Heat Race - Tanya Chris Page 0,96

keep your classes going while you’re out.”

He had two classes now—one for teenage omegas and another for adults of any sort, though so far he’d only gotten women. So many ridiculous preconceptions to overcome. Now that Saul had recovered, maybe Jack Henry could convince him to take the class. Saul would be an awkward dancer, but he’d try, and he wouldn’t care if he looked funny doing it. People would have to reexamine their preconceptions if they saw an alpha of his size doing a pirouette.

He’d only just managed to get Dee’s drawers back in order before the bell tinkled to herald Elias’s arrival. Elias helped him scoop up the profusion of shopping bags, giving him a questioning look as they carried them out to the car.

“Bedding and stuff.”

“Nesting,” Elias said, just like Dee had. “Tonight’s the night, right?”

Jack Henry could hear the excitement in Elias’s voice. They were all excited, which was evident by the way they fidgeted through dinner. It was important to get everyone properly nourished for the long night ahead, but Jack Henry could barely swallow around his nervous energy. And his mates weren’t doing any better. They hardly talked as they ate, sitting on the floor of their empty dining room exchanging glances rather than words, every one of the glances suggestive and eager, as if they were each waiting to see who would pounce first.

Saul and Elias got up to clear their plates, but Jasper picked up Jack Henry instead of his plate and started carrying him upstairs. It was two flights up to the loft, but Jasper was strong enough to carry him all the way to Ferris and back, and Jack Henry enjoyed the opportunity to nuzzle into Jasper’s neck and inhale the strong scent of alpha. The sound of rushing footsteps behind them said Saul and Elias had decided cleaning could wait.

Saul had moved their mattresses back into the loft, tucking them into the bedframe he’d built, and Jack Henry had made up their new bed with all that unnecessary bedding he’d bought. The result was both pristine and fancy, like an expensive hotel room crossed with a bordello, and the new frame would hold the mattresses together so there wouldn’t be any valley to fall into anymore—no artificial divide, as though they were two couples instead of a single foursome. Tonight they’d truly be a pack.

Jasper dropped him into the center of the massive bed, and Jack Henry bounced up into a cross-legged position. He surveyed his mates, who were arrayed in front of him like someone had assembled a lineup of alphas for him to choose from. Except he didn’t have to choose. They were all his.

“The moon’s not even up yet,” Elias said, but he was stripping his shirt off over his head as he said it.

“Early bird special,” Jasper said with a grin. “I’m so fucking excited about not using condoms. I can’t even tell you.”

They could’ve stopped using them as soon as they made their decision, but they hadn’t. Just like they hadn’t moved the mattresses back over or used the bedframe. Tonight would be both a beginning and a culmination, out of which Jack Henry felt certain a child would be conceived. He hoped he wasn’t setting himself up for disappointment, but he couldn’t tamp down the voice inside him that said this was it. It was the voice of the bond, or maybe it was the voice of the baby, but it was a voice he couldn’t ignore. This was it.

“Are we all going to…?” Saul started. “Or should it just be Jasper?”

Elias stopped his striptease. His face fell, then went rigidly neutral. “If you think…” He looked between Jasper and Jack Henry. “I mean, Saul and I could use condoms.”

Jasper shook his head. “Fate decides who the father is. Because whoever it is, it’ll be all of us.”

“All of you,” Jack Henry agreed. “I think it needs to be all of you. Maybe it only takes one sperm to do the job, but I need you all in there.” He pressed his hand to his stomach, then to his heart. Elias had historical knowledge, but Jack Henry’s body knew things that had never been written down, and it knew this. He had three mates, and he needed every one of them.

Saul grinned as he hastened to catch up to Elias in getting naked. Jasper was still standing there, dressed in a clean pair of jeans because he’d showered after getting home from the