CHAPTER TEN
Two weeks later
Vale didn’t knowhow to tell Jason that he was fairly certain he was going to murder Jason’s parents before this pregnancy ended. He adored Miner and Yule for the most part, although they frequently forgot he wasn’t that much younger than them and treated him as if he were Jason’s age. But since his pregnancy, they’d become nearly unbearable, inviting themselves over nearly every day to “help out.” Which really meant they came to interrogate Vale about his health, his diet, and the state of the nursery. Which Miner was especially interested in helping with, but was something they hadn’t even begun to plan yet. It got so intense sometimes, with Miner touching his stomach and taking his pulse, that Vale was certain that if he’d consent to Miner doing a full-on examination of his anal passage and womb, the man would do it.
It was indeed frustrating because, until the pregnancy, he’d considered Miner one of his closest omega friends. Now he’d started to dread his visits and had almost insisted that Jason refuse them entrance when they’d showed up for dinner tonight bearing take-out and a couple of bottles of wine. Which Vale couldn’t drink, but it was nice to see Jason relaxed and loose with it. And Yule, too, for that matter.
So, now, watching his father-in-law grow more and more tipsy, he was tentatively glad they’d accepted. This was a side of Yule he’d never seen before.
“How is Xan doing in Virona?” Miner asked. He hadn’t been drinking either. Vale didn’t know if it was in solidarity, or if he wasn’t a fan of being tipsy. He did say to Vale that earlier on in the pregnancy, Vale would find that drunk people are incredibly annoying to sober people. Saying that when he’d been pregnant and hadn’t been able to indulge in liquor or wine, the more he was around people who did, the less he admired the results of alcohol.
For his part, Vale was finding it more amusing than annoying, but truly it could probably go either way depending on the person.
“Xan’s doing well,” Jason said. “He says Caleb is happy enough up there, too.”
“That’s always important,” Miner said. “A happy omega means a happy home.” He smiled at Vale. “Right, dear?”
Vale lifted his water glass in a toast. “Cheers to that.”
When everyone had clinked and taken a drink, the conversation went on. “But why did they move?” Miner asked. “He never struck me as the type to want to leave the city. Neither did Caleb. They were both into the arts and throwing parties. What prompted it?”
Yule, flushed with wine and apparently feeling gossipy, said, “My impression, dear, is that Doxan sent him away due to some scandal or another. Do you know what it is, Vale? Jason won’t tell us, of course.” He took another large swallow of his wine and then added ruefully, “He’s far too protective of Xan.”
“Just the right amount of protective, actually,” Vale countered with a raised brow.
Miner shot Yule a dark glance and then added, “I’d hope Jason was discreet about Xan, for many reasons.”
Yule rolled his eyes. “Pfft. All that from when they were younger? Youthful indiscretions. That’s all it was with Jason, I know. But that Xan? He was always going to be unmanned.”
“Father,” Jason warned quietly. “There are all sorts of reasons why this isn’t something we should talk about.”
“Your omega knows, doesn’t he? He must.” Yule lifted his wine glass and used it to indicate Vale again before taking a large swallow. “He doesn’t look surprised or worried. He’s aware of what boys sometimes do together.”
Vale’s curiosity piqued, and he fought back a smirk as he asked, “Did you ever do that with an alpha?”
Miner rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, rolling the post-dinner toothpick in his mouth. “Yule, don’t answer that.”
“Of course!” Yule crowed, and Jason blushed. Miner sighed and shook his head in annoyance. “I was a member of an exclusive club. We’d wrestle, get our blood up, and when the alpha expression hit…” Yule grinned, clearly delighted with the memories. “Let’s just say some old-fashioned dominance was exercised on the losers most nights.” His chest puffed up. “Inever lost.”
“Father,” Jason murmured, his cheeks pinking prettily. Vale almost wanted to laugh at him. Alphas never expect other alphas will behave as badly as they do. Only omegas understood the truth of it. “Are you saying…that’s not legal.”
“We were boys,” Yule said, harrumphing and flipping his hand around. “Omegas do it all the time.”
“We don’twrestle,” Miner murmured, twirling his toothpick. “If we indulge, we’re much more civilized about it. Jason was civilized, weren’t you, darling?”
Jason looked like his head was about to explode, and Vale covered his mouth with his napkin, holding in a giggle. Then he turned to Miner. “So, you had a Mont Juror lover?”
Vale had never indulged in physical pleasure with another omega back in the day, needing an alpha’s strong scent to become truly aroused. Though of course, he’d had sex with betas sometimes after he’d graduated. Still, he was curious about his father-in-law’s proclivities before contracting.
Miner shook his head. “No, of course not. Yule likes to think I did. But I didn’t. I was just friends with Zander.”
“He was a gorgeous man,” Yule said, slurring slightly. “Stunning.”
“He was my friend,” Miner repeated with a sharp glare at his alpha. “But there were boys at Mont Juror who did become lovers. There was one pair who were so devoted to each other that it was quite hard on them when their parents made them contract with alphas. I hear they still vacation together, though.”
“Who knows what happens behind those closed doors,” Yule said with a waggle of his brows. “Decadent vacationing indeed. That’s possible when you’re notÉrosgápe.”
“This is embarrassing,” Jason said. “Please stop.”
