“Historically, that was true,” Urho said. “Before Jason.”
“So, you’re saying things have changed?” Rosen murmured, lifting his chin. It was dark with late afternoon stubble and flecked with some blue paint he hadn’t entirely scrubbed free. In all likelihood, he’d been pulled away from his oil painting by Jason’s phone summons.
Urho said, “For reasons that are best kept private, it does seem that there is a new elasticity to Vale’s scar tissue and passage that wasn’t there before. I have several theories as to why that is, but the fact remains that it is, unexpectedly, true.”
“I can’t carry to full term, most likely,” Vale said as calmly as possible, wanting to minimize the sound of danger for Jason’s sake. But Jason scooted closer, burying his face further in Vale’s lap, his body shaking as Vale went on. “So, Urho will induce labor early, and we’ll hope the child survives.”
“That’s sick,” Xan spat, widening his stance and glaring. “You can’t do that. Not to Jason.” He shot a pointed glance at Jason, where he curled by his Vale’s feet. “Look at him. Think of what losing you would do to him.”
Vale’s heart softened. “I think of almost nothing else.”
“Could have fooled me.”
Vale barely restrained a flare of temper, but he managed to hold it back. “It hasn’t been an easy decision, but I trust Urho. He wouldn’t put the odds on me surviving if he didn’t believe it with his whole heart.”
Jason lifted his head then, his face blotchy with tears and his mouth wobbly. “He doesn’t put odds on you surviving, he puts odds on youprobablynot dying, and that’s not at all the same thing.”
“Darling, you can’t ask me to give this up. Unplanned as it was, as terrified as we both are, this is our only hope. This one, beautiful mistake that we’d never, ever make again.”
“Don’t get poetic on me,” Jason whispered fiercely. “You’re willing to risk destroying yourself—us,me—for something that, according to Urho, is just a bundle of cells with a tiny little heartbeat.”
“But he’s ours,” Vale said urgently. “Our bodies knitted together to make a new life. How can we choose to end it?”
“You sound like Pater.”
“No, your pater admitted he had no hope of living through the birth. I plan to follow all of Urho’s prescriptions to the letter. I intend to live to see our child born, to hold him and raise him into a fine young man. To see you reflected in him, and myself, too. I won’t be giving up so easily.”
“So why are we here?” Yosef asked gently, his hands still twined with Rosen’s and his expression grave.
“Because we’ll need your support,” Vale said. “Jason, especially.”
“No, you, especially,” Jason whispered. “You must be cared for every moment of every day.”
“Ridiculous. I’m not an invalid.” Vale shrugged. “Later, as the months pass, yes, I will need to be careful, but right now I’m as fit as a fiddle. I can continue my work—”
“No!” Jason snarled, lifting his head and glaring up at him. “I won’t have those idiot alphas at Mont Nessadare scenting you and knowing you’re pregnant—that you’re fragile.” He shook his head hard. “You’ll take another leave of absence.”
Vale soothed Jason again, bringing his head back into his lap and gently tracing his ear. “We’ll need your help,” Vale said, meeting everyone’s eye one by one. “I can’t say when or exactly how, but you’re the friends we know we can count on for anything.”
“We’re always here for you,” Rosen agreed.
“For you and Jason both,” Yosef said grimly.
“You can count on me,” Xan added, lifting his chin. “For anything at all. If I can provide comfort or support, I’m happy to do it. And Caleb will want to help, too.”
“Thank you,” Vale said as he rubbed Jason’s shoulders. “We’re struggling with this, but we’ll be all right.”
Jason rose then, wiping a hand over his face, rubbing away tears. “We wanted you to find out from us directly, face-to-face.”
“And your parents?” Yosef asked.
“Already know,” Jason replied. The way he mashed his full lips together made it clear he didn’t intend to say more on that subject right now.
Rosen and Yosef were the first to depart. Yosef hugged Jason and whispered to Vale about pulling legal paperwork together regarding his health care if Jason wasn’t able to make decisions. Vale nodded and then accepted a hug from Rosen, too.
Urho offered to walk Rosen and Yosef out to catch their taxi.
Xan approached them with a sympathetic smile before it slid away from him, revealing his discombobulated confusion.
