Page 15 of Slow Birth
“Of course, I want to pursue this baby,” Vale said quietly. “More than anything.”
Jason threw up his hands. “Where is Father? He’ll talk sense into you both.”
Miner snorted as he lifted his tea, saying under his breath, “Oh, I highly doubt that.”
Vale tended to agree, but he didn’t say more. He found that as the days after the heat had passed, he’d tended toward depression. But now, with Urho’s assurances, he felt a lightness he couldn’t describe. A surety he didn’t share with Jason. He needed to find a way to calm his alpha, but he couldn’t seem to reach him. Jason was too lost in fear.
Jason continued to pace and curse under his breath as Miner peppered Vale with light, unobtrusive questions that cut to the heart of the matter.
“So, you love him already?” Miner whispered, trying to pitch his voice low so that Jason might not hear, but unable to contain the bubble of excitement the news had blown up in him.
“Yes,” Vale agreed. “It’s so strange. I don’t even know him at all, don’t even know if he’s an alpha, beta, or omega. But I know he’s perfect.”
“Of course, he is.”
“Like Jason.”
“Just so,” Miner agreed, casting a loving gaze on his incredibly agitated son. “Though, I doubt he’ll look that much like him. He’ll likely have your dark hair, certainly. Most pairings with similar coloring to the two of you go that direction. But, with your green eyes, I suppose we could hope for blue like Jason’s and Yule’s.”
“Stop,” Jason ordered, his hands raised in front of him. “You’re both investing your heart in fairytale dreams. And they won’t—can’tcome true. It’s not worth the risk.”
“What isn’t?” Yule asked, stepping into the room with a kiss for his omega and a furrowed brow for Jason. “What’s the problem, son, so big that I needed to rush home?”
Jason gestured at his pater and Vale, his cheeks flushed, and his sleepless eyes red. “They’re the problem. You need to talk to them. Make them see.”
“Really, Jason,” his pater said softly. “It’s up to Vale. It’s his choice.”
“No!” Jason exploded. “You know wolf-goddamn well that I’m the one who will suffer.” He threw his hands in the air again. “Why did I think you’d be on my side? You tried to do the same thing to Father!”
Miner winced, and Vale put his hand on his pater-in-law’s knee, offering a gentle, sympathetic squeeze.
Yule’s eyes zeroed in on hisÉrosgápeand then darted back to his son. He stalked to the liquor cabinet and poured a drink for himself. Sipped it, and then, on second thought poured another and brought it over to Jason, pressing it into his hands. “I think you need this. Drink it up while I find out what’s happening.” He turned his intelligent gaze on Vale then and lifted his brows. “Well?”
“I’m pregnant,” Vale said softly. “And the doctor thinks it’s possible I can carry him to term.”
“Possible,” Jason repeated with despair.
His father nudged his arm and indicated the drink. “Finish it.”
Jason returned to sipping the dark liquor, most likely brandy, and Yule guided him into one of the chairs by the coffee table Miner had tried to get him to sit in earlier. Then Yule sat down opposite, and they all looked at each other. Eyes darted face to face to face, and around again.
“You’re pregnant,” Yule said slowly. “How?”
“The usual way.” Vale couldn’t resist the retort. He wasn’t a child, and he didn’t like the slightly scolding tone in Yule’s voice. The man was barely older than he was.
Yule rolled his eyes. “You know wolf-damned well what I meant by that. Why weren’t precautions taken?”
“I’m coming up on forty now,” Vale said, sipping the tea that had grown cold as they’d waited for Yule to arrive. “My heats aren’t as predictable as they used to be.”
Yule flashed a glance toward Miner, a look exchanged, and Vale was quite sure Miner had endured at least one surprise heat before Urho had removed his womb in emergency surgery after his last miscarriage. “I see. There are such things as markets, though. Phones. Someone could have called for a condom delivery to the house before the heat became unbearable. Though why you don’t have condoms in your home at all times at your age, I don’t know. Or was Jason unable to control himself?”
Jason let out a little hurt sound and Vale took his hand. He was, admittedly, a bit tired of soothing Jason, and wished that he would get on board with Vale’s decision and begin offering up the alpha care and attention that a pregnant omega deserved, but he knew Jason was still in shock. He needed some time yet.
“We were at my parents’ chalet in the mountains,” Vale said since Jason seemed unable to talk.
“The snowstorm,” Yule said darkly. “I see.”
“The phones were out,” Jason said.
