Page 7 of Alpha Heat

“I suppose.” Urho thought of hisErosgapé, Riki, who’d often said such things about him in their early life together. The ache for his lost love remained to this day.

“I was surprised when Xan was one of the last to leave,” Vale commented, tilting his head to catch Urho’s eye when he knelt down to press the cold stethoscope to Vale’s skin.

Urho smiled to hear his friend’s heart booming steadily, and then he dropped the device lower, listening hard for the tiny fetus’s heartbeat. Sighing with emotion when he heard it, he sat back on his heels.

Vale added, “He normally leaves earlier than anyone else.”

“He’s usually eager to get back to his new omega, I imagine.” Urho made note of the rates of both Vale and the baby’s hearts in the leather-bound casebook he carried in his bag. “Today was an obvious shock to him. He probably lingered only to make sure Jason was going to be all right.”

Vale was quiet as Urho pressed the measuring tape over his stomach. The growth was barely visible now. Within a few weeks, the child would start to expand against Vale’s middle and force his muscled, trim abdomen to begin to protrude.

Vale asked, “Do you still think he’s handsome?”

Urho wished he’d never drunkenly admitted to Vale that he found Xan’s eyes pretty, and wished even more that he’d never once mentioned the roundness of the boy’s ass. He always drank too much at their little soirées; it was a problem that used to irritate Vale when Jason first came along and Urho, inebriated, couldn’t resist the temptation to poke at him. But now it was a problem only to himself, for he found himself confessing things to Vale that he shouldn’t.

Ignoring Vale’s query, he said, “Your heart and the child’s sound fine.”

“Jason will be glad.” Vale nudged Urho with his foot and raised a brow. “You didn’t answer my question about Xan.”

A vision of Xan’s plump mouth sneering about fortunetellers popped into Urho’s mind, and he gritted his teeth. There was no way he was going to admit to the arousal Xan sometimes sparked in him—not while he was sober, at any rate. Vale should know him better than that. “How do you stand that boy’s insolence?” He held Vale’s wrist gently to take his pulse one more time.

“Xan isn’t insolent,” Vale said, though his left brow rose, making it clear he knew Xan was exactly that. “Nor is he a boy.”

Urho shook his head irritably.

“He might be young, like Jason, but they’re twenty-four now. He’s contracted to an omega. That’s a large responsibility, and he’s been placed in charge of a very profitable division within his father’s company.”

“As a figurehead. Everyone knows his beta brother truly oversees the work.”

“Perhaps. But he’s well on his way to being a man. He’s the same age I was when I first met you.”

“A lifetime ago.”

Vale’s lips tilted up with a smile. “Why are you so hard on him? You don’t mind when other alphas behave as their nature commands.”

Urho sat back on his heels. “And how, exactly, is that?”

“Demanding, assertive, and with little respect for the fact that some other alpha might hold the floor or know more than they do.” Vale buttoned his shirt again and sat back on the sofa with a knowing glimmer in his eyes.

Urho packed away his measuring tape, stethoscope, and notebook. He rose to standing, his knees aching slightly after kneeling on the polished brick floor, reminding him that he wasn’t quite as young as he used to be. But his heart was, as always, tender toward Vale. “You think so little of alphas, do you?”

“I think alphas are accustomed to having their own way and to being heard.”

“Jason does plenty of listening.”

“Because he’s young and respects me as a person.”

Urho snorted. “No doubt. But you’ve just admitted that his youth plays a role.”

“He’s not a pushover, you realize.”

“Of course not.” He gazed out the study’s wide windows to the garden Jason had planted to court Vale and saw the evidence of Jason’s determination in the way it thrived even as the cold of autumn descended.

Yes, he’d seen how Jason went after things. A dog with a bone, even if he was softer than many alphas tended to be. He also knew Vale had no complaints about Jason’s prowess in bed. Urho had heard Vale’s pleasured wailing often enough on their vacations together by the seaside. It was one reason he’d rented his own house this past summer, just to escape the reminder of what he’d lost.

Vale gazed up at him wickedly. “And, if I’m being completely frank, my dear, you like it when Xan reveals how little unconditional respect he grants you. It stirs you.”

Urho grimaced. “Not in any way that’s admirable.”