Page 67 of Bitter Heat
It wasn’t his place to wonder, either, but Janus was grateful for the information and the stroke of luck that had landed him a room on the same floor as Kerry. He hoped he could find a way to work that to his advantage in keeping Kerry safe.
“Speak of wolf-god’s own kin,” the man muttered, handing over the key to Janus’s room and shooting a glance toward the staircase leading up to the rooms above. “I suppose that’s wolf-god’s way of reminding me that gossip is his enemy.”
Janus flicked a look over his shoulder to see Kerry between two tall men. The redhead had his arm slung around Kerry’s shoulder, and his other hand rested on Kerry’s belly, making each step down the stairs awkward. A small smile lay tense on Kerry’s face, false to Janus’s eyes, but it seemed believable to the men beside him. They turned at the end of the staircase and steered Kerry toward a room at the back of the hotel.
“What’s back there?” Janus asked.
“Ah, the between-meals salon,” the clerk said.
“Tea is still being served?” Janus asked, letting his gaze trail Kerry and his in-laws into the room.
“Yes, for another two hours. Then they’ll clear up for the day and get the place ready for evening cocktails.” Following Janus’s gaze, and defying his own observation about gossip, the clerk said, “Their son doesn’t look so happy to see them, does he? He never does. It’s strange.” Clucking his tongue, he went on, “He’s a bit pregnant to be traveling up and down the mountain, too, ain’t he? I’m surprised his alpha lets him do that.”
Janus gritted his teeth, feeling the criticism down to his bones. “I’m sure he didn’t want to. Likely he had little choice. You know omegas.”
The clerk, a beta, grinned. “I’ve heard. Opinionated things, aren’t they? And alphas just can’t resist their methods of persuasion.” His tone indicated something filthy, and Janus felt his fist clench in irritation.
But he loosened it, offered a false smile, and said, “You know we alphas are helpless when it comes to the needs of the men we love.” It wouldn’t do to make a scene in the hotel lobby, and the clerk had been quite helpful.
“Well, I, for one, wish that omega didn’t ‘need’ to meet them here. Something don’t sit right about it.” Then, realizing he’d lapsed into mountain-speech, and into gossiping to an alpha at that, the clerk flushed and ducked his head. “Apologies, sir. I hope you enjoy your stay.”
Eager to get to the salon and find a seat where he could keep an eye on Kerry, Janus smiled and nodded his head. “May wolf-god bless your day,” he said, offering up a parting that he heard a lot from the mountain people he treated.
“And yours,” the man replied before turning his attention to a well-to-do beta couple approaching the counter with a sheaf of local flyers in their hands and a question about how far up-mountain the famous healing lake was located.
The salon was set up much like the back room of the Philia soiree parties Janus had attended in his youth. Divided into semi-private partitions, each with comfortable sofas with knee-high tables before them, and all with curtains that one could draw partially or all the way closed for privacy.
Janus spotted the Monhundys and a beta waiter guiding Kerry into the nook near the back corner of the room. His walk no longer the strong, graceful stride that Janus had first seen when they’d met, but rather a careful waddle. His middle was large and still had more growth to go. Janus felt a burst of near consuming protectiveness, especially as Kerry nearly toppled over as his in-laws urged him into the center portion of the sofa. It seemed he found the maneuver difficult in his larger form. Janus had to hold himself back from rushing over to ease Kerry into his seat and distracted himself by looking around for an open nook close to the one where the Monhundys had corralled Kerry and pinned him between them.
The one beside Kerry’s would be ideal, especially if Janus wanted to eavesdrop on the Monhundys, but it was currently in use, and so Janus took up a casual position against the wall not far from the nook where the Monhundys were now getting settled in, too.
“Can I help you find a seat, sir?” a beta waiter asked, his mustache glistening with a bit too much product.
“No, thank you. I’m waiting on a colleague,” Janus said.
“I’d be happy to seat you and then alert your friend to your location when he arrives.”
“I’m not sure we plan to stay,” Janus said. “He mentioned a few options. I’ll just wait here.”
“Of course, sir,” the servant said, bustling off to collect a tea tray and take it over to a young family positioned near the door.
Janus tilted his head toward the curtain blocking him from being able to see Kerry and listened, but he couldn’t make out more than the rise and fall voices. No details of their conversation reached his ears in his current station. Becoming frustrated and worried, he was thrilled when the curtains flung open on the nook he’d originally assessed as the best location for his guardian activities. Two men exited looking decidedly worse for wear, and the omega sported red, chapped lips, along with a love bite on his neck for all to see. A new couple on a bonding-moon trip, then.
Janus darted a glance around. The waiters and servants were all distracted in one way or another, so he slipped into the abandoned nook and shut the curtains back into place. Ignoring the remains of the couple’s barely touched cake and tea, he slid over to the side of the nook shared with Kerry’s group. He carefully, with as little movement as possible, adjusted the fall of the curtains so that he could see into their booth. And if he held very still, he could finally make out the exchange of words within.
“Darling, you don’t have to hide the truth from us,” the redheaded omega—Monte, he believed Kerry had called him—was saying. “We understand pregnancy. I went through it myself with…” He trailed off, not saying his son’s name. “It’s a difficult time without an alpha to service those needs.”
Kerry shrugged. “I understand what you’re referring to, but I haven’t had any trouble with it.”
Janus took a surreptitious sniff of the air and found his tense muscles relaxing when the scent of berry and musk reached his nose. He held in a sigh, though, not wanting to alert anyone in the other booth to his eavesdropping.
“None at all?” Lukas, the alpha, sounded suspicious. “Omegas are always randy, everyone knows that, and in pregnancy even more so.”
Kerry’s jaw clenched, but he put on a smile. Janus wanted to crawl over the back of the booth separating them to throttle Lukas for being so rude. “I’ve barely felt a twinge.”
The Monhundys shared a look, and Janus didn’t like it at all. “Well, we have good news all the same.”
Kerry shifted the way he did when he was trying to get the baby off his bladder or some other tender organ. “Oh? What’s that?”
