Heat Race - Tanya Chris Page 0,37

a woman, and in that imaginary future, he’d dimly imagined children.

But he’d been a child himself then. Since presenting as an omega, he’d known his mate would be an alpha. They might’ve been able to adopt children, but they couldn’t have just—oopsie—made one.

“I’ll take care of it,” Saul promised like a ten-year-old wanting a dog.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Jack Henry patted Saul’s cheek. The enthusiasm was adorable, but it was way too soon to divvy up childcare duties.

“Were you planning to dance professionally?” Jasper asked.

“I’m not good enough to go pro.”

“Don’t say that,” Elias said. “You are.”

Jack Henry shrugged. He’d been a big fish in a small pond who’d occasionally dreamed of going to a bigger pond, even though he would’ve been swallowed up by it. Now he was in a pond so small it couldn’t even be called a puddle. He ran his hand over the back of his neck, which was sweaty from the sun, the proximity of his alphas, and the lingering effects of heat.

“So what you’re saying is we need condoms.” Because he needed to get fucked, but he wasn’t ready to make any more life-altering decisions for at least a week.

“Wait here.” Jasper darted into the house and came back with a box of condoms. He handed it to Jack Henry with a flourish. Jack Henry eyed it suspiciously. If Jasper hadn’t known he might be able to get an omega pregnant, why did he have condoms?

“Women,” Jasper explained. “I always knew I’d claim an omega someday, but hey, life goes on in the meantime, right?”

If by life, Jasper meant sex, it hadn’t for Jack Henry. Or Elias. He didn’t know if Saul had been a virgin before last night but the expression on his face suggested yes.

“I’m older than you are,” Jasper said. “I’ve been sexually mature for ages. You-all got lucky finding a mate first try. I’ve been going to heat races for years.”

“Why is that?” Elias asked. “You could’ve picked up an omega ten times over by now, even without a race.”

“It had to be the right omega. I had to know.” Jasper touched his chest, bare beneath the leather of the vest Jack Henry had reluctantly returned to him after putting on one of his own shirts. “Jack Henry wasn’t the first omega I came across, and what happened last night wasn’t an accident. This is fate. Or biology. Call it what you like, but the four of us were meant to be together.”

“If the four of us were meant to be together…” Elias trailed off.

“Then there’s a good chance I can get pregnant,” Jack Henry said, taking the thought to its logical conclusion. Jasper’s wolf had been looking for something specific, and Jasper had recognized it when he found it.

SAUL

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

Saul rode with Elias again, following Jasper and Jack Henry farther down the road until Jasper pulled over along an unmown stretch of grassy meadow that turned out to be their destination. Jasper had described the cabin as a shack sitting on undeveloped acreage, a description that turned out to be more honest than modest.

The cabin was set back a ways from the road, nestled into a clump of trees that were the only things growing other than weeds. There was no driveway or access road, nothing but a track worn through the grass about as wide as the wheels of Jasper’s motorcycle. Elias parked his car on the shoulder, wisely opting not to drive over the questionable ground, and Saul helped him lug a load of suitcases along the track Jasper and Jack Henry had disappeared down.

“It’s like the treehouse, except on the ground,” Elias observed, and he wasn’t far off.

The cabin had a roof and all four of its walls. It was at least three times the size of the treehouse, and the windows had glass in them. But it was made from the same rough planks and consisted of a single room. Saul put down the suitcases he was carrying to survey it. There wasn’t a lot to see. A mattress nowhere near big enough for four people, a single ladderback chair, and a small doorless cupboard that held the kind of things a house with no running water or electricity needed—namely a flashlight and a roll of toilet paper.

“I know it’s not much,” Jasper said.

“Plenty of land to build on though,” Saul said. “And privacy. I think it’ll make a great home base. What do you think, Jack Henry?”

Jack Henry was standing in the center