Urho rolled his shoulders and took another swallow. “I hadn’t realized that it would become something so…”
“Different?”
“More.”
Vale leaned back on the sofa, grinning, with his hand on his bulging stomach. “Ah, then you’re still the idiot I’ve always known and loved.”
“I wanted to believe that what I was offering was no different than helping an omega in heat, but in reality, it was nothing like that at all.”
“It was forbidden,” Vale supplied, the rush of the taboo thrilling him vicariously. “Which is definitely different.”
“Yes, but—” Urho squirmed on the sofa like an embarrassed child. An odd look for a man of his size and muscle mass.
“But?” Vale prompted.
“He reminds me of Riki.”
That was the last thing Vale had anticipated hearing. “I thought Riki was a paragon of gentleness and obedience. Something Xan is decidedly not.”
“Riki was. No, Xan isn’t like him in that way at all.” Urho scrubbed a hand over his head. “I meant the way I feel about him reminds me of Riki. The way I react to his scent and the way I want to…”
Vale sat up straighter. “Yes?”
“The way I want to own him.”
“Oh, dear friend,” Vale whispered, putting a hand on Urho’s shoulder. “I suppose that must have shocked your old-fashioned, traditional soul nearly to death.”
“I keep telling you. I’m not old-fashioned. If anything should prove it and put a nail in that coffin, I’d think it would be this situation.” Urho smiled wryly. “I admit I did lose my mind at first.”
“After you’d…” Vale made a lewd gesture that meant “fucked.”
Urho grimaced. “No. Before I made the offer to him, I was in a state—overwrought, afraid, and angry. I wanted to protect him and shake him. I wanted to…” He trailed off. “Once I settled on the idea of acting as a surrogate for him, everything seemed to click into place. I was able to make peace with it.”
“Well, you always did have a hero kink,” Vale said. “I think that was half your attraction for me.”
“No.” Urho shook his head in denial.
Vale wasn’t going to argue with him about it. Well, not much. “Oh, maybe our relationship eventually became more than heroism to you. But at first, you were my surrogate during heats because you wanted to save me from ever being in a dangerous position again. And then we became lovers outside the heats…and, yes. I’ll concede that was based more on friendship and fun than on heroism gone awry. But that was where it had started.”
He knew Urho would leave that discussion behind, either because it was still painful for him, or because he knew it was fruitless to hash out. And he was right. Urho began speaking of Xan again. “It’s wrong, though. Two alphas. It’s against the Holy Book and the law. How do I reconcile that it feels so right?”
“I think you’re smart enough to know the answer to that.” Vale flicked him a harsh glance. “The laws and Holy Books are all about control. But hearts are wild things. They can’t be controlled no matter how much those in power wish it.”
The child growing in his belly was proof of that. No amount of control would have stopped Jason’s love taking root inside of him. Somewhere, deep inside, he’d come to believe that what had happened was destined, just like their bond.
“It’s an obstacle,” Urho mused, his mind clearly still occupied by thoughts of Xan. “We can never truly be together.”
“Plus, there’s Caleb.”
Urho chuckled. “Yes, Caleb. Who is strangely accepting of all this.”
Vale nodded. “Contracted relationships aren’t likeÉrosgápe. I’m sure he has his reasons for being content with the arrangement.” He’d heard the rumors about Caleb. Omegas gossiped, and there was a lot of gossip about when it came to someone as beautiful as Caleb Riggs waiting as late as he did to contract.
Urho tilted his head. “You know.”
“I know what?”
Urho cocked his head, and Vale widened his eyes, all innocence. He might listen to gossip and rumors, but he didn’t spread them around himself. At least not very often.
