a train north to be there with you.”
His heart trilled with love for his brother. “I know, and that’s why I didn’t tell you. This is something I had to do for myself. No matter how scary, if I can face this then I can face a lot of things. Bigger things than what our parents did.”
“Like being a parent?”
“Yeah. If I can even father a child. I have no idea how long those tests take, and if it turns out I’m infertile, I’m afraid Hyatt will walk away. He’s truly the sweetest person I’ve ever met, Sam. So kind and earnest, despite the horrific way he was raised and all he’s survived.”
“I believe you. I hear it in your voice when you say his name. It’s like you’re in love already.”
“Not in love yet, but I could love him. I can’t wait to see him again, but I’m also terrified of what Dr. McCabe is going to tell me.”
“Are you going to be honest with Hyatt right away.”
Dorian leaned against the headrest and shut his eyes. “I don’t know. I want to say yes, but I suppose it depends on the news. I doubt any alpha goes into a potential mating situation wondering if he’s infertile, but here we are. If I can’t give Hyatt what he wants…”
“I get it. I also love you, and I know you’ll make the right decision. Call me later, okay?”
“Yeah. I love you back, brother.”
They hung up. The time was edging closer to four, so Dorian left the parking garage and headed back to Dr. McCabe’s office building, stomach a roiling mess. The receptionist sent Dorian straight back to the doc’s private office, which did not help his upset at all. Dr. McCabe looked up from his desk, expression as serious as Dorian had ever seen.
“Dorian, please have a seat,” Dr. McCabe said.
Oh shit.
Hyatt spent the day after Khory’s birthday helping Khory with Asher that morning, and then teaching a cooking class at Light House in the afternoon. He’d learned everything he knew from a combination of Karson’s lessons and studying cookbooks at the nearest library branch. There were a few cooking shows on TV but not that many, and the chefs were a bit stale for Hyatt. Still, he got a thrill helping other omegas and betas, both residents and non-residents, learn new skills.
He brought leftovers home and turned them into a quick, reheated dinner for himself, Khory and Aeron. Aeron seemed more down than usual, Khory more attentive to his mate, and it made Hyatt wonder if something had happened at work. As a patrolman, Aeron encountered both the best and worst of humanity each and every shift. And even though Aeron was his friend, Hyatt couldn’t bring himself to ask.
Instead, after they cleaned up dinner, Hyatt went into his bedroom and called Dorian, needing to hear his own bondmate’s voice. It took a long time before Dorian finally picked up with a quiet, “Good evening, Hyatt.”
“Hey, is this a bad time?” Hyatt asked.
“Not at all. I’ve simply had a long, exhausting day. How are you?”
Something in Dorian’s voice was off. “Personally, I’m fine but you don’t sound like you’re okay.”
“Like I said, it’s been a long day and I have a lot of things to think about. But it’s wonderful to hear your voice. Tell me you had a better day than I did.”
Without knowing exactly what Dorian had been up to today, Hyatt couldn’t say for sure but he did know his own day had been pretty good. “I had a great day. I taught eight people how to make pasta from scratch, and it was a lot of fun. So many of them ended up covered in flour.”
“You can make pasta from scratch? Wow.”
“I taught myself this past winter. Trust me, the Jenks family ate a lot of gummy, too-thick pasta before I perfected it enough to teach it to others.” More than one attempt had ended in Karter or Rebel ordering them all pizza. But each disaster had been a learning experience. “It’s funny to think that a year ago, the best I could do in a kitchen was chop vegetables for pizza toppings.”
“And now you make fresh pasta. That’s incredible, Hyatt. I am so impressed with you.”
He eased down on his bed and crossed his legs. “Because I learned a skill?”
“Because you chose to learn something that alphas and betas turn into full-time careers. Would you want to run a restaurant if you could?”
“I don’t know.”