Page 105 of Alpha Heat
“Xan…” Jason said tenderly. “I didn’t mean… Look, you know what I’m saying is basically true.”
Urho suspected it wasentirelytrue. After all, Jason knew Xan’s family well and interacted with his father and pater even more often than Xan did these days. He had every reason to have a good grip on the family dynamics.
Just then, Zephyr stalked into the dining room and sniffed the air delicately before turning around and marching right back out. Urho realized he hadn’t seen her in days. Xan probably envied her ability to disappear whenever things got uncomfortable for her. No doubt he’d love to crawl into a hidey-hole somewhere right about now.
But Jason was right—at least about Xan needing to go see his pater and brother. Fantasies of escape must be pushed aside. The all-too-real world demanded he step up into it.
“Pater always said that if Father found out or suspected the truth about me there’d be hell to pay for both of us,” Xan whispered from behind his fists. “And he was right. He gave us both hell to pay by keeping us apart this year.”
“So what? You’re a grown alpha now,” Jason said. The future father in him was easy to see in his determined face. “Take it from me—our parents think they know what’s best for us long after they no longer actually do.”
Xan stopped hiding. “What do you recommend then, oh Mighty One of Great Knowledge? Just show up on the doorstep and hope Joon lets me in?”
“Yes! Take charge of this situation and your life.” Jason was getting fired up now, and he leaned forward over his food, his eyes bright and his voice ringing with certainty. “Show up on their doorstep and demand to be let in. You’re Xan Heelies, Doxan’s heir and only alpha son. You have rights. For wolf-god’s sake, demand them!”
Xan swallowed again, but this time his chin came up. He met Urho’s gaze, and Urho nodded at him. Jason was correct. Xan had rights.
“Go see your pater,” Jason said more gently. “If he gets better, then no harm is done beyond enraging your father. Hey, you do that easily enough without even trying.” Jason’s voice went even softer, and yet the sobering possibility attached to his words surely dug into every heart at the table. “If your pater doesn’t get better, then you didn’t miss your chance.”
Vale rubbed his stomach and frowned down at it. Urho was familiar with that look from his years of dealing with pregnant omegas. Vale was no doubt wondering who, exactly, was growing in his body, and what grief this child might cause him in the future. Urho hated to break it to him, but there was no way to tell. It was part of life’s ever-evolving mystery.
His own father and pater, both religious and devout, would be horrified by what he did with and felt for Xan. He was no doubt far from the offspring they’d hoped for when he’d grown in his pater’s stomach. That was the way of life.
“You make it sound so easy,” Xan said, shoving his plate away. “I’d be risking Father’s wrath, which isn’t an easy thing to endure. Not only that, but I’d be risking losing my inheritance entirely. He’s threatened already to give it over to Janus. Look, I’ve been banned from visiting the city and specifically banned from coming to see pater and Ray.”
“Oh? Did he tell you himself today on the phone?” Vale asked quietly. “That you’ve been banned from these places and people?”
“No. He passed it through his assistant.”
Vale’s lips twitched into a devious smirk. “Obviously there’s been a misunderstanding. All you heard from the assistant was that your pater and Ray were very sick. You thought you were wanted in the cityimmediately.”
Xan’s lips quirked up. “Maybe, but then his assistant would never hear the end of it. I’d think more highly of myself it I did the way Jason advises. Chin up. Demanding my rights.” Then he laughed bitterly. “But let’s be honest. I’m Xan Heelies. Unmanned coward, so I’ll probably do it Vale’s way instead.”
“You’re brave,” Urho said gruffly. “The bravest one at this table.”
“I told you,” Vale whispered to Urho, his dark brow raised.
“So you did,” Urho conceded.
“Look,” Jason said, sighing heavily. “I know that you’re scared, but in the end your father isn’t going to have you arrested for unnatural inclinations. He might find a way to disinherit you without taking it before the Church and courts, but I doubt it. Those laws are pretty tight. Even if he does go that far, without proof or witnesses you wouldn’t be arrested.”
“Just outcast,” Xan said.
“Well, your life would be yours, won’t it? I’m perfectly happy living in Vale’s house on Oak Avenue, and we’re going to bring our baby home there. I want to raise him in that house where Vale grew up.”
Vale made a soft noise of surprise. “You do?”
Jason nodded. “That’s important to me.” He looked back to Xan. “You have this house in your own name, in the trust from you pater’s father. You could live here. Or if you can’t find a way to afford the upkeep, you could sell it and you and Caleb could live well enough on the proceeds. My father would give you a job. You’ve done such good work on the office here. You could help open a satellite facility for Sabel Industries too.”
“Your father would hire me? If I was known to be unmanned?”
“My father ignores rumors like that so long as the work gets done.” Jason tilted his head earnestly. “All I’m saying is that you aren’t without resources and friends. You could survive the loss of your family’s money. And maybe you’d even be happier without it, Xan. If you could live honestly.”
“And be true to who and how you love,” Vale murmured, giving Urho a significant look.
Urho felt suddenly tongue-tied. “And… Well, obviously no matter what happens with your father, I’d never let you go without. Never.”
Xan swallowed thickly. His eyes shone with love, and emotion swelled in Urho as well.
