Page 10 of Slow Heat
“I see Jason hasn’t told you much about his omega.” He ran his hand over his shiny dome. “Mr. Sabel, Mr. Hoff, your son’s omega is not from this year’s crop—”
“Next year’s?” Pater said quietly. “So young!”
“No, Miner,” Father said, obviously putting the pieces together. “He’s older than Jason.”
“Oh!” Pater frowned. “Then he should know better than to be on campus. How did he ever get in?”
“Vale Aman is a professor here,” Chancellor Rory said, raising his eyebrows and letting that sink in. “He’s thirty-five. Well past the expected imprinting age. He never found hisÉrosgápe.” He shrugged and pulled air through his teeth. “Assumptions were made.” He flicked his gaze to Jason. “It’s an unusual situation. We’d assumed Vale’s alpha was dead or otherwise incapable of finding his omega. Professor Aman has lived alone as an uncontracted omega for nearly fourteen years.”
“Wolf-god, what a mess,” Father whispered, pinching his fingers between his eyes and sighing.
“He’s healthy?” Pater asked.
“Quite. As far as I know. Never missed a class outside of heats and always available for students and other professors alike. Intelligent. Educated. Fantastic work ethic.” He clucked his teeth. “That will have to change, obviously. A newly imprinted alpha isn’t going to react well to his omega teaching classrooms full of virile young competition. Vale will need to make arrangements, and so will the school. I’ll be down a professor.”
“You say that like it’s Jason’s fault,” Father said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Everyone knows imprinting between alpha and omega carries no fault. If we’re lucky, we find ourÉrosgápe. If we’re not, we settled for a contract, or go single in the world. It’s as simple as that.” He sighed. “I do fear for Jason. His omega has been on his own for quite some time. It won’t be easy to bring him to heel. And Jason’s so young, unschooled on control…”
Father’s eyes narrowed. “Does this Vale Aman have ties to omega freedom groups?”
The chancellor shrugged. “I have no idea. But I do know Vale is a fiercely independent man. It’s going to be a challenge no matter what.”
Pater’s eyebrows furrowed as he peered at Jason with worry. “Did he seem resistant?”
Jason shivered, his mind trying to encapsulate the way Vale had at first fought him, then subdued him, and finally cooperated with the law, but words failed him. His omega had been perfect, doing everything just the way he should have. Jason was the one who’d screwed up.
“He was surprised,” Xan said. “But law abiding.” He handed over the slip of paper with Vale’s information to Father. “He said he’d wait to hear from you and Mr. Hoff.”
Pater brushed his fingers over Jason’s cheek again and whispered, “Don’t worry. It’s going to be okay.”
“I’ve spoken with Vale,” Chancellor Rory said. “He’s at home, where he plans to stay until the police take his statement. Speaking of, they should be here soon for Jason and Xan’s.”
Jason’s bladder ached after the many glasses of water he’d had since arriving at the university health clinic. His head was clearer than it had been since he’d first scented Vale, and he stood slowly on shaky legs to go take a leak.
Pater followed him like he was a toddler again, one hand on his elbow to keep him steady. Father was at Pater’s side, watchinghim, and Jason huffed a laugh at the little trio of protectiveness they made together.
After he pissed and washed his hands, he got dressed slowly in the clothes he’d been wearing before arriving at the clinic. There was a slight tinge of his omega’s scent lingering on the fabric, but he girded himself against going into another wild state. He refused to be in a doctor’s office gown when the police came for his statement, and hewouldcontrol himself. One bout of alpha madness was enough for the day. Jason assumed they had injected him with a dose of alpha quell when he arrived. That was supposed to help.
Pater stood by the window, arms crossed over his chest, looking out at the river. It flowed by the campus medical center, and Jason could make out the blue-and-gray waves with caps of white, rising and falling in the oncoming autumn wind. Pater’s shoulders rounded tiredly, but he held himself with a pride that Jason wanted for his own omega one day. Miner Hoff knew who he was, whom he lived for, and who lived for him. It gave him a steadiness even his fragile health couldn’t break.
Father stood by Jason’s bed, watching him dress. He kept his hands shoved into his pockets and tilted back on his heels. His broad shoulders stretched his shirt. “Thirty-five years old,” he whispered. “Childbirth will be problem—”
“Hush,” Pater said over his shoulder. “Not now.”
Father nodded his agreement in the way he always did when Pater made his desires explicitly known.
“The police have arrived,” the nurse said, sticking his head in the door again. “They’re checking in now.”
“Good. Let’s get this over with.”
“And let’s take Jason home right afterward,” Pater murmured. “We’ll decide how to proceed from there. Xan, you’re welcome to join us if you’d like. I’m sure Jason could use a friend.”
Xan glared at Jason from his seat by his bed. “No. I’ll go back to the dorms and field the questions there. Everyone will want to know what’s going on. Rumors will start if I don’t put the record straight.”
“If I hear later that you insulted him—”
Xan held up his hand. “I thought we trusted each other. With everything.” His brows lifted, and Jason wondered how it could have only been this morning that he’d fucked Xan and played their dangerous game together.
