Page 21 of Alpha Heat

“Will this do?”

Urho put his bag down on the table and forced his voice to steadiness. “Undress. I’ll need to see your injuries from head to toe. Use the blanket on the bed for privacy, if you must, but I’ll need to examine your anus.”

Xan stood motionless, staring at Urho. His pupils grew so dilated that the blue was nearly obliterated. “Why are you doing this?” he finally hissed. “Why are you here at all?”

“You’re injured.” Urho floundered. “What kind of doctor would I be if I didn’t check on you this morning?”

“What kind of doctor were you last night that you let me go home alone in this shape?”

“A shocked one. A human one.” He scrubbed a hand over his face, feeling the stubble he’d missed in his haste that morning. “I handled it all badly.”

And he didn’t understand why. Had it been any other man on the street, any other alpha confessing to being unmanned, he’d have known how to behave. And any otherfriend, especially, he’d have insisted on taking home and caring for him immediately. What was it about Xan that always threw him off? And why did this revelation that the beating behind these injuries hadn’t been entirely unwelcome terrify Urho so much?

No, it was all nonsense. Never mind if Xan claimed to be unmanned. The boy had been delirious last night. He couldn’t have meant what he said. Just as Caleb couldn’t have meant what he was implying this morning either. Urho refused to believe it.

His stomach was full of snakes, rolling and slithering into living knots as he wiped a trembling hand over his face again. “Forgive me.”

“I nearly passed out at the wheel.”

Urho cleared his throat, trying to regain his footing in their conversation. He was in the right. He needed to remember that and hold the upper hand. “I’m sorry. Should we begin the exam?”

“Fine.”

“Take off your clothes.”

“No.”

“Your omega requested that I examine you.”

Xan crossed his arms over his chest and lifted his chin. “Leave him out of this. What are you doing here, Urho? What do you really want from me?”

Urho motioned at the bed as he took a seat in a tiny chair at the small table. His knees came up too high and he felt ridiculous and stupid. “I couldn’t sleep last night. I regretted the way I let you leave. As a doctor it was incorrect. As a friend it was unforgivable.”

Xan remained standing. “But you ask my forgiveness anyway?”

“I wouldn’t blame you for withholding it.”

“You’re an asshole,” Xan snapped.

“So are you.”

“True.” His lips quirked with an almost smile. “But let’s be frank, we’re barely friends. You don’t owe me anything. If you want to be of help, then go home, forget you saw anything, and leave me alone.”

Urho frowned and sat up straighter. He wanted to dispute this description of their acquaintance, but the fact of the matter was, he didn’t spend time alone with Xan. Not ever.

And there was a reason for that. Xan always made his skin feel too small, and his world too dull, and his heart too shriveled. Xan made him itch all over with irritation, and brought on a desire to grab him by the neck, shove him to the floor, and…

And what?

Do whatever that alpha had done to him last night?

No, he wanted to fuck Xan and make himloveit, not beat him to a pulp and make him suffer. No part of him wanted that.

Urho’s face heated. He hoped his dark complexion kept Xan from seeing it. But, even if it did, he supposed there wasn’t much he could do to hide his bewilderment. The inside of his mind was a circus of desires and fears he didn’t understand. He couldn’t imagine he was any good at hiding that fact.

Xan stared steadily at him.

“You confuse me,” Urho said, finally. “I’m here to help, but you’re treating me like the enemy.”