Heat Race - Tanya Chris Page 0,89

scented his hairline. “What do you think, Saul? Can you have the house ready in nine months?”

“Definitely!” Saul was still drooping a little, but that perked him up. “I’ll get right on it.”

Jasper laughed. “Take a sick day or two. We have to wait a month for Jack Henry’s next heat anyway.”

“Twenty-six days,” Elias corrected, because of course he knew exactly when the next full moon would be.

Twenty-six days then. Plenty of time for Saul to heal and for Jack Henry to be sure.

JACK HENRY

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

Jack Henry gave Elias a goodbye kiss and climbed out of the car. It was only a few steps from the curb to Dee’s Dance, but he took them slowly. Still, as slow as he was moving, Elias hadn’t driven off by the time he got to the door, so instead of going inside, he turned around and went back to the car.

“This is the part where you leave.”

“I’m just going to watch you walk inside.”

“I can open a door, Elias. And you can see the studio’s empty.” All the blinds were up today. He wasn’t sure he would ever feel safe with them down again.

While he and Saul had lolled in bed together the day after his heat—Saul recuperating from his physical wounds and him trying to recuperate from his psychic wounds—they’d talked about his vision of a dance studio in the woods. A room of his own, on the edge of their property but safely on their property, where he and his omega brethren could dance. Saul had promised it would be his next project, right after the main house was finished.

“Can’t you go inside before I leave?” Elias asked. “Just for today.”

“If it’s today, it’ll be always.” He leaned through the open window to give Elias one last kiss, then stood on the sidewalk with his arms crossed until Elias pulled away. Then he turned to face the studio again.

He’d be lying if he said he felt comfortable going in there. He could still see Lon’s lifeless body on the dance floor, though Dee had done a good job mopping up all the blood. He could still see himself too—his terrified expression reflected in the mirrors as he surrendered his body in hopes of keeping his pack. He didn’t want to go in there and be reflected in those mirrors again. Or dance over the floorboards that’d been contaminated by Lon’s blood. Or wonder, every time he turned his back to the door, who might come through it.

But if he didn’t go in now, he wouldn’t ever go in. He’d had a day after his heat to cuddle with Saul, then another day off while they met with the mayor and ensured the pack’s future in Galvetta. Two days was enough time to recover, considering Lon hadn’t done worse than bruise him in a few spots. He didn’t have Saul’s super-human ability to heal, but he was quick to mend, and the bruises were gone. What wounds remained couldn’t be seen.

He took a deep breath and opened the door. Dee was behind the counter, pretending she hadn’t noticed him lurking on the sidewalk for the last five minutes.

“Jack Henry.” She approached him with her carmine-tipped fingers extended, as if feeling her way into him, and he opened his arms to accept her hug. She was the first non-packmate to touch him since Lon, but the closeness didn’t trigger any uncomfortable reactions. He turned his nose into her hair, which was right at nose height for him, so her familiar scent drowned out the smell of disinfectant.

“How you doing, honey?” She pulled back to examine him, then gave a disapproving shake of her head, as if she could see those invisible wounds.

“We’re going to have a baby,” he blurted out.

“Right this minute?” Her gaze dropped to his stomach.

“No, not right this minute.” He grinned, realizing he’d gotten ahead of himself. “We haven’t even made one yet. But we decided we’re going to make one. Next heat.”

“Well, that’s wonderful. Let’s get you into the office where you can put up your feet.”

He was hardly at the stage of needing to put his feet up, but he let her bustle him into the office because it was comfortably small without any windows or memory of Lon. The office had two chairs clear enough to sit on now, but Dee put him in the one behind the desk, which was admittedly more his than hers these days since he was the one who did all the paperwork.