Page 58 of Alpha Heat

“And who may not be so loyal,” Mako was quick to put forth. “If, sir, this is your way of saying that there are to be more visits from the small alpha and, if this is your way of saying that we should be prepared to ignore or offer vague but believable replies to any questions about him, then let me assure you, I for one, and all of the others working here will be willing to protect you.”

“I see.” A whisper of gratitude slipped through him.

“We’re betas, sir. The rules don’t make as much sense to us. I approached you as I did mainly because of a concern that you yourself would be offended and angered if you found out what the others here were thinking. If you’re entertaining the, ah, well, the young alpha, then we’ll go about our business as usual and see nothing, hear nothing, know nothing.”

Urho sighed, taking another sip of his brandy. “I feel as though I should chastise you for your lack of concern regarding your employer’s adherence to the law and the Holy Book of Wolf, but given my own position, that seems absurd.”

“When we will see the young man again, sir? I can prepare something special for him. You could have a quiet night in together.”

“You’re trying a bit too hard now, Mako.” Urho grimaced. “I’m not angry with you for asking. It’s a good reminder that I won’t always find easy acceptance should this continue, and I should be more careful.” Though he had barely seen Xan at all. Being more careful than they had been already seemed impossible.

Mako spoke eagerly, “Or you should design a good reason to interact regularly and in private with him, sir. Something beyond a simple friendship, perhaps. A partnership that has to do with your clinic work, maybe.”

“We don’t have to worry about that for some time,” Urho said with a hint of gloom. “He’s gone away to Virona indefinitely.”

Mako frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that, sir.”

“I am too.”

“But given the complications of such an arrangement, maybe it’s for the best.”

“Perhaps.”

“Though I’d hoped…”

“What?”

“That maybe you could be happy again, sir. If you came to care for him.”

Urho grunted, an absurd gratitude for his beta servant’s care welling in him.

Mako rose and nodded once in deference. “I’ll be leaving you now, sir, if that’s all right with you. Let me know if there’s anything at all I can do to make things easier.”

Urho nodded for Mako to go and considered picking up the phone to call Yosef for legal advice on how to best protect Xan and Caleb. Especially since he had no plans to stop indulging in his desire to know more of Xan’s body and mind whatever chance he got.

He didn’t call, though.

With Xan hours away and their plans to meet half-formed, there was no need to rock that boat quite yet. He shifted his gaze from the fire up to the dark portrait above him, barely able to make out Riki’s golden hair in the gloom. Xan didn’t compare, not really.

And yet to Urho, he was breathtaking—beautiful in an entirely different way than Riki. For the first time in what felt like centuries, Urho was ready to risk a lot for what might turn out to be a little. Or perhaps Xan could turn out to be his whole world.

He finished his brandy and headed upstairs. He entered the room where he kept his memories of Riki and lit a stick of incense, saying a few prayers to wolf-god for his beloved.

Then he added on a prayer for Xan.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Morning dawned, coldand confusing, as Xan stared out at the ocean view he’d chosen with his bedroom. He stood gazing at the grey-green water, the undulation of it soothing his nerves. The unfamiliar creaking of the old house and restless thoughts of Urho had disturbed his sleep. He’d spared some tossing and turning for Janus, too, letting his mind run wild with the implications of his cousin’s presence.

He sipped the still piping-hot coffee that someone had brought in while he slept. Carrying the mug in his hands, he opened the door that led to a private passage. It cut through to the room Caleb had chosen for himself. Caleb’s doorway at his end was open, and Xan spotted Ren by the foot of Caleb’s bed, laboring under a pile of baroque cushions as Caleb issued orders.

“This room is my worst nightmare.” Caleb’s voice drifted to Xan, pinched and tired. “There’s so muchstuffin here. Take it all. All of it. Out, out, out. Find some nice white linens, and unpack my white things from the boxes I shipped ahead. I suppose there’s nothing to be done about all this gilt ornamentation around the ceiling without destroying the history of the room, but call in painters to remove this stripey nonsense from the walls. I want them white too.”

“Of course,” Ren said, swaying under the pile of red and gold decorative cushions he held in his arms.

Xan hit the first of two bathrooms within the hallway, the opposite side of the small corridor being made up of two large closets, and shut the door behind him. A piss, shower, and shave later, he felt like a new man, and he summoned a smile as he found Caleb in his room all pink and glowing from his own ablutions.

Caleb sat at the baroque vanity in his room, pinning a silver and gray barrette into his hair to keep the blond strands out of his face.