“Glad you could join us,” Vale said to Xan with a small, dry-lipped smile.
Xan’s blue eyes were wide with worry, and his gaze darted between Vale and Jason, and then over to their other assembled guests—Rosen, Yosef, and Urho. Oh, even distracted as he was, Vale didn’t miss that flicker of interest in Xan’s eyes as he took Urho in.
“Sorry if I kept everyone waiting,” Xan said shakily. “But I came as soon as I got Jason’s call.”
“And how’s Caleb?” Vale asked, not entirely surprised Xan’s omega hadn’t come along but wishing that he had all the same. He could use another omega’s hand to hold right about now.
“Caleb’s good,” Xan said, his attention too obviously split between worry for Jason and his nervous interest in Urho. “Well, he wasn’t feeling well this morning, so I had to run to the drug store for a tonic for him, which made me late to work, and so it was harder to escape this afternoon.”
“It’s all right,” Vale said. “Tell Caleb we hope he gets well soon. Rosen just arrived, too.”
Jason stood behind Vale, his hands gripping the back of the wingback chair. His presence was so tense Vale could sense his anxiety without turning to look up at him.
Vale’s best friends, Rosen and Yosef, sat closely together on the leather sofa, hands intertwined, and fairly miserable expressions on their faces. Yosef’s impeccably sculpted white hair and beard gave away that he was quite a few years older than Rosen, but they were still an unfailingly attractive couple. Vale had been through so much with them, weathered the worst storms of his life in their care, and hoped they would be able to support him through one more.
Xan ran a sweaty palm over his limp hair. “So, what’s going on?” Xan asked, obviously unable to keep quiet a moment longer. “What the hell’s happening?”
Urho stepped forward, hands clasped in front of him solemnly like one of the Holy Church of Wolf’s ministers. “I’ve been asked to impart the news. It’s both an honor and a burden, but one Jason and Vale have asked me to bear—”
“Just tell us,” Xan interrupted. Vale understood, he was impatient to get the news out, too.
Urho’s chin came up, and he gazed at Xan for a long, calm moment before nodding. “All right. As it turns out, Vale, against all odds and despite Jason’s best efforts, is pregnant.”
The silence in the room echoed off the windows, and Jason came around the side of the chair to squeeze Vale’s shoulder in support.
“Excuse me?” Xan said, blinking. “Did you say Vale is pregnant?”
“I did.” Urho’s strong mouth drew into a straight line, and he regarded them all seriously. “This is obviously a problem, one that is both private and communal in that we all love and admire Jason and Vale, and will—”
“What in wolf’s own hell, Jason?” Xan snapped, interrupting Urho again. “You know he can’t have children. Why would you knock him up?”
Jason’s head and shoulders curved, but he didn’t let go of Vale’s shoulder as he said, “It was an accident.”
“An accident?” Xan scoffed.
Irritation flashed in Vale. No one could fault Jason for what happened. Not while he was around. Vale raised his palm. “What’s done is done. Now all that’s left is to deal with what’s happened.”
“You’ll have an abortion, obviously,” Xan said, nodding firmly and casting an approving glance toward Urho.
He’d been there when Urho had performed the surgery on Jason’s pater that had saved the man’s life four years earlier. He also knew that Urho was the doctor responsible for performing an abortion on Vale when he was a young, unmatched omega.
“No,” Vale whispered. “That’s not going to happen this time.”
“Excuse me?” Yosef asked, his white eyebrows shooting to his hairline. “What are you saying, Vale?”
Rosen straightened where he sat, gripping Yosef’s hand until his knuckles went white. Xan looked a little woozy where he stood.
“Please,” Jason whispered. “Please reconsider.”
Vale shook his head. “Urho’s examined me, and he thinks—”
“I don’t care what he thinks!” Jason exclaimed, coming around to kneel at Vale’s feet. “I only want you. I don’t need this from you. I don’t even want a ch—”
Vale put a hand over his mouth. “Shush, before you say something you’ll regret.”
Jason’s blue eyes went wet, and he ducked his head, resting his forehead on Vale’s knee. He shuddered as Vale ran his fingers through his blond hair soothingly. It was hard to be strong like this. He needed Jason to step up, to get past this, to support him. In time, he knew he would…until then, he’d offer what comfort he could.
“I don’t understand,” Yosef said again. “Vale can’t survive a pregnancy. We all know that.”
