Page 9 of Slow Birth
Urho raised a skeptical brow that made Jason want to punch him but only after eviscerating himself first. Hissing, he said, “He entered you, left his cum in you, all while knowing the consequences of a pregnancy.”
“Urho,” Vale bit out. “We’reÉrosgápe. Tell me you could have let Riki suffer. Tell me you could have sat there by his bed and listened as he howled in pain. When he was dying, did you regret that you’d—”
Urho cracked. “Wolf-god! Don’t speak of that.”
“Tell me you would have done it differently.”
Urho’s shoulders sank. “I couldn’t have. Never.” He turned to Jason then and said in a gentler tone, “You did what you were supposed to do.”
Jason shook his head, his throat tight. “I killed him.”
“No. You fucked him, which is what our very natures demand. Why do you think omegas suffer so much?”
Jason cast his mind back to Alpha-Omega Relations class and whispered, “Because their glands become inflamed, and their nerves are—”
“Not medically, but evolutionarily,” Urho interrupted, his voice gruff. “Their agony calls to us. It breaks down any reluctance on our part to knot and breed. Their pain is so great that itforcesus to soothe them. It is wolf-god’s plan.”
Jason scoffed at the idea of a god who would use agony as a motivator. What kind of god was that?
Stepping closer to them, Urho reached down to squeeze Jason’s shoulder. “It’s hard enough to stand by when any omega is hurting in heat. AnÉrosgápe? Impossible. Don’t beat yourself up about this.”
Jason gritted his teeth and said nothing, pulling away from Urho’s attempt at fatherly comfort. He hated him for his condescension. Hated him for acting like Jason had done anything other than let Vale down in every way possible. He knew that if he’d never entered Vale’s life, then Urho would have continued to handle Vale’s heats, and none of this would have ever happened. Vale would be safe, and—
He twitched.
And Urho’s. And that wasn’t possible. Every cell in his body rebelled at that, and he snarled at Urho, held back only by Vale’s hand circling his wrist.
“It’s not Urho’s fault that he’s an asshole,” Vale said softly. “He’s given his best version of an apology. Accept it and let’s move on to the part where he explains what we can still try.”
Urho sighed and turned to his black medical bag. “I should examine you, confirm the pregnancy, but I don’t trust that it’s a good idea right now.” He gave Jason a pointed look. “We both scent it on you. It seems well-latched given the intensity of the change in your smell, and yet the place to start is still with the herbs.” He opened the bag and withdrew a few tins, sorting through the pills inside, and creating a special assortment in an empty tin for Vale. “Plus a few stronger abortifacients. Less legal ones.”
These he handed to Jason, who took them and stared at the skull and crossbones label on the side. “This is poison?”
“Of course. That’s what kills the babe, makes it unlatch, and creates the cramping to expel him. At this stage, it’s unlikely to be dangerous. It will make Vale sick as a dog, but it isn’t enough to hurt him, of course.”
Kills the babe.
Jason shuddered at the brutal words. He swallowed hard. He couldn’t admit it, not to Vale, not to anyone, but the scent of Vale and the baby combined was far from repugnant. It was divine. Delicious. The most perfect scent he’d ever caught except for Vale’s when Jason had imprinted on him in the library. Viscerally, he wanted it to grow stronger, to expand and fill the house, and the idea of ending it, cutting it short…
He swallowed the thick lump in his throat again. Fuck. There was no good solution. Nothing painless. Everything hurt.
Vale had placed a hand on his stomach, his skin looking paler than usual, and his pulse thrumming in his neck. “Kill the babe,” he whispered, clearly caught on the same words that had pierced Jason in the heart.
“Vale,” Urho said, his voice hitching sadly, “there’s no other way.”
Vale reached for the tin in Jason’s hands, looked at it, and squeezed his eyes shut. “I take these all at once, or…?”
“All at once. Then make yourself as comfortable as possible. The pain will be intense when the cramps take over, but nothing as bad as an unserviced heat. Your memories of that must be bright enough still. This will pale in comparison.”
“I…don’t…” Vale stared at the tin some more, the silver glinting in the light from the windows. “I’m cold.”
Jason moved dully but immediately to the fireplace. Laying the fire was easy enough, but it felt good to take even a small action that went toward caring for Vale. He’d done everything he could since they’d returned from the trip to make it up to Vale, to show him he was sorry that he hadn’t been stronger. But Vale didn’t seem to understand what he was doing, taking his service to him as evidence of his fear alone, and lost in his own thoughts about what might be coming.
Or, once Vale took the pills in that tin, wouldn’t be coming.
“Jason?” Urho asked. “Did you hear me? You will need to keep him under observation, and if there is excessive bleeding like what you witnessed with your pater, then you must call an ambulance to come. If there are questions, you’ll say it was a miscarriage. You’ll both look miserable enough that they’ll believe you. This once anyway. But you won’t be making a habit of it.”
The reference to Jason’s pater’s losses was also horrible, and Jason rubbed a hand over his eyes, trying to block out the horrifying memory of his beloved pater on his knees, bleeding profusely and crying in pain. He wouldn’t be able to stand seeing Vale like that.
