Page 138 of Alpha Heat

Xan asked, “Can I scent your shoulders, though? And your neck?”

Caleb pondered. “Yes. You do that a lot anyway. I’ve always liked it. So, yes.”

“And can I kiss your forehead or run my fingers in your hair?” Urho asked.

Caleb nodded. “Anything you’d normally do with me, you can continue to do. Unless I say to stop, of course.” He smiled at Urho, his blue eyes crinkling at the edges, and that look felt like forgiveness for having to lock him in before. Urho sighed in relief. Caleb added, “Both of those things sound nice to me. I don’t want you to be cruel. That’s not what I mean at all! But I prefer the sex be treated as perfunctory.”

“I thought you didn’t like to do this with strangers?” Urho asked, finally letting some of his confusion show.

“I don’t,” Caleb said. “But that doesn’t mean I feel attracted to you, or particularly want this interaction to be about our ‘relationship’ to one another.”

“I see.” And he thought he did. Mostly.

“I’ve been lucky enough to only have to face a heat with a stranger twice in my life so far. Most of the time, the men my family hired were known to me, and they understood what I wanted. Or at least accepted it when I told them how I wanted to be treated.”

“All right,” Urho said.

“But you can make love with each other,” Caleb said kindly, as though granting them a favor. “I wouldn’t mind watching that, actually. It sounds nice even, to watch…” His cheeks went red. “I might even touch myself.”

“Whatever you like,” Urho said calmly, though everything about the requests were most unusual indeed.

“I can use the dildo on you, right? To help you?” Xan asked.

“Yes. You remember from the first heat what I like with that. Once I get frenzied, though, I’d like you to fuck me. Hard.”

“And Urho?” Xan asked.

“He should fuckyou, most likely. But if you’re having any trouble, then yes, he can fuck me. I do want to fall pregnant, though, Xan. So I’d rather it be you most of the time. Especially for knotting.”

They nodded, and Xan reached for the pills on the bedside table. “I’ll take a few of these.”

Caleb smiled. “You were so wonderful earlier. Perfect, actually.”

Xan grinned a little cockily. “I did do a good job, didn’t I? I’m glad you think so too.”

Caleb laughed and let Urho feed him some marmalade on toast and another slice of orange. “I do like this pampering,” he admitted a little shyly. “Afterward, you know? I like the cuddles during the knot, and even more once the knot is down. I like the attention. I feel very flattered by it.”

“We can do that,” Urho agreed. “I like to cuddle after knotting too.”

Xan smiled at Urho, and then licked his lips. “This is a little awkward, isn’t it?”

“That’s how sex always seems to me,” Caleb said, shrugging. “Awkward and uncomfortable, like I’m not sure where to begin.”

“When the heat wave comes again, we’ll help you through the awkwardness,” Xan said reassuringly.

The scent of Caleb’s heat pheromones and the delicious smell of his slick intensified as they continued to feed him and force him to drink. When Caleb pushed the food away firmly, they knew it was time to transition into something more. The wave was coming on harder now, and Caleb’s chest flushed with the heat rising under his skin.

Urho waited for him to grow frantic again, to fight it the way he had before, but that never happened. Caleb was much calmer now that Xan was with him. Urho noticed immediately the way Caleb depended on Xan for reassurance that everything was all right, even as Caleb’s body took control and spiraled him out into the delirious arousal of heat.

The trust he showed in Xan filled Urho’s heart with affection, and his eyes grew damp more than once witnessing it so closely.

Xan held Caleb’s hands, whispering soothing words as Urho slipped calming fingers through Caleb’s hair. As the heat came on intensely, Xan fucked Caleb with the alpha dildo, helping him through several orgasms before Caleb began to beg to be fucked. Even in his delirium, Caleb knew what he wanted.

“I want to get pregnant,” Caleb reminded them urgently. He gripped Urho’s forearm as Xan moved in between Caleb’s spread legs. “You fuck Xan, and that’ll help Xan fuck me.”

Urho briefly wondered if it was the right time for a pregnancy if Xan was about to be disinherited, but immediately dismissed his concern. If Caleb and Xan needed help, he’d give it to them. Any help—financial, physical, sexual—and happily so. Xan and Caleb would be just fine, no matter the situation with Xan’s family. Urho would see to that. He’d pull every string, hire every attorney, tell every lie, and protect these men until his dying day.

He felt in his gut it was what he was meant to do.Thiswas reason he’d lived through the pain of losing Riki. This was his calling in life now, to protect and love Xan and his omega forever.