Page 74 of Bitter Heat
“Is he here?”
“No, Yosef is my escort on this trip. Xan and Urho wanted to come, but I insisted they stay and take care of the other two children. Honestly, I need a break from my alpha and my doctor. They are so overbearing when I’m pregnant or chestfeeding. Smothering with their love. It’s awful.” He glinted a grin. “But I’m happy. And also, happy to be away from them for a few days.” He looped an arm around Janus’s shoulders, and the baby slept away on his chest, oblivious to the wetness Janus had left behind. “So, tell me. What’s going on? How can we help?”
“You can help by not touching him.” Kerry’s voice was deep and threatening, and Caleb stepped away from Janus hastily.
Turning to the path, Janus found Kerry there with an open towel. “You forgot this again,” he said, his eyes never leaving Caleb. The breeze from the lake ruffled his long hair and made the towel flap about. “Like usual.”
Janus reached gratefully for the towel and covered himself. Nudity was something he’d become so accustomed to, especially when swimming in the lake, that he hadn’t even thought twice about Caleb’s impression. Besides, given Caleb’s particular personality, he wouldn’t have been much moved by Janus’s body anyway. Well, beyond the desire to make jokes about it later when they’d both had a drink or two.
But Kerry didn’t seem pleased to find Janus naked with his old friend, and when Janus put his arm out to pull Kerry close and introduce them, Kerry sidestepped him and waddled back up the path, going slower than he obviously would have liked.
“Oh, dear,” Caleb murmured. “That wasn’t the impression I’d hoped to make on him. Surely, he knows that I don’t…well, that we aren’t…? He knows I have no interest in any of that, correct?”
Janus shrugged. “It’s not as though I spread your business around, Caleb. I kept that part to myself. I’m not sure what he thinks of you, but he knows I loved you once.”
“Oh, good,” Caleb said, laughing softly. “It’s in the past now? What a relief.”
Janus almost laughed, too. Caleb had a way of doing that to him. But he held it in for fear Kerry would hear and think that they were laughing at him. “Yes. It’s in the past. I hope that’s not a blow.”
“It’s the best thing I’ve heard in weeks. Well,” he amended looking down at the infant in his arms, “the best thing I’ve heard today, at least. I do enjoy this little one’s coos and my other two’s laughter. But truly, Janus, if you need to go after him to smooth things over, please do.”
“I’ll make it right with him. But first, tell me what you’re doing here again. I’m not sure I follow.”
While he toweled off and dressed, Caleb explained his decision to come to Hud’s Basin for a sojourn and to help however he could, and it was with sharp relief that Janus understood that Caleb’s escort, Yosef, wastheYosef—the very attorney Ray believed could help Kerry.
Wolf-god did Kerry need help. And given how in love with him Janus found himself to be, he needed help, too.
“Thank you,” he said gruffly, pulling Caleb and the baby close for another hug. “I don’t know how to ever thank you enough.”
Caleb squeezed him lightly and then tugged away. “Seeing you here, so changed from who you’ve been, and back to who you were when I met you? That’s all the thanks I need.” He smiled. “Now, let’s go see if I can make nice with your omega.”
Kerry didn’t knowwho this Caleb Riggs thought he was, swooping into their home with his white clothes and his bright smile, looking all beautiful and glowy after having just given birth, but Kerry hated him. He especially hated the way Janus’s eyes lit up when he looked at Caleb.
Hatedit.
Which was ridiculous and unkind and, according to Janus, completely unwarranted. But it didn’t matter because Kerry’s heart was bitter and seeing Caleb’s radiant happiness only made it more so. Here was a man who could have anything he wanted, including, apparently, a life where he gave birth to children he wanted, created with a man he loved. Wasn’t that just lovely for him?
Kerry wanted to spit.
Dinner was annoyingly cheerful, with Janus and Caleb swapping stories of their shared past, and Caleb filling Janus in on the current doings of their shared family and friends. Kerry picked at his food, hoping that everyone would just shut up.
Pater, of course, was loving it, and laughing along with the others. Traitor. Kerry sent him a narrow glare, but Pater just rolled his eyes at him.
“And what do you do, Mr. Deckel?” Pater asked the lithe man with neatly trimmed white hair and beard. He looked to be in his late forties, or perhaps his fifties, and he dressed with such style that Kerry shivered with instant dislike.
He’d known men who dressed like this Yosef Deckel in the city, and they were all wealthy, foppish assholes across the board. Of course, they’d all been Wilbet’s friends, and this man was far too old for that set, but the neatness of his beard and mustache, the exact fall of his suit pants? It was damning evidence against his personality no matter his age.
“I’m an attorney specializing in legal contracts of all sorts, but recently I’ve begun pursuing omega rights work,” Mr. Deckel answered with a small smile. “That’s part of why I escorted Caleb here. I understand that you could use my help.”
Pater’s eyes grew wide, and he reached out to grip Kerry’s arm in excitement. “Oh, blessed wolf, indeed we could.”
“We couldn’t actually,” Kerry said, setting his mouth firmly and darting an angry glance at Janus.
“Don’t be—”
Kerry pushed back from the table. “We don’t need his help.”
“Sit down,” Janus said with a deep, alpha order in his tone that Kerry wanted to obey, but he thrust his chin out and refused, sweeping out of the room instead. Well, waddled out of the room. He hadn’t “swept” anywhere in over a month.
