Heat Race - Tanya Chris Page 0,38
of the floor staring at the mattress, which was bare and showed signs of use.
“We’ve got fresh linens in the car,” Saul reminded him, “and another mattress.” Jack Henry had been feeling horny earlier, and Saul was interested in getting him back to that state. “Why don’t you help me grab the mattress?” he suggested to Jasper. Jasper seemed grateful to have something usefully manly to do, so the two of them headed single file up the narrow track toward Elias’s car.
“I should’ve planned better,” Jasper said. “Made it nicer, built it up.”
“You didn’t know when you would find him.”
“Or that the two of you would come with him. But I’m glad of it. If it weren’t for Elias, we wouldn’t know about the risk of pregnancy. Elias is going to be useful with all that stuff he knows.”
“I can build things,” Saul blurted out, eager to prove he could be useful too. “I’ve never built a whole house from scratch, but I think I could.” He hadn’t been excited about a career in construction because it would’ve meant working with his father, but this would be different. He’d be making a home for his family.
“That’s awesome.” Jasper’s enthusiastic relief made Saul feel important.
“You don’t have to do everything, you know. You might be our uber-alpha, but Elias and I are alphas too, and Jack Henry’s not exactly helpless. We’re a team, the four of us.”
“Thank you for that.” Jasper caught him by the waist. He pressed a kiss against Saul’s lips that was firmly affectionate, the kind of kiss mates shared. It made Saul glow even brighter. He wanted to be Jasper’s mate in every sense. “I guess I worry you won’t respect me if I don’t have everything figured out.”
“I’ll respect you,” Saul promised. “I respect Jack Henry and Elias too. You don’t have to be an uber-alpha for me to respect you, just a decent person.”
“That’s a really good reminder of what my father always tried to impress on me. Let me know if I come across too strong, not that Elias would let me get away with it.”
“Jack Henry either. Except maybe when we’re fucking.”
“Then let’s grab this mattress so we can get to the fucking.”
“Yes, Alpha.” Saul was sort of joking, but the word alpha stilled some of the anxious restlessness burning in his chest, and Jasper must’ve liked hearing it because he growled that wolf growl he could do that was deeper and more feral than anything Saul could manage. Saul laughed and picked up his pace, running the last ten feet to the car as if Jasper were chasing him.
“I’d love to see your wolf again,” he said as they untied the mattress from the roof of Elias’s car. “When there’s light and time to see better.”
“I’ll do a show for you later, but speaking of shows, maybe Jack Henry would dance for us.”
“He’s not that kind of dancer,” Saul said reprovingly. Jack Henry was an artist.
“I know.” Jasper gave a tug that had the mattress sliding off the roof onto his side of the car. “But however he dances, I’ll bet it’s fucking hot.”
Saul couldn’t argue with that. He let Jasper wrestle with the mattress while he dug through the trunk to find the boom box he’d seen Jack Henry stash in it.
“Are you going to make me carry this by myself?” Jasper asked.
“No, you can carry this.” Saul shoved the boom box at him, then lifted the mattress over his head and trotted down the path with it.
Jasper whistled appreciatively. “Damn, you’re a fine hunk of alpha ass. I sure know how to pick ’em.”
“It was Jack Henry who did the picking though, wasn’t it?”
“Truth. He was already bonded to you and Elias in a way. You-all were just waiting for me to show up.”
What would’ve happened if Jasper hadn’t shown up? What would’ve happened if Lon hadn’t shown up? Saul had been really close to claiming Jack Henry for a hot second, which would’ve nice except then this other aspect of his soul, the aspect that was as happy about being mated to an alpha as it was about being mated to an omega, wouldn’t have been satisfied.
Fate, Jasper had said. Or biology. Or maybe just Jack Henry knowing what he wanted and bending the universe until he got it.
ELIAS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elias had been watching Jack Henry dance since they were children. In grade school, when they’d all twirled in imperfect synchronicity pretending to be snowflakes, Jack Henry had stood out as