Page 90 of Bitter Heat
Monte and Lukas, he kept away, and Dr. Crescent didn’t even try to approach, laughing under his breath in shocked amazement. “I’ll be wolf-god damned,” he kept whispering. “Just wait until I tell my Fan about this.”
The baby didn’t cry anymore once Janus helped settle him on Kerry’s milky nipple. He sucked half-heartedly and then more aggressively, and Kerry took turns staring down at him, and then up at Janus, with a wild mix of emotions swimming in his beautiful dark eyes.
“It’s going to be all right,” Janus said firmly. “Now that I’ve found you. It’s all going to be made right.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“But the childis ours,” Monte said, banging his fist on the dining room table, his cheeks going as red as his hair. “He belongs, by rights, to Wilbet.”
Law was clear about a few things: babes belonged to alphas, despite omegas being the ones to grow and birth them, and then feed them with their bodies. The laws around a babe born to an imprisoned alpha were less clear, and Kerry wished that Yosef were here with them to give his opinion about things.
“He’s not leaving this house,” Janus said ominously, his hand firmly on Kerry’s lower back and his fist clenched on the tabletop.
Kerry held the child closer, bending low to scent his head. He didn’t smell like Wilbet. He didn’t smell like anything bad at all. Not as wonderful as Janus, but still appealing and sweet. Better even than Caleb’s baby had smelled, or Charlie’s little Ellis, though all infants were delicious for a reason. This reason.
“You wanted me to chestfeed him for two years,” Kerry said quietly, still tired from his ordeal and tender below from the expulsion of a child of such a great size. That was one obvious way the babywaslike his father: he was big. Kerry tried not to think about that.
“In the city. With us. Youagreed.” Monte was the one doing all the talking. Lukas sat at the table in silence, a force to be sure, but a silent one. He didn’t offer his thoughts or opinions, but let Monte make the arguments. Kerry didn’t know what to make of Wilbet’s father’s silence. He was afraid to think it might be good.
“That was before he knew about me,” Janus said.
“He’d already met you!”
The timeline around Janus’s arrival and the two of them becoming involved had been documented now, laid out like some kind of map on the table. A single line, marking dates and activities—the sexual bonding written out in only the loosest euphemisms or technical of terms—showing the start to finish of their stumble into understanding.
“The babe obscured his scent,” Dr. Crescent said, leaning back and putting his hands over his round stomach. His grizzled smile was easy like they weren’t all seething with barely restrained tension around the table.
Those in attendance were Kerry, Janus, Zeke, Dr. Crescent, Monte, and Lukas, and Dr. Rose, of course. He nodded at Dr. Crescent’s statement, adding, “It’s happened, but rarely. An omega impregnated with hisÉrosgápe’s child will obviously take on a different scent, but it isn’t obscuring in nature since the child is hisÉrosgápe’s son. An omega impregnated with another alpha’s child, though…well, it can obscure the scent enough to prevent the full imprint from taking place until after the babe’s birth. I read about another such occurrence in medical school. It’s rare, though. Quite uncommon.”
There were also about six dozen people out on the front lawn—all of them patients of Janus’s and Dr. Crescent’s. Charlie, Dax, and Ellis were among them, along with Whitehoul and his omegas, and others. Someone had sounded the alarm that city folk were trying to take a mountain omega’s baby, and that mountain omega was theÉrosgápeof the man known to them as Dr. Janus Heelies.
The last time Kerry had looked out the front windows at them, they’d had shovels, axes, and a general air of “don’t fuck with us.” He found himself reassured by that almost as much as he was by Janus’s strong presence at his side. He suspected Fan had sent out a call when Dr. Crescent’s note had arrived declaring Kerry safe, the babe healthy, and the surprisingÉrosgápenews. No doubt Crow had also explained about the citified in-laws here to make trouble. And Fan would know what to do from there, and had, no doubt, done it.
“So, what does this mean?” Zeke asked.
“It means Monte and I will leave for the city, where we’ll draw up the documents to nullify the contract between Kerry and our son,” Lukas said, finally breaking his silence.
“What?” Monte swiveled his head, eyes wide. “No!”
“You know the laws as well as I do. TheÉrosgápebond takes precedence over all other commitments or promises.”
“Fine, but that child is ours,” Monte hissed.
“No, he’s not,” Lukas said. “He’s better off with Kerry. We had our chance and look what came of it. I don’t like what this pregnancy is doing to you, Monte, what it’s done to us. I don’t like what we did to obtain this child, and if Kerry can find it in his heart to love the boy, thenhedeserves to raise him. He’ll do a better job of it than we did.”
“We can’t be blamed for Wilbet’s behavior. We couldn’t have known. And Kerry won’t love him! Hedoesn’tlove him. Look at his face. It says everything.”
Kerry tried to keep his expression flat, but he knew it was true. Guilt seeped out of him like a leaky balloon. He didn’t love the baby. He hadn’t even named it yet. But some part of him wasn’t willing to hand him over to Lukas and Monte either. Maybe they weren’t responsible for Wilbet being a monster, but then again maybe they were. It didn’t matter, though, because…
“Ilove him,” Janus said with no room to brook an argument. “No matter how Kerry feels, I’ll love this babe enough for the both of us.”
Dr. Crescent let out a soft sigh as if he was holding back strong emotions. Then he took out a handkerchief and blew his nose.
Zeke piped up, “And I love him, too. He’ll be safe here. Loved. Taken care of. We’ll raise ’im up right.”
Monte’s jaw clenched and unclenched, a volcanic explosion on the horizon, when he suddenly crumpled, sobbing on the table. Lukas rubbed his back, saying nothing and looking up at the ceiling, blinking rapidly as if holding back his own tears.
“I think that’s the end of it,” Dr. Rose said, standing up. “I’d have your lawyer draw up an agreement before they change their mind, but we all know this is the right decision.”
