Precious - Roe Horvat Page 0,8
he loved him.
“Sleep, beautiful.”
His voice. Micah wanted Travis to speak softly so he could listen to his calming words while he was falling asleep, but he couldn’t ask for it. His tongue felt numb; his whole face felt numb. He loosened his arms around Travis’s neck while the knot inside him pulsed soothingly, alien yet so very welcome, and Micah drifted, knowing all was right.
Three
Travis
“Dad, I need your advice.”
Travis paced the hallway, and his eyes kept turning up the steep wooden stairs, toward where his guest slept.
“That’s an unusual request,” Benjamin Whitehall teased.
“I guess I haven’t asked for your advice in a long time.”
“No, you haven’t. You’ve been making perfectly sound decisions on your own.” The smile in his omega father’s voice calmed Travis’s nerves somewhat. “What’s going on?”
“I need this to stay between us.”
A rustle of clothes, doors clicking, and then a hiss of wind in the phone. “Your pa looked at me suspiciously when I left the living room, but I’ll come up with something. Tell me.”
Not knowing how much time he had, Travis just spilled the whole story without preamble.
“After the heavy rain, I went up the mountain to check if the main road got flooded. Just to help the rangers out. I found a man by the river. He was unconscious, half-naked, feet in the cold water, exhausted and freezing. I had no phone service, so I brought him to the chalet. I figured he’d gotten swept up by a flash flood. I was going to call Dr. Jenkins and Sheriff Callaghan, but he woke up and asked me not to. He didn’t seem hurt, except for the hypothermia and exhaustion. I gave him food and warmed him up, and I thought I’d let him sleep it off.”
“But?”
“He’s in heat, Dad.”
His dad remained quiet, so Travis continued.
“I didn’t realize. He looked so young. It honestly didn’t occur to me. I didn’t know, I swear. He’d probably gone through at least one heat wave in the forest, but the river must have washed the scent away. I didn’t smell him until he woke up in my living room.”
“First heat?”
“Must be.”
“And you had sex with him.” Did the certainty in his dad’s voice mean Travis couldn’t have done anything else?
“I didn’t want to. I mean, I did want to. Of course I wanted him. But I wasn’t going to do it.” He paused, trying to pinpoint the crucial moments in last night’s strange events. “He begged me to help him.”
“Oh, Travis.”
“Dad, he begged for mercy.” That word. His chest still tightened at the echo of the omega’s voice. Mercy.
“You have no idea who he is, do you? Or what he was doing alone in the park during his heat?”
“No. He asked me not to tell anyone I found him. I only called you because I don’t want to hurt him, Dad. Please tell me I did the right thing. I didn’t…rape him, did I?” His voice broke on the word rape.
“God, Travis, no.”
“He’s exhausted. He sleeps all the time. He’s completely defenseless, and he needs help. He needs something. He must have had a reason why he tried to do this alone, right? What if I’m hurting him?”
“Travis,” his dad said sharply. “Some people say omegas in heat don’t think rationally. Some would even claim omegas aren’t capable of rational thought at all. I raised you to hold those people in contempt. He asked you to help him?”
“Yes, but he was in pain.”
“He saw you, he heard your voice, and he could smell you. He could’ve asked you to call for help, contact his family or a partner if he has one. He could’ve asked you to leave the room or hold him down. But he didn’t.”
“No.” Travis exhaled, the tight ball of dread in his stomach loosening.
“If you want to help him, Travis, do what he says. Trust his judgment. Just make sure he has options. I’m going to buy you an artificial knot and send the package via courier, discreetly. Nobody but you and I will know.”
“The roads here are a mess, though. It might take some time before the courier can get here.”
“How many waves has he had?”
“Two with me. So I guess three at least.”
“If you did what you were supposed to do, he should be less tired. When he wakes up, talk to him. Respect his wishes.”
“Thank you.”
Breath crackled in the phone. Then his dad asked gently, “How do you feel, my boy?”
“Overwhelmed, I guess.”
“You like him.”
“Dad, I barely spoke a few words