The blue slash of the sky on the canvas was brighter than the real blue above, but not half as bright as the blue of Caleb’s eyes. He turned to Xan, paintbrush raised, and his red mouth open in surprise.
“What’s wrong!” he shouted, tossing the paintbrush into the sand and rushing to Xan. “What’s happened?”
Xan swept Caleb into his arms, squeezing him, breathless with joy. “They’re coming!” His heart beat wildly, rattling his chest, and he felt like he might be able to jump into the air and fly away with Caleb crushed to him.
“Who?” Caleb gasped.
“Everyone!”
“Your family?”
“No! Thank wolf-god!” Xan laughed. “Urho! And Jason and Vale too! They’re coming, Caleb!He’scoming!”
They hugged tightly, the ocean waves pounding the shore and the gulls crying out above them. “I’m so glad, alpha mine,” Caleb finally said. “I’m excited to see him too. Your joy is my joy.”
Xan kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
“If we’re to have guests then there’s a lot to do. I’ll need Ren and the others to get the guest rooms ready,” Caleb said, obviously beginning a long list in his mind of what, who, when, and where. Caleb had been lonely since moving out of the city and away from his friends, and part of Xan’s joy was for him as well.
Caleb started up toward the house, leaving the easel and canvas behind, as well as the paints and brushes. Xan thought of turning back for them, but changed his mind when Caleb called over his shoulder that he’d send someone down later. It was evident that Caleb’s mind was on planning and parties now, and Xan was ready to go along for the ride.
An hour and a half later, beta servants were scampering around the upstairs of the house, opening windows and airing out rooms, putting fresh sheets on beds, and dusting where a dust cloth hadn’t been in years. Caleb stood in the middle of the dining room, taking measure of the long table, his head cocked and his neck exposed.
Caleb patted his own cheek absently. “Now, what will we do about seating? We need more chairs. I shouldn’t have sent so many off to be reupholstered.” He clucked his teeth. “And your alpha of course needs to be kept far away from your awful cousin.”
“I love it when you talk dirty about me,” Janus said from the doorway to the kitchen. He stepped out with a piece of pecan pie held in his hand like a hick farmer from Leitel, his lips glistening with the buttery filling. “Do it again.”
Caleb’s jaw clenched, but he said nothing in reply. Instead he simply turned and left the room.
“I’ve warned you,” Xan said, pointing at Janus, who lifted his pecan pie up in a faux toast as he laughed.
“He’s so sensitive. And whose alpha was he talking about just now?” Janus’s tone was too casual.
Pulse racing, Xan kept the subject on Caleb. “You know as well as I do that he’s off-limits to you. Plus, he’s immune to your so-called ‘charms’ anyway.”
“Is he? I wonder.” Janus smirked.
“I don’t think he could be more plain about it.”
“Believe me, he wasn’t always.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” Janus took another bite of his dessert. “There was a time when Caleb thought I was the sweetest cherry in the pie.”
Xan stared at Janus, trying to parse what he was saying. “You knew each other? Outside the Philia parties?”
“We were intimate friends,” Janus said with an air of satisfaction that Xan loathed. “He hasn’t told you? In all these months we’ve been here together? Why keep it from you? Maybe he still harbors feelings for me after all this time.”
“You lie.”
“Ask him.”
Xan’s hands balled into fists, and he stepped closer to Janus, hot rage like a volcano in his gut.
“Duels are against the law,” Janus said, half laughing. “But we could have fisticuffs here in the dining room. First blood or to the death?”
“Death,” Xan muttered, his heart thudding fast. He drew close enough to smell the watered-down rose perfume Janus dabbed behind his ears. It gagged him. “Let’s go.”
