. “Do you think he’ll get sick?”
“I hope not. For your sake. The real danger, though, is if you get sick.”
That didn’t mollify Vale in the least. “I heard rumors that this flu is bad enough that some young people are dying from it. A boy just last week—younger than Jason, healthy and hale, and then he was gone.”
