Page 121 of Alpha Heat

And then he came at Xan with all the force of his powerful, tall body. He grappled Xan into a tight hold and clenched his hand around Xan’s throat painfully. “Not so very tough!”

Xan elbowed him hard and swung around, bringing his hands up and guarding his face like Urho had taught him. “I don’t want to hurt you, Father.”

“I’m the one who’s going to hurt you,” his father hissed, coming at him again.

Punches landed and Xan grunted, his breath coming in gasping bursts. The floodgates of aggression opened, and they hurtled at each other, fists and feet, even teeth came into play as they grappled.

In the end, he pushed his father to the carpet, foot to his throat. His chest heaved, but he’d done it. Gazing into his father’s outraged blue eyes, he whispered, “Do what you have to do, Father. Because no matter what you choose, I’m still the son who bested you. The one who lived his truth. I’m unmanned and in love, and I’m proud of it. But I’m not proud of you.”

He grabbed his father by the collar and dragged him up from the floor. It was awkward because Xan was much shorter, but his father had apparently gone slack in shock. “Make sure Pater and Ray get the rest of that medication.”

Stumbling, his father ripped away from Xan and stared at him. “You’re mad. Violent. Unreachable.”

“I am,” Xan agreed. “Do what you have to do, Father.”

He turned his back and marched from the library toward the front door. He opened it and paused, hearing his father’s steps behind him. He turned around, shocked to see the father he’d been so afraid of his whole life as a beaten, old, shell of a man.

“Thank you for the medicine. I’ll make sure your pater and Ray get all they need of it,” his father said gruffly. He limped slightly, and Xan felt a stab of regret that he’d hurt him. “As for you, don’t come back. You’re not welcome in this house. Your pater can come to you if he wants to spend time with his lunatic, unmanned son.”

Xan gritted his teeth, but said nothing.

“And don’t think Joon won’t face the music for allowing you in at all.”

“It wasn’t his doing. I broke in through the garage. But Joon can have a place with me. And you’ll be left to care for Ray and Pater alone.”

His father’s haughty face seemed to crumple slightly as he gazed around him at the empty house echoing silently, too vast to even hold in the sounds of their argument.

“Goodbye, Father,” Xan said. “Give Ray and Pater my love.”

Then he slammed the door and stalked down the street, refusing to look back at the house he’d once called home. He had a new home now. And an alpha who was somehow in love with him. This, tonight with his father, was good. Hurtful. Horribly hurtful. But necessary and good.

Wiping at his damp eyes, he straightened his shoulders and started the walk to the Calitan district. His body ached where his father had gotten in a few solid thumps, but there was one more thing he needed to do for Ray before he could go back to his house in the city.

And then he’d go home to and beg Urho to stay. It might not be fair, and it might not be right, but he was going to ask him to walk away from the youthful blue ocean of his room with Riki and stay forever in Virona’s gray-green ocean with Xan.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“Rosen is sickerthan I am,” Yosef said to Urho, his tired voice somewhat sibilant with congestion over the phone. “So far neither of us are too bad off, though. And even though his fever is higher, I don’t think he’ll get much worse.”

“Has a doctor been in to see him?” Urho asked, rubbing at his eyes and trying to figure out if there was a way for him to take a day trip down to the city to check on Rosen for himself.

“Yes, but only on the first day to confirm the flu diagnosis. He left us with some medication—not the elderberry you mentioned, but some yarrow syrup and a few other tablets.”

“If he’s fighting off the infection on his own, that should be good enough. Do you have plenty of fruit?”

“I haven’t been able to make it out to the market.”

“I’ll send you something from here on the train. Fresh vegetables and some citrus fruit.”

Yosef sounded exhausted as he allowed that he could use the provisions and listed the items he and Rosen could benefit from the most.

Urho didn’t like the idea of not being able to do more, or of leaving his friends to fend for themselves, but he knew he couldn’t break away. “I wish I could come check on Rosen myself, but we have one very sick with it here at the house. We have him in isolation and the village doctor comes up once a day, but I don’t feel comfortable leaving Caleb alone right now with Xan gone into the city. He’s in a vulnerable position at the moment. And then there’s Vale. He could go into labor any day now.”

“It’s not a problem. I promise we are both going to get better. Keep Vale safe and let us know when he’s delivered.”

“Absolutely.”

They wound up their phone conversation with good wishes for each other, and Urho muttered wolf-god’s blessing for the sick before disconnecting. He leaned back at Xan’s desk in the office he’d made for himself in Virona and took a long, slow breath. The air of the room was already losing the scent of Xan, and he wondered how many more days his lover would be gone.