Page 120 of Alpha Heat
Xan’s soul hardened that much more. He knew it would do no good to argue that he was, in fact, the one doing the brunt of the work while Janus played around at the gentlemen’s club, sucking up to people who may or may not ever become clients and wrestling other alphas for money.
Perhaps his father already knew all of that and consideredthatthe greater work to be done. It didn’t matter. Xan wasn’t going to give his father the satisfaction of arguing with him. Not yet.
“We also talked about the arrival of Jason Sabel and his pregnant omega. I’d say that friendship is the only thing in your life you’ve ever done right.”
Xan scoffed. If his father knew that Jason had once been his lover, he’d probably change his mind about that. Or maybe not. Perhaps the connections with the Sabel family and their estate was worth putting up with a little sexual deviance in his father’s mind.
“But apparently, they weren’t alone,” his father said in clipped tones. “An alpha came with them. A doctor.” He glared at Xan. “One Urho Chase, whom, no doubt, is the source of the medicine you gave your pater tonight.”
How his father managed to makethatsound aberrant, Xan didn’t know. He took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and lifted his chin in the face of it. He might not know anything, but he knew this: he couldn’t live like this anymore. Not for one more minute.
“I’m not afraid of you,” Xan said slowly. “I know that’s what this ‘talk’ is all about. You want me to cower like I used to, promise to stay away from pater, or swear that I’ll be a better son and heir to you. Well, I won’t. I’ve taken worse hits than you ever gave me and I did it by choice.”
His father stared at him, lips flattening and a light of disgust shining in his eyes.
At least Xan’s torture at Monhundy’s hands was good for something. It’d shown him how much pain he could take and how little he cared for a life lived according to his father’s rules. So little that he’d have let Monhundy kill him.
But no more.
Xan had something to live for now. A future promised to him by Urho and Caleb. And he wasn’t going to let anything—not his father, not his insecurities, not Urho’s deadÉrosgápe—stand in his way. He would have his home in Virona with Urho, the man he loved with all his heart. He would have his omega and friends, and he would have his children, and his pater, and his brother. And there was nothing his father could do to stop it.
He was the heir. He had rights. But so what? Perhaps he didn’t even want them.
Xan stared his father down. “If you want Janus to inherit, give it all to him. But you know what you have to do in order to see to that. You’ll have to proclaim the reasons in front of a judge and gain permission from the church. You’ll have to say aloud, in front of everyone, what you’ve spent all these years pretending you don’t know, pretending you canfix.” Spittle flew from his mouth at the last word, and Xan wiped it away with the back of his hand. He stepped closer to his father. “So if you want to do that, declare me unmanned or otherwise incompetent in front of wolf-god and all your business partners and friends, go right ahead.” He sneered. “I dare you to do it.”
“I will,” his father hissed. “You don’t want to push me.”
“Don’t I? Don’t I want to push you and push you andpush you?” He took a step forward, arms outstretched, a nearly uncontrollable urge to shove his father held back by willpower alone.
His father jolted a step back, nearly tripping over the hearth.
“Because I’m not afraid of you, Father. Not in the least. If you disinherit me, who loses the most? You. You’ll lose face and standing with everyone you know. And, worst of all, you’ll lose Pater’s respect.” He raised a brow. “You heard Pater tonight. He loves me, even if you don’t, and anything you do to harm me will hurt him. And then…” He shook his head and whispered, “Wolf-god help you.”
His father sniffed and took another swallow of his liquor, but he looked a little rattled. He ran a hand into his salt-and-pepper hair. “You’re disturbed,” he said quietly.
“You know what I think?” Xan stepped close again. “I think you still want me to inherit. You just want me to be someone else entirely when I do it. You believe you can bully me in to being that person. And that’s not going to happen.”
His father stared at him.
“Janus is the sword you dangle over my head hoping that the threat of it falling will change my fundamental nature, make me more like Ray. Make me more like Jordan, the son you’ve made up in your mind because you can, because he’s dead, and you’ll never get to know what he was really like.”
His father raised a hand to strike, but Xan ducked it and moved around to the other side of the sofa, as much to prevent himself from punching his father as to prevent his father from hitting him.
“You resent how Pater loves me. You’re a selfish alpha who can’t let his omega love even his own child. You see me as a threat to your relationship.”
“Your pater is soft when it comes to you.”
“He’s just a good man who loves his child unconditionally.” Xan sneered. “Something you don’t understand.”
“What have you done to earn my love?”
“That’s just it. I shouldn’t have to earn it. You should give it.”
His father’s nostrils quivered. “You’re unmanned and you’ll ruin us as a family.”
“I’m unmanned,” Xan agreed. “Nothing will change it. Not you hating me. Not you beating me with a belt. Not you keeping me from Pater. Not you disinheriting me and announcing my predilections to the world. Nothing will make me different than who I am.” Xan took a deep breath, his heart pounding so hard it hurt. “If that’s not something you can stomach, then go before the judge and the church. Speak the truth of me and get your estate out of my perverted hands. Leave it all to Janus. I’ll survive. I’m a scrappy one and I’m tougher than I look.”
His father’s eyes blazed, and he tossed the rest of his liquor down before putting the glass on a nearby table with a clatter. He looked at Xan and smirked darkly. “Let’s see about that.”
