“Yes.”
“And what if the baby’s not an alpha?”
“Call me new-fangled, but I don’t see why an omega or beta can’t inherit.”
“You wouldn’t. But Lidell will. He and Ned will take it to court to get an alpha back in power after you’re gone.”
“If Lidell outlives me, perhaps he would. But Ned is too lazy. He’ll take whatever money is offered and run. Besides, we’ll fight those battles as they come.” Heath nodded firmly. That was the ticket. Take everything one step at a time. Don’t overthink anything. Nothing was certain yet.
Felix shook his head and downed the last of his drink. Then he stood and said, “Well, don’t let me delay you further. I’m sure your handsome omega is at home right now just aching from all those sweet pregnancy hormones for a good, long, fu—”
“Don’t,” Heath said sharply. “Don’t talk about him like he’s a common whore.”
Felix zipped his lips, but his eyes flew wide. “Good God, you’re in over your head,” he said as he showed Heath out. “Half in love already. He’s not Nathan, you know.”
Heath shook Felix’s hand as he opened the office door. “He isn’t. And somehow I find him all the more appealing because of that.”
On the drive home, anticipation thrummed in him. He thought over Adrien’s arrival earlier in the day and the eager way the boy had stripped for him and gone to his knees. He supposed they should have talked a bit more about the expectations between them, but he’d been overwhelmed with protectiveness and then lust.
It struck him as strange that Adrien knew so little of what to expect from pregnancy, but he seemed to recall Nathan telling him that the man with kind eyes, the one who’d bought his breeding and with whom Nathan had left his son, had been a religious sort. Adrien had confirmed as much in what he’d said about it all. Many religious sects were incredibly backward in their ideas of omega rights.
Regardless, it thrilled some dark, possessive part of him to know that he would be the one to teach Adrien. It was the same part of him that had been thrilled to take Adrien’s virginity, his first heat, and to breed him, too. In some ways, Adrien already felt more his than Nathan ever had.
Chapter Eleven
ADRIEN WOKE UP from his nap hungry and a little disoriented. The sun had gone down and the glass-walled room, which had seemed almost like a fairytale when he could see into the green, leafy forest, now seemed somewhat threatening and gloomy.
He was a little cold, too.
He put on his glasses, relieved by the room coming into focus. His clothes were still where he’d left them on the floor, but Heath had told him not to wear them. Would he really care? He wouldn’t want Adrien to be chilly, would he? That probably wasn’t the best for the baby. He might catch a cold.
Or was that just an old tale?
He got out of the fluffy bed, found his glasses, and pulled on his jeans and T-shirt. Sometime during his nap, someone had come into the room with his luggage, and that felt a little creepy. He glanced around, noting the door to the hallway was shut, though there were human sounds coming from outside it. He hurriedly went through his things until he found a soft, warm hoodie and pulled it on.
Then, still unnerved by the growing darkness of the forest and the creaking of the swaying trees outside, and driven by the gnawing in his stomach, he cautiously opened the door and stepped out into the creamy, concrete hallway. The light shafting in from the skylights above was an amber color now, and some electric lights had been turned on in various corners of the hallway.
He followed the sounds of cooking and the scent of something delicious until he stepped into a wide, open area that housed a very comfortable-looking living room and a big kitchen. There was a circular window encompassing one full end of the room and which looked out onto a spacious flower garden and a gazebo near a bridge that passed over the brook. There were even some twinkling lights hung in the ornamental trees, and that, for some reason, surprised Adrien more than almost anything else all day. It seemed such a twee choice for a gruff alpha like Heath.
“Hello!” a cheery voice called from within a pantry built into the thick wall of concrete. A balding, gray-laced head, sporting merry twinkling eyes and a happy smile peeked out from the pantry door. “I’m Simon, and you must be Adrien.”
Adrien wrapped his arms around himself, still a little cold, and cleared his throat. “Hi.”
“Yes, hi,” Simon said, almost laughing. He stepped out of the pantry wearing an old-fashioned butler’s uniform, which made Adrien blink as well.
“You’re cold, I take it? I told him that we’d need to put heaters in that room, but he thought the pregnancy hormones might make you too hot.” Simon tutted. “I’m always right, you know. And you can tell him I said that.”
Adrien smiled timidly, shoving his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I am cold, yes. And hungry.”
Simon swung open the refrigerator door and pulled out a tray. “I’ve got you covered, lovey. Have a seat here at the counter. Let’s fill you up. Can’t have you or the baby going hungry while you wait for dinner.”
“Oh.” Adrien walked toward the counter that separated the living area from the kitchen. He sat on a stool. “If I eat all this, I’ll be too full for dinner.”
“That’s what you say now! But there’s no rush. You have all evening to eat. Heath wants you fattened up. He’s worried that you’re too thin.”
Adrien looked down at himself, noting how the hoodie and jeans hung on him. “I’ve been sick lately.”
“From the baby,” Simon said knowingly. “Being here with Heath will fix that. There are soothing properties in the… Ah, well…” He flushed and waved vaguely. “And the pheromones, too. You’ll be more comfortable now that you’re with us,” he finished up with a happy smile.
Adrien accepted the glass of water Simon pressed into his hand, as well as a handful of supplements.
“Vitamins. Everything the doctor ordered to grow a strong child.”
He swallowed them, feeling oddly childlike, and memories of the time he’d been sick with a terrible illness swept over him. He remembered his father praying by his side, refusing the doctor’s orders for medications, until, finally, so frightened that Adrien might die, he’d given in and let the doctor give him the handful of pills that helped him get better.
In a way, his father’s worst fears about the medicine came true. His return
to health at the hands of science had been part of why Adrien eventually stepped away from the religion his father had adhered to so blindly. His youthful infatuation with the handsome doctor might have also inspired him to consider leaving their little town, but it was the magazine the doctor left behind with photos of art from around the fifteen countries of the world that had inspired him to go to college.
Something about Simon reminded him of that sickness. The caretaking, perhaps. The scent of roasting vegetables, maybe.
“When will Heath be back?” he asked after he no longer felt like he would fall off the stool in hunger.
Simon smiled again, shoving a big casserole of some kind into the oven.
Adrien’s mouth watered, even though he’d just consumed half the plate of cheese, meat, and bread that Simon had set out in front of him. “He’ll be here soon, I imagine.” He glanced toward another big steel-and-wood clock. It somehow looked more appropriate in this room, built into the earth beneath the castle as it was. “He hated to leave you, but he’d agreed to this appointment before he knew you were coming today.”