Page 126 of Alpha Heat
Just as he finished buttoning his shirt, a cry of discomfort came from down the hallway. Jason jerked worriedly and clenched his fists. It was the same pained noise Vale had been making off and on for the last day. It didn’t mean anything good.
“How much longer does Vale have to endure this?” Jason demanded. “He’s in pain, Urho.”
“I know that,” Urho snapped back. “And I’ve been giving him the strongest muscle relaxer I have that won’t hurt the baby.” He searched his mind for another solution, aside from induction, coming up blank.
“He can’t sleep. He aches all the time. The baby’s shifted to a head-down position. This new thing with Caleb’s scent changing has him in fits. How much longer do we have to wait until we can induce?”
“Jason, we’ve got a dangerous flu virus at large in the house. We’ve done our best to contain it, but the baby is safer in Vale’s body than outside of it. At least until Janus either comes around or…doesn’t.”
Jason paced some more. “Vale could die if he doesn’t give birth at the right time.”
Urho took a calming breath, but jittery anxiety rode his nerves. “Stay calm. Vale is handling this pregnancy quite well.”
“You don’t listen to him cry at night!”
Urho shuddered, a shard of despair in his heart. The idea of Vale crying in pain gutted him. “It’s that bad?”
“It’s bad. And when I fist him now, he sobs. He doesn’t want it. The baby has grown big enough to make it hard to get my hand inside. I don’t know if we can wait until Janus decides if he’s going to stay on this earth or depart for wolf-god’s waiting arms.” Jason’s eyes flashed. “I’m sorry if I sound callous, but Vale is my first priority.”
“He’s high on the list for me as well.”
“Then help him!”
“I am, dammit!”
Another moan came from Vale and Jason’s room.
“I’m going to him,” Jason glared at Urho. “Do something about Caleb and that scent. I don’t know how much time he has, but it can’t be long. Send for Xan.” Then Jason softened, shoved his hair out of his face and said, “Look, you need to get him somewhere safe. What if he runs off…?” He shook his head. “Xan is counting on us to take care of him. If you need help getting him into his quarters or summoning Xan, let me know. I’m happy to help, but right now I need to go check on Vale.”
Urho scrubbed his face and waited until Jason had left the room before standing. Exhaustion and worry flooded him. He didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t been able to get through to Xan in the city, and here he was with a stubborn, frightened, grieving omega going into heat, another omega on the verge of going into labor, a sick and dying alpha, and another tense, worried alpha in fear for hisÉrosgápe’s life and the life of his unborn child.
He adjusted his heavy cock and went to close all the courtyard windows on their wing of the house. If nothing else, he’d try to prevent Jason from scenting Caleb’s time coming, and that should keep him from radiating that scent that would put Vale, as hisErosgapé, on an irrationally jealous edge.
Then he called for Ren, issued some orders, and rustled up some alpha quell from his medicine bag. He took one and then slipped a handful of them into Jason’s pocket as he went into Vale’s room to check on him. “Take as needed,” he whispered before carefully approached a very aggravated Vale where he stood looking out the window to the town below.
Jason was right. The babe was head down, in the ready position, and Vale was more uncomfortable than Urho liked to see him. He was restless and pacing, moaning off and on. If he continued on this way, there was no doubt Urho would need to administer the pills that would start labor soon. Jason could barely take Vale’s pain as it was, and the babe seemed determined.
Still, inducing now was no sure thing. The babe’s lungs were hopefully developed, but there was a chance they might not be. And Urho hadn’t been exaggerating the possible risk of contagion with Janus residing so near the house, especially with the servants who cared for him coming and going.
He considered isolating them in the detached wing, but then there was the problem of food and laundry. The only kitchen and laundry facilities were in the main house proper. Still, they scoured everything with boiling water. If they were careful, it was possible that he could go ahead and induce…
He chewed his lip as he headed towards Caleb’s room, relieved to be out of the grip of his initial lust thanks to the calm, cool slip of alpha quell in his veins. Zephyr skirted past him with a mouse between her teeth. She leapt onto a table in the hallway, overturning a glass vase of winter flowers, and stared at him with dark, challenging eyes.
“Don’t you cause problems too,” he groused at her as she proceeded to tear into her treat. He groaned, feeling sorry for Ren who was going to have to contend with the gruesome mess.
Caleb answered on the first knock. He was jumpy, scratching at his arms and chest in his white, short-sleeve V-necked shirt. He paced his room with the windows to the ocean flung wide. The air poured in, frigid enough to make Urho shudder with the chill, but Caleb seemed untouched by it.
His cheeks were flushed, and the new, delicious aroma of heat joined the mélange of Caleb’s usual odors in the room. But there was another new scent, a mouthwatering fragrance Urho had never had the opportunity to scent before—the musk of Caleb’s slick.
He groaned. Caleb smelled ripe and ready, and Urho couldn’t deny the throbbing reaction of his cock despite the alpha quell. Yes, he was quite aroused. His tongue swiped over his bottom lip as he stood in the doorway watching Caleb pace. A possessive urge struck him, familiar and hot. An alpha’s need to corner an omega in heat, get him somewhere safe, somewhere he couldn’t run off and…
He shook his head hard, trying to get his thoughts in order. He felt in his pocket for more alpha quell and took one.
“Caleb?”
Caleb stopped pacing and leaned against the opposite wall, his eyes sliding shut as he shuddered and shook. The scent of slick grew stronger, and his face twisted restlessly as he scratched at his arms. Urho knew the heat had to be pricking under his skin cruelly by the way he moved. It was coming on fast.
“Is it early?” Urho asked gruffly, crossing the room carefully so that he didn’t frighten him.
