Page 129 of Alpha Heat

“I know. I hear him.” Caleb shuddered in the cold water. His eyes were calmer and less glassy than before, and Urho breathed a sigh of relief that the cold water was helping.

Jason burst into the bathroom, a towel over his mouth and nose to protect him from Caleb’s pheromones. Even so his pants were stiff with his erection. “Urho! There’s something wrong. Vale’s really hurting. I think the baby’s coming!”

“I know,” Urho barked. He held up the dildo. “Let me get Caleb situated and I’ll come check on Vale right away. Get out.”

Jason’s eyes were wide as he hustled from the bathroom and back into the passage. He called over his shoulder, “Urho! Hurry! It’s bad.”

“I’m coming!” Urho shouted. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, to be the suitable, soothing alpha an omega needed during the start of their heat. “Use the dildo if you need it,” he said as calmly as possible, but his voice trembled. “Hopefully, I won’t be long.”

At the word hopefully, all of Caleb’s hard-won calm evaporated in a clear rush of panic. “Don’t let me suffer,” he begged suddenly, his eyes glassy and his voice shot through with anxiety. His teeth chattered from the cool water he’d poured into the tub. “Please. Don’t leave me alone to hurt.”

Urho groaned. The scent of Caleb’s oncoming heat was maddening, and his cock strained against his pants. He took a slow, deep breath, determined to keep his wits about him. “I’ll help you, Caleb. I promise. But I need to handle this crisis with Vale first. Use the dildo.”

Caleb stared at the fat dildo still in his hand and shuddered violently. “I’m cold. But I’m too hot. I want out. I need to be in bed. I want to be in bed.” He splashed the water around agitatedly, wetting the floor and Urho’s pants.

Urho brushed a soothing hand into Caleb’s soft hair. “Calm down,” he said firmly, infusing his voice with dominance and all the certainty he didn’t feel. “Do as you’re commanded. Use the dildo.”

A cry from Vale’s room echoed down the corridors separating them, and Urho’s heart thumped hard. He needed to go. He didn’t want to leave Caleb to suffer, but what choice did he have? They needed another doctor as soon as possible. And there was Janus to consider too.

“I’ll be back.” He dropped a reassuring kiss on Caleb’s hair and rushed from the bathroom before he changed his mind.

Vale leaned his weight on the footboard of his bed and breathed shallowly. His eyes closed and his expression intense, everything about him was turned inward. He even ignored Urho and Jason’s questions as he shifted from foot to foot, moaning and groaning.

It didn’t take a full physical evaluation for Urho to become certain that inducing labor wasn’t going to be necessary now—Vale was already in it, and perhaps had been for several hours. The start to labor could be very sudden in omegas, and the pains he’d been experiencing might have been hidden contractions.

Urho berated himself silently for missing the signs. He’d been so intent on keeping the baby in that he hadn’t given any thought to the baby’s opinion on coming out.

“It’s time, isn’t it?” Jason said, his face pale and his eyes shocked. He stood beside Vale, one hand on his back, and his entire body shaking in fear.

“Yes. The babe’s on his way.”

“What do we do now?” Jason asked.

Urho rubbed a hand over his face and left the room. In the hallway again, he tore to the head of the stairs and yelled for help until two beta servants ran into the great hall, expressions of terror on their face.

“Call a doctor from the town,” Urho said. “Tell him that he’s needed here at once. We’ve got a very sick man succumbing to the flu, an omega in labor, and another omega going into heat.”

The betas gasped. One broke free and ran off to follow his instructions.

“Has anyone heard from Mr. Heelies? Is he on his way?”

The servants shook their heads.

“I’m going to need hot water, towels, and alpha condoms. Does anyone know if there are alpha condoms on the premises?” He had three in his doctor’s bag, but in the throes of heat, they wouldn’t last very long.

The servants conferred between them. “We don’t know, sir. We’ll run to the village for some.”

He nodded, trying to think of what else he needed. It felt unbearably wrong to take care of Caleb without Xan being here, and yet he couldn’t leave him in agony. Neither Caleb nor Xan would forgive him for that. He tried to imagine knotting Caleb and then racing down the halls to deliver Vale’s baby, but the absurdity was too much. Yes, calling the doctor was the right thing to do.

“Well, go!” he shouted at the remaining betas below. “Call the doctor! Boil the water! Buy condoms! We’re going to need all of it immediately!”

The betas scampered, calling between themselves orders as to who was to fetch what. At that moment, Ren appeared in the great hall below, a worried expression on his face.

“You can’t locate Xan,” Urho guessed.

Ren shook his head. “He left his father’s home yesterday late at night and no one has seen or heard from him since.”

“Did you try Wilbet Monhundy’s house?” he barked, gripping the bannister to hold his gorge down. The thought of Xan going to that man, of asking to be hurt again… He shook the thought free. He couldn’t cope with that right now. Not with everything else going on.