Heat Race - Tanya Chris Page 0,107

and there’s nothing explicit out there, just that, back in the day, omegas could typically shift. Which means they were probably doing it.”

“But what if shifting was the reason so many of the births went bad?”

“The births started going bad around the time omegas lost the ability to shift, which was also when polyamorous matings like ours became less common. You’ve got three alphas to help you. The baby is strong, and your ability to shift is proof that everything is working. I really don’t think there’s anything to worry about, Jackie.”

Jack Henry nuzzled into the arm Elias put around him. He appreciated Elias’s smarts. He appreciated all three of his mates. What would it be like to have only strength or kindness or wisdom to call on instead of all three? He stretched out his hands, summoning Jasper and Saul to him.

“We’re going to have a baby,” he said, finally believing it.

“We really are,” Jasper said. “We really fucking are.”

SAUL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saul’s senses were so attuned in wolf form that he heard the light rustle of leaves and smelled Jasper’s scent long before Jasper got close enough to pounce. He considered moving away, telegraphing the message that he’d come out here to be alone, but Jasper wasn’t just mate, he was alpha. And alpha had to be obeyed.

Jasper shifted when he reached the chestnut tree Saul was lolling under, but Saul remained in wolf form. He licked Jasper’s hand when it was offered, then turned his snout back to the view he’d been admiring with its wooded hills rolling away in a spring explosion of greenery dotted by puddles of melting snow. All this endless space belonged to the Treehouse Pack now—room for them to expand.

So far their pack was just the four of them. After the baby came, Jasper would start admitting outsiders—Jack Henry’s parents first. Saul was working to turn the cabin into a decent in-law suite for them, and Jasper was pretending he needed the final three months of Jack Henry’s pregnancy to finish it, but the truth was they just wanted some time with the baby before anyone else moved in.

Between the main house and the in-law cabin and a dance studio for Jack Henry, their property was becoming a campus, a far grander project than Saul had envisioned when he’d started. He ought to be pleased. He was pleased. Everything was amazing and perfect. He visited his family in Woodhaven at least once a month, and Jack Henry and the baby and the bond were all flourishing. Saul was careful to make sure he participated in every opportunity for fluid exchange he was offered, because he needed the bond right now. Without it, he might teeter over the edge into an undeserved depression. What did he have to be depressed about? Wasn’t his life better than it’d ever been, better than he could ever have imagined it being?

Jasper’s fingers scratched through the scruff of fur bunched around his neck, soothing him quietly. Jasper was naked, his groin fragrant with exertion. Saul snuffled into it, enjoying the aroma and the warmth. It was too cold out for human skin, so he crawled across Jasper’s lap, blanketing him with fur.

“Got a call from my mother,” Jasper said finally. “The jury returned a verdict. She saw the news on TV and figured you’d want to know.”

Saul didn’t answer. He couldn’t talk in wolf form, and he didn’t want to talk about the trial. He could’ve been in Ferris for the verdict, right there in the front row of the courthouse. Or he could’ve gone to the farm and watched on TV with Alice. But what if his father got off? If Saul had killed him, that would’ve been the end of it. Like how if he’d killed Lon, that would’ve been the end of that. But he’d gone and made the same mistake again.

“Guilty,” Jasper said after a moment. “Murder two. I know you were hoping for murder one—that he’d get life—but twenty years is enough. He’ll be nearly seventy by the time he gets out, and I doubt he’d mess with us again even if he were twenty. He knows better now.”

Did he? It seemed to Saul that the only lesson his father had learned was that Saul would always back down. If Otis came for them again… if Lon, if anyone came for them again… would Saul always end up wimping out?

“Do you think we’re mad at you about what happened?” Jasper asked. “I’ve been watching you